TV: 16th Annual Television Award Winners

The winners for the 16th Annual OFTA Television Awards have been announced.

The most honored program of the year was miniseries/drama series Sherlock which received seven awards including Best Direction and Best Writing in a Movie/Miniseries, Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries for star Benedict Cumberbatch along with four behind-the-scenes prizes in Non-Series Music, Editing, Cinematography and Visual Effects.

The winner of Best Comedy Series was Community which picked up a total of three prizes. Its other awards were for Best Writing and Best Direction of a Comedy Series.

Mad Men won the award for Best Drama Series for the fifth year in a row along with awards for Best Supporting Actress Christina Hendricks, Best Drama Ensemble and Best Writing in a Drama Series. This makes Mad Men the sole title-holder of most honored program in OFTA history.

Although Sherlock dominated the non-series tech awards, the TV movie Game Change took home six awards including the top category prize Best Movie/Miniseries. It also won three of the four acting trophies, losing the fourth to Sherlock. Julianne Moore was named Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries, while Ed Harris and Sarah Paulson took the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for the film. The sixth award went to the shows Makeup and Hairstyling.

The Tony Awards marks its second time atop the Non-Fiction Program category along with an award for its host Neil Patrick Harris. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart won two awards for Best Fiction Program and Best Male Performance in a Fiction Program with the Female counterpart going to Kristen Wiig for her hosting performance of Saturday Night Live. Breaking Bad won two awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series going to Bryan Cranston and Giancarlo Esposito winning Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. The Best Actress in a Drama Series prize went to Claire Danes for her work on Homeland while the guest acting awards went to Michael Gambon in cancelled series Luck and Oscar winner Louise Fletcher for Shameless.

In the Comedy Series categories, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress went to the stars of The Big Bang Theory, Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik respectively. The opposite categories, Best Actress in a Comedy Series and Best Supporting Actor also went to the same series, this time for freshman series New Girl and its stars Zooey Deschanel and Max Greenfield. Michael J. Fox in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Dot-Marie Jones in Glee won the Guest Acting awards.

For more winners, check out the following link: 16th Television Awards

Hall of Fame

In addition to awarding the best in television across the past season, the members of the Online Film & Television Association annually select ten programs, four performers and three behind the scenes artists to induct into their Hall of Fame. Below are this year’s recipients:

Programs

  • American Bandstand (1952-1989) – This music-performance series is frequently credited by musicians, disc jockeys and other prominent music professionals as one of their key inspiration for becoming musical artists. The show, hosted from 1956 until the end by the eternal teenager Dick Clark, launched a number of musical acts and introduced hundreds of artists to American audiences.
  • The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971) – A series that focused on the fish out of water lives of a backwoods family who strike it rich when they discover oil on their property, the show was a popular fixture on CBS and was the number one series for two seasons and was in the top ten five of its nine seasons.
  • The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) – One of the first series on television dealing with divorce, remarriage, marital relations and a large, unwieldy family, The Brady Bunch gained its popularity through syndication where it flourished as an after school delight and became a fixture of the American way of life.
  • Gilligan’s Island (1964-1967) – Although it was modestly popular during its three-year run on CBS, Gilligan’s Island took on a new level of popularity in syndication where, like The Brady Bunch, it played after school and inspired millions of children.
  • Laverne & Shirley (1976-1983) – One of the earliest secondary spin-offs in television history, Laverne & Shirley placed in the top 3 for its first four series, taking the number one spot on the list for seasons three and four. It’s immense popularity led to other spin-off shows and became a staple of television history, being one of the first to showcase women working in the male-dominated factory industry.
  • Law & Order (1990-2010) – Running for 19 seasons, Law & Order combined the cop show genre with the courtroom drama series and took its stories straight from the headlines, lending it a realistic quality. The show had one of the most fluctuating casts in television history, but remained popular until the end spawning no fewer than three spin-off series and inspiring other popular shows of the time to do the same.
  • The Odd Couple (1970-1975) – In its 5 seasons on television, The Odd Couple highlighted the talents of stars Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, both of whom won Emmys for the show in spite of the series low ratings. The show was also one of the few programs to perform better in Summer reruns than it did during its regular broadcast schedule.
  • Sesame Street (1969-) – A popular fixture of PBS television’s children’s programming, Sesame Street is one of the most popular and acclaimed series targeted at young audiences. Teaching kids how to read, write, speak and live alongside those of different backgrounds and nationalities. And after 42 seasons and more than 4,300 episodes, the show continues inspiring kids and adults today.
  • Wide World of Sports (1961-1998) – One of the premier sports programs in the United States, Wide World of Sports brought sports programming to the masses showcasing various sporting events for more than 30 years.
  • The Winds of War (1983) – A sprawling miniseries based on the acclaimed book by Herman Wouk, The Winds of War focused two families and the events that lead to the U.S. entry into World War II.

Acting

  • Bob Hope (1903-2003) – While predominantly known for his work in motion pictures, Bob Hope was a fixture on television from the 1950’s and for nearly fifty years beyond, his Christmas special proving intensely popular. He was also the record-breaking host of the Academy Awards and a number of other television specials along with several anthology series.
  • Agnes Moorehead (1900-1974) – Although Agnes Moorehead had a prominent film career, earning four Oscar nominations, she would become most instantly recognizable as the Endora on the popular television series Bewitched. In addition to playing Endora for the series’ entire 8-year run, Moorehead also featured in prominent roles in a number of anthology series. She earned six Emmy Award nominations for her work on Bewitched.
  • Ed Sullivan (1901-1974) – A prominent newscaster, Sullivan’s largest claim to fame was at the titular head of a variety series that aired on CBS from 1948 through 1971 and introduced a number of acts to the American people including The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, The Jackson 5 and a number of other prominent artists.
  • Robert Young (1907-1998) – Like Moorehead, Young had a prominent career on the big screen before becoming best known for his role on radio & television’s Father Knows Best. Playing the patriarch of the Donahue clan 11 years, he didn’t find success again until 1969 where he played the title role in Marcus Welby, M.D. for seven seasons.

Behind the Scenes

  • Sheldon Leonard (1907-1997) – An actor and producer, Sheldon Leonard is best remembered as producer of the highly popular television series Make Room for Daddy, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show and I Spy among many others.
  • Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) – Before his illustrious big screen career, Lumet began his directing profession in off-broadway and Summer Stock productions before dominating the television landscape. He’s credited with picking legendary newsman Walter Cronkite as host of You Are There and produced hundreds of hours of television for shows like Danger, Playhouse 90 and Kraft Television Theatre.
  • Dick Wolf (1946-) – Originally an advertising copywriter, Dick Wolf began his television career as part of the writing staff of famed cop drama Hill Street Blues for which he received his first Emmy Award. From there, he moved on to produce the popular cop series Miami Vice and now has become best known for his creation of the long-running Law & Order and its spin-off series.

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