'The Penguin' and Marvel sweep Critics Choice Super Awards

I closed 'Shogun' leads Action Series at the Super Awards with a program note: "That completes my series on the Critics Choice Super Awards nominations. I plan on returning with the winners next month." Here is the press release: Winners Announced For the Critics Choice Association’s 5th Annual “Critics Choice Super Awards” Honoring Superhero, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Horror, and Action Movies and Series.

“The Penguin” was the standout among this year’s television winners, taking home wins in all four of its nominated categories including Best Superhero Series, Limited Series or Made-For-TV Movie. “The Penguin” star Colin Farrell also won Best Actor in a Superhero Series, Limited Series, or Made-For-TV Movie, as well as Best Villain in a Series, Limited Series, or Made-For-TV Movie, while Cristin Milioti was awarded Best Actress in a Superhero Series, Limited Series, or Made-For-TV Movie.

“Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” and “Sinners” lead this year’s film winners, having earned two wins each. “Deadpool & Wolverine” was named Best Superhero Movie, while Hugh Jackman earned Best Actor in a Superhero Movie. “Dune: Part Two” was recognized as Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie, with Timothée Chalamet honored as Best Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” took home Best Action Movie, with its star Tom Cruise winning Best Actor in an Action Movie. In the Horror categories, “Sinners” won Best Horror Movie, and Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor in a Horror Movie.

Since the Critics Choice Association (CCA) showcased the leading television winner first, I'll follow suit with the relevant passages from 'The Last of Us' leads TV nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards.

The most nominated show purely in superhero categories is The Penguin with four, followed by Agatha All Along and The Boys tied with Fallout and The Last of Us at three each and Superman & Lois with two. The Last of Us is almost certainly the favorite, but The Penguin has a very strong chance to upset. It helps that it has great nominated actors.

I was right to call for an upset; The Penguin won.

Pascal will have a much harder time repeating in this category than for horror actor. He's up against Colin Farrell as The Penguin himself...I think Farrell is the favorite to win this award...

As I predicted, Farrell won.

Like Farrell, Cristin Milioti won Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television at the main Critics Choice Awards, won Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series at the Saturn Awards, and leads the Gold Derby odds for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie at this year's Primetime Emmy Awards...my choice is Milioti.

I made the right choice, Milioti won.

I think Farrell is the favorite to win as a villain protagonist...

And he did, winning two Super Awards!

Now for the horror categories in that post.


The Last of Us won Best Superhero Series, Limited Series or Made-For-TV Movie. I implied it was most likely to win when I wrote "True Detective: Night Country [is] my choice to upset The Last of Us..." It didn't, not here. I also wrote "I think Pedro Pascal has [Best Actor in a Horror Series, Limited Series, or Made-For-TV Movie] in the bag." He won. I'm also claiming the next category.

I don't think Bella Ramsey is assured of winning this, despite her carrying the current season. I picked Jodie Foster to win Best Actress in a Television Series at the Saturn Awards and I would have done so in a field with Ramsey. I won't have to, but the Critics Choice Association members do.

As I expected, Foster won Best Actress in a Horror Series, Limited Series, or Made-For-TV Movie.


Now for the superhero movies, which I covered in 'Deadpool & Wolverine' and 'Thunderbolts*' lead movie nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards where I wrote "I think the advantage goes to Deadpool & Wolverine in large part because it already has a Critics' Choice Award for Best Comedy Movie. Remember, electorates matter." It won. I didn't fare as well in the next category, where I called the right movie, but favored the wrong actor: "I think this between Saturn Award winner Jackman and Saturn Award nominee Reynolds, with the edge to Reynolds for being the lead and playing two versions of himself on screen simultaneously. Regardless, whoever wins, Marvel will, too." It went to Jackman.


 Marvel won the next category, which I was even more ambivalent about: "I wouldn't put it past the Critics Choice Association to vote for Lady Gaga to recognize a good performance in a bad film or Pugh as the other female lead nominated, but my personal choice is Emmy winner Corrin, who also earned a nomination for this role in the next category." They voted for Pugh, making this a sweep for (Disney) Marvel.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the winners.

