by Julian Spivey Every year since The Word on Pop Culture began in 2010 we have awarded the best in network television in something we like to call The Broady Awards. The theory behind the Broadys was that there was still a lot of good and worthwhile TV on the original big broadcast networks that were mostly forgotten about come time for the annual Emmy Awards, which had begun to focus mainly on cable, premium cable and later streaming series. Well, the times have changed a bit since we introduced these awards. Now, network TV (and more and more TV in general) is regressing after the era known as “peak TV.” Networks and streamers alike are beginning to cut costs leading to less scripted television and a weakening of shows. But these days the state of network television, in particular, seems dire. I can’t remember a lesser slate of network television shows than we’ve seen this season. So, partially due to this factor and the 2023-2024 network season being cut in half due to the writer’s and actor’s strikes of 2023, we decided it was time to pare down the Broady Awards, at least for now. So, instead of nominating five or so individuals and shows in each category like usual, we’re simply going to choose our winners this year. We will unveil these winners in three parts: Drama, Comedy and our 2024 TV Hall of Fame recipients. You can find our 2024 Drama Series winners HERE. You can find our 2024 Comedy Series winners HERE. Each year during our Broady Awards we like to honor all-time great shows and legends from the television medium – again focusing on those that aired on the major networks. Our past recipients of our Hall of Fame Show honor are: “The Twilight Zone” (CBS), “M*A*S*H” (CBS), “The West Wing” (NBC), “Late Night/Late Show with David Letterman” (NBC/CBS), “Saturday Night Live” (NBC), “I Love Lucy” (CBS), “Seinfeld” (NBC), “The Tonight Show” (NBC), “Cheers” (NBC), “Will & Grace” (NBC), “Gunsmoke” (CBS), “Frasier” (NBC) and “30 Rock” (NBC). Our past recipients of our Hall of Fame Legend honor are: Alan Alda, Rod Serling, Andy Griffith, David Letterman, Lorne Michaels, Lucille Ball, Edward R. Murrow, Johnny Carson, Mary Tyler Moore, Ted Danson, Norman Lear, Betty White and The Writers (during the 2023 writer’s strike). Hall of Fame Legend: Andre Braugher Andre Braugher was always one of our favorite television actors here at The Word on Pop Culture. He’s also one of the most nominated and honored actors in our annual Broady Awards for excellence on network television. His nine nominations are the second most of any actor in the 15 years of us handing out these honors. His four wins, all for his glorious portrayal of Capt. Raymond Holt on the Fox/NBC sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” are tied for the most all-time at these honors. It was Braugher’s portrayal of Holt that made us fall in love with him but Braugher was one of TV’s best dramatic actors multiple decades before his comedic turn on “Brooklyn Nine Nine.” His performance on NBC’s crime procedural “Homicide: Life on the Street” from 1993-1999 is hailed as one of television’s greatest and won Braugher an Emmy Award in 1998. Due to the series not appearing on streaming, it's a performance that hasn’t been widely seen and appreciated by people of my generation. I’ve purchased the entire series on DVD and hope to get to it soon! We’d hoped we’d get to see Braugher act for years to come in other terrific roles but were shocked when the veteran actor died from lung cancer at 61 years old last December. Braugher was always destined for this particular honor we just wish it had come a few years down the road. Hall of Fame Show: "The Andy Griffith Show" (CBS) 1960-1968
One classic TV show that seems to be losing steam unfortunately and without much explanation over the last decade or more has been “The Andy Griffith Show.” I can’t recall how many lists of “Greatest TV Shows of All-Time” lists I’ve perused online over the last five-plus years and have been completely dismayed by their omission of the classic ‘60s small-town comedy. We honored Andy Griffith the actor as our third annual Hall of Fame TV Legend in 2013, the year following his death, but haven’t gotten around to celebrate the show itself. Our last two recipients of this honor – “Frasier” and “30 Rock” – have been more modern TV classics, so we felt it was time to dig a bit deeper into the history of great network shows and “The Andy Griffith Show” with its downhome, family-friendly and good-natured humor seemed like the perfect choice. The show was definitely of its time, trying to make you laugh, while also teaching a moralistic story, but it probably succeeded in this style of show better than any other of its time. The tight-knit cast of Griffith, Don Knotts, Ron Howard, Frances Bavier and others continue to make me laugh to this day, even though I’ve seen my favorite episodes time-and-time again (thanks Dad!). I don’t think there are too many shows from its era that hold up as well as “The Andy Griffith Show” does.
