Those of you who have
been reading my columns for the last few years know that I’m one of the biggest
boosters of the formerly HCA, now Astras TV awards. Every part of their process
– the way they have nominated series, the nominees, the actual awards themselves
– have made me overjoyed of my choice in a profession.
You might also know
if you’ve read my blog that due to events because of the work stoppage in 2023
they had to postpone their awards for TV until January of 2024 – the day after the Golden Globes and a week
before the Emmys. As a result, almost no one showed up and the awards were
badly mangled. I nevertheless praised the Astras for the awards they eventually
gave and was inclined to write it off to circumstance.
Last July the
nominations came out as scheduled and the awards were scheduled for August 17th.
I wrote my predictions on it the weekend before the Astras were scheduled and
said I’d report on them that Monday.
And then, for reasons
that have yet to be made clear to me – or really anyone – the Astras were
cancelled on that night. They were rescheduled for a day to be named later. By
that point I had gone on to the Emmys and by the time the Emmys actually
occurred I thought it was pointless to keep looking. I did check in every
couple of weeks but around November I gave up and started the concentrate on
next year’s Awards, such as the Golden Globes.
Now because of the
fires that have caused so much havoc and destruction in Los Angeles, such
things as awards show do seem trivial. When the Critics Choice Awards were
pushed back until February 7th I found it difficult to care and have
just being doing my usual thing. And then when I was writing about something
else last night, what should I learn that the Astras for television actually
took place when I watching any more.
Somehow they were
rescheduled and eventually occurred last December 8th mostly in
conjunction with the end of year film awards the organization has been giving
out for a while. I don’t know how it’s possible to stage an awards show when no
one’s looking but somehow the Astras did so.
So in part due to the
purposes of completion as well as a distraction from so much that is going on
in the world, I figured it was worth at least looking at the Astras for TV that
were given and see just how well my predictions came out. I should add I’ve
been trying to find the ceremony on YouTube but to this point I have had no
luck, only able to find excerpts here and there. It does seem like this
particular awards show is having a lot of trouble getting its shit
together for reasons I can’t find online, at least not yet. My guess is I’ll
find out after the fact but for now, let’s just look at the actual awards which
for the second straight year make me sad that I missed them and still prouder
to be a critic.
I’ll start with comedy.
OUTSTANDING
BROADCAST/CABLE COMEDY AWARDS
I was somewhat surprised
to see that Abbott Elementary, the winner the last two years ended up
losing Best Broadcast Comedy award to Ghosts. Then again, I wasn’t that
surprised as Ghosts has managed to be a major nominee and winner
from the Astras the last two years. And considering that Abbott won the
female acting awards for Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph (both of which I
predicted) I suspected it would win for Direction but I miscalculated that writing ending up going to Ghosts as
well.
I said that I thought What
We Do In The Shadows would win Best Cable Comedy and I’m glad it prevailed
over Curb Your Enthusiasm. I’m also glad to see that Alan Tudyk managed
to win for Resident Alien over Larry David who I was certain would prevail.
As for Harvey Guillen winning for What We Do In the Shadows instead of
anyone from Abbott…well, honestly Guillen deserves all the recognition
he can get.
OUTSTANDING STREAMING
COMEDY AWARDS
I accurately predicted
all four winners for acting, though it didn’t take a genius to know that Jeremy
Allan White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach were going to win for The Bear or
that Jean Smart would win her third Best Actress prize for Hacks. Nor
was I stunned by Einbinder’s third consecutive win in this category; the Critics
know how great she is if the Emmys don’t yet. Still I am gladdened that the Astras
did pick Hacks to win Best Comedy; since they made up their minds before
the Emmys took place, they clearly could have gotten more credit for being
accurate. They also accurately foreshadowed how almost every other major award
went down: Jon Bernthal and Jamie Lee Curtis won their Emmys for Guest Actor
and Actress in a comedy; Best Director went to ‘Fishes’ and Best Writing went
to Hacks. If they had aired when they were supposed to the Astras would
have been seen as prophets. Oh well.
