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'Friday Night Lights,' 'Game of Thrones' & 'Mad Men' win big at the TCA Awards

Television Critics Association also honors 'Parks and Recreation,' 'Modern Family' and more

'Friday Night Lights,' 'Game of Thrones' & 'Mad Men' win big at the TCA Awards

Many drinks were raised in honor of "Friday Night Lights" at the Television Critics Association Awards.

Credit: NBC

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose: "Friday Night Lights" was named Program of the Year at this year's Television Critics Association Awards.

"Friday Night Lights" won the night's biggest prize, but other shows honored tonight included "Parks and Recreation," "Mad Men," "Modern Family" and "Game of Thrones," among others.

This was the first TCA Award for "FNL" since it won for Outstanding New Program for its first season. It's a show critics love, but it's also been airing during a period of lots of instant-classic dramas. In fact, it wasn't even named best drama by the critics this year, as that prize went to "Mad Men."(*)

(*) Before everybody asks how this is possible, I will say two things: 1)The nominating and voting process is structured in a way that often leads to seemingly-odd results like this, and 2)Program of the Year isn't necessarily viewed as the pure "best" show of the year. "Glee," for instance, was named Program of the Year last year, and an argument could be made that it was deserved based on its impact on the culture, even though other shows won the comedy and drama series awards. Think of it as the never-ending argument in baseball over whether the MVP should go to the player with the best statistical season or to someone who filled a more nebulous definition of "valuable."

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"Mad Men" won for Outstanding Achievement in Drama, and Jon Hamm won his first Individual Achievement in Drama award - a result that will hopefully repeat itself at the Emmys this fall.

"Modern Family" won for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy(**), and that show's Ty Burrell tied with "Parks and Recreation" co-star Nick Offerman - who also hosted this year's TCA Awards - for the comedy individual award.

(**) And, yes, that's the one result I strongly disagree with - less because of "Modern Family" than because "Parks and Rec" was nominated in that category - but that's the way it goes when you participate in a group award. Not everyone's taste is the same.

"Game of Thrones" was named our Outstanding New Program, while the Steven Moffat-written "Sherlock" update won the Oustanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials.

This was the TCA's first year with a reality series award, which was won by "The Amazing Race" (just as "Race" kept winning that Emmy category after it was created). The National Geographic Channel documentary "Restrepo" - co-directed by Sebastian Junger and the late Tim Hetherington (who died while covering the civil war in Libya) - won for Outstanding Achievement in News and Information, while "Sesame Street" won the Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming award.

The TCA has two institutional history awards, one for individuals (Career Achievement Award), one for shows (Heritage Award). The former went to Oprah Winfrey, the latter to "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

These results were embargoed until now (the ceremony should be wrapping up just as this publishes), and I'll try to post some highlights from the event tomorrow.

UPDATE: And my highlights are here.

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  • Default-avatar

    skint

    Woohoo Modern Family won! Although I expect a lot of readers of this column will vehemently disagree but whatever ;)

    Happy for Ty Burrell too! Congrats to Nick Offerman, Friday Nights Lights, Mad Men, Game of Thrones too

    August 7, 2011 at 12:38AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Fireflame94

    Why did Sherlock win in the Miniseries category, as it is a continuing show? Wouldn't it make more sense to create some sort of best Foreign TV series category?

    August 7, 2011 at 1:16AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Anderson

    So excited "Sherlock" got some love. It's a great show, a personal favorite in fact, but I feel it is being overlooked, maybe due to its extremely short season. Nevertheless, I appreciate it being honored by the TCA. I respect their opinions and final judgments far more than those of the Emmys.

    Also, I'm happy to see "The Dick Van Dyke Show" get some recognition. It is still one of my favorite comedies of all time.

    August 7, 2011 at 2:24AM EST Reply to Comment
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    brettb3

    Very happy for FNL. Obviously it's never had the ratings success or pop culture buzz of a show like Glee, so I would assume most of the critics who voted for it did so based purely on its quality. Great sendoff for the show.