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by Julian Spivey Every year since The Word on Pop Culture began in 2010 we have awarded the best in network television in something we like to call The Broady Awards. The theory behind the Broadys was that there was still a lot of good and worthwhile TV on the original big broadcast networks that were mostly forgotten about come time for the annual Emmy Awards, which had begun to focus mainly on cable, premium cable and later streaming series. Well, the times have changed a bit since we introduced these awards. Now, network TV (and more and more TV in general) is regressing after the era known as “peak TV.” Networks and streamers alike are beginning to cut costs leading to less scripted television and a weakening of shows. But these days the state of network television, in particular, seems dire. I can’t remember a lesser slate of network television shows than we’ve seen this season. So, partially due to this factor and the 2023-2024 network season being cut in half due to the writer’s and actor’s strikes of 2023, we decided it was time to pare down the Broady Awards, at least for now. So, instead of nominating five or so individuals and shows in each category like usual, we’re simply going to choose our winners this year. We will unveil these winners in three parts: Drama, Comedy and our 2024 TV Hall of Fame recipients. You can find our 2024 Drama Series winners HERE. Network comedy is arguably as weak as ever with networks cutting back on the number of sitcoms each airs. Only 11 non-animated sitcoms aired on network TV this season and, let’s face it, only a handful of those 11 were any good – and some of the best of those featured their weakest seasons yet – I’m looking at you “Abbott Elementary.” So, with that bit of depression out of the way, let’s get to our 2024 Broady Comedy Series recipients: Best Comedy Series: The Conners (ABC) ABC’s long-running “The Conners” was the most consistent sitcom on network TV this season earning it its first win in this category in its sixth season. The season, announced as its penultimate one, saw the Conners dealing with their typical blue-collar struggles such as paying off a mortgage, losing a business and making sacrifices to send a kid to college. The tight-knit cast led by Sara Gilbert, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Lecy Goranson always provides laughs, even in (and often especially so) the toughest moments of life. Best Variety/Talk Show: Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) All of the late-night variety shows have their strong points. “Saturday Night Live” had a somewhat resurgent year compared to recent ones. Taylor Tomlinson brought something new and interesting to late-night television with CBS’s “After Midnight.” But for the fifth straight year and seventh out of the last eight years our winner is “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS. Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ does everything well you’d want from a late-night talk/variety show. Colbert has solid monologues, good comedy bits like “Meanwhile,” interesting and different interview methods like his “Colbert Questionert” and a smart take on the political goings on of the day. What sets Colbert apart from some of his late-night brethren is his being the best interviewer – something his predecessor David Letterman always did better than the rest. Best New Comedy: None There was exactly one new sitcom of the 2024 network TV season, NBC’s “Extended Family,” starring Jon Cryer, Abigail Spencer and Donald Faison. I watched the pilot episode and couldn’t force myself to go any further. So, for the first time, there will be no winner in this category – though the show winning by default wouldn’t have been great either. Best Episode: Ryan Gosling Hosts (Saturday Night Live) It’s rare that “Saturday Night Live” has a perfect episode because such things are so hard to do when it comes to sketch comedy and humor, which is always a hit-or-miss thing. Even the best episodes of the almost half-century-old NBC show have a downer or two of a sketch. But for the third time in the last five years, an episode of ‘SNL’ has won this honor – this time the show hosted by actor Ryan Gosling on April 13. Gosling has often been a great host of the show because he seems to be having a blast and is game for everything. This episode included the return of Kate McKinnon’s alien abductee Colleen Rafferty, which always leaves Gosling breaking character, and Gosling and Mikey Day’s instant classic Beavis and Butt-Head sketch that caused one of the most memorable breaks in the show’s history from cast member Heidi Gardner. Best Lead Actor: Joel McHale (Animal Control) Joel McHale’s sarcastic, wry humor fits perfectly as a veteran animal control officer on Fox’s underrated “Animal Control” – a show good enough to have earned a third-season pickup but one that seems like it should’ve caught on more by now. McHale has now earned this honor from us for both seasons of the show where he serves as the put-upon partner to a much