TV 90210

I'm not a big fan of the TCA Awards, given out last night, because I think we critics give out awards daily in our reviews. And when everybody says "we" love this or hate that, there's always a bunch of "us" who hate this and love that.

So here are the winners (and the fancy, sort of nebulous, titles, "Individual Achievement in Drama" and so forth, have been shortened):

Best Dramatic Actor: Michael C. Hall Dexter
Best Comedy Actor: Alec Baldwin 30 Rock
Best News and Information Show: Planet Earth
Best Drama: The Sopranos
Heritage Award (for a show that's one of the best of all time): The Sopranos

I agreed with all of those picks, though Minnie Driver (The Riches) could have beaten Hall, and Mary Louise Parker or Elizabeth Perkins from Weeds, or Julia Louis-Dreyfus from The New Adventures of Old Christine could have beaten Baldwin, which is why, as long as they're going to have the awards, they should have separate ones for men and women.

Discovery's Planet Earth, which would have been one of about 20 shows better-suited than Heroes, to win Program of the Year, was also named Best Movie, Miniseries or Special. Spike Lee's HBO show, When the Levees Broke, or even AMC's Broken Trail, would have been better-suited for the prize.

ABC Family's Kyle XY won Best Children's Program, which was a mixed blessing. They'll take the prize, but the network and producers were pretty upset at having the show, aimed at teens and young adults, even considered as a children's program. The critics, in general, don't know that much about children's shows, and they are always scrambling around this award.

The Best New Program was Friday Night Lights, which is sort of interesting since it says that the new show Heroes was good enough to be Program of the Year, but FNL, apparently, was better. The Best New Program actually was The Nine, but everybody forgot about that.

Best Comedy, The Office, is a reasonable pick, but I like Weeds, 30 Rock or even Old Christine better. You can't argue with Mary Tyler Moore for Career Achievement Award; I don't think perennial nominee Bill Moyers will ever get it, and he should.

And, in the really big news, in the silly sort of high-school awards that the critics vote to give to themselves, can you guess which one I won?

Tomorrow, around noon EDT, I'll file an audio report on last night's awards show:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/jonathan_storm/Jonathan_Storm_in_Hollywood.html