The Roy family takes the first of presumed many honors this television awards season as GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics names the HBO juggernaut, Succession, as Best TV Drama and Best TV Performance – Drama for Sarah Snook. Quinta Brunson’s Abbott Elementary takes Best TV Comedy while Max’s The Other Two takes best LGBTQ TV Show.
The recently canceled (*shakes fist*) ZIWE takes Best Current Affairs Show, and Andrew Ahn’s Fire Island partied all the way to take Best TV Movie or Miniseries. One of my favorite winners has to be Shudder’s Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror from Bryan Singer–watch it immediately.
Look below for GALECA’s full statement and winners!
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Monday, June 26, 2023 – Hollywood, CA – GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics named the winners of its 15th Dorian TV Awards today, with high-profile hits and under-the-radar gems evenly represented. HBO’s final season of Succession, showrunner Jesse Armstrong‘s merciless dissection of modern-day, quasi-fictional American Roy-alty, took best drama—and cast member Sarah Snook secured best drama performance—while best comedy went to ABC’s Abbott Elementary, star Quinta Brunson‘s mockumentary following a clique of idealistic Philadelphia school teachers.
On the scrappy side, Amazon Freevee’s novel prank show Jury Duty was deemed Best Reality Show, Max’s showbiz satire The Other Two LGBTQ TV Show and HBO comedies Somebody, Somewhere and Los Espookys Unsung TV Show and Non-English Language Show, respectively. Director Andrew Ahn’s cinematic Fire Island, a clever queer spin on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice released on Hulu, scored Best TV Movie or Miniseries.
GALECA members seemed to show a yen for persistent, dryly witty women across most of the performance categories. The journalists chose Somebody‘s Bridget Everett as best comedy lead, Jennifer Coolidge for best supporting drama performance for her fateful turn in The White Lotus, and Ayo Edebiri of FX on Hulu’s frenzied sandwich shop comedy The Bear. Taking Best TV Musical Performance? Surprise: Ariana DeBose for her maligned—but perhaps in retrospect, fun and sweet—rap tribute to Angela Bassett and other nominees at the BAFTA Film Awards last March.
More: Satirist Ziwe Fumudoh‘s recently cancelled Showtime series ZIWE, a mix of commentary, sketch and topical interviews, won the Dorian for Best Current Affairs Show for the third time in a row. HBO Max’s puckish female superhero tale Harley Quinn landed as favorite animated program. And GALECA’s special Wilde Wit award, designated for “a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse,” this year went to venerable comedian Wanda Sykes (past winners include Coolidge, Michaela Coel, Dan Levy, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Hannah Gadsby, Kate McKinnon, Carrie Fisher, Amy Schumer, John Oliver and Kathy Griffin).
Sykes is enjoying a banner year, scoring laughs and jabs as jaded record exec Shuli Kucerac on The Other Two, real-life political groundbreaker Shirley Chisholm on Hulu’s History of the World: Part II, a TK on Netflix’s family sitcom The Upshaws, and as one of Velma’s lesbian moms on that new animated mystery-comedy from producer Mindy Kaling. Plus, the star’s May Netflix stand-up special, Wanda Sykes: I’m an Entertainer—complete with her takedowns of everyone from Kyrsten Sinema to MAGA conservatives afraid of Critical Race Theory—earned raves.
Speaking of frightening, Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror, TV mastermind Bryan Fuller’s documentary series for Shudder, scared-up two Dorians. Season two of Apple TV+’s cheeky musical Schmigadoon! scored Campiest TV Show, and HBO’s apocalyptic miniseries The Last of Us impressed as Most Visually Striking TV Show.
In the network/streamers race, HBO (including Max) counted a win in half of the 18 programming categories. Hulu (including FX on Hulu) and Shudder each notched two Dorians.
In other honors, the group named Coolidge a TV Icon (previous recipients include Christine Baranski and Cassandra Peterson, a.k.a Elvira). And Elliot Page, whose superhero character Viktor Hargreeves came out as trans in the most recent installment of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, joins the ranks of Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Jerrod Carmichael as an LGBTQIA+ TV Trailblazer. The award is given to entertainment figures who create “art that inspires empathy, truth and equity.”
Along with TV, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics also honor the best in film and Broadway / Off-Broadway, mainstream to queer+, at separate times of the year. A nonprofit 501 c 6 professional organization founded in 2009, GALECA today consists of over 480 active critics and journalists who work for some of the most popular, revered and enlightening media outlets in the United States and beyond. Via the Dorians, the group endeavors to remind bullies, bigots and society’s currently beleaguered LGBTQ communities that the world has long appreciated the Q+ eye on everything entertainment—not only on hair and clothes. GALECA also advocates for better pay, access and respect for its members, especially those in its most underrepresented segments.
This month, GALECA announced the winners of its inaugural Crimson Honors, a public college criticism contest for women or nonbinary students in the QTBIPOC rainbow. The grand prize went to Asha Pruitt, a recent graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. Taila Lee, a Berkeley senior, and Ariana Martinez, a senior at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, were named finalists. All received scholarship funds provided by film and TV reviews aggregate Rotten Tomatoes. More information on the scholarship winners and panel of judges can be found at galeca.org/crimson-honors.
To support GALECA’s members and causes, entertainment and media fans can follow @dorianawards on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For more information, visit GALECA.org.
DORIAN TV AWARDS WINNERS—FULL LIST
BEST TV DRAMA
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (AMC)
The Last of Us (HBO)
Succession (HBO)
The White Lotus (HBO)
Yellowjackets (Showtime)
BEST TV COMEDY
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
The Bear (FX on Hulu)
The Other Two (HBO Max)
Poker Face (Peacock)
Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
BEST LGBTQ TV SHOW
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (AMC)
A League of Their Own (Amazon)
Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
The Last of Us (HBO)
The Other Two (HBO Max)
BEST TV MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Beef (Netflix)
Daisy Jones & The Six (Amazon)
Dead Ringers (Amazon)
Fire Island (Hulu)
Rye Lane (Hulu)
BEST UNSUNG SHOW
A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)
Derry Girls (Netflix)
Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee)
Los Espookys (HBO)
Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu)
Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
BEST NON-ENGLISH SHOW
Elite (Netflix)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix)
Los Espookys (HBO)
Smiley (Netflix)
Young Royals (Netflix)
BEST TV PERFORMANCE—DRAMA
Kieran Culkin, Succession (HBO)
Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us (HBO)
Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us (HBO)
Sarah Snook, Succession (HBO)
BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE—DRAMA
Murray Bartlett, The Last of Us (HBO)
Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus (HBO)
Meghann Fahy, The White Lotus (HBO)
Nick Offerman, The Last of Us (HBO)
Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus (HBO)
BEST TV PERFORMANCE—COMEDY
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary (ABC)
Bridget Everett, Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face (Peacock)
Ali Wong, Beef (Netflix)
BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE—COMEDY
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Ayo Edebiri, The Bear (FX on Hulu)
Jeff Hiller, Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
Janelle James, Abbott Elementary (ABC)
Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary (ABC)
BEST TV MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Kaala Bhairava & Rahul Sipligunj, “Naatu Naatu,” 95th Academy Awards (ABC)
Ariana DeBose, “Angela Bassett Did the Thing (Opening Number),” BAFTA Film Awards (Britbox)
Bridgett Everett, “Gloria,” Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
Jane Krakowski, “Bells and Whistles,” Schmigadoon! (Apple TV+)
Nick Offerman, “Long, Long Time,” The Last of Us (HBO)
BEST TV DOCUMENTARY OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Pamela, A Love Story (Netflix)
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Hulu)
Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror (Shudder)
The Rehearsal (HBO)
The 1619 Project (Hulu)
BEST LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
The Book of Queer (Discovery+)
Generation Drag (Discovery+)
Mama’s Boy (HBO)
Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror (Shudder)
We’re Here (HBO)
BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS SHOW
The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock)
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
ZIWE (Showtime)
BEST ANIMATED SHOW
Big Mouth (Netflix)
Dead End: Paranormal Park (Netflix)
Harley Quinn (HBO Max)
South Park (Comedy Central)
The Simpsons (Fox)
BEST REALITY SHOW
Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee)
Queer Eye (Netflix)
Rupaul’s Drag Race (MTV)
The Traitors (Peacock)
The Ultimatum: Queer Love (Netflix)
MOST VISUALLY STRIKING SHOW
Andor (Disney+)
Dead Ringers (Amazon)
The Last of Us (HBO)
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon)
The White Lotus (HBO)
CAMPIEST TV SHOW
Dead Ringers (Amazon)
Eurovision Song Contest (Peacock)
Hocus Pocus 2 (Disney+)
Schmigadoon! (Apple TV+)
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Disney+)
Wednesday (Netflix)
WILDE WIT AWARD
—To a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse
Joel Kim Booster
Quinta Brunson
Lizzo
Wanda Sykes
Bowen Yang
GALECA TV Icon Award
—To a uniquely talented star we adore
Jennifer Coolidge
GALECA LGBTQIA+ TV Trailblazer Award
—For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
Elliot Page