younger, always-peppy partner named Shred (Michael Rowland). McHale’s whole gig has always been these sarcastic jerks but, you know what, he’s made his Frank Shaw into a lovable one – something I’m not sure you could say for his more notable role as Jeff Winger from NBC’s terrific “Community” a decade before. Best Lead Actress: Sara Gilbert (The Conners) Sara Gilbert, who also won this honor in 2021, is the glue that holds ABC’s “The Conners” together. Her Darlene Conner has almost become the forefront of the series, although you could argue it’s truly a collaborative cast without leads. Gilbert plays so well off of every other character on the show with her witty, acerbic humor that is perfect for finding the humor in what can often be the darkness of the downtrodden, blue-collar family. Best Supporting Actor: Jay R. Ferguson (The Conners) Jay R. Ferguson has arguably had the hardest time during his run on “The Conners,” as the one adult regular we didn’t already know from “Roseanne” coming into the series. He fits in super well with the show’s humor as someone exasperated with the personalities of the Conner family. He’s the perfect foil and partner for Sara Gilbert’s Darlene. Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf (The Conners) It’s somewhat shocking that Laurie Metcalf’s performance as Jackie Harris-Goldufski on “The Conners” hasn’t yet earned her this honor from us – part of the problem is for some of those seasons she was outshined by her castmate Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner. Metcalf’s character is the absolute G.O.A.T. on network TV right now when it comes to outrageously hilarious one-liners. You can always count on Metcalf to have you in stitches while watching ABC’s longest-tenured comedy series. Best Guest Actor: Ryan Gosling (Saturday Night Live)
The best thing about Ryan Gosling when he hosts “Saturday Night Live,” and he’s been one of the most memorable hosts over the last decade, is that he’s so obviously game for any and everything, something not every Academy Award-nominated actor would be willing to do. You can just see on your TV screen he’s having the absolute time of his life each time and he can barely contain (and sometimes he doesn’t) his laughter. His hosting stint in April not only featured the memorable Alien Abduction and Beavis and Butt-Head sketches but also him playing a boyfriend who has proposed and realizes he’s made a huge mistake and tries to figure his way out of it in one of the season’s most underrated sketches. Best Guest Actress: Estelle Parsons (The Conners) One of the most touching moments in any sitcom this season was what will likely be 96-year-old Estelle Parsons's final appearance on “The Conners” as Beverly, the mother of Jackie (and Roseanne). The character had been suffering from dementia in the previous season, which also earned Parsons this honor last year, and the show handled the situation in a beautiful, if not real-world probable way letting Bev choose to go out on her own terms in the episode “Moms and Rats” by hopping a train to sights she’s never seen. This came after spending the day in Chicago with Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), giving the relationship that had always been problematic a nice bow of a sendoff. by Julian Spivey Every year since The Word on Pop Culture began in 2010 we have awarded the best in network television in something we like to call The Broady Awards. The theory behind the Broadys was that there was still a lot of good and worthwhile TV on the original big broadcast networks that were mostly forgotten about come time for the annual Emmy Awards, which had begun to focus mainly on cable, premium cable and later streaming series. Well, the times have changed a bit since we introduced these awards. Now, network TV (and more and more TV in general) is regressing after the era known as “peak TV.” Networks and streamers alike are beginning to cut costs leading to less scripted television and a weakening of shows. But these days the state of network television, in particular, seems dire. I can’t remember a lesser slate of network television shows than we’ve seen this season. So, partially due to this factor and the 2023-2024 network season being cut in half due to the writer’s and actor’s strikes of 2023, we decided it was time to pare down the Broady Awards, at least for now. So, instead of our usual nominating five or so individuals and shows in each category we’re simply going to choose our winners this year. We will unveil these winners in three parts: Drama, Comedy and our 2024 TV Hall of Fame recipients. Today features our 2024 Broady Drama Series recipients: Best Drama Series: Will Trent (ABC) ABC’s crime procedural “Will Trent,” our best New Drama Series winner last year, continued to impress in its sophomore season with interesting storylines, terrific acting and unique characters. Ramon Rodriguez’s titular lead is one of the more interesting characters on network television over the last few years and the supporting cast of Erika Christensen, Iantha Richardson, Jake McLaughlin