2010 Television Critics Association Awards

Posted by ad on Aug 10, 2010 in TV | 0 comments

This post originally appeared on ScenePR!

The Television Critics Association (TCA) is made up of 200 renowned journalists covering entertainment programming across broadcast and cable networks. They’re the taste-makers from across media that write about what we’ll be watching (or not watching) on TV.

The group meets twice a year for the TCA Press Tour where presentations are made showcasing each network’s programming slates via executive panels, screenings and some pretty incredible parties.

During the Summer Press Tour, the TCA Awards bestow top honors in TV in a slightly different way than the Emmy Awards (see notes below). Though not quite the same as the Hollywood Foreign Press and Golden Globes are to The Oscars, they’re certainly a hint at what might come Emmy night. Below are this year’s TCA noms, our thoughts on each, and winners highlighted in bold.

Individual achievement in drama:
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, AMC)
John Lithgow (Dexter, Showtime)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, CBS)
Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad, AMC)
Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy, FX)

First, note: Acting awards are not separated into actor / actress or lead / supporting categories, making performance noms quite a feat for those who grab one. I don’t envy the job of having to narrow the field of actors to just five. Thankfully, for the Emmy Awards, that task is left to acting peers. If I did have a vote, mine would easily have gone to John Lithgow for his turn as The Trinity Killer on Dexter.

Our MIA list: Terry O’Quinn (Lost, ABC), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, DirecTV/NBC), Glenn Close (Damages, FX), Denis Leary (Rescue Me, FX)

Individual achievement in comedy:
Ty Burrell (Modern Family, ABC)
Jane Lynch (Glee, Fox)
Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, NBC)
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory, CBS)
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family, ABC)

We’re ecstatic to see two Modern Family comedic geniuses get the nod here. Probably the toughest category as the TV comedy landscape expanded so much during the 2009-2010 season. Is it the end of 30 Rock cast and Neil Patrick Harris’ reign on nominations? Maybe – this category is just too large to accommodate only five and littered with great newbies except Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory” CBS).

Our MIA list: Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, CBS), Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, NBC), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family, ABC), Dani Pudi (Community, NBC). Honorary Mention: Heather Morris (Glee, Fox) for the funniest line this season, “Did you know dolphins are just gay sharks?”) Our vote, Jane Lynch (Glee, Fox)

Outstanding new program:
Glee (Fox)
Justified (FX)
Modern Family (ABC)
Parenthood (NBC)
The Good Wife (CBS)

Fox put together an outstanding Emmy screener for Glee featuring the pilot, “The Power of Madonna,” and “Wheels.” Modern Family came in the form of a photo album with “WTF?” on the cover, 9 pages of ‘album’ pics and series dialog, ending with the “Family Portrait” below that perfectly captures the quirkiness of this bunch. DVD features the pilot, “Fizbo” and “Starry Night.” We’d like to have seen “Run For Your Wife,” “The Incident,” and “Not In My House” as well.

Outstanding achievement in movies, miniseries and specials:
Life (Discovery Channel)
Temple Grandin (HBO)
The Pacific (HBO)
Torchwood: Children of Earth (BBC America)
You Don’t Know Jack (HBO)

HBO generally dominates this category here and Emmy night. You Don’t Know Jack is a very tasteful telling of a highly contentious topic, and our choice in this category. It’s unfortunate that Life is thrown in the mix.

Honorable mention: We’re pleased to see sci-fi mini-seies Torchwood: Children of Earth make it onto the TCA list.

Outstanding achievement in drama:
Breaking Bad (AMC) tied
Lost(ABC) tied
Mad Men (AMC)
Sons of Anarchy (FX)
The Good Wife (CBS)

Why does Friday Night Lights make the Program of the Year list, but not this one? One of TV’s most neglected series come award time, this season (thank you Emmy screener team for sending us all 13 episodes) introduced several touchy topics of racism, alongside story-lines on teen pregnancy, performance enhancing drugs, and gave us a deeper look at what life is like in football country.

Dexter seems to suffer from the same problem. Perhaps critics are afraid to show they like a serial killer? Every moment of Season 4 was nail-biting, though-provoking and so well acted, we’re at a total loss on its absence from this list.

Our MIA: Friday Night Lights (NBC/DirecTV) and Dexter (Showtime).

Our choice would be Lost (ABC) despite our mixed feelings on the series finale.

Outstanding achievement in comedy:
Glee (Fox)
Modern Family (ABC)
Parks and Recreation (NBC)
Party Down (Starz)
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Heritage award:
24
M*A*S*H
Law & Order
Lost
Twin Peaks

We were crushed to learn NBC had canceled Law & Order, and didn’t give this pop culture phenom the proper sendoff most series get when fading into the TV abyss. Hope to see Law & Order in this category again next year for the TCA Heritage Award, which it so richly deserves, for so many reasons.

Program of the year:
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Friday Night Lights (DirecTV/NBC)
Glee (Fox)
Lost (ABC)
Modern Family (ABC)

Great list. Great shows. Great seasons. Give it to them all.

Our MIA list: Dexter (Showtime)

What do you think?