Smackdown: The Critics Vs. The Academy

The Television Critics Association, comprised of 200-plus member critics and journalists, will bestow honors upon those performers and programs they deem to be television's best and brightest on July 21, two days after the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announce their nominees for this year's Emmy Awards. The TCA Awards don't separate actors from actresses or lead roles from supporting roles. Therefore, nabbing one of these prizes seems to be a more difficult feat. Past winners up for honors this year include Jon Stewart (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), Hugh Laurie (House), NBC’s The Office, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, HBO’s The Sopranos, and ABC’s Lost.

Here are the nominees for the 23rd Annual Television Critics Association Awards:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
American Idol (FOX)
Friday Night Lights (NBC)
Heroes (NBC)
Planet Earth (Discovery)
The Wire (HBO)
When the Levees Broke (HBO)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY
30 Rock (NBC)
The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
Entourage (HBO)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA
Friday Night Lights (NBC)
Heroes (NBC)
Lost (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
The Wire (HBO)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT MOVIES, MINI-SERIES AND SPECIALS
Broken Trail (AMC)
Planet Earth (Discovery)
Prime Suspect (PBS)
The State Within (BBC America)
When the Levees Broke (HBO)

OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
30 Rock (NBC)
Dexter (SHO)
Friday Night Lights (NBC)
Heroes (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report)
America Ferrera (Ugly Betty)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Jon Stewart (The Daily Show)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA
Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights)
Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Hugh Laurie (House)
Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect)

HERITAGE AWARD (recognizes a long-standing program that made a lasting cultural or social impact)
M*A*S*H (CBS)
Roots (ABC)
Sesame Street (PBS)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS)
The Sopranos (HBO)

Do the people who are paid to watch and analyze pretty much anything and everything that has to do with television share the same sensibilities as those who create the material the critics watch? Which group's picks will more viewers agree with? Check back on July 21 to find out.