ABC, ‘Black-ish’ Rule NAACP Image Awards

ABC’s comedy series Black-ish was the big winner at Saturday night’s NAACP Image Awards event.

The comedy series racked up six NAACP Image Awards – which celebrates the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film. The series swept the comedy category, winning for best comedy as well as a best actress in a comedy statuette for Tracee Ellis Ross and a best comedy actor award for Anthony Anderson, who also hosted the Awards telecast that aired live on TV One.

OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network’s Queen Sugar won the award for best drama series, while FX’s The People V. O.J. Simpson was topped all challengers in the Outstanding Television Movie, Limited-Series, or Dramatic Special category.

Overall ABC led all networks with seven awards wins, with OWN, Starz, Fox, FX, History and BET all winning multiple NAACP Image awards.

The NAACP Image Awards winners in the major television categories are as follows:

Outstanding Comedy Series

Black-ish (ABC)

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series

Tracee Ellis Ross – “Black-ish” (ABC)

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson – “Black-ish” (ABC)

 Outstanding Drama Series

Queen Sugar – (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

 Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series

Sterling K. Brown – “This Is Us” (NBC)

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series

Taraji P. Henson – “Empire” (Fox)

 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Laurence Fishburne – “`black-ish” (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Tichina Arnold  - “Survivor’s Remorse” (Starz)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Jussie Smollett - “Empire” (FOX)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Naturi Naughton - “Power” (Starz)

Outstanding Television Movie, Limited-Series, or Dramatic Special

“The People v. O.J. Simpson:  American Crime Story” (FX)

Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Limited-Series, or Dramatic Special

Courtney B. Vance - “The People v. O.J. Simpson:  American Crime Story” (FX)

Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Limited-Series, or Dramatic Special

Regina King - “American Crime” (ABC)

Outstanding News/Information (Series or Special)

“BET Love and Happiness White House Special” (BET)

 Outstanding Talk Series

“Steve Harvey” (Syndicated)

 Outstanding Reality Program/Reality Competition Series

“Iyanla:  Fix My Life” (OWN)

Outstanding Variety (Series or Special)

“2016 Black Girls Rock” (BET)

Outstanding Children’s Program

“An American Girl Story – Melody 1963:  Love Has to Win”(Amazon)

 Outstanding Performance by a Youth (Series, Special, Television Movie or Limited-Series)

Marsai Martin - “`black-ish” (ABC)

 Outstanding Host in a News, Talk, Reality, or Variety Program (Series or Special) – Individual or Ensemble

Roland S. Martin - “NewsOne Now with Roland S. Martin”(TV One)

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series

Kenya Barris - “`black-ish” – Hope (ABC) 

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series

Donald Glover - “Atlanta” – Value (FX)

 Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series

John Singleton - “The People v. O.J. Simpson:  American Crime Story” – The Race Card (FX)

 Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Television)

Rick Famuyiwa - “Confirmation” (HBO)

 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series

Ava DuVernay - “Queen Sugar” – First Things First (OWN) 

 Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Television) 

Charles Murray – “Roots” - Night 3 (History)

Outstanding Documentary - (Film)

“13TH” (Netflix)

Outstanding Documentary - (Television)

“Roots:  A New Vision” (History)

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.