and Sonja Sohn is tight-knit and adept at mixing the show’s gritty crime drama with humor. Best New Drama: Elsbeth (CBS) Robert and Michelle King have me in their clutches. Anything these showrunners create will have my undivided attention because everything they’ve done (at least the four series I’ve seen) has been terrific – “The Good Wife,” “The Good Fight,” “Evil” and now “Elsbeth.” “Elsbeth” was admittedly the King show I was most leery of – taking a known, likable, but wacky and only sporadically used character from a couple of their previous shows and insert her into a crime procedural. But when you have someone as talented as Carrie Preston, the typical strong writing of any King-led team and a nice mixture of drama with wry humor tossed in it’s going to be a winning combination. Best Episode: This Storm Will Pass (Fire Country) CBS’s drama series “Fire Country” is a lot of fun even though it can seem ridiculous at times – how many fires can this small town and surrounding area of California possibly face? The season two episode “This Storm Will Pass,” written by David Gould and directed by Eagle Egilsson, is the perfect encapsulation of those these when an out-of-control fire turns into a fire tornado, which is an actual thing, comes toward the town – all while the show’s lead Bode (Max Thieriot), his old ex and potential mother of his child and the current boyfriend of his most recent ex and still current love are all trapped in a wrecked ambulance. It’s an action-packed episode that doesn’t let up throughout its entire runtime and eventually ends in a tragedy that will impact the remainder of the season. Best Lead Actor: Ramon Rodriguez (Will Trent) Ramon Rodriguez’s performance at George Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Will Trent in the ABC crime drama that shares the character’s name is one of the more unique performances of a law enforcement character in network TV history. Will Trent doesn’t quite look like he should be in law enforcement and his dyslexia and troubled past as an orphan are perhaps strikes against him. But he’s the smartest person in the room and his adeptness for finding things others might miss and his keen sense of morality make him the best at his job. It’s a performance that Rodriguez makes feel lived in – something you don’t always get from these crime of the week procedurals. Best Lead Actress: Carrie Preston (Elsbeth) I loved Carrie Preston’s performance as attorney Elsbeth Tascioni on “The Good Wife” and later “The Good Fight.” She was kooky and scatterbrained but also whip-smart and astute. Her personality often led to her being underestimated on those shows. She appeared often on those shows but ultimately less than 20 times. I was worried how a kooky character that only appeared occasionally on dramas filled with terrific casts as a side character might work out as the lead of her own show. Those fears were laid to rest quickly. In the show’s debut season, Preston’s Tascioni finds herself working with the NYPD as part of a consent decree and it turns out she’s as good of a pseudo-detective as she was an attorney. Best Supporting Actor: Simon West (All Creatures Great & Small) Simon West’s performance as the cantankerous but with a heart of gold veterinary surgeon Siegried Farnon on PBS Masterpiece’s “All Creatures Great and Small” has been one of my favorites on TV over the show’s four-season run but has always been passed up for other supporting performances in these awards. You could make the argument that season four wasn’t even West’s finest season of the series but the often talent-packed category was thinned out a bit with the ending of some shows and the delay of others due to the writer and actor strikes that shortened the 2024 TV season (though did not affect this particular series). West’s performance as Siegfried is key to the feel of the whole series, mixing in a lot of humor via his curmudgeonly personality while also being moralistically kind and good. West plays it all effortlessly. Best Supporting Actress: Anna Madeley (All Creatures Great & Small) This is the second consecutive win in this category for Anna Madeley, who plays Mrs. Audrey Hall on the PBS Masterpiece drama “All Creatures Great and Small.” Mrs. Hall is the housekeeper of Skeldale House, where the main characters and veterinarians live in the quaint, feel-good drama set in the late 1930s/early 1940s Yorkshire Dales area of England. Mrs. Hall has often been the quiet heart of the drama but never more so than in the show’s fourth season when she must choose between love and her found family. Madeley plays the character with a sure hand, perhaps the warmest of a series of warm characters and moments. Best Guest Actor: Malcolm Jamal-Warner (9-1-1)
