The critics have their own awards / If nothing else, July's ceremony proves that we don't hate everything

Finally, an awards show watched by fewer people than the Tonys.

Yes, in the dog days of summer, the nation's TV critics (and Canada's, too) throw a lovely and sparse but at least star-studded awards ceremony called the TCA Awards in Pasadena. That's the Television Critics Association. And yes, we take ourselves that seriously.

Every year in July and January we truck down to Pasadena to suss out what the networks are tossing out, or up, and it's in July when we take a small corner of the Ritz-Carlton and hand out our awards. We're stunned every year when people show up (of course, we tell them in advance they won, since we can't even pretend to be the Emmys). We're embarrassed by our speeches and our food and, often, our attire.

But not the awards.

These we take seriously. And in some small way, the actors, executives and networks do too. Because our winners may not always be Nielsen winners, but they're the shows we love and praise the most. Maybe we can't kill all the bad shows or save all the great ones, but we like to think that we know brilliance when we see it.

Also, by having 220 very ornery and opinionated print journalists from across the country and Canada lavish praise on a select group, it helps defeat the common assumption that we all hate everything.

Anyway, as a group, the TCA announced its nominations (the 17th annual) earlier this month. We tend to ignore ourselves for some reason, maybe out of fear of pandering our own cause, so often this announcement doesn't make it in the newspaper at all. Here, then, is a list of our nominees, and, since coyness is so overrated, I'll tell you flat out who or what show is getting my vote.

Comedy series: "Ed," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "The Job," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Sex and the City." It's good to see "The Job" made the cut and, while they're all wonderful series, "Malcolm in the Middle" is the funniest half hour on television and gets my vote.

Drama series: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Gilmore Girls," "The Sopranos" and "The West Wing." I don't think "CSI" belongs in this class, but that's the only gripe. No surprise on my vote: "Sopranos."

New program: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Ed," "Gilmore Girls," "The Job," "Survivor." I quibble with "Survivor" being new, but the first go-round was in the summer and not technically "in season." For me, "Gilmore Girls" was the best new series last season.

Program of the year: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Gilmore Girls," "The Sopranos," "Survivor" and "West Wing." Now, normally this includes comedy, reality, news and drama. But clearly it was a big year for drama. This was one of the hardest picks, but I'm going with "Sopranos" again. It's too great to ignore, and season three was a textbook example of subtlety being everything.

Individual achievement, comedy: "Bryan Cranston ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Ally McBeal"), Chris Isaak ("The Chris Isaak Show"), Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm"), Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond"). Kaczmarek is the obvious choice and Cranston the worthy dark horse, but I'm voting for Downey because he single-handedly revived "Ally" and his talent is staggering.

Individual achievement, drama: Edie Falco ("The Sopranos"), James Gandolfini ("Sopranos"), Sarah Michelle Gellar ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Chi McBride ("Boston Public"), Martin Sheen ("The West Wing"). God, that's a great lineup. But there's no better actor on television than Gandolfini, and that's how I'm voting.

Movie/miniseries: "Anne Frank," "Horatio Hornblower," "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows," "61," "Wit." I'm going with the Mantle-Maris "61, " which was surprisingly well done.

Children's program: "Between the Lions," "Blue's Clues," "Dora the Explorer, " "Rugrats," "Sesame Street." Another wonderful selection (though I loathe the Rugrats endorsing everything) and normally I'd go with "Blue's Clues," but "Between the Lions" is something special and gets my vote.

News/information: "America Undercover," "Frontline," "Jazz," "On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying," "60 Minutes." I found this vote fairly simple. "Jazz" was a monumental work of genius, nitpickers be damned.

Career achievement: Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, David Letterman, Mary Tyler Moore and Barbara Walters. Here, age does make a difference. While everyone is worthy, the legacy of Berle and Caesar needs to be addressed. I'm going with Caesar.

It's a small affair, this thing we do. No TV cameras. No pressure. It's an eclectic selection list, as usual, and almost anyone could win and you'd get few complaints.

What we take away from this, generally, is that the stars feel relaxed when they come to the ceremony and thus open up and chat without much fear (except Gandolfini, whose shyness is stunning. I think he was the only one who didn't show last year, but he sent out a nice letter to everyone after the fact. At this point, we'd excuse him just about anything, as you'd probably guess from all the frothing prose we critics tend to heap on the show).

At our low-key ceremony, the stars tend to linger and talk, drink and eat. Save for maybe a handful of the less professional members, almost all the critics are immune to star gazing and gawking. It's just part of the job. That leaves the stars feeling less on guard, and everyone has a good time. Plus, you'd be surprised at how much famous people are just like you -- they want to sit down and talk to Gandolfini, too.

So, hey, end-of-the-year best-of lists are fine, if they need to exist at all. But it doesn't work in our business (January is barely midseason, and by then we've forced ourselves to forget the prior TV season). No, we kind of like our quiet, midsummer hootenanny, where we get to indulge our wonky little "High Fidelity"-esque lives and celebrate the best of the best. That validation is kind of nice by both sides -- getting something back for enduring the dreck and rewarding those who keep us from going insane or writing about golf instead.

Even though it doesn't garner much press outside of the industry trade magazines like Variety, the TCA Awards has its own heft and importance. It may not be as loose as the Golden Globes, but we're fairly certain more people would watch it than watched the Tonys.