A glut of great TV shows makes it hard to recognize every show worth of it, but the members of the Television Critics Association did our best in picking the nominees for this year’s TCA Awards.
So “Breaking Bad” got three nominations, and will have to tussle with “True Detective” in two of those categories (Bryan Cranston vs. Matthew McConaughey for Individual Achievement in Drama, and for Program of the Year), but “Mad Men” didn’t get any nominations this time out.(*) Great new shows like “True Detective,” “Orange Is the New Black” and “Fargo” got multiple bits of recognition, though there was at times category confusion. the movies/minis category, for instance, includes “True Detective,” “Fargo” and “American Horror Story: Coven,” all of which are telling season-long stories but will likely continue with new stories and characters next year, but also “Broadchurch” and “The Returned,” which are producing sequel seasons and seemed to qualify solely due to their foreign-ness. And “Orange” was nominated for new series and Program of the Year, but not for either the drama or comedy series category, likely because the votes were split between them. (I, for instance, put it as a comedy.)
(*) The nominating process isn’t perfect – members are only allowed to pick two nominees per category, for reasons that have never been explained to my satisfaction – and in this case, the deadline was only a couple of days after “The Strategy” aired (when many critics likely had already voted) and well before “Waterloo.” With the last two episodes taken into account, I imagine “Mad Men” might have at minimum gotten a drama series nod (preferably over “House of Cards”).
“The Americans” did pretty well (drama series plus Matthew Rhys), but no “Hannibal” again, and while our support of “Orphan Black” star Tatiana Maslany continues, there wasn’t a similar groundswell of support this year for Andy Daly and his great Comedy Central series “Review.” And “Masters of Sex” couldn’t gather up enough support for even a best new series nomination, which is a shame.
Below is a full list of nominees (and, to answer the inevitable question, the Heritage Award is a sort of career achievement award from series, and no one has ever entirely agreed on what shows best fit in that category), and here’s a list of past winners. This year’s winners will be announced at an untelevised ceremony on July 19, midway through the TCA press tour.
Individual Achievement in Comedy
Louis C.K., “Louie” (FX) [2013 winner in category]
Mindy Kaling, “The Mindy Project” (Fox)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep” (HBO)
Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation” (NBC)
Individual Achievement in Drama
Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife” (CBS)
Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black” (BBC America) [2013 winner in category]
Matthew McConaughey, “True Detective” (HBO)
Matthew Rhys, “The Americans” (FX)
Outstanding Achievement in News and Information
“CBS Sunday Morning” (CBS)
“Cosmos” (Fox)
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central)
“Frontline” (PBS)
“60 Minutes” (CBS)
Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming
“The Amazing Race” (CBS)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (Logo)
“Shark Tank” (ABC) [2013 winner in category]
“Survivor” (CBS)
“The Voice” (NBC)
Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming
“Adventure Time” (Cartoon Network)
“Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” (PBS)
“The Fosters” (ABC Family)
“Sesame Street” (PBS)
“Switched at Birth” (ABC Family)
Outstanding New Program
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (Fox)
“Fargo” (FX)
“Orange Is the New Black” (Netflix)
“Sleepy Hollow” (Fox)
“True Detective” (HBO)
Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials
“American Horror Story: Coven” (FX)
“Broadchurch” (BBC America)
“Fargo” (FX)
“The Returned” (SundanceTV)
“True Detective” (HBO)
Outstanding Achievement in Drama
“The Americans” (FX)
“Breaking Bad” (AMC)
“Game of Thrones” (HBO) [2013 winner in category]
“House of Cards” (Netflix)
“The Good Wife” (CBS)
Outstanding Achievement in Comedy
“The Big Bang Theory” (CBS) [2013 winner in category – tied with “Parks and Recreation”]
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (Fox)
“Louie” (FX)
“The Mindy Project” (Fox)
“Veep” (HBO)
Career Achievement Award
Mark Burnett
James Burrows
Valerie Harper
Jay Leno
William Shatner
Heritage Award
“Lost” (ABC)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
“South Park” (Comedy Central)
“Star Trek” (NBC)
“Twin Peaks” (ABC)
Program of the Year
“Breaking Bad” (AMC) [2013 winner in category]
“Game of Thrones” (HBO)
“The Good Wife” (CBS)
“Orange Is the New Black” (Netflix)
“True Detective” (HBO)
What does everybody else think? Did the TCA as a whole do a good job, or are you outraged about 17 different things equally?