Here’s your guide to the 2016 Critics' Choice Awards
Hello, entertainment lovers! We’re a week into December, the temperatures are dropping, and 2016 is winding to a close. The most wonderful time of the year is officially upon us — it’s awards season again!
The 22nd annual Critics' Choice Awards are kicking off the season this year, taking place in mid-December rather than January, as they’ve done in the past. The awards show — the winners of which are chosen by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) — honors the best of both film and television from 2016, so we hope you’re caught up on your prestige pictures as well as your streaming binges!
Can’t wait to dig into this year’s biggest races but unsure where or when to tune in? Worry not! We’ve got answers to all your burning questions about the 2016 Critics' Choice Awards below.
What time are the Critics' Choice Awards?
The Critics' Choice Awards will be held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 11, at 5:00 p.m. local time. The show will air live on A&E at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT, with the live red carpet pre-show airing an hour before.
Who’s hosting?
T.J. Miller will take over hosting duties for the second year in a row. The actor, who took home his own Critics' Choice Award two years ago for his role on the Silicon Valley, maintains that “awards are stupid,” as he first asserted in his 2015 acceptance speech, but signed on for another hosting gig because “I’ve been blown away by how much A&E has been open to absolutely defying the idea of a coherent awards show in favor of just being funny.”
Who’s presenting?
The long list of presenters includes Justin Timberlake, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams, Kevin Hart, Shiri Appleby, Anthony Anderson, Rachel Bloom, Sterling K. Brown, Kylie Bunbury, Ty Burrell, Lily Collins, Common, Clayne Crawford, Kaley Cuoco, Bryce Dallas Howard, Walton Goggins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Nia Long, Leslie Mann, James Marsden, Michelle Monaghan, Jim Parsons, Norman Reedus, Jeremy Renner, Bella Thorne, Milo Ventimiglia, Damon Wayans, Katheryn Winnick, Constance Wu, Steven Yeun, and Constance Zimmer. In addition to all the famous faces who will present awards, Game of Thrones’ Kristian Nairn (RIP Hodor) will be on hand to DJ the ceremony and its afterparty.
Who’s nominated?
Critics' Choice is one of the awards shows that honors both film and television, and this year’s list of nominees includes all of the buzziest movies and binge-iest TV shows of 2016. Damien Chazelle’s romantic musical La La Land is the most-nominated movie at this year’s awards, with 12 nods, followed by its fellow awards-season frontrunners Moonlight and Arrival, both of which picked up 10. The list of nominees in some of the most high-profile races are below; find the full roster here.
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Lion
Loving
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Sully
BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie, Hell or High Water
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
Denzel Washington, Fences
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Tom Hanks, Sully
Denzel Washington, Fences
BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Arrival
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Ben Foster, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis, Fences
Greta Gerwig, 20th Century Women
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Janelle Monáe, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
In the TV nominations, HBO led the pack among the networks — as it did in this year’s Emmy race — counting 22 nominations, with its Emmy juggernaut Game of Thrones taking five. It was FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson that picked up the most nods for any single show, with six, and Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt came out on top of the comedy competition, with five. Check out some of the main races below, and see the full list of all TV nominees here.
BEST DRAMA SERIES
Better Call Saul (AMC)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Mr. Robot (USA)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
The Crown (Netflix)
This Is Us (NBC)
Westworld (HBO)
BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Sam Heughan, Outlander (Starz)
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot (USA)
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul (AMC)
Matthew Rhys, The Americans (FX)
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan (Showtime)
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards (Netflix)
BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander (Starz)
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder (ABC)
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black (BBC America)
Keri Russell, The Americans (FX)
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld (HBO)
Robin Wright, House of Cards (Netflix)
BEST COMEDY SERIES
Atlanta (FX)
Black-ish (ABC)
Fleabag (Amazon)
Modern Family (ABC)
Silicon Valley (HBO)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Veep (HBO)
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish (ABC)
Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth (FOX)
Donald Glover, Atlanta (FX)
Bill Hader, Documentary Now, IFC
Patrick Stewart, Blunt Talk, (Starz)
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent (Amazon)
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish (ABC)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag (Amazon)
Constance Wu, Fresh Off the Boat (ABC)
BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
All the Way (HBO)
Confirmation (HBO)
Killing Reagan (National Geographic)
Roots (History)
The Night Manager (AMC)
The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)
BEST ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
Bryan Cranston, All the Way (HBO)
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (PBS)
Cuba Gooding Jr., The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)
Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager (AMC)
Tim Matheson, Killing Reagan (National Geographic)
Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J Simpson (FX)
BEST ACTRESS IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
Olivia Colman, The Night Manager (AMC)
Felicity Huffman, American Crime (ABC)
Cynthia Nixon, Killing Reagan (National Geographic)
Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)
Lili Taylor, American Crime (ABC)
Kerry Washington, Confirmation (HBO)
Who will win?
At this early point in this year’s races, it’s even harder to gauge the nominees’ awards-season momentum and predict the winners. But you can vote for your picks for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress here — then tune in on Sunday night to see if the EW readers’ guesses came true!
Is there anything new this year?
In addition to the switch from January to December, this also marks the first year that the BFCA, the BTJA, and the show’s network, A&E, have teamed up with Entertainment Weekly for an exclusive multi-platform partnership. As part of the new partnership, EW’s annual Entertainer of the Year award will be given to winner Ryan Reynolds as part of the ceremony as well.
