Watchmen Wins Big At the 2020 TCA Awards

Who watches the Watchmen? The Television Critics Association apparently (of which, full disclosure: this author is a member). 

Eerily prescient HBO miniseries Watchmen has won four 2020 TCA Awards, including Individual Achievement in Drama (for Regina King’s work), Outstanding New Program, Outstanding Achievement in Movie, Miniseries, or Special, and Program of the Year. This marks a clean sweep of the categories that Watchmen was nominated in and, due to the TCA Awards’ relatively short list of 13 categories, amounts to the show winning roughly 31% of all the awards. Not bad!

Watchmen’s TCA Awards dominance is reminiscent of another timely HBO miniseries success last year. Chernobyl snagged Outstanding Achievement in Movie, Miniseries, or Special at the TCA Awards before moving on to win three Emmys. A similar fate is likely in store for Watchmen during the 72nd Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 20. 

Two other HBO series joined Watchmen in TCA Award recognition with Succession taking home Outstanding Achievement in Drama and A Black Lady Sketch Show winning Outstanding Achievement in Variety/Sketch Shows. The recently-concluded Schitt’s Creek was the only other series to win multiple awards, claiming Outstanding Achievement in Comedy and Individual Achievement in Comedy (for Catherine O’Hara).

The Star Trek franchise was awarded the Heritage Award, which is given to influential and important series worthy of TV canonization. Jeopardy host Alex Trebek received the Career Achievement Honoree designation. 

“Entertainment and culture are intertwined and in this challenging year, never has that intersection been more crucial as both a mirror to examine tough reflections and a rabbit hole to escape the noise and scares outside our homes. The 2019-2020 television season was both a challenge and a balm,” said Sarah Rodman, TCA President and executive editor at Entertainment Weekly. “This year offered up many high-quality options appealing to a wide swath of audiences with eclectic subjects ranging from sports and superheroes, to side-splitting sitcoms, darkly fascinating dramas, insightful documentaries, kid-friendly series, and more. We are excited to see what the future of television has in store, and we look forward to celebrating in-person next year as we come together to honor this medium that means so much to all of us.”

Like many other previously public-facing events, this year’s TCA Award ceremony was unable to occur in-person due to the COVID-19. The winners were determined by votes cast by 250 professional TV critics and journalists in the United States and Canada. 

The full winner list is below:

– Individual Achievement In Drama: Regina King (WATCHMEN, HBO)

– Individual Achievement In Comedy: Catherine O’Hara (SCHITT’S CREEK, Pop TV)

– Outstanding Achievement In News and Information: THE LAST DANCE (ESPN)

– Outstanding Achievement In Reality Programming: CHEER (Netflix)

– Outstanding Achievement In Youth Programming: MOLLY OF DENALI (PBS Kids)

– Outstanding Achievement In Sketch/Variety Shows: A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW (HBO)

– Outstanding New Program: WATCHMEN (HBO)

– Outstanding Achievement In Movie, Miniseries, Or Special: WATCHMEN (HBO)

– Outstanding Achievement In Drama: SUCCESSION (HBO)

– Outstanding Achievement In Comedy: SCHITT’S CREEK (Pop TV)

– Program of the Year: WATCHMEN (HBO)

– Career Achievement Honoree: Alex Trebek

– Heritage Award: STAR TREK (CBS)