TVSquad

So I've been back from LA for a couple of days, watching Rich and Keith file frantic reports from Comic-Con. It just makes me shake my head in sympathy. Though CC is a different animal from the TCAs, in both structure and in sheer volume of people and activities, I still know exactly how they feel. It all starts to feel like a blur after awhile -- panels, reporter scrums, parties, meeting your favorite (and not-so-favorite) TV stars... When you get back to "normal life," it almost feels like it never happened.

Anyway, now that I have a day or two to reflect, I took a cue from our friends at AOL and came up with a list of things I learned on this press tour. But this list will involve both the network-related things I learned with what I learned about celebrities, my fellow critics, and myself.

Tonight, the members of the Television Critics Association (including me) gathered at the Beverly Hilton to give out its annual awards. The membership voted on the awards in the month leading up to the press tour; we were given a number of candidates to choose from in various categories. The membership was also asked to choose recipients for an individual Career Achievement award and the Heritage Award, which recognizes a past show that had a big impact artistically and on the industry.

The members didn't reach back too far for the Heritage Award: it was given to The Wire. As for current shows, the members gave Mad Men a bushel of awards: Program of the Year, Outstanding New Program, and Outstanding Achievement in Drama. 30 Rock won for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy, and Tina Fey won the Individual Achievement in Comedy award for her performance. John Adams won the mini-series award; its star, Paul Giamatti, won the Individual Achievement in Drama award. Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live received the Career Achievement award.

A complete list of winners is after the jump.

If you were casting a miniseries about the American Revolution, concentrating on John Adams, who would be the first person you would think of to play the second president? That's right, the name Paul Giamatti doesn't come to mind right away, does it? Well, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman did; they're producting a seven-hour HBO miniseries based on the David McCullough book John Adams, and they cast Giamatti in the title role. He'll play Adams during the revolutionary years, when he stoked the revolt behind-the-scenes. The series is set to start shooting in January and will begin airing in March 2008.

I've got to say, resemblance-wise, it doesn't seem to be a match. Even tempermant-wise, I'm not sure. Adams was more of a low-key guy, while almost every role Giamatti's played has been on the high-strung or emotional side. If anyone's got the acting chops to pull this off, though, it's Giamatti. And he'll be the only actor that can say he played both a Founding Father and Pig Vomit.

(UPDATE: I have been taken to task by the readers for calling Adams "low-key." Apparently, my knowledge of American history needs an update, because Adams was supposedly a big pain in the ass. So Giamatti might be perfect for the role.)