The Critics’ Choice TV Awards, long a better measure of quality on the small screen than the Emmy Awards, unveiled the nominees in this year’s race today, with the final season of FX’s Justified and HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge both leading with five total nominations.
Other big winners include FX’s acclaimed spy drama The Americans, Amazon’s revelatory comedy Transparent, PBS series Wolf Hall (a latecomer to the field that clearly made a big impression), HBO biopic Bessie and CBS stalwart The Good Wife, all with four nominations.
From a different perspective, the most exciting nominations come in the form of the freshman nominees. You’re the Worst, one of my favorite shows of last year, is going up against HBO’s heavy hitters like Veep and Silicon Valley – ahead of its season 2 bow, the nod will certainly do wonders for the series, which FX has shuffled to less-proven sister network FXX. Meanwhile, Best Actor in a Comedy nominees Will Forte and Anthony Anderson both hail from new series (ABC’s Blackish and Fox’s The Last Man on Earth), and there’s also acting representation from ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat, Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Transparent.
There are some intriguing layers to this year’s nominees. ABC submitted American Crime as a limited series, which suggests it will not be returning for a second season. Orange is the New Black, last year’s Comedy winner, is now competing in Drama. And HBO film Nightingale, which hasn’t even aired yet, is nominated in Best Movie Made for Television and Best Actor in a Movie or Limited Series.
Check out the full list of nominees after the page break.
