Critics Choice Combine TV and Film Awards; Makes Dig at Golden Globes

The president of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA), Joey Berlin, announced today that the two previously separate awards ceremonies will be combined into a single three-hour event next January 17th, the week after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globe Awards announces their winners in film and television for 2015. Berlin took the opportunity to make a jab at the Globes, presumably before they had a chance to, saying that “our voters are savvier and less star-struck than our foreign counterparts.” They will drop the ‘TV’ and ‘Movie’ part of their name and simply be The Critics Choice Awards. There will be no crossover in voting; television journalists will vote for the TV awards, film critics will vote on the movie awards.

While it’s not a big change on the film side, it is on the TV side. Like the Emmys, the BTJA used the September-June calendar for eligibility and recently announced their winners for the 2014-2015 television season on May 31st. The Golden Globes use a calendar year for their awards so I imagine there is a chance for crossover of the second half of seasons that started in 2014 as well as shows that began their run (or season) just this month or over summer.

One change that affects the film side is that the BFCA usually have their awards the same day that the Oscar nominations, giving them a leg up on red carpet interviews with the freshly minted Oscar nominees but they’ll be on the Sunday after the nominations next year.

One thing that remains to be seen is exactly which awards will be presented during the televised ceremony. The movie awards have 28 categories while the TV awards have 23. Presumably many (most?) will be handed out haphazardly on the red carpet as nominees arrive, just more than they normally do.

Most recently, Boyhood won the Critics Choice award for Best Picture (Birdman won the Oscar) and The Americans won for Best Drama Series (Game of Thrones won the Emmy).

The Critics Choice Awards will air Jan. 17th simultaneously on A&E, Lifetime and LMN. The three-hour event will be preceded by one-hour red-carpet coverage.