Samantha Bee thanked the TV Critics Association “for letting people know they should watch our little show – and can you please give us a 15 minute warning when you turn on us” as she picked up the best news and information program trophy for TBS’s Full Frontal.
“And now, I will take all of your questions on how I achieve work-life balance,” she joked, in a nod to the line of questions she gets from critics as one of few women headlining a late-night show.
Meanwhile, Sarah Paulson, awarded the TCA Awards‘ Best Drama – Individual Achievement win for her portrayal of head prosecutor Marcia Clark in FX’s The People V. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, said it was an honor to have been nominated in the category which, because it made no distinction of gender, made the nod particularly meaningful, “not to mention refreshing.”
She thanked the TV critics saying, “I know you all watch every goddamned thing on television and, given the insane volume of content I want to thank you for your service.”
Her win was one of three TCA Awards handed to The People V OJ Simpson, which was named Best Movie/Mini/Special and Best Program.
“I am so thrilled to be back in your good graces,” EP Ryan Murphy said of that third win.
FX’s TCA tally also includes a second consecutive Best Drama win for spy thriller The Americans.
USA’s first-year hacker series Mr. Robot was crowned Best New Program, and Netflix’s controversial docu-series Making a Murderer won for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming.
ABC’s Black-ish, which had the most spirited Q&A of the summer’s TCA to date, nabbed the award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy.
“So, the white guy is accepting for Black-ish,” joked EP Jonathan Groff, explaining that Kenya Barris had family commitments. “Look how far we’ve come as a people.”
Rachel Bloom, star of The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, claimed the award for Individual Achievement in Comedy.
“All these famous people! Hello, famous people! Do you look in the mirror and do ‘I’m famous? I hope you do.” Noting how many other languages had been spoken earlier in the ceremony by the night’s host, CW’s Jane the Virgin star Jaime Camil, not to mention a couple of the TV critics, one of whom said she was just showing off, Bloom said, “all of my ancestors stopped speaking Yiddish because they were afraid, and ashamed.”
And the PBS animated series Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood won the TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming.
The TCA also handed its annual Heritage Award to CBS’ ’70s sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Lily Tomlin was awarded a Career Achievement Award for a TV legacy that includes roles in Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The West Wing, Murphy Brown, The Magic School Bus and Grace and Frankie.
TV critics, Tomlin observed, are more giving than lot of critics out there. “No one here, that I know of, has ever referred to me as horse-faced. There was a critic, he was a Broadway critic – he is no more – but he referred to me three times as if Horseface was my middle name.”
The results were determined from votes cast by the TCA’s membership, comprised of more than 220 professional TV critics and journalists from the United States and Canada.
Here is the full TCA Award winners list:
Individual Achievement in Drama: Sarah Paulson (THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON: AMERICAN CRIME STORY, FX)
Individual Achievement in Comedy: Rachel Bloom (CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, The CW)
Outstanding Achievement in News and Information: FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE (TBS)
Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming: MAKING A MURDERER (Netflix)
Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming: DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD (PBS)
Outstanding New Program: MR. ROBOT (USA)
Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials: THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON: AMERICAN CRIME STORY (FX)
Outstanding Achievement in Drama: THE AMERICANS (FX) – second consecutive year
Outstanding Achievement in Comedy: BLACK-ISH (ABC)
Career Achievement Award: Lily Tomlin
Heritage Award: THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW (CBS)Program of the Year: THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON: AMERICAN CRIME STORY (FX)
Must Read Stories
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.