TCA press tour: Awards night!

The best night of any July press tour is always the TCA Awards. My first year, I was stunned to find out that the winners typically show up to get their awards. (We tell them in advance that they’re more than just nominees.) This year, we had a fabulous turnout. Everybody from “Mad Men,” which won three awards, including Program of the Year, and filled up three tables. Tina Fey for “30 Rock.” Paul Giamatti from “John Adams” — and his executive producer, Tom Hanks. Lots of us didn’t know Hanks was coming, and when Giamatti thanked him and pointed, we were all craning our necks to see if he was really over there, and he was. David Simon and some cast members for “The Wire,” and Lorne Michaels of “Saturday Night Live.” (I’ll paste the whole list of winners below.)

We start with cocktails and mingling with the guests. Everybody dresses up (everybody but David Simon, who came in ratty old jeans). It was fun to see that the “Mad Men,” just like their fictional counterparts, drink martinis and whiskey on the rocks. They also smoke like chimneys! That show has been a bad influence on them. Homeboy Jon Hamm, just back from New York, where his longtime girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt, is in a play, had a wildly attractive two-day growth of beard. My fellow TV critics, both genders, kept wanting me to introduce them to him. He wanted to talk about the Cardinals and the Anheuser-Busch sale (not happy). He said he was heading back to New York to do Letterman Tuesday night, so watch for him.

The Smothers Brothers were hosts of the ceremonies and were hilarious. So was Fey. So was Giamatti, and Hanks was his typical, funny, charming self. (He previously attended the TCAs to pick up an award for “From the Earth to the Moon.”) Here are some of the best lines;

Fey: “Thank you guys for making ‘30 Rock’ the most successful cable show on broadcast television. It’s a great time to be in broadcast television, isn’t it? It’s exciting! It’s like being in vaudeville in the ’60s! We’re thinking of actually changing the name to ‘Ratings Challenged 30 Rock,’ to take some of the power out of it, like taking back the N-word.”

Giamatti: “I have to quit smoking cigarettes, because I started smoking cigarettes, after not smoking cigarettes for 10 years, shooting ‘John Adams.’ Because it was a freakin’ nut buster!  Nut buster! We’re halfway through the freakin’ Second Continental Congress and I turn to Ben Franklin and say, ‘Dude, do you have a smoke?’… It says individual achievement, which is very flattering and very gratifying, so I thank the TCA, but it was hardly an individual achievement. Everybody hauled my large lazy ass through this thing.”

John Slatter, for “Mad Men”: “We don’t believe in awards, artistic or otherwise, or anything they stand for. And having said that, this is the happiest night of our lives. I also like to say how glad I am that the message of smoking, drinking and whoring that ‘Mad Men’ puts across has registered with the TCA.”

Afterward, we have dessert and mingle. Some winners split pretty quickly (the year Ray Romano was host, he left skid marks) and others linger. This year, Tina Fey didn’t stay long, but David Simon was still there when I went to bed, and the “Mad Men” folks had just left after staying at least two hours after the ceremonies. Matt Weiner, the creator of “Mad Men,” who wrote for “The Sopranos,” stayed as long as anybody and finally realized he had to take his wife home.

Here’s the full list of the Television Critics Association Awards for 2008:

Outstanding New Program: “Mad Men.” (The other nominees were “Breaking Bad,” “Damages,” “Flight of the Conchords” and “Pushing Daisies.”)

Individual Achievement in Drama: Paul Giamatti, “John Adams.” (Nominees were Connie Britton for “Friday Night Lights,” Glenn Close for “Damages,” Jon Hamm for “Mad Men” and David Simon for “The Wire.”)

Individual Achievement in Comedy: Tina Fey. (Nominees were Christina Applegate for “Samantha Who?,” Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock,” Stephen Colbert for “The Colbert Report” and Ray Wise from “Reaper.”)

Outstanding Achievement in News and Information: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick for “The War.” (Nominees were “Alive Day Memories,” “This American Life,” “Frontline” and “Nimrod Nation.”) Burns and Novick didn’t attend but send e-mail thanks.

Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Programming: “WordGirl.” (Nominees were “Curious George,” “High School Musical 2,” “Hannah Montana” and “Yo Gabba Gabba.”)

Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials: “John Adams.” (Nominees were “Cranford,” “Masterpiece: Jane Austen Collection,” “The War” and “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Heritage Award: “The Wire.” (Nominees were “M*A*S*H,” “Roots,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Sesame Street.”

Outstanding Achievement in Comedy: “30 Rock.” (Nominees were “The Colbert Report,” “The Daily Show,” “Flight of the Conchords” and “The Office.”

Outstanding Achievement in Drama: “Mad Men.” (Nominees included “Damages,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Lost” and “The Wire.”

Career Achievement Award: Lorne Michaels.

Progam of the Year: “Mad Men.” (Nominees were “John Adams,” “Lost,” “The War” and “The Wire.”)