Another big night for The Power Of The Dog, Ted Lasso, and Succession at the 2022 Critics Choice Awards

Every passing week, we inch closer and closer to that little gold man we call Oscar. Oh, yes, there will be flubs, snubs, but positively no scrubs, as per the TLC rule. The 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards, held this very day, were another sign post on our tour through award season. Unsurprisingly, Belfast, West Side Story, Dune, and Oscar-favorite The Power Of The Dog led the rest in nominations, as did Succession, Mare Of Easttown, and Ted Lasso on the smaller screen.

And those Oscar frontrunners continued to pick up steam, with Belfast, CODA, and The Power Of The Dog going home with more accolades. But even with the night focusing mostly on the year’s best movies, there was still plenty of time to pay tribute to HBO. Succession, Mare Of Easttown, and The White Lotus steamrolled the competition—unless that competition was Squid Game.

Succession, The White Lotus, and Mare Of Easttown helped HBO cleanup

The night kicked off with a pair of wins for HBO’s The White Lotus. Murray Bartlett and Jennifer Coolidge enjoyed their stay at this year’s awards, winning awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Limited Series. Of course, these nominations came in before HBO announced a second season starring Coolidge. We’ll figure out what exactly qualifies as a “limited series or TV movie” one day.

Jean Smart and Kate Winslet joined the HBO party, too, picking up another pair of awards for their immediately iconic turns on Hacks and Mare Of Easttown. Speaking of Mare Of Easttown, the show also picked up another win for Best Limited Series. We feel sorry for anyone competing against them.

Succession continued its award season dominance as Kieran Culkin went on the defense, slipping into the sarcastic, sardonic jerk that won him Best Supporting Actor In A Drama Series. But on a more serious note, he revealed that Matthew MacFadyen’s real name is David and that J. Cameron Mitchell is his favorite actor to do scenes with—after Sarah Snook. Culkin must hold the record for most “shut ups” in an acceptance speech.

His favorite screen partner, Snook, also won a Critics Choice award for Best Supporting Actress In A Drama. Unfortunately, she wasn’t around to accept the award, so we’ll just assume that one of Culkin’s “shut ups” was from her.

But even though Succession’s Jeremy Strong lost the Best Actor In A Drama Series to Squid Game’s Lee Jung-Jae, the show won Best Drama Series, which must soften the blow.

Apple TV+ dominates with more Ted Lasso wins as Troy Kotsur becomes an Oscar frontrunner

Troy Kotsur is positively cleaning up this season, emerging as a frontrunner in the Oscar race for Best Supporting Actor. Today alone, he won a BAFTA and a Critics Choice Award for his role in CODA. The only award he lost in his seven nominations this season was the Golden Globe, which probably isn’t hurting his chances.

Ted Lasso scored a few more statues for the trophy case. Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein both took home accolades for their work on Apple TV+’s folksy hit. Both previously won Emmys for their performances.

Today in foregone conclusions, Jason Sudeikis also picked up another award for Best Actor In A Comedy Series, and Ted Lasso won the Best Comedy Series. None of these wins is a surprise, per se, but we figured Ted-heads would like to know.

Power Of The Dog? More Like Power Of The Director

Despite its 10 nominations, The Power Of The Dog went home slightly lighter than expected. However, that’s not to say it was totally shut out. Jane Campion, fresh off shutting down the conversation surrounding Sam Elliot’s distracting and dismissive comments about her film, picked up a much-deserved Best Director win.

With her loose and infectious acceptance speech, Campion made a great argument for hosting the Academy Awards. It would be convenient, seeing as The Power Of The Dog also picked up Best Picture. Considering Campion also won big at the Directors Guild Awards, she and her Dog are looking more and more like the frontrunners for the Oscars.

Belfast wins some big ones

Belfast, too, flexed its award-winning muscles, winning awards for Best Young Actor (Jude Hill) and Best Ensemble. Star Jamie Dornan appeared especially surprised. As he said, “Critics don’t usually like me,” but he seemed pleased to help in such high regard by people that don’t usually like him.

Kenneth Branagh bested some stiff competition, beating the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, Adam McKay, and Aaron Sorkin for Best Original Screenplay for Belfast.

Michael Keaton and Will Smith have a SAG Awards repeat

Unlike his SAG appearance, Michael Keaton was, thankfully, not stuck on the bathroom line when his name was called in the Best Actor In A Limited Series category.

“Man, I have to go to the bathroom,” Keaton joked at the beginning of his acceptance speech. While he was much more cogent than his tearful SAG Awards acceptance speech, he still hammered home his message of social justice, leaving viewers with a reminder about “voting rights” and “voter suppression.”

Will Smith also marched toward the Oscars with yet another trophy under his arm, arriving, once again, with Venus and Serena Williams in tow.

“I am here tonight with Venus and Serena and their sister Isha,” said Smith. “And I really just want to say to all of you, thank you for entrusting me with your story. What you were able to do, and what your family was able to do, inspired everyone in this room, everyone in this country and everyone around the world.”

But not even he was immune to the ceremony’s rushed broadcast. After producers told Willard Smith to wrap it up, the actor smartly suggested that “Best Actor should get a little more time.” We agree.

Halle Berry and Billy Crystal are your honorary winners

Halle Berry won the honorary #SeeHer Award, celebrating her work as an actor, producer, and director. The #SeeHer award is an honorary prize for advocating for gender equality, portraying characters with authenticity, and pushing boundaries. The first Black woman to win the Best Actress Academy Award, Berry recently made her directorial debut with Bruised.

“I’ve been in the business for 30 years, and I used to think if I could play the part of a white man, I was winning,” Berry said in her acceptance speech. “Want to know know why that didn’t work? Because if you didn’t know, I’m not a white man! For those roles to work, it would have to be substantially changed.”

“We will write, we will produce, we will direct, and if we’re brave enough, we will star in it all at the same time. We will tell stories that don’t fit preconceived notions.

Jimmy Kimmel roasted Billy Crystal, the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards, for all the problematic roles that made Crystal a star, including one of TV’s first gay characters on Soap and numerous instances of Black and Brown face on Saturday Night Live. He also, according to Kimmel, convinced Joan Rivers never to direct another movie and hosted the Oscars “more times than Chevy Chase hosted The Chevy Chase Show.”

But Crystal seemed touched “to be anywhere” even when Jimmy Kimmel shows up to present instead of Jimmy Fallon, as Crystal requested.