2019 TCA Awards: ‘Fleabag’ Wins Big, ‘Queer Eye,’ ‘Chernobyl,’ ‘Russian Doll’ & More Score
The 35th Annual Television Critics Association (TCA) Awards were held Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills and there was much love for cable and streaming programs amongst the winners.
The evening, emceed by Desus & Mero, hosts of the Showtime talk show of the same name, brought out winners — in 13 distinct categories — for the 2018-19 television season as determined by votes that the TCA’s broad network of more than 200 professional television critics and journalists from the United States and Canada cast. Including those awards are the prestigious Hereditary Award and Lifetime Achievement Award.
This year, it was Amazon’s British comedy Fleabag that grabbed the most awards with three wins for Program of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Comedy and star/creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge won the Individual Achievement in Comedy honor, as well. Tying Amazon’s three wins was HBO, which grabbed the Outstanding Achievement In Movie Or Miniseries for its co-production with Sky, Chernobyl, as well as Outstanding Achievement In News And Information for the controversial Michael Jackson exposé Leaving Neverland and Outstanding Achievement In Sketch/Variety Show for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver which is the second year the program has won this particular award.
Other notable award winners including freshman dramedy, Netflix’s Russian Doll, with the Outstanding New Program award, Michelle Williams‘ win for playing dancer/actress Gwen Verdon in FX’s Fosse/Verdon and winning for the second time for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming, Netflix’s Queer Eye. AMC’s Better Call Saul also won for Outstanding Achievement in Drama.
For the Heritage Award, HBO’s Deadwood received the award for completely redefining the Western genre for modern audiences. Deadwood‘s creator, David Milch, also walked home with the Lifetime Achievement Award for writing on NBC’s Hill Street Blues and also working on the ABC’s groundbreaking police drama, NYPD Blue.
Fosse/Verdon (Credit: Pari Dukovic/FX)
“A self-lacerating examination of the intersection of love and faith, explorations of private trauma both scripted and unscripted, tales of personal transformation both uplifting and tragic, period explorations of creativity and avoidable tragedy, this year’s TCA Awards winners are united in how different and how ambitious they are,” said TCA President, Daniel Fienberg (THR). “This is an exciting time for television and there’s no single formula for excellence, as our honorees include reputation restoring biopics, female-driven half-hours, the rare spinoff to equal its illustrious predecessor and a piece of difficult-to-watch history that couldn’t feel more vital and relevant, making for a special TCA Awards night.”
2019 TCA Award Recipients
- Individual Achievement in Drama: Michelle Williams (Fosse/Verdon, FX)
- Individual Achievement in Comedy: Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Amazon)
- Outstanding Achievement in News and Information: Leaving Neverland (HBO)
- Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming: Queer Eye (Netflix)
- Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming: Arthur (PBS Kids)
- Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
- Outstanding New Program: Russian Doll (Netflix)
- Outstanding Achievement in Movie Or Miniseries: Chernobyl (HBO & Sky)
- Outstanding Achievement in Drama: Better Call Saul (AMC)
- Outstanding Achievement in Comedy: Fleabag (Amazon)
- Program of the Year: Fleabag (Amazon)
- Lifetime Achievement Honoree: David Milch
- Heritage Award: Deadwood (HBO)
