Producers Pick Grey’s, Office
Little Miss Sunshine Named Top Film at PGA Awards
It was another week, another award for the highly rated ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy, which received the top honor for episodic television drama by the Producers Guild of America just a week after earning the Golden Globe for best television drama.
The award for episodic television comedy went to NBC’s The Office, and for the second consecutive year the reality/nonfiction award went to CBS’s 60 Minutes.
HBO took the remaining two Television awards. The long-form television accolade went to Elizabeth I, and the variety television award went to Real Time with Bill Maher.
The 3,300-member PGA’s top feature film award, the Darryl F. Zanuck trophy, went to Little Miss Sunshine, the acclaimed Fox Searchlight comedy about a dysfunctional family’s picaresque road trip to a child beauty contest.
The victory came as somewhat of a surprise to handicappers who expected the honor to go to one of the rival nominees, Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls and The Queen. This year marked the first time a straight-ahead comedy took the organization’s top movie prize.
The PGA’s second-ever animated feature trophy to Disney/Pixar's Cars.
Previously announced special awards were also handed out. The Milestone Award went to Universal executive Ron Meyer; the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in theatrical motion pictures to Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher; the Norman Lear Achievement Award in television to Jerry Bruckheimer.
The global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth, narrated by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, received the Stanley Kramer Award. Video-game designer Wil Wright earned the Vanguard Award.
Ken Ehrlich, producer of more than two decades of Grammy Awards telecasts — as well as the past two Primetime Emmy® Awards — received the Visionary Award. Ehrlich’s award presentation featured musical performances by Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.
A list of winners follows:
Film
Little Miss Sunshine, (Fox Searchlight) Marc Turtletaub, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa
Animated Film
Cars, (Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation) Darla K. Anderson
Long-Form Television
Elizabeth I, (HBO) Suzan Harrison, George Faber, Charles Pattinson, Barney Riesz
Episodic Television Drama
Grey’s Anatomy, (ABC) Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, James Parriott, Peter Horton, Rob Corn
Episodic Television Comedy
The Office, (NBC) Greg Daniels, Kent Zbornak
Variety Television
Real Time with Bill Maher, (HBO) Bill Maher, Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Dean Johnsen
Non-Fiction Television
60 Minutes, (CBS) Jeff Fager