Some of the year’s best dramas just cleaned up big at the Television Critics Association Awards.
The event — held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills where almost every TV critic is currently holed up for the TCA summer press tour — handed out most of the night’s awards to two shows in particular: Ryan Murphy’s The People v. OJ Simpson and Mr. Robot.
The FX anthology took home top prizes in the “Outstanding Miniseries” category and won top program of the year. Sarah Paulson, who you’ll remember gave a master class in acting this season as prosecutor Marcia Clark, also took home the award for individual achievement in drama, beating out her co-star Courtney B. Vance for the title. The TCA Awards don’t separate their nominees by gender which means Paulson can also brag that she edged out Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk and Rami Malek for the honor.
Mr. Robot didn’t come up empty-handed though. The cyber-hacking drama, nominated in four categories, won the award for “Outstanding New Program.”
Paulson wasn’t the only actress to go up against the guys and win; Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star Rachel Bloom and TBS’ Full Frontal With Samantha Bee took home some hardware as did the directing duo of Netflix hit docuseries Making a Murderer. TCA President Amber Dowling said the show was a good step forward for diversity and gender equality when it comes to television:
This was truly a landmark season — not just for television, but for women in television. We had an unprecedented amount of female winners this year, which is a testament to both the talented actresses who were honored tonight, as well as to the growing number of high-quality roles being created for and by women. It’s extremely encouraging to see this growing trend being embraced, accepted, and expanded upon.
Sure, the TCA’s aren’t the most glamorous show of the year — they aren’t even televised as of now — but they’re a pretty good indicator of what’s to come this awards season. We’ve already got our Emmy ballots filled out but here’s hoping the diversity trend extends to the other big awards shows later this year.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