    August 7, 2011 at 2:44AM EST Reply to Comment
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    SomeGuy

    I hate how Parks and Recreation isn't getting the recognition it deserves...both season 2 and season 3 were exceptionally, consistently brilliant, and I fear that the show has nowhere to go but down. Was definitely better than Modern Family.

    And Game Of Thrones was better than Mad Men. I thought it was MM's weakest season yet.

    August 7, 2011 at 3:10AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Joe007ofrockk

    Sepinwall, you have to at least say Burrell kinda deserved that award (well, second to Offerman

    August 7, 2011 at 11:22AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Midnight_run_mca255950_talkback_profile

      sepinwall I have no problems with Burrell. (Though Vergara would've been my choice to nominate from that show.) He wasn't as good as Offerman, but he was very funny, and he didn't prevent Offerman from also winning.

      August 7, 2011 at 11:35AM EST
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    michael

    Did any women win awards? or did Oprah win in representation of women everywhere?

    August 7, 2011 at 11:47AM EST Reply to Comment
    • 2006_11_cafe_du_monde_beignets_talkback_profile

      jurassica Wiki tells me that in the 15 years it's been going on, women have won in the Drama category twice, and the Comedy category 4 times. Typically nominees are split 3-2 men outnumbering women, and there have been several times no women were nominated.

      This is a big reason I for one would not want to see other awards consolidate male and female performances - it tends to result in women getting under-nominated and under-rewarded.

      Last year two women won (Marguiles and Lynch), but it's still upsetting to see that kind of track record. Is the best male performance on TV really better than the best female performance THAT many times over that many years? Something to think about.

      August 8, 2011 at 12:56AM EST
    • Madmenmac_talkback_profile

      WeebeysPlasticFish I don't think it's the performances so much as it is the roles. There are a lot more good male roles than female.

      August 8, 2011 at 2:06AM EST
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      webdiva I'm not sure it really matters what the reason is; the bottom line is that the women actors are getting screwed -- again -- by the consolidation of categories.

      August 9, 2011 at 1:18AM EST
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    tim_isola

    How could GLee win program of the year for a critics award? By design, shouldnt these awards be for the truly great shows, not encumbered by what the mass idiots prefer? Thats dissapointing.....FNL is very enjoyable, but that should of gone to Mad Men or Justified. FNL has too many flaws...great big emotional uplifting moments, but far from a top echelon drama.

    August 7, 2011 at 4:36PM EST Reply to Comment
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      brettb3 Uh, no. FNL is absolutely top notch, and wholly deserved the award.

      August 8, 2011 at 2:08AM EST
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      Col Bat Guano I think FNL easily qualifies as top echelon.

      August 8, 2011 at 2:57AM EST
    • Its a "B" level show. Id rank it in the same catteogory as Men of a certain Age, stuff like that. Its not in Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Deadwood territory.....I like it, but theres plenty about it i find irritating and ridiculous....Thats just how i feel about it.

      August 8, 2011 at 2:53PM EST
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      brettb3 To each their own.

      August 8, 2011 at 4:52PM EST
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    webdiva

    So: once again, Treme got ignored and a whole bunch of women actors got shafted, is that it?? Idiots. I suppose I should be thankful they noticed anything from PBS at all. Hmmmm ... no, on second thought, NOT -- that's not enough to make up for the huge structural flaws of the TCA's system. They suck.

    August 9, 2011 at 1:22AM EST Reply to Comment
Alan Sepinwall

About This Blog

All through his childhood, Alan Sepinwall's relatives told his parents, "All that boy does is watch television! How's he going to make a living doing that?" His career as a TV critic has been 15 years and counting of his attempt to answer their concerns. "What's Alan Watching" is a blog whose title is self-explanatory: Alan watches TV shows, then writes about what he watched. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

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