The winners for the 11th Critics Choice TV Awards were revealed Sunday, March 7 on CW in a ceremony hosted once again by Taye Diggs. (See the full winners list for film and television.) Heading into the evening, Netflix dramas “Ozark” and “The Crown” were the overall nominations leaders with six apiece, followed by “Lovecraft Country,” “Mrs. America,” “Schitt’s Creek” and “What We Do in the Shadows” at five each. The members of the Broadcast Television Journalists Association rubber-stamped many of last week’s Golden Globes champs, but there were also more than a few big surprises. See our genre breakdown of all the TV winners below.
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COMEDY
As Gold Derby predicted, Pop’s “Schitt’s Creek” won top prizes for Best Comedy Actress (Catherine O’Hara) and Best Comedy Supporting Actor (Daniel Levy). However, the big story of the evening was Apple’s “Ted Lasso” going three-for-three on its nominations, claiming the awards for Best Comedy Series, Best Comedy Actor (Jason Sudeikis) and Best Comedy Supporting Actress (Hannah Waddingham). “Schitt’s Creek” was virtually ignored for its first five years on the air, until it finally hit big with the Emmys and Golden Globes for its heralded final episodes. Conversely, “Ted Lasso” is brand new to the awards scene and now presumably enters the 2021 Emmy season as the de facto front-runner thanks to its victories tonight.
DRAMA
“The Crown” recently dominated the Golden Globes with four wins, more than any other program, and it just repeated those same victories at the Critics Choice Awards: Best Drama Series, Best Drama Actress (Emma Corrin), Best Drama Actor (Josh O’Connor) and Best Drama Supporting Actress (Gillian Anderson). The fourth season of Netflix’s regal drama aired last fall, which means it’ll be eligible at the upcoming Emmy ceremony. The TV Academy has never given Netflix a series trophy, so we could be looking at Emmy history this September if “The Crown” prevails. The last trophy in this genre went to Michael K. Williams (“Lovecraft Country”) for Best Drama Supporting Actor.
TV MOVIE/LIMITED SERIES
Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” took home a pair of trophies for Best Limited Series and Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress for Anya Taylor-Joy, matching its victories from last week’s Globes. The other prizes in this genre were spread out among other deserving programs: “Hamilton” for Best TV Movie, John Boyega (“Small Axe”) for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor, Uzo Aduba (“Mrs. America”) for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress and Donald Sutherland (“The Undoing”) for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor. Of all these winners, only Aduba competed at last year’s Emmys (she won); the others will be eligible at the upcoming ceremony.
OTHER
As for the other non-genre-specific categories, Best Talk Show went to “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Best Comedy Special was a not-so-rare tie between two popular Netflix stand-ups: “Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill” and “Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia.” And Best Short Form Series was awarded to “Better Call Saul: Ethics Training with Kim Wexler” (even though Kim herself Rhea Seehorn lost her acting prize).
