Category-by-Category: Announcing the 2024 TCA Awards Nominees

I only have four days to vote so make your voice heard ASAP

If the TCA Awards were televised, we never would have gotten Amy Poehler pirouetting across the stage to mimic Boo the Bunhead in 2013

Back in 2013, I was an “associate member” of the Television Critics Association, a distinction that had existed on the books for years but had never actually been utilized. As someone who straddled the worlds of criticism and academia, it seemed like the perfect way for me to become involved with the organization when I wasn’t a full-time critic, but I think everyone involved can agree that the very idea of a “second tier” of membership was disruptive in ways no one was fully prepared for. Case in point: while I was ineligible for voting in the 2013 TCA Awards, I nonetheless received a ballot link in my inbox.

I didn’t vote, because I am an honest person—it’s a good thing, too, since we discovered after the fact my vote would have broken a tie in Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. But now that I’m a full-fledged member of the TCA, it means this is my first year as a voting member, and thus the first time I’ll be helping decide who the TCA honors out of this year’s nominees, which were announced today.

If you’re reading this newsletter but have never heard of the TCA Awards, that’s somewhat by design. Whereas the ostensibly “competing” Critics’ Choice Awards have worked to leverage broadcast rights as a way to maximize the visibility of their tastemaking, the TCA has been consistent (if not always, to be honest, united) in their desire to do things their own way. The TCA Awards are not televised, and they’re also streamlined to a fairly small number of categories that fail to “line up” with what the Emmys will be handing out in the fall.

The event itself—which I’ll write about next month as part of my next set of Press Tour reports—ends up having a very different vibe from a typical award show. Only the winners are present, and the absence of TV cameras means that it doesn’t up feeling like the winners are just warming up for an Emmys speech a few months later. The nominees, meanwhile, aren’t necessarily as different as you might expect: in part because this is a weird awards year with a lack of incumbents, I fully expect the vast majority of the TCA’s choices in major categories will be in the Emmy conversation.

But let’s get into the categories one-by-one as I think about my own decisions and we hear what the community has to say. To learn more about each category’s history, you can find a complete catalog of winners on the TCA website.

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Program of the Year

• “Baby Reindeer” - Netflix

• “The Bear” - FX

• “Hacks” - HBO | Max

• “Reservation Dogs” - FX

• “Ripley” - Netflix

• “Shōgun” - FX

Okay, so just so we’re clear: No one really knows what Program of the Year is actually for. My personal philosophy is that rather than just being “the best show of any genre/categorization,” Program of the Year should go to the show that feels the most significant in one way or another to the year in television and to television in general. Do I think that’s dramatically different than how I’ll make my choice in other categories? No, but it helps me get a grip on a category that has always confounded me. It also gives you a sense of which shows in the Genre categories have the most support. I’d be shocked if a show that isn’t on this list walked away Drama, Comedy, or Movies/Miniseries. But either way, I’m thrilled to see Reservation Dogs get recognition in the “biggest” category for the first time, even if I still consider it an underdog.

Outstanding Achievement in Comedy

• “Abbott Elementary” - ABC (2022 Winner in Category)

• “The Bear” - FX (2023 Winner in Category)

• “Girls5eva” - Netflix

• “Hacks” - HBO | Max

• “Reservation Dogs” - FX

• “We Are Lady Parts” - Peacock

I’ll be curious to see how this one shakes out: the fact that Hacks made it into the Program of the Year race means that this is probably a two-horse race with The Bear, with the former definitely having recency in its favor. Hacks has also never won before, which seems like it might help the show if there’s any kind of sentiment within the organization regarding The Bear’s status as a comedy (more on that in this week’s forthcoming newsletter).

Outstanding Achievement in Drama

• “Baby Reindeer” - Netflix

• “Fallout” - Prime Video

• “Fargo” - FX

• “Ripley” - Netflix

• “Shōgun” - FX

• “True Detective: Night Country” - HBO | Max

Okay, rant time: it’s dumb that no fewer than three limited series are nominated in both Drama and Miniseries (four if we count True Detective, which is competing as a Limited Series but missed a nomination in that category here). Look, I understand: as we’ll get to in a second, the TCA Awards’ individual achievement categories include all types of shows, and so voters are simply interpreting drama here as a vibe, and not as its actual meaning of “ongoing drama series.” But I am hopeful that clearer heads prevail when we get to the actual voting, where I would hope that one of the two actual ongoing drama series will win (even if, yes, one of them was a limited series until three weeks ago). Notably absent, though, is presumed Emmy frontrunner The Crown.

Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries or Specials

• “Baby Reindeer” - Netflix

• “The Fall of the House of Usher” - Netflix

• “Fargo” - FX

• “Fellow Travelers” - Showtime

• “Ripley” - Netflix

• “The Sympathizer” - HBO | Max

I kind of wish at least one movie could have snuck in here—it’s been over a decade since the last TV movie win (Behind the Candelabra at my first TCA Awards in 2013), and only a handful—see: Weird last year—have managed nominations in recent years. But this feels like a pretty easy coronation for Baby Reindeer, based on its Program of the Year nomination.

Outstanding New Program

• “Baby Reindeer” - Netflix

• “Fallout” - Prime Video

• “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” - Prime Video

• “Ripley” - Netflix

• “Shōgun” - FX

• “X-Men '97” - Disney+

Returning to my soap box for a moment: a “new series” award should be reserved for returning series, as its goal is to acknowledge the future potential of the shows in question. So I’m immediately disqualifying the limited series in contention, and would encourage my fellow members to do the same on principle. (Watchmen is the only Limited Series to ever actually win this award, for the record, and I’d have voted against it there too).

