June is one of
the more prominent months for award nominations for television, which is
logical as the eligibility period for the Emmy nominations ends on the last day
of May. It increasingly seems like more organizations want to get in on the action
with good reason.
Another relative
recent contender throwing its hat into the ring are the African-American TV
awards which were established in 2018. Considering that when I learned about
Image Awards for TV just a few years ago I was immediately impressed by the
caliber of their nominations I felt it was worth taking a look at the winners
for 2025 which were announced this past weekend.
Like many film
critics organizations the African-American TV awards doing something that most
television awards group do not: they give a top ten list of the best programs
of the year just past. It is understandable that other organization don’t do
this (though the Peabodys do come close) so it’s worth taking a look. Here are
the top ten TV shows of the 2024-2025 season according to the African-American
Critics:
1.
Forever
2.
Paradise
3.
Cross
4.
Harlem
5.
Bel-Air
6.
Power Book: Raising Kanan
7.
Dope Thief
8.
The Bear
9.
The Chi
10. Abbott
Elementary
I’ve actually
heard of all ten of these shows, which is not always the case with some of the
other awards shows I follow. The Bear and Abbott Elementary will
almost certain be among the major contenders for Outstanding Comedy Series but
anyone who’s watched either knows this is a given. Paradise continues to
move through the lead-up to the Emmys in recognition and it very well may end
up contending for awards down the road.
Of the remaining
seven nominees, only Dope Thief is a legitimate contender for
nominations in a month’s time, having already earned nominations from the Astras
and the Gotham TV awards as well. All of the remaining nominees are major
contenders about awards groups like the Images but are fundamentally unlikely
to contend. The one wild card at this juncture may be Forever which does
have some buzz attached to it at both the Gotham TV awards and a few other
places.
Now let’s move
to the winners
Best Drama: Paradise
Best Comedy: Harlem
Best Actor:
Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
Best Actress:
Kathy Bates, Matlock
Best Writing:
Forever
Best
Director: Anthony Hemingway, Thembi Banks, Mara Brock Akil & Regina King, Forever
Breakthrough
Talent: Skye P. Marshall, Matlock
Best Limited
Series: The Big Cigar
Best TV
Movie: The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can Eat
Best
Ensemble: Bel-Air
There were awards
for documentary and reality show but since they don’t fall under my purview I
omitted them.
I must say I’m
slightly surprised to see Kathy Bates here for Matlock but maybe that
means that, like the Image awards, race is not always the determining factor
for nominees. Skye P. Marshall has received multiple nominations for her superb
work on Matlock and her chances of a nomination for Best Supporting
Actress are improving by the day. I mentioned Paradise’s chances of
nominations above and Sterling K. Brown is quickly becoming a heavy favorite
for Best Actor in a Drama.
It is conceivable
Paradise will receive a nomination from the directing branch – it’s
always hard to know what that group will do. Harlem and Bel-Air have
no realistic chance at a nomination for comedy, sad to say. The Big Cigar doesn’t
have much of a chance for a nomination for Limited Series given the field. But
given the amount of nominations from various sources, there is at least a
possibility Supremes may earn a nomination for Best TV Movie.
Earlier last
month I went through the Golden Trailer Awards which have just started giving
awards for TV trailers as well as films. I don’t think they’ll have any
influence on the Emmys but they did give their awards this past week, so for
the sake of completeness I’ll go over the winners here.
The big winner
for television was Severance which won for Horror/Thriller, Music, Most
Original Trailer/Teaser and Best Digital. The big winner for Comedy was The
Studio which took Best Comedy Spot. Squid Game Season 2 took a Best Horror
nomination while Shogun won for Best Drama TV Spot. Best Viral Campaign
went to Only Murders in the Building while Best BTS/EPK for TV went to Slow
Horses. Poster awards went to Only Murders, Squid Game, The Studio and
The Last of Us. Best Billboard went to Abbott Elementary. Innovative
Advertising was won by Black Mirror . There were also wins for Arcane
and Forever, The Sticky and the second seasons of House of The
Dragon and Rings of Power.
It doesn’t take
a genius to see that the overwhelming majority of these shows will be
contending for Emmys in a few weeks’ time but I think that could be told based
on the quality of the series rather than the advertising campaign for them. It
should be noted that Squid Game 2 and House of The Dragon’s odds
have been dropping in the various awards groups over the last few months. Still
you have to have some admiration for a group that will include such more or
less traditional series as Forever and Slow Horses along with the
heavy action based dramas that are more certain to draw in viewers with ad campaigns.
My next entry in
this series will be next week when I do my usual best to try and predict the
winners of the Astra Awards. Perhaps I will be lucky and actually get to see
them next Tuesday. Hell, maybe they’ll even happen on schedule. Either way I’ll
deal with them next week.
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