The Television Critics Association Announces 2011 TCA Awards Winners
DirecTV/NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” Named Program of The Year HBO’s “Game of Thrones” Wins Outstanding New Program
“Mad Men,” “Modern Family,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Restrepo,” “Sherlock,” “Sesame Street” and “Amazing Race” are honored along with Oprah Winfrey and “The Dick Van Dyke Show”
BEVERLY HILLS, CA (Embargoed until 9 PM PDT/Saturday, August 6, 2011) – The Television Critics Association (TCA) tonight recognized the top programs and actors of the 2010-2011 television season at its 27th Annual TCA Awards presentation. Nick Offerman, star of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” hosted the annual invitation-only event, held at The Beverly Hilton hotel in conjunction with the TCA’s summer press tour. The non-televised ceremony bestowed awards in 12 categories to recipients in comedy, drama, reality, miniseries, news and youth programming.
Members of the TCA, a media organization of more than 200 professional TV critics and journalists from the United States and Canada, voted HBO’s “Game of Thrones” this season’s “Outstanding New Program” and honored the final season of DirecTV/NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” with its award for “Program of The Year.”
Winning its second consecutive TCA Award, ABC’s “Modern Family” took home the award for “Outstanding Achievement in Comedy.” AMC’s “Mad Men” received the award for “Outstanding Achievement in Drama,” its third in this category, having previously won the distinction in 2008 and 2009.
The award for “Individual Achievement in Drama” went to actor Jon Hamm (Don Draper, of AMC’s “Mad Men”) while actor/host Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson, of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation”) shared the honor of “Individual Achievement in Comedy” with fellow actor Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy, of ABC’s “Modern Family”).
While PBS Masterpiece’s “Sherlock” emerged victorious in the category of “Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials,” CBS’s “Amazing Race” received the organization’s first award for “Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming.”
The TCA also recognized PBS’s “Sesame Street” with an award for “Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming,” and the National Geographic Channel documentary “Restrepo” received top honors for “Outstanding Achievement in News & Information.”
In addition to recognizing the year’s finest programming, the TCA bestowed a Heritage Award on CBS’s former series “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-66) for the cultural and social impact the program has had on society. Carl Reiner, the show’s creator and the recipient of the 2003 TCA Career Achievement Award, was on hand to receive the honor alongside series actors Rose Marie and Larry Mathews.
The non-profit organization also presented Oprah Winfrey with a Career Achievement Award for her influence through 25 seasons of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
2011 TCA Award recipients are as follows:
- Individual Achievement in Drama: Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” AMC)
- Individual Achievement in Comedy: Ty Burrell (“Modern Family,” ABC) and Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation,” NBC)
- Outstanding Achievement in News and Information: “Restrepo” (National Geographic Channel)
- Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming: “Amazing Race” (CBS)
- Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming: “Sesame Street” (PBS)
- Outstanding New Program: “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
- Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials: “Masterpiece: Sherlock” (PBS)
- Outstanding Achievement in Drama: “Mad Men” (AMC)
- Outstanding Achievement in Comedy: “Modern Family” (ABC)
- Career Achievement Award: Oprah Winfrey
- Heritage Award: “The Dick Van Dyke Show”
- Program of the Year: “Friday Night Lights” (DirecTV/NBC)
Contact: Cindy Ronzoni
310.880.1961/@cindyronzoni
[email protected]
ABOUT THE TELEVISION CRITICS ASSOCIATION
The Television Critics Association represents more than 200 journalists writing about television for print and online outlets in the United States and Canada. For 27 years the TCA has honored outstanding achievement in television and enduring contributions to the medium’s heritage through the TCA Awards. Membership in the Television Critics Association is open to full-time TV writers at newspapers, magazines, trade publications, news wire services, news syndicates, and text-based Internet news organizations. For additional information on the TCA, please visit http://www.tvcritics.org. The TCA is also on Facebook and Twitter. To follow the Summer TCA on twitter, tweets are represented with the hashtag #TCAs11.