"Empire," "Inside Amy Schumer" Win Big at TCA Awards

The Television Critics Association is a group of approximately 200 American and Canadian journalists who cover television programming.  To the industry, TCA awards are a hipper version of the Emmys- usually presenting to trophies to shows that are neglected by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. At the ceremony on Saturday night, Empire took the top prize of Program of the Year proving that in TV you can be both commercially successful and critically acclaimed. If you remember, the Empire season finale broke viewing records with 16.7 million viewers making it the top-rated network series among those aged 18-49. The Fox hit beat out Game of Thrones, Mad Men, FX’s The Americans, and Amazon’s Transparent for the honor.

Piggybacking on the success of her first film, Comedy Central darling Amy Schumer took home both awards for Individual Achievement and Outstanding Achievement in Comedy for the third season of Inside Amy Schumer. Mad Men’s Jon Hamm was awarded the Individual Achievement in Drama prize for his last season of the long running AMC show. Hamm attended the ceremony to accept his prize, which was hosted by English comedian James Corden of CBS’ Late Late Show. Oscar and Emmy-winning writer, producer and director James L. Brooks (The Simpsons, Taxi, Mary Tyler Moore) was given the Career Achievement Award for his role in creating some of the most groundbreaking television programs. HBO followed up with two awards. Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling’s thrilling documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” won for Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials, while the cable network’s news show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” earned the award for Outstanding Achievement in News and Information.

The complete list of the 2015 winners is below:

Program of the Year: “Empire” (Fox)

Individual Achievement in Drama: Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” AMC)

Individual Achievement in Comedy: Amy Schumer (“Inside Amy Schumer,” Comedy Central)

Outstanding Achievement in News and Information: “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO)

Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming: “The Chair” (Starz)

Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming: “The Fosters” (ABC Family)

Outstanding New Program: “Better Call Saul” (AMC)

Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials: “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” (HBO)

Outstanding Achievement in Drama: “The Americans” (FX)

Outstanding Achievement in Comedy: “Inside Amy Schumer” (Comedy Central)

Career Achievement Award: James L. Brooks

Heritage Award: “Late Show/Late Night with David Letterman” (CBS/NBC)