OUTSTANDING NETWORK/CABLE
DRAMA
I accurately predicted Will
Trent would win Best Network Drama and that Ramon Rodriguez would win Best
Actor in a Network/Cable Drama. I also foresaw Christine Baranski’s triumph for
her superb work in The Gilded Age. The rest of it…well, this shows the
Astras independent streak.
Law and Order: SVU took Best Actress for
Mariska Hargitay over such impressive cable talent as Carrie Coon and Emma
Stone. It also won Best Director for Hargitay for an episode she directed.
Ernie Hudson deservedly won Best Supporting Actor for his work in Quantum
Leap. (I couldn’t chose a winner in that category.) Best Writing in a
Broadcast or Cable drama went to, of all things, The Cleaning Lady. And
in what is the clearest sign yet of the Astras’ determination to march to their
own drum their choice for Best Cable Drama was Outlander. While I won’t
pretend I agree with this decision, it is keeping with a trend of the Astras of
giving awards to shows that almost every other awards group overlooks. They
demonstrated that clearly when they gave their inaugural Best Drama prize to Cruel
Summer and last year when they gave best Cable Comedy to the revival of Party
Down. Again I wish I could have seen it.
OUTSTANDING STREAMING
DRAMA
For reasons that defy
understanding at least to yon scribe Shogun was listing in streaming. As
you might expect it took the same prizes it did from the Emmys: Outstanding Drama,
Best Actor for Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai won Best Actress.
But the other bigger
winner, surprisingly, was Mr. & Mrs. Smith which took prizes for
directing and writing the pilot and Michaela Coel won Outstanding Guest Actress.
Guest Actor went to Kyle MacLachlan for Fallout a huge shock.
As for Supporting
Acting Billy Crudup did win for The Morning Show but in a huge shock to
me the Astras did not choose to recognize Elizabeth Debicki for The
Crown. (To be fair, they honored her last year.) Instead they chose Greta
Lee for The Morning Show who wasn’t on my – or really anyone’s radar. Good
for the Astras spreading the love around.
OUTSTANDING LIMITED
SERIES
For whatever reason the
Astras essentially didn’t divide between cable and streaming this year as they
have the past two. And this led to some genuinely delightful shocks.
For one thing Baby
Reindeer was the winner of Best Limited Series as I predicted. I also
predicted Gadd would win for Outstanding writing. And interestingly enough I
was on target with more wins that I thought.
I was correct in
guessing the Astras would choose to give Outstanding Actor to Andrew Scott for Ripley
and that Jonathan Bailey would prevail for Fellow Travelers. And
while I predicted that Jodie Foster would win for True Detective, my prevailing choice was for Brie Larson for Lessons
in Chemistry. Imagine by delight to know Larson won.
I was incorrect when I
predicted Jessica Gunning would win for Baby Reindeer. I acknowledged that
this category had a formidable collection of nominees with no bad choices but I
also thought that Lily Gladstone would not have a chance against the
competition. And yet she ended up prevailing for her superb work on Under
the Bridge.
I’m not exactly
overjoyed that Mike Flanagan won Best Directing for The Fall of the House of
Usher; I do believe it should have gone to Steven Zaillian for Ripley who
actually did win the Emmy. But I’m more than willing to let that past given how
accurate I was without knowing it and the superb job overall.
As for the other awards
I basically ignored them the first time around but I am glad to see what did
win. I am glad to know that Best Variety Special went to Dick Van Dyke instead
of SNL or John Oliver. I’m thrilled that Jenny Slate managed to win for
Stand-Up Comedy. I’m still thrilled that a documentary honoring a legendary
comedian won Best Documentary even if it went to one about Steve Martin rather
than Albert Brooks. And I can’t exactly pretend I’m unhappy Ryan Gosling won Best
SNL host over Maya Rudolph – we all had fun when he hosted.
I remain in the
position I was last January: still loving the awards the Astras give up;
frustrated they still can’t get the ceremony to air on time. You’re doing a
great job of making critics like me be glad of our occupations. Now get the
awards done right so we can show everyone how good a job you’re doing, okay?
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