The Hollywood Critics’ Association TV awards (not to be confused with the film awards, which were in March) are quite the niche affair. The first evening is for broadcast/cable, and separates its programming nominees along those lines (but not the actors, apparently?), and the second night is for streaming. This is ostensibly because there are a hundred articles crying “SNUB!” after every Emmy nomination list comes out, so this is how the voters can tell Melanie Lynskey AND Britt Lower AND Laura Linney (the last two tied) that they’re the best actresses; hand both Sadie Sink AND Rhea Seehorn some (deserved) hardware; and crown Janelle James the best without freezing out Hacks’s Hannah Einbinder. They can have their Abbott Elementary cake and eat Ted Lasso’s, too, and they can pat This Is Us on the back for being a solid broadcast show in an era when that’s not prestige enough for most Emmy voters, while also rewarding fancier joints like Succession and Better Call Saul (a tie) and Severance. In other words, it’s an award show for the indecisive, and as a person who answers a “What’s your favorite…” question with about four different choices, this means it’s EXACTLY my kind of jam.
