Best Drama Series: 

9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox) 

All Creatures Great & Small (PBS) 

Around the World in 80 Days (PBS) 

The Blacklist (NBC) 

The Resident (Fox) 

This Is Us (NBC) 

Best Comedy Series: 

black-ish (ABC) 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC) 

Ghosts (CBS) 

Grand Crew (NBC) 

Home Economics (ABC) 

The Wonder Years (ABC)

Best Actress in a Drama: 

Freema Agyeman as Dr. Helen Sharpe (New Amsterdam)

Leonie Benesch as Abigail "Fix" Fortescue (Around the World in 80 Days) 

Chrissy Metz as Kate Pearson (This Is Us) 

Mandy Moore as Rebecca Pearson (This Is Us) 

Simone Recasner as Gabby Lewis (The Big Leap)

Elodie Yung as Thony De La Rosa (The Cleaning Lady)

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy: 

Andre Braugher as Capt. Raymond Holt (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

Laurence Fishburne as Earl Johnson (black-ish)

Topher Grace as Tom (Home Economics) 

Dule Hill as Bill Williams (The Wonder Years)

Carl Tart as Sherm Jones (Grand Crew)  

Jimmy Tatro as Connor (Home Economics) 

Best New Comedy Series: 

Abbott Elementary (ABC) 

Ghosts (CBS) 

Grand Crew (NBC)

Best Guest Actress in a Comedy: 

Billie Eilish as Herself/Various Characters (Saturday Night Live) 

Lizzo as Herself/Various Characters (Saturday Night Live) 

Chelsea Peretti as Gina Linetti (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) 

Katey Sagal as Louise Goldufski (The Conners) 

Mary Steenburgen as Adriana (Mr. Mayor) 

Best Drama Episode

9-1-1 (Fox) - "May Day" Director:  Juan Carlos Coto Writer: Juan Carlos Coto 

A Million Little Things (ABC) - "Fingers Crossed" Director: DJ Nash Writer: DJ Nash & Michelle Leibel

All Creatures Great & Small (PBS) - "Home Truths" Director: Andy Hay Writer: Ben Vanstone

Around the World in 80 Days (PBS) - "Episode 2" Director: Steve Barron Writer: Ashley Pharoah & Caleb Ronson 

The Blacklist (NBC) - "Andrew Kennison" Director: Mahesh Pailoor Writer: Lukas Reiter 

The Blacklist (NBC) - "Caelum Bank" Director: Cort Hessler Writer: Sean Hennen 

The Blacklist (NBC) - "Marvin Gerard: Conclusion" Director: Christine Moore & Cort Hessler Writer: Daniel Cerone & Lukas Reiter 

This Is Us (NBC) - "Katoby" Director: Ken Olin Writer: Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger 

This Is Us (NBC) - "Day of the Wedding" Director: James Takata Writer: Jon Dorsey 

This Is Us (NBC) - "Miguel" Director: Zetna Fuentes Writer: Jonny Gomez 

This Is Us (NBC) - "The Train" Director: Ken Olin Writer: Dan Fogelman

This Is Us (NBC) - "Us" Director: Ken Olin Writer: Dan Fogelman 

Best Comedy Episode

Abbott Elementary (ABC) - "Zoo Balloon" Director: Randall Einhorn Writer: Jordan Temple 

black-ish (ABC) - "And the Winner Is ..." Director: Stacey Muhammed Writer: Graham Towers & Ben Deeb 

black-ish (ABC) - "If a Black Man Cries in the Woods" Director: Iona Morris Writer: Rob Chavis 

black-ish (ABC) - "Homegoing" Director: Anton L. Cropper Writer: Steve White 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC) - "PB & J" Director: Gail Mancuso Writer: Lamar Woods & Jeff Topolski

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC)  - "The Last Day" Director: Linda Mendoza & Claire Scanlon Writer: Luke Del Tredici, Audrey E. Goodman & Dan Goor 

Ghosts (CBS) - "The Vault" Director: Christine Gernon Writer: Joe Port & Joe Wiseman 

Grand Crew (NBC) - "Wine & Fire" Director: Linda Mendoza Writer: Lamar Woods 

Home Economics (ABC) - "49ers Foam Finger, $7" Director: Dean Holland Writer: Michael Colton & John Aboud 

Hall of Fame Show

To be announced 

Past Winners: 
2021: Gunsmoke
2020: Will & Grace
2019: Cheers
2018: The Tonight Show
2017: Seinfeld
2016: I Love Lucy
2015: Saturday Night Live
2014: Late Night/Late Show with David Letterman
2013: The West Wing
2012: M*A*S*H
2011: The Twilight Zone