Malcolm Jamal-Warner was one of my favorite performers in the Fox medical drama “The Resident” over the last few years. He even received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama once for his role from this site. He might always be known mostly as a child actor from “The Cosby Show” in the ‘80s but he’s shown that he’s right at home playing confident men in network dramas like his multi-episode arc in the seventh season of ABC’s “9-1-1.” Jamal-Warner plays a traveling nurse Amir, who lost the love of his life in the tragic apartment building fire in Minnesota started by firefighter Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) before he turned his life around in Los Angeles. The two bump into each other on the job, resulting in Bobby looking to make amends for a trauma Amir could never forgive. The eighth episode of the season, “Step Nine,” is a true highlight for Jamal-Warner, Krause and the show’s season in general as it sees the two essentially start in a two-hander that focuses on saving each other from a cartel. Jamal-Warner plays the part of a man hating someone he has to depend on to save him perfectly. Hopefully, he’ll be back to a regular series role soon. Best Guest Actress: Eliza Taylor (Quantum Leap) Eliza Taylor wound up appearing in about half of the second and ultimately final season of the NBC sci-fi reboot “Quantum Leap” as Hannah Carson, an intelligent waitress in 1949 New Mexico when the show’s time-jumper lead Ben Song (Raymond Lee) first meets her. Unusually, Ben will continue to meet Hannah throughout his jumps as the two fall in love, despite him inhabiting a new person’s body each time. It was a fascinating side plot to the season with Taylor making us fall instantly for Hannah to the point where we didn’t so much care that Addison (Caitlin Bassett) might still have feelings for him. by Tyler Glover & Julian Spivey Clipped – Hulu – Tuesday, June 4 “Clipped” is FX/Hulu’s telling of the scandal involving the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his team during the early 2010s when racist remarks from him were captured on tape and caused a firestorm. The series has some good actors in somewhat questionable casting: Laurence Fishburne as then-Clippers basketball coach Doc Rivers and Ed O’Neill as Sterling. But I’m curious to see if they and the six-part miniseries can pull off the story. Hit Man – Netflix – Friday, June 7 When we look back on the year in pop culture at 2024 we may realize it was the “year of Glen Powell.” His rom-com “Anyone but You” with Sydney Sweeney was a bit of a sleeper hit at the box office, despite mixed reviews and the genre not having had much box office success in recent years. In July, his action/disaster film “Twisters,” co-starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, is sure to be a hit. But this month sees “Hit Man,” directed by Richard Linklater, premiere on Netflix on Friday, June 7. “Hit Man,” based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article, sees Powell playing a college professor and tech guy who becomes an undercover mole as a hitman. The film, a romantic-action-comedy, has received terrific reviews. Bridgerton (Season 3, Part 2) – Netflix – Thursday, June 13 Dear Most Gentle Reader, The time is FINALLY coming upon us to find out if Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton will end up together. Will these best friends take a chance on love and can their love survive Penelope's bombshell secret? Almost every "Bridgerton" fan I know was upset that Netflix split the third season into two parts, leaving us all thirsting for more. The third season of "Bridgerton" is proving so far to be its best yet by telling us the love story that has been building since the very first season. I'm sure the events of part two of the third season of "Bridgerton" will give Lady Whistledown a lot to write about! House of Dragon (Season 2) – Max – Sunday, June 16 The heavily anticipated second season of HBO's Emmy-nominated drama series, "House of the Dragon" is almost here! In this prequel series to HBO's massive hit, "Game of Thrones," King Viserys has died and his son, Aegon has been crowned the King despite Viserys' wishes for his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra to ascend to the Iron Throne. War is coming! "House of the Dragon" brings all of the drama, betrayals, scandals, deaths, love, and dragons, of course, that its predecessor did. Season one did a great job setting everything up but I feel season two is going to bring it even harder. It gives me chills. After all, winter is coming. The Bear (Season 3) – Hulu – Thursday, June 27 “The Bear,” Christopher Storer’s FX/Hulu production dramedy about the restaurant industry, has been the best series on television since its 2022 debut. The first season of the show, featured Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), a chef who’s come back to Chicago to overtake his deceased brother’s fledgling restaurant. In the show’s second season, Carmy and company's dreams come to fruition with a new, upscale restaurant. In season three, premiering on Thursday, June 27, we’ll see if Carmy, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) can keep the new restaurant afloat and see if “The Bear” can complete the trifecta of perfect seasons. Which of these shows or movies are you most looking forward to seeing? |
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