'Shogun' leads Action Series at the Super Awards

I closed 'Severance' leads Science Fiction/Fantasy Series but could lose to 'Andor' at the Super Awards by writing "I have one more genre to cover, Action, which I expect will be a sweep or nearly so for Shogun." Time to follow through.

Shogun leads action nominees with four nominations, one in each category for which it's eligible. It's followed by Black Doves and The Day of the Jackal tied at three, then 9-1-1, Reacher, and The Gentlemen with two apiece. These are all good shows, but Shogun should win easily.


Hiroyuki Sanada has won all the major awards for this role already, so what's one more? Conceivably, Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne or Emmy-winner Sterling K. Brown could upset him, but Redmayne also has a Razzie. Not all of his performances are great.


The same is true of Anna Sawai, although her competition is stiffer on paper. Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, and Zoe Saldaña all have Oscars, even if Bassett's is honorary, Keira Knightley was nominated for two Oscars, and Lashana Lynch won a BAFTA Award. Sawai's most prestigious awards are an Emmy and a Golden Globe for this role; she didn't win the main Critics Choice Award for this role, losing to Kathy Bates. Fortunately, Bates isn't nominated here — Knightley is — so my reminder that electorates matter still applies.

For the final time, I'm revisiting a category I covered in 'The Last of Us' leads TV nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards.

I think Farrell is the favorite to win as a villain protagonist, but my favorite villain I love to hate is Michael Emerson from Evil. I'm glad I got to boo him again as a guest star in his wife's show Elsbeth. That was fun to watch and I bet the two of them have stories!

This is the one category I think Shogun won't win, so it won't be a complete sweep. Only Emerson and Farrell earned nominations for Best Actor in their respective genres in addition to Best Villain, so I think one of them will win. I want Emerson, but I think it will be Farrell.

There is no shortage of action shows for the Saturn Awards. 9-1-1, Black Doves, The Day of the Jackal, G20, Lioness, Paradise, and Reacher should all be eligible, although 9-1-1 has never earned a Saturn Awards nomination despite my submitting it. Also, G20 is a movie, so it would be eligible for Presentation on Television. Just the same, there are plenty of action and thriller shows, including The Night Agent and The Handmaid's Tale. There is no need to cannibalize the superhero series category to fill out the action nominees, although there might be no other category for them to go. Sigh.

That completes my series on the Critics Choice Super Awards nominations.  I plan on returning with the winners next month.  In the meantime, stay tuned as I begin Emmy coverage tomorrow.

Previous entries about the 5th Critics Choice Super Awards

• 'Deadpool & Wolverine' and 'Thunderbolts*' lead movie nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards
• 'Dune: Part Two' at the Critics Choice Super Awards
• 'Sinners' leads Best Horror Movie nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards
• Drink to the action movie nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards on National Piña Colada Day
• 'The Last of Us' leads TV nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards
• 'Severance' leads Science Fiction/Fantasy Series but could lose to 'Andor' at the Super Awards

Celebrating diversity in acting winners at the 2025 Golden Globes for MLK Day weekend

As I promised yesterday, I'm switching from evergreen to holiday entries with this year's edition of Celebrating diversity in acting winners at the Golden Globes for MLK Day weekend. I begin with WISH-TV reporting Multicultural Spotlight Latin America represented at 2025 Golden Globe Awards.

The 82nd Golden Globe Awards, held earlier this month at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, saw a notable but contentious moment for Latina talent. While only two Latina stars took home trophies, their success on Jan. 6 marked an important step forward for representation in Hollywood.

Now for the winners, starting with Viola Davis Presents Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Drama | 82nd Annual Golden Globes.

Viola Davis presents the Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Drama award at the 82nd Annual Golden Globes.

As Davis herself mentioned, she earned an award as well. I'll return to it at the end of the post. In the meantime, watch Fernanda Torres Wins Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Drama | 82nd Annual Golden Globes.

Fernanda Torres wins the Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Drama award for I'm Still Here at the 82nd Annual Golden Globes.

Apparently, Torres is the first Latin American actress to win this category. Congratulations!


Torres has a chance to be nominated at the Oscars later this week and I'm Still Here made the shortlist for International Feature Film (it's among every Gold Derby editor's picks to be nominated), so she may have more honors coming. While The Critics Choice Association didn't nominate her for next month's ceremony, she has already won their Actress Award for International Film at the Critics Choice Awards Celebration of Cinema & Television. That's quite the celebration of diversity itself!