Individual Achievement in Drama

• Jodie Foster, “True Detective: Night Country” - HBO | Max

• Richard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer” - Netflix

• Hiroyuki Sanada, ”Shōgun” - FX

• Anna Sawai, “Shōgun” - FX

• Andrew Scott, “Ripley” - Netflix

• Juno Temple, “Fargo” - FX

While I am taking some principled stances in the interest of category logic above, there’s nothing more subjective than acting awards that operate independent of gender/type of series/type of role. There’s not a lot of diversity on the latter front this year, with zero supporting players, which returns to an ongoing debate—while I think no one within the TCA would argue against dividing performers by gender in this climate, there’s maybe a case that the first year since 2019 without a single “supporting” performer (by Emmy categorization) could signal a potential opening. Regardless, if there’s anyone I’m openly campaigning for, it’s Anna Sawai.

Individual Achievement in Comedy

• Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary” - ABC (2022 Winner in Category)

• Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear” - FX

• Renée Elise Goldsberry, “Girls5eva” - Netflix

• Devery Jacobs, “Reservation Dogs” - FX

• Jean Smart, “Hacks” - HBO | Max (2021 Winner in Category)

• Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear” - FX

If you’re wondering where last year’s winner is, Poker Face season two is still M.I.A., so we’re left with a showdown between the previous two winners plus the two Bear leads. I’m a little surprised that anyone would nominate the very good Allen White over Ebon Moss-Bachrach given that the latter gives the performance on the show that’s most often played for laughs, but I suppose there’s just a clear bias toward leads when it comes to these categories. (There’s also a definite advantage to being a multi-hyphenate, re: Brunson—lots of those in the category’s history).

Outstanding Achievement in News and Information

• “America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston” - PBS

• “Frontline” - PBS (Eight-time Winner in Category)

• “The Jinx: Part Two” - HBO | Max

• “Queens” - Nat Geo

• “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” - ID

• “Telemarketers” - HBO | Max

I’m not saying this to imply some type of collusion, but in a category where some critics may not have a lot of insight (given that it may fall outside their beat), it’s telling to see Queens show up here after a panel and off-site premiere as part of February’s Winter Press Tour. Sometimes putting a show in front of people who might not find it otherwise lets them gain a better understanding for what it has to offer—in that case, it was a traumatizing story of an injured mother bear trying to keep her cubs alive that I’m still scarred by. A good reminder of what some networks/channels/streaming services miss out on by skipping TCA entirely.

Outstanding Achievement in Variety, Talk or Sketch

• “The Daily Show” - Comedy Central (2004 Winner in News & Information ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’)

• “Jimmy Kimmel Live!" - ABC

• “John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA” - Netflix

• “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" - HBO | Max (2021, 2019 & 2018 Winner in Category, and in 2015 Winner in News & Information)

• “Late Night with Seth Meyers” - NBC

• “Saturday Night Live” - NBC

Full disclosure: I’m voting for Mulaney because the (most likely to win) alternatives have all won too many awards.

Outstanding Achievement in Reality

• “The Amazing Race” - CBS (2011 & 2022 Winner in Category)

• “Conan O'Brien Must Go” - HBO | Max

• “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show” - HBO | Max

• “The Traitors” - Peacock

• “Top Chef” - Bravo

• “We're Here” - HBO | Max

• “Welcome to Wrexham” - FX

Look, I’m open to lots of these nominees, but I’m on the record that The Traitors tapped into a really rich vein of reality programming in its second U.S. season, and the idea that The Amazing Race’s Emmys intertia could carry over into the TCA Awards in this climate is not something I can stomach.

Outstanding Achievement in Family Programming

• “Doctor Who” - Disney+

• “Heartstopper” - Netflix

• “My Adventures with Superman” - Adult Swim

• “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” - Disney+

• “Renegade Nell” - Disney+

• “X-Men '97” - Disney+

So, this category is new—Ms. Marvel was its first recipient last year—because for years there was a tug-of-war in the Youth Programming category between “use it for actual kids shows” and “let’s use it as an excuse to award shows ostensibly aimed at teens that adults mostly like” for years in the category, the latter of which led to me meeting multiple Bunheads. Probably the category that I find the hardest to predict, although I’d maybe quibble with the idea that X-Men ‘97 is for “families.”

Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming

• “Bluey” - Disney+ (2023 Winner in Category)

• “Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood” - PBS KIDS (2016 Winner in Youth Category)

• “Frog and Toad” - Apple TV+

• “Pokémon Concierge” - Netflix

• “Sesame Street” - HBO | Max (2018, 2011 & 2001 Winner in Youth Category)

• “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin” - Apple TV+

Bluey was too big a story this year to think it won’t keep winning this new category until it fails to air new episodes in an eligibility period.

Career Achievement and Heritage Awards

There’s no nominees for these awards, at least not publicly—we were asked to submit multiple options, and we will ultimately choose a winner out of a group of finalists. Definitely lots of compelling names and narratives, although I’d again say that the idea of the “Heritage Award”—honoring a series that has either been over for five years or been running for a long time—is a complicated one that I’ll be curious to see voters define in their selections.

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Got any strong feelings about these nominations, or what’s missing? Let’s discuss in the comments, and you can tune back in to learn about the year’s winners and hear about the award ceremony you can’t watch here at Episodic Medium—the Awards will be held July 12.