This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I presented the Program of the Year award to "Breaking Bad" at Saturday's Television Critics Association awards. Eventually.
Unfortunately, I walked to the podium without the award. Which was the second time in three years I've made that miss. And that's pretty embarrassing, particularly because I am, ahem, the current TCA president.
"Those are not good odds," Bryan Cranston whispered in my ear as he hugged me. (The "Breaking Bad" star is a very huggy kind of guy.)
Fortunately, a couple of former TCA presidents got the award to me. And, fortunately, it played like inadvertent comedy. Because it actually was inadvertent comedy.
It capped off an evening that featured appearances by the likes of Matthew McConaughey ("True Detective"), Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("Veep") and lots of producers and executives.
So I was nervous. You'd think I'd be over that, having presented half a dozen times. But, no.
The evening featured a surprise appearance by Miss Piggy, who joined Terry Crews ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine") onstage to open the show. That we managed to keep it a surprise was, well, shocking.
Miss Piggy was hiding behind the podium when I made the welcoming remarks, and my job was to avoid looking startled that the Muppet and her, um, handler were crouched next to me. That I managed to do.
For me, the highlight of the evening came as Crews and Piggy sang a duet written especially for the evening. "You sneaking with Scott Pierce," Crews sang. "You thought I didn't know."
Piggy's response: "Who's he?"
A career highlight, for sure.
No, you didn't see any of this. The TCA Awards are not televised. We like it that way, because the winners can say whatever they want and not worry about TV censors.
But, I would humbly submit, the TCA Awards are more legit than most because they're voted on by people who watch TV for a living. And because we love it.
Here are the winners:
Individual Achievement in Drama: Matthew McConaughey ("True Detective," HBO)
Individual Achievement in Comedy: Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("Veep," HBO)
News and Information: "COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey" (Fox and National Geographic Channel)
Reality Programming: "RuPaul's Drag Race" (LOGO)
Youth Programming: "The Fosters" (ABC Family)
New Program: "Orange Is the New Black" (Netflix)
Movies, Miniseries and Specials: "True Detective" (HBO)
Drama: "The Good Wife" (CBS)
Comedy: (Tie) "Veep" (HBO) and "Louie" (FX)
Career Achievement: James Burrows
Heritage Award: "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
Program of the Year: "Breaking Bad" (AMC)
Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter: @ScottDPierce.