Speaking of celebrating diversity, watch Dwayne Johnson & Auli'i Cravalho Present Supporting Female Actor–Motion Picture|82nd Golden Globes.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Auli'I Cravalho present the Best Supporting Female Actor – Motion Picture award at the 82nd Annual Golden Globes.

I'm sure Disney was thrilled with this pair of presenters from Moana 2.

Now watch Zoe Saldaña Wins Best Supporting Female Actor – Motion Picture | 82nd Annual Golden Globes.

Zoe Saldaña accepts the Best Supporting Female Actor – Motion Picture award for Emilia Pérez at the 82nd Annual Golden Globes.

That was a moving acceptance speech and probably the longest I'll embed today other than Davis's, which was meant to be long. It was worth every second. Congratulations!


Saldaña earned nominations at the Critics Choice Awards, SAG Awards, and BAFTA Awards and is the number one pick of every Gold Derby editor for an Oscar nomination, so she'll have plenty of opportunities to accept more awards. I hope the last of those will be another Saturn Award in 2026, should she be nominated. I'm one of their voters, and I never know with them.

Those were the movie awards recognizing diverse performers. Follow over the jump for the television winners, which celebrated Shogun.

The top TV shows of 2024 from TIME, The Hollywood Reporter, and WatchMojo

I concluded '2024 becomes the world's hottest year on record, fueling extreme weather events,' the year in climate and weather with the following maybe.

It's early enough that I might post an entry about the year's best TV shows today. Stay tuned to see if I do, followed by the overall year in review for New Year's Eve.

O.K., I'm doing it. Since Grace Randolph hasn't made a definitive best streaming series of the year video yet — watch, she'll upload one while I'm writing this or, worse yet, after I post it — I'm beginning with The 10 Best TV Shows of 2024 from TIME.

One of the greatest pleasures of the Peak TV era was that an excellent series could come from almost anywhere. Lifetime could greenlight the smart, satirical thriller You (which would become a hit for Netflix after failing to attract an audience on cable). The lyrical coming-of-age saga David Makes Man could find a home on OWN. TNT could serve up madcap Floridian crime soap Claws while BBC America made Killing Eve an obsession on this side of the Atlantic.

A few years into the industry’s contraction, and in the wake of writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023, the television landscape looks a lot different.

Since TIME didn't even hint at this year's best TV shows in the video description, I'm listing them here:

1. Shogun
2. Industry
3. Say Nothing
4. Penelope
5. Fantasmas
6. Somebody Somewhere
7. Interview with the Vampire
8. The Sympathizer
9. Baby Reindeer
10. Pachinko

Not a bad list, although I hadn't heard of 3-5, Say Nothing, Penelope, and Fantasmas, before. Like TIME's top ten movies, this list reflects "reflects expert critical taste," which means it includes some obscure choices.

Next, THR Critics Pick the Best TV Shows of 2024 | THR News, which The Hollywood Reporter just uploaded this morning.

From an epic historical drama to a wild surrealist comedy, our TV screens took us on all sorts of thrilling and intriguing adventures in 2024. As we head into 2025, we're taking a look at some of The Hollywood Reporter's television critics' picks for the best TV shows of 2024.

"In no particular order," THR's picks are Shogun, Baby Reindeer, Ripley, Fantasmas, Shrinking, Hacks, Somebody Somewhere, and My Brilliant Friend. I'm much more familiar with the series on THR's list, which indicates their critics are more in tune with popular taste than TIME's.

Speaking of popular taste, I can't resist WatchMojo, which I've called "high-quality, well-researched clickbait," so I conclude with their Top 24 Best TV Shows of 2024.

From gripping dramas to hilarious comedies, 2024 was a stellar year for television. Join us as we count down the most captivating and innovative series that kept us glued to our screens. Whether you're into sci-fi, crime thrillers, or heartwarming stories, there's something for everyone on this list! Our countdown includes shows like "Industry," "Hazbin Hotel," "Dead Boy Detectives," "Heartstopper," "Ripley," and many more. We'll explore why these series stood out and what made them the best of 2024. Which show was your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

I knew a lot more of WatchMojo's list and even the one I didn't, Bad Monkey, looks like one I should know. In addition, TIME's and THR's choices Industry, Ripley, and The Sympathizer made WatchMojo's list below tenth. Speaking of which, here's WatchMojo's top ten.

