“Game of Thrones” and “Breaking Bad” Share Critics’ Choice Love as a New Drama Queen is Crowned

If youamp8217ve not yet heard the name Tatiana Maslany much less seen her work you are certainly not alone The Canadian actress stars in the as yet littleseen BBC America drama series amp8220Orphan Blackamp8221 a scifi thriller in which she portrays a number of characters with completely different personasThose clones were apparently enough to vault her over the much betterknown nominees Claire Danes Vera Farmiga Elisabeth Moss Julianna Margulies and Keri Russell to be anointed best actress in a drama series at the 3rd annual Criticsamp8217 Choice Television Awards held June 10 at the Beverly Hilton39s International BallroomMembers of the Broadcast Television Journalists Association who vote on the awards full disclosure I am a voting member of the organization had some other surprises to reveal There were not one not two but three ties in highly contested categories including the prestigious trophy for best drama seriesVying for the crown were quotBreaking Badquot AMC quotGame of Thronesamp8221 HBO quotHomelandquot Showtime quotThe Americansquot FX amp8220Downton Abbeyamp8221 PBS and amp8220The Good Wifeamp8221 CBS Notably missing from the list quotMad MenquotVoters in equal measure felt that the Meth King of Albuquerque and the royalty warring to rule Westeros were both deserving of the drama prize declaring a tie and awarding trophies to both amp8220Breaking Badamp8221 and amp8220Game of Thronesamp8221The awards gala was hosted by Retta known for her role on quotParks and Recreationquot and also for humorously live tweeting some of her favorite shows including quotScandalquot and quotThe Walking Deadamp8221The ceremony was not televised but it was streamed live on Ustream Going forward we understand it is being shopped to various TV networks Given all the unpredictable wins unveiled during two and a half hours and the number of comedians who either were honored or were presenters it39s surprising that there wasn39t more bleepworthy material emanating from the stageFor the second year running Bryan Cranston was awarded best actor in a drama Unable to attend the ceremony last year Cranston gave a heartfelt speech explaining the origins of his starring role on amp8220Breaking Badamp8221amp8220Ten years ago I won a part on amp8216The XFilesamp8217 Vince Gilligan was one of the producers and he remembered me from that episodeamp8221 Cranston said and noted that Gilligan was tied up on a postproduction deadline and could not break away to attend the gala amp8220He has been my champion but you the critics were the conduit from us to the viewing publicamp8221Although HBOamp8217s amp8220Behind the Candelabraamp8221 scored the trophy for best movie or miniseries and its star Michael Douglas won for lead actor amp8220American Horror Story Asylumamp8221 nabbed trophies for its two supporting actors Zachary Quinto and Sarah Paulsonamp8220We go to very dark places but Iamp8217ve loved this more than any part Iamp8217ve hadamp8221 Paulson saidElisabeth Moss was the winner for best actress in a movie or miniseries for Sundance Channelamp8217s amp8220Top of the Lakeamp8221 amp8220Iamp8217ve never won an award for acting beforeamp8221 she noted despite numerous nods for her role in amp8220Mad Menamp8221 On the comedy side amp8220The Big Bang Theoryamp8221 scored key wins as best comedy series for supporting actor Simon Helberg and for supporting actress Kaley Cuoco who tied for the trophy with Eden Sher of ABCamp8217s amp8220The Middleamp8221amp8220Iamp8217m used to laughing at Steve Levitanamp8221 said amp8220TBBTamp8217samp8221 cocreator Chuck Lorre referring to amp8220Modern Familyamp8217samp8221 recent string of awards wins amp8220We feel so lucky truly blessed to be doing this show for six yearsamp8221amp8220Helberg is one of the funniest people I knowamp8221 said costar Johnny Galecki who accepted the award on his behalf with the showamp8217s Kunal Nayyar even as it appeared they might keep the trophy to themselves for awhileJulia LouisDreyfus was the criticsamp8217 choice as best actress in a comedy for HBOamp8217s amp8220Veepamp8221 topping a field that included Amy Poehler Lena Dunham Laura Dern Zooey Deschanel and Sutton Foster amp8220Iamp8217ve changed my strategyamp8221 LouisDreyfus said in accepting the prize amp8220I used to ignore what the critics said Now I find them charmingamp8221Louis CK extended his awards run by winning the statue for best actor in a comedy for his eponymous FX show beating fellow funny men Jim Parsons Don Cheadle Jake Johnson Adam Scott and Jeremy SistoAnother hotly contested category was best talk show and perennial favorite amp8220The Daily Show with Jon Stewartamp8221 added another trophy to its case Senior black correspondent Larry Wilmore accepted amp8220I canamp8217t say amp8216screw the criticsamp8217 anymore Theyamp8217re actual professionals recognizing a show with fake journalistsamp8221 he saidIn the reality categories another tie was announced when both amp8220Push Girlsamp8221 and amp8220Duck Dynastyamp8221 were announced as the criticsamp8217 choices for best reality series In the reality series competition category it was amp8220The Voiceamp8221 that got the most votes in the competitionamp8220Itamp8217s been a great rideamp8221 said host Carson Daly who raced over to the Beverly Hilton from a live show of amp8220The Voiceamp8221 shooting at Universal amp8220Iamp8217m a radio guy I worked at MTV Iamp8217m a music nut and to be here with all of you celebrated people I feel like I should say amp8216Iamp8217ll bring your car aroundamp8217amp8221amp8220Archeramp8221 took the animated series prize amp8220I just want to thank Lorne Michaelsamp8221 said one of its voices Chris Parnell formerly of amp8220SNLamp8221 even as one of his castmates tried to use the trophy in a lewd and lascivious mannerBut the comedic king of the night crown belonged to Bob Newhart who was feted with the Criticsamp8217 Choice Television Icon Award presented by another television legend Henry Winkler who introduced a montage of Newhartamp8217s comedic situations over the decadesIn a moving speech which he first announced was the wrong one Newhart paid tribute to his wife of 50 years Ginny amp8220When we got married she was an extra on amp8216Ozzie and Harrietamp8217 She was the one who said amp8216yeahamp8217 when asked if they wanted to have Ricky sing another songamp8221 he said as a camera cutaway showed her wiping away tearsAnd may there be many more songs for you to sing Mr NewhartHillary Atkin is the editor and publisher of The Atkin Report wwwatkinreportcom and has written extensively on media and entertainment for USA Today the Los Angeles Times Daily and Weekly Variety The Hollywood Reporter TelevisionWeek Entertainment Weekly The New York Observer and LA Confidential She is an awardwinning journalist who began her career as a television news writer reporter and producer As a broadcast producer at KCBS in Los Angeles she won numerous Emmy Associated Press and Golden Mike Awards for live coverage and entertainment special events programming and then produced and directed biographies on Robert Duvall Elizabeth Montgomery Linda Darnell and Nicolas Cage for AampampE and E She can be reached at hillaryatkinyahoocom Read all Hillary39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Hillary AtkinCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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“Game of Thrones” and “Breaking Bad” Share Critics’ Choice Love as a New Drama Queen is Crowned

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