TV Talk: Behind the scenes at Critics Choice Awards

CENTURY CITY, Calif. — Sure, on TV the stars look glamorous in their bespoke wardrobes, but what’s it like to attend a televised awards show?

As a journalist who covers TV/streaming, I’ve not yet made it into the room where it happens, but I have made it into the next room over, including Sunday night at the 28th annual Critics Choice Awards which aired on The CW.

I’ve covered the Golden Globes in person before, and it was a huge hassle — multiple trips to get credentials, a noisy press room — so I much prefer watching the Globes on TV. (The trickiest part at the Globes was when winners would come offstage to be interviewed, the TVs broadcasting the show in the interview room got muted, making it easy to lose track of who won subsequent awards.)

Although I’ve been a voting member of the Critics Choice Association TV branch for several years, I’d never made it to the awards show. I should have attended earlier before a lottery was instituted to get into the ballroom.

Sunday night I went to the “official viewing party,” held in the same hotel where the awards took place, the Fairmont Century Plaza. You didn’t have to be dressed in black tie for the viewing party, but I did anyway because that’s what you do at an awards show, right?

The biggest difference from watching at home is the time of day. On the East Coast, Hollywood awards shows air at night. But to be live on the East Coast, it means the shows take place in late afternoon/early evening on the West Coast, which makes the awards-show commitment an almost full-day affair.

I arrived at the Fairmont, a five-minute drive down Santa Monica Boulevard from The Beverly Hilton, home of the Golden Globes, at 1:30 p.m. for the “pre-ception.” Yes, there was an open bar, but I was more drawn to the Cold Stone Creamery booth for a dish of cake batter ice cream, labeled the Critics Choice Takes the Cake.

From there, I scoped out the red carpet. I did not have a photographer’s pass for the area but found a spot at the end of the carpet and discovered it can be a challenge to identify some celebrities from the side in profile.

Of course, the credentialed photographers had views of the stars from the front, and they were not shy trying to coax the stars for the angle they wanted.

“Over the shoulder, Kerry! Over the shoulder!” the photographers shouted at Kerry Washington, who obliged.

Most fascinating was the sponsored water station at the end of the red carpet. The water brand hired three more or less identical models — same wardrobe, same hairstyles, same shoes — and they would rotate them so there were always two women holding trays of water bottles for the stars to pick up on their way through.

The water brand also hired a photographer to get a photo of each celebrity holding their product. A few celebrities demurred but most obliged.

The younger, less-known stars mostly arrived earlier. Veterans tended to come by in the final hour before the show started.

I waited to the end, wondering if Tom Cruise (“Top Gun: Maverick”) would show up at the last minute but he did not. A few other celebs who were expected to attend, including Jamie Lee Curtis, tested positive for covid after attending the Globes and didn’t make it to the CCAs.

The final celeb down the red carpet was actor Austin Butler (“Elvis”), who was stone-faced and unsmiling, perhaps out of respect to the recent passing of Lisa Marie Presley. (By the end of the telecast, not only had the red carpet been cleared of discarded water bottles and rolled up, but workers had started to tear down the tent over it.)

The viewing party, held on the Fairmont’s lobby level, featured an open bar and finger foods aplenty (mini burgers, mini chicken sandwiches, mini turkey sandwiches, a taco bar) and more complimentary ice cream.

Occasionally, a celebrity wandered through the lobby — Bella Ramsey, who played Lady Lyanna Mormont on “Game of Thrones” and now stars in HBO’s “The Last of Us” exited 70 minutes before the show ended; Sebastian Stan posed with a fan on his way out after “Pam & Tommy” failed to win best limited series with 30 minutes left in the telecast — but mostly it was CCA members.

As the awards show neared its end, more celebs exited. Some introduced themselves to one another outside the hotel while waiting for their rides, occasionally posing together for photos.

After the broadcast’s conclusion, celebs left the ballroom for sushi, pizza, gnocchi and dessert in the ballroom foyer. While some stars bolted for the exits — who can blame them with a 20-minute wait at the valet — plenty stuck around for at least a few minutes, including Janelle James, Tyler James Williams, Chris Perfetti and Lisa Ann Walter (“Abbott Elementary”); Rachel Bloom (“Reboot”) chatted with Abby Elliot; Rhea Seehorn and Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”); Andrew Garfield and Dustin Lance Black (“Under the Banner of Heaven”); Henry Winkler (“Barry”); Harvey Guillen (“What We Do in the Shadows”) chatted at the bar with Brandon Scott Jones (“Ghosts”).

Stars — some with personal publicists in tow — drank, schmoozed and air-kissed. It was another night in Hollywood, after all.

And the winners were:

Drama series: “Better Call Saul” (AMC)

Actor in a drama series: Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul” (AMC)

Actress in a drama: Zendaya, “Euphoria” (HBO)

Supporting actor in a drama series: Giancarlo Esposito, “Better Call Saul” (AMC)

Supporting actress in a drama series: Jennifer Coolidge, “The White Lotus” (HBO)

Comedy series: “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)

Actor in a comedy series: Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear” (FX)

Actress in a comedy series: Jean Smart, “Hacks” (HBO Max)

Supporting actor in a comedy series: Henry Winkler, “Barry” (HBO)

Supporting actress in a comedy series: Sheryl Lee Ralph, “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)

Limited series: “The Dropout” (Hulu)

Made-for-TV movie: “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” (Roku Channel)

Actor in a limited series/TV movie: Daniel Radcliffe, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” (Roku Channel)

Actress in a limited series/TV movie: Amanda Seyfried, “The Dropout” (Hulu)

Supporting actor in a limited series/TV movie: Paul Walter Hauser, “Black Bird” (Apple TV+)

Supporting actress in a limited series/TV movie: Niecy Nash-Betts, “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (Netflix)

Foreign language series: “Pachinko” (Apple TV+)

Animated series: “Harley Quinn” (HBO Max)

Talk show: “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO)

Best picture: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Film actor: Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

Film actress: Cate Blanchett, “Tár”

Film supporting actor: Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Film supporting actress: Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Film young actor/actress: Gabriel LaBelle, “The Fabelmans”

Film acting ensemble: “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

Film director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Film original screenplay: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Film adapted screenplay: Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”

Film cinematography: Claudio Miranda, “Top Gun: Maverick”

Film production design: Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino, “Babylon”

Film editing: Paul Rogers, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Film costume design: Ruth E. Carter, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Film hair and makeup: “Elvis”

Film visual effects: “Avatar: The Way of Water”

Film comedy: “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

Animated film: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix

Foreign language film: “RRR”

Film song: “Naatu Naatu,” “RRR”

Film score: Hildur Guðnadóttir, “Tár”