1. Shogun
2. X-Men '97
3. Fallout
4. Arcane
5. The Penguin
6. Hacks
7. The Boys
8. Baby Reindeer
9. English Teacher
10. Agatha All Along

Looks like everyone agrees on Shogun and Baby Reindeer, making them favorites of both critics and the people. Who am I to disagree?

Stay tuned for a final year-end retrospectives through New Year's Eve.

'The Bear' leads comedy winners and nominees at the Emmy Awards

I'm continuing my Emmy Awards coverage with the comedy series winners at the 76th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards and the comedy series nominees at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards. Unlike drama series, where Shogun completely dominated its competition, its co-leader at the Gold Derby TV Awards, The Bear led comedies in awards, but didn't sweep them, winning seven. Only Murders in the Building won three Creative Arts Emmys, four if one counts its short-form spinoff, How I Met Your Father won two, and Palm Royale and The Gentlemen each won one. To top it off, Only Murders in the Building beat both Shogun and The Bear for two of its awards and Palm Royale beat Shogun for its Emmy Award. Don't underestimate the quality of streaming comedies!

Gold Derby predicted The Bear's guest acting wins at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, where I wrote "Between Bernthal and Curtis, it could be a mini-sweep of comedy guest performances for The Bear." That's what happened.

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

• Jon Bernthal – The Bear: "Fishes" as Michael Berzatto (FX)
• Matthew Broderick – Only Murders in the Building: "CoBro" as Matthew Broderick (Hulu)
• Ryan Gosling – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Ryan Gosling" as host (NBC)
• Christopher Lloyd – Hacks: "The Deborah Vance Christmas Spectacular" as Larry Arbuckle (Max)
• Bob Odenkirk – The Bear: "Fishes" as Uncle Lee (FX)
• Will Poulter – The Bear: "Honeydew" as Luca (FX)

Gold Derby's editors and top 24 users have divided opinions about the likely winner. The editors are split five to five between Jon Bernthal and Christopher Lloyd with one editor picking Ryan Gosling as a dark horse. The experts are even more evenly divided among the top three nominees with four backing Bernthal and three going for Gosling, leaving two for Lloyd. On the other hand, the top 24 users display more consolidation with 18 behind Bernthal, three voting for Gosling, only two for Lloyd, and one brave user making a long shot bet on Bob Odenkirk.

Between my writing the above and showtime, one of the editors switched from Lloyd to Gosling, giving Bernthal a plurality. That same editor is almost certainly also an expert, as one of the experts also switched from Lloyd to Gosling, tying Bernthal and Gosling at four. The users called it, the editors backed into a win, and the experts are demonstrating why I like the editors better. Congrats to the users and editors, as well as Bernthal!

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

• Olivia Colman – The Bear: "Forks" as Chef Terry (FX)
• Jamie Lee Curtis – The Bear: "Fishes" as Donna Berzatto (FX)
• Kaitlin Olson – Hacks: "The Roast of Deborah Vance" as DJ Vance (Max)
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph – Only Murders in the Building: "Sitzprobe" as Donna Williams (Hulu)
• Maya Rudolph – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Maya Rudolph" as host (NBC)
• Kristen Wiig – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Kristen Wiig" as host (NBC)

The editors, experts, and top 24 users have unanimously chosen Jamie Lee Curtis. After seeing how she won an Oscar for Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, I think the prognosticators at Gold Derby have been convinced of Hollywood's love for Curtis so they agree she'll win an Emmy to go with her Oscar. To reiterate, electorates matter.

And the experts, broadly speaking, were right. I'm celebrating by sharing Gold Derby's Jamie Lee Curtis (Best Comedy Guest Actress, 'The Bear') 2024 Emmys press room interview.

Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Comedy Guest Actress for "The Bear" at the 2024 Creative Arts Emmys.

Four things from this interview stuck out to me. First, the questions about winning an Oscar and an Emmy in consecutive years and what that meas for an EGOT, which occured to me as well. Curtis may not be able to sing, but she can certainly do spoken word and narration, which could earn her a Grammy, so she can still get an EGO. I'm surprised she's never been on stage, but I'm not surprised she doesn't want to stay up late. She is less than a year older than me, and I can relate. Second, her feminism doesn't surprise me, either, and good for her. Third, a sequel to Freaky Friday! The original earned several Saturn Awards nominations, so I'm looking forward to voting on the sequel next year. Finally, Curtis knows how to make an exit! Also, congratulations!


The Bear also won Emmys for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour), Outstanding Picture Editing for a Single-Camera Comedy Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation. Gold Derby has interviews of nearly all the winners from the first season, but I could only find one definitely from this season, 'The Bear' editor Joanna Naugle: 'I loved being able to push the limits of how stressed we could be'.

'The Bear' editor Joanna Naugle: 'I loved being able to push the limits of how stressed we could be.' The Emmy winner discusses character-specific styles, editing for audio clarity and more. Gold Derby editor Joyce Eng hosts this webchat as part of the 'Meet the Experts' panel for editors.

This was fascinating discussion about how editing enhances the story and character development. Congratulations to Naugle on her second Emmy for editing The Bear and congratulations to the rest of the winners who worked on the series!

Follow over the jump for the rest of the comedy series winners and odds for the nominees at tomorrow night's ceremony.

Emmy wins and nominations for 'Fallout' on Video Games Day

Happy National Video Games Day!

On September 12, National Video Games Day celebrates all the ways we enjoy a good video game challenge.

I'm celebrating with the Emmy wins and nominations for most nominated TV show based on a video game at this year's Emmy Awards, Fallout, as I promised yesterday. I begin with the two Emmy Awards the series and its spinoff won on Sunday.


I covered this award in Gold Derby's predictions for TV movie and music at the Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Music Supervision

• Baby Reindeer: "Episode 4" – Catherine Grieves (Netflix)
• Fallout: "The End" – Trygge Toven (Prime Video)
• Fargo: "The Tragedy of the Commons" – Maggie Phillips (FX)
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith: "A Breakup" – Jen Malone (Prime Video)
• Only Murders in the Building: "Grab Your Hankies" – Bruce Gilbert and Lauren Marie Mikus (Hulu)
• True Detective: Night Country: "Part 4" – Susan Jacobs (HBO)

There is a lot less unanimity at Gold Derby for this award, as seven editors, six experts, and 20 users fell for Fallout . Three editors, one expert, and one user broke for Baby Reindeer, while two experts expect Only Murders in the Building to upset, one expert and one user found the music for Fargo fascinating, and one editor made Mr. & Mrs. Smith their choice.

The editors, experts, and top users at Gold Derby got this right, so congratulations to them and to the show! To celebrate, I'm sharing Gold Derby's interview of the winner, How music supervisor Trygge Toven captured 'Fallout's' different tones through vintage songs.

How music supervisor Trygge Toven captured 'Fallout's' different tones through vintage songs. The Emmy nominee deployed post-World War II tunes by Cole, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Perry Como and more to ironic effect. Gold Derby editor Joyce Eng hosts this webchat.

Joyce Eng and Trygge Toven reminded me that many of the people who made Westworld are creating Fallout. That's good and bad, because Westworld started out great but then fell apart during the fourth season, resulting in HBO canceling the show before its planned final season. That was a disappointment. I hope that same fate isn't awaiting Fallout. Just the same, I'm looking forward to finishing this season and watching next season.


Fallout: Vault 33 on Prime Video beat four series on Meta and/or Facebook, Emperor, The Pirate Queen with Lucy Liu, Red Rocks Live in VR, and Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway. Congratulations to the series and Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who beat Meta's Mark Zuckerberg by proxy.

In addition, Fallout earned twelve more nominations in eleven categories at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards that it lost to other drama series, Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More), Outstanding Main Title Design, Outstanding Period or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Makeup (Non-Prosthetic), Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, Outstanding Picture Editing for a Drama Series (two episodes), Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie, and Outstanding Stunt Performance, all won by Shogun, Outstanding Stunt Coordination for Drama Programming, won by Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes, which Ahsoka pleasantly surprised me by winning. Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Ahsoka on their Emmys, which I will revisit when I cover Shogun's expected wins at the main show.

Follow over the jump as I shift focus from Fallout to Shogun.