Hall of Fame Legend

To be announced 

Past Winners: 
2021: Norman Lear
2020: Ted Danson
2019: Mary Tyler Moore
2018: Johnny Carson
2017: Edward R. Murrow
2016: Lucille Ball
2015: Lorne Michaels
2014: David Letterman
2013: Andy Griffith
2012: Rod Serling
2011: Alan Alda

​YES!
​You may wonder if this is really a big deal and the answer to that is: Yes, it is! To better understand the true impact of its significance is to go back to your childhood. The biggest thing we all want practically from the womb is to be told we are doing a good job at almost everything we do. This is even more true when it comes to something we are passionate about. Few are able to truly make it as successful actors, producers and directors. So, if you are able to make it, create your art, and then receive praise for it, it does not get much better than that for an artist. To win even one of these awards is receiving validation that you are succeeding and excelling at what you are passionate about. But, to win all four of them and receive that validation from four different esteemed establishments? That truly is a remarkably high honor indeed. 

​The truth is that the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys are the highest achievement in their mediums. The Emmys are the most prestigious award for television, the Grammys for music, the Oscars for movies and the Tonys for theater.

In recent years, one controversy that seeks to ruin the prestige of an EGOT winner is that chances of winning one has increased by increased categories. The Grammys and Emmys, especially, have lots of categories that cover about everything you could imagine in their fields. While this is great for inclusion, it could be considered that more accessibility and chances can take away some of its merit. If this continues, I believe it could lose some of its shine, but this will truly be up to the academies of these establishments to truly consider what constitutes an award and what does not. 
 
However, at the end of the day, I genuinely believe that the honor of being an EGOT winner is something to take great pride in. In life, we are all seeking acceptance. We all seek validation. The biggest way in entertainment to receive that validation is from a majority of other artists that know the struggle. They know the blood, sweat, and tears. They know all of the positives and negatives of their careers. They look at you and say, “Yes! Out of all the leading actors this year, YOU are the best! Receiving even just one of these awards changes people’s lives, but ALL four of them? Jennifer Hudson can say that she has “R.E.S.P.E.C.T” from everyone in all four of the fields of entertainment. - TG

MEH!
So, it’s my job to tell you why an EGOT is not a big deal.

​First of all, nobody had even heard of an EGOT before 38 years ago when “Miami Vice” actor Philip Michael Thomas – he played Det. Ricardo Tubbs opposite of Don Johnson’s Det. Sonny Crockett – told an interviewer that he wanted to win an EGOT withing the next five years. He then began wearing an EGOT necklace. Thomas has never been nominated for any of the four awards.
 
The first time I’d ever heard of EGOT was thanks to Tina Fey’s brilliant TV satire “30 Rock” when character Tracy Jordan (played hilariously by Tracy Morgan) set out to achieve winning an EGOT, equipped with his own gold necklace, in a season four episode of the series.
 
There are some major names on the EGOT winners list like Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, Rita Moreno – but there’s also people you might suspect would’ve been EGOT winners who aren’t like Barbra Streisand (she doesn’t have a Tony), Julie Andrews (doesn’t have a Tony), Elton John (doesn’t have an Emmy), Stephen Sondheim (never won an Emmy) and more. Is film/tv/stage songwriter Robert Lopez or producer Scott Rudin any more important in the history of entertainment than Streisand?
 
It just seems trivial almost – and if you could name all 17 EGOT winners that would certainly be impressive (I wouldn’t be surprised if Tyler could). There’s certainly a lot of hard work that goes into winning an EGOT (for the most part), but there’s also a lot of luck that goes into it.
 
Let me be straight … I’m supposed to be arguing why the EGOT is not that big of a deal. But even I don’t always buy that it isn’t. Some EGOTs mean more than others. Mel Brooks freakin’ earned his EGOT. He won the Oscar in 1968 for writing “The Producers.” He’s won four Emmy Awards, three of which came for guest starring on the hit ‘90s NBC comedy “Mad About You” (which I adore). He’s won three Grammys, most importantly in my mind in 1998 for the comedy album The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 with his lifelong friend Carl Reiner. He won three Tony Awards, all in 2001 for “The Producers.” The man turned his non-musical comedy for which he won an Oscar for writing into a musical – that takes a lot of talent. If you tell me Brooks’ EGOT means nothing I’m going to have a problem with you.
 
Most EGOT winners probably deserve their winnings. Mike Nichols, yes. Audrey Hepburn, yes. Rita Moreno, yes.
 
But I do not think Jennifer Hudson’s EGOT is the same as those won by the artists in the prior two paragraphs – which is where I come down on the side of “not all EGOTs mean the same and therefore EGOT isn’t the biggest deal in the world.
 
Hudson won her Oscar for “Dreamgirls.” Very legitimate. Both of her Grammy Awards are legitimate, especially the one she won for Best R&B Album in 2009. The Best Musical Theater Album win for “The Color Purple” is a cast award, so yes it’s legitimate but it’s more of an ensemble win than individual.
 
But I don’t quite feel the same for producing wins as I do for performance wins. They feel less earned.

Now I know there are multiple jobs that a producer can do, but in many cases they are the money behind the project.
 
Producing is how Hudson won her Emmy Award – which was a Daytime Emmy Award, which doesn’t seem near as impressive to me as a Primetime Emmy Award (I realize I’m a snob) – for executive producing the virtual reality animated film “Baba Yaga,” made for Oculus Quest, which won in the interactive media for a daytime program category. I don’t know what any of that shit is, but apparently it’s television.
 
Michael R. Jackson’s “A Strange Loop” won Best Musical at the Tony Awards this weekend and with that came a Tony Award for Hudson as one of the show’s producers, which included at least a dozen people many of whom you’ll recognize like RuPaul Charles, Alan Cumming, Don Cheadle, Mindy Kaling and Billy Porter – all of whom won Tonys for whatever role they played in producing the musical, which I assume means monetary contributions.
 
Because of this it doesn’t quite feel like this EGOT win – and I’m betting there are other scenarios like this one among the other 16 EGOT winners – isn’t the same as being the main creative force behind a work of art or performance.
 
Can you throw money at an EGOT? Maybe so. That’s partially why it doesn’t mean all that much to me. - JS

by Julian Spivey
I saw someone online refer to the season three finale of HBO’s terrific comedy-drama “Barry” as a “30-minute panic attack” and I couldn’t agree more with that assessment. The only thing I’ll add is it’s the greatest panic attack you’re ever gonna have.
​
After two years off television due to the Covid pandemic I worried about how season three of “Barry” would hit me – I didn’t do a re-watch of the first two seasons, which I truly should’ve leading me to struggling to remember what was going on heading into the season.

Season three of “Barry” has been like a four-hour film in that I honestly kind of wish I had opted to wait until the season finished and binged it, as opposed to watching it weekly as it aired (which is how I generally prefer watching television). I just feel like this series being so cohesive that it really would’ve hit more watching it over say four nights (one hour/two episodes a night).

Let’s jump into the fantastic finale “starting now,” which has been hailed by many critics and viewers alike since it aired on Sunday, June 12, as one of the best episodes of television in quite some time, if not ever.

Spoilers ahead … 

The episode begins with Fuches (Stephen Root) being locked away in prison in what is a quick end to his season three storyline, which saw him trying to get back at Barry for turning his back on him by telling grieving family members of his past victims as a hitman that he killed their loved ones. He finally wound up behind bars when the ex-military or law enforcement (or both, I can’t remember) Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom), the father of Det. Janice Moss from season one, was one of the people Fuches tried to use to kill Barry. There wasn’t a whole lot of Fuches and Root in season three, which I hope the show fixes in season four.
​
There also wasn’t enough Noho Hank (Anthony Carrigan) in season three. He is the only one you could argue gets a happy ending in the season though, even though he has to go through Hell to get there. In the penultimate episode of the season Hank was captured in Bolivia while looking for his boyfriend Cristobal (Michael Irby), who was captured and taken back to his home country by his pissed off wife. Hank is being held in a dungeon, waiting for his certain death when he hears his Chechen buddies being tortured to death via panther attack. This was utterly amazing acting by Carrigan, essentially reacting to just sounds of horror behind a wall. Hank is able to break free, comes upon Cristobal being tortured by his wife in some sort of gay conversion therapy treatment, kills her and rescues his love. End of the only happy-ish storyline of the episode.

Earlier in the episode, Barry (Bill Hader) returns to his apartment after leaving the hospital where he was saved from poisoning in the previous episode and sees his ex-girlfriend Sally (Sarah Goldberg) waiting on him. She was deceived (at least in her mind) by her friend in the previous episode and wants to use Barry’s skills to get back at her. The duo is then attacked by the leader of the motorbike gang from the “710N” episode two weeks before (my personal favorite episode of the season). Barry is immediately knocked out by the leader, who then proceeds to strangle Sally almost to death – a moment bringing up horrible past memories for her – before she summons the courage to stab him in the neck with a nearby object. Barry and Sally plan to meet up later, but she’s last seen boarding a plane for her hometown of Joplin, Mo. In the episode.

While Barry is burying the gang leader’s body he is confronted by his old army buddy turned FBI agent Albert (who’s life he saved in the Middle East) and Albert demands to know why his life turned down such a tragic role. We think Albert (James Hiroyuki Liao) is either going to arrest Barry or force Barry to kill him but repaying a favor to Barry for saving his life he simply implores Barry to get his act together. The performances in this scene from Hader and Liao are terrific.

This might be the moment that finally turns around Barry’s life, something he’s been hopeful of doing ever since he stumbled upon the acting class in season one.

But earlier in the day Jim Moss had invited Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) over to his place to talk and uses his incredibly interrogation skills on him getting him to finally admit that it was Barry who killed Janice. Gene calls Barry in a panic claiming that Moss knows Barry killed his daughter and he’s going to do something about it. Barry shows up at the Moss residence to find Gene with a handgun seemingly going to kill Moss to help protect Barry. Barry determines he’ll have to get rid of Moss, enters the house and I believe the season is going to end with him killing Moss. But, then the entire thing is revealed to have been a set up by Moss and Gene and season three ends with Barry being arrested for the murder of Janice.

I have no freakin’ clue where season four of “Barry” is possibly going to go from here and I hate that I’m going to have to wait at least a year to find out. “starting now,” honestly would’ve made for a good series ender, albeit a mostly depressing one – but I get the feeling whenever the show does end that it’s probably not going to be full of smiles.

“Barry” is probably the most unique show on television with a style and tone all its own mixing great laughs and funny moments with the most dire and dramatic of moments – the season three finale was almost completely dire and dramatic. 

“Hustle” – Netflix – Premieres: Friday, June 3
It’s always nice to see Adam Sandler do something serious. He’s certainly proven he can but seems to prefer his silly side when churning out movies for his production company Happy Madison. Being the massive basketball fan that he is, Sandler has decided to go serious for “Hustle,” in which he portrays a NBA scout attempting to revive his career by recruiting a talented European player with a checkered past. Actual NBA player Juancho Hernangomez, who currently plays for the Utah Jazz, plays Bo Cruz – the European player. The film co-stars Queen Latifah, Ben Foster and Robert Duvall is currently streaming on Netflix. 

“Evil” Season 3 – Paramount+ - Sunday, June 12
“Evil” has been one of television’s best dramas over its first two seasons, though I get the impression many folks still haven’t seen it (even though the first season aired on CBS). The horror-science fiction series moved to Paramount+ for its second season and got even wilder in its dealings with religious supernatural. The cast of Katja Herbers, Mike Colters, Michael Emerson and Aasif Mandvi is fantastic, and the writing staff led by Robert and Michelle King among television’s best. Season three premieres Sunday, June 12. 

“The Bear” – Hulu – Thursday, June 23
Hulu’s “The Bear” is billed as a half-hour comedy, but after watching its recently dropped trailer I’m going to assume it’s a dramedy – that actually adds to my expectations for the series revolving around a struggling Chicago restaurant. Chef Carmen Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White) is given his family restaurant after a death in the family and aspires of keeping it afloat. The cast is full of names and faces I don’t know, but the trailer really looks good. The whole series debuts on streaming on Hulu on Thursday, June 23. 

“Loot” – AppleTV+ - Friday, June 24
I will watch anything with Maya Rudolph in it. I’m hoping that AppleTV+ will do for Rudolph what it’s wonderful series “Ted Lasso” has done for her former ‘SNL’ cast mate Jason Sudeikis. Rudolph stars in “Loot,” a comedy series about a divorcee who receives an incredibly large settlement from her billionaire ex-husband and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and giving back to those less fortunate. The series co-stars Michaela Jae Rodriguez, Ron Funches and Nat Faxon and premieres with its first three episodes on AppleTV+ on Friday, June 24. 

“Only Murders in the Building” Season 2 – Hulu – Tuesday, June 28  
It’s hard to believe it’s already time for season two of Hulu’s terrific true crime podcast inspired comedy series “Only Murders in the Building.” The first season ended less than eight months ago, so the storyline is still fresh in our minds. Three podcast lovers played by Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez band together to try to solve a murder in their ritzy apartment building. Season one ended in a fantastic cliffhanger where the three are thrown into the story themselves as they are being arrested under suspicion of murder. I can’t wait to see where the show takes this storyline. “Only Murders in the Building” season two premieres on Tuesday, June 28 on Hulu.