TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

TV Critics Honor 'Mad Men,' '30 Rock,' SNL Creator, Fey

ADVERTISEMENT

By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 20, 2008

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - A dark, introspective drama about Madison Avenue advertising executives and a comedy about a harried NBC producer took top honors at the Television Critics Association's annual awards ceremony Saturday night.

The AMC freshman series "Mad Men," an evocative drama about the heavy smokers, high rollers and hard drinkers who are selling the American Dream in the 1960s, swept three categories, including Program of the Year, Outstanding New Program of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Drama.

NBC's "30 Rock," a comedy about the inner workings of a network television show, won Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Its star, Tina Fey, was honored for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Comedy.

The "Mad Men" win was the first ever for AMC, which in the past was known as American Movie Classics, home to vintage films. "Mad Men" is also nominated for 16 Emmys.

Fey and "30 Rock" are also nominated for Emmys.

In a ceremony introduced by the legendary Smothers Brothers, AMC, HBO and NBC earned three trophies apiece and PBS came away with two awards.

The HBO miniseries "John Adams" was honored for Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Mini-Series and Specials and its star, Paul Giamatti, won for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Drama.

PBS received two awards in the categories of Outstanding Achievement in News & Information and Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming for "The War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick" and "WordGirl," respectively.

HBO's "The Wire" received the Heritage Award, which recognizes a long-standing program that has had a lasting cultural or social impact.

Among those on hand at the Beverly Hilton to accept were Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, Paul Giamatti, David Simon, Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks.

The Career Achievement award went to Lorne Michaels, creator and longtime producer of "Saturday Night Live."

Walt Belcher

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT