The Television Critics Association (TCA) announced its TCA Awards, honoring television excellence in 11 categories. Somewhat expected after Thursday's Emmy nominations announcement, AMC's "Mad Men" was named the program of the year, the outstanding new program and the year's best drama. The awards were presented at the Beverly Hilton and introduced by the Smothers Brothers.

The TCA Awards had two double winners, NBC's "30 Rock," which snatched the prize for comedy and its star Tina Fey, who won an award for individual achievement in comedy; and HBO's "John Adams," which won for best movie, miniseries or special, and its star Paul Giamatti, who was honored by TCA for individual achievement in a drama.

“The Wire,” another HBO series, received the TCA’s heritage award, which is awarded to longstanding programs that bear cultural impact. Lorne Michaels, creator and executive producer of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” was honored with the prize for career achievement. Other winners Saturday were PBS creations “The War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick,” which was recognized for achievement in news and information, while “WordGirl” was chosen best in children’s programming.

The acclaimed drama series "Mad Men," which won an astounding 16 Emmy nominations, reveals the large gap between what the average American viewers are watching and what critics praise. With only about 2 percent of Americans ever watching the show, the drama series managed to make history Thursday morning, being the most honored series of this year's Emmy race. Appropriately, AMC announced that it is throwing a premiere party Monday in Hollywood for "Mad Men's" second season.

"Mad Men" already won two Golden Globes at the glamourless ceremony earlier this year. The series is written by Matthew Weiner and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series - Drama, while lead actor Jon Hamm won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama for his performance as Don Draper.