And our winners are ...

PASADENA, Calif. | The nation’s television critics honored “Lost” and actor Hugh Laurie - two entrants inexplicably left out of this year’s Emmy Award voting - in handing out their annual awards Sunday night.

    At the informal, untelevised but heartfelt hourlong ceremony, Carol Burnett was also presented with a career achievement award from the Television Critics Association.

    “Does this mean I’ll never get another bad review?” exclaimed a grateful Burnett.

    Laurie was also touched, and charming, as he accepted the award for outstanding individual achievement in drama for the second straight year. The British actor and Formula One racing fan told the critics that he felt like driver Michael Schumacher, “who has been given a very, very fast car to drive” in the form of “House.”

    “The Office” on NBC won two of the eleven TCA Awards, including best comedy and individual achievement for Steve Carell. He got huge laughs from the crowd of critics by pulling from his jacket and reading a horrifically negative Internet review of his performance in an earlier series, “Over the Top,” which aired in 1997.

    “I have stood in a freezer full of dead people at the morgue. I have seen a man's scalp pulled back over his nose. I've even seen 35 minutes of Ellen DeGeneres's ‘Mr. Wrong,’” Carell read without affect while the critics roared. “But I can now honestly say that until Steve Carell's turn in the premiere of ‘Over the Top,’ I have never known true horror.” (While it is a great source of reviews and a longtime ally of TV Barn, the source of that review is not a member of the Television Critics Association.)

    Later, in accepting the series award, one of the show’s producers, Greg Daniels, thanked critics for affirming “The Office” in just its second season.

    “It feels like we’re finally good enough to marry your daughter,” he said, as 16 cast members and producers stood behind him in the ