The New York Television Festival, one of the few places where independent television (see: Web series, mostly, though that's shifting somewhat with this year's crop) gets feted at any sort of level, concluded over the weekend, and the big winners included a show about young people living in Brooklyn, a show about faded celebrities in Los Angeles, a show about young people living in Brooklyn, and a show about a former polygamist wife forced to bring down an evil empire. So, you know, the sorts of things you can see on TV every week.
We kid, of course, because we love those crazy kids making independent TV, and we'll hopefully have further thoughts for you on many of the shows that we best liked out of the selection in the weeks to come. But for now, here are the winners, along with trailers for the big picks. (Want to see more trailers? They're available at the NYTVF YouTube page.) We'll start with the biggest pick of all, which our own Todd VanDerwerff helped vote on, thereby making it the most important award ever given.
NYTVF Critics Award: Redesigning Your Life With Lainey Chase from Eric Cyphers (Los Angeles, CA)
Bing Audience Award: I Hate Being Single from Rob Michael Hugel (Brooklyn, NY)
Comedy: Duder from Matt Kirsch (Brooklyn, NY) (Kirsch works for our sister publication, The Onion, so clearly, this award was justified. Congratulations, Matt!)
Drama: Finding Hope from Diane Namm (Malibu, CA)