Breaking Bad, Veep lead winners at 30th Television Critics Association Awards

AMC’s meth-fueled drama Breaking Bad led the winners at the 30th annual Television Critics Association Awards, winning accolades for Program of the Year for the second year in a row. The series was honored for its final eight episodes, which aired last summer.

Despite winning the big prize, however, Breaking Bad won only that one award, as the others were spread across nine other series. It was a diverse slate for the organization, which only awards shows in a handful of categories. Other big winners included Veep, Orange Is the New Black, True Detective, Louie, and The Good Wife. (A complete list of winners is below.)

The individual achievement awards (given to one person who does outstanding work in the fields of drama and comedy, respectively) went to Matthew McConaughey for his work on True Detective in drama, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for playing the lead role on Veep in comedy. Louis-Dreyfus is only the fourth woman to win the comedy prize. (The other three are Jane Kaczmarek for Malcolm in the Middle, Tina Fey for 30 Rock, and Jane Lynch for Glee.) The Career Achievement Award went to James Burrows, the legendary comedy director responsible for most episodes of Cheers, as well as a host of other classic sitcoms.

The TCA Awards are voted on by the complete membership of the professional organization. Members are allowed to vote for two nominees per category at the nominations stage, then one winner per category at the final stage. The awards are occasionally a predictor for the Emmys, but they often catch onto programs before the Emmys are even aware of them and ditch them before the Emmys lose interest.

The TCA Awards are not to be confused with the Critics Choice Television Award, which are voted on by a different organization (the Broadcast Television Journalists Association). They were held in Beverly Hills Saturday night and hosted by Terry Crews.

The complete list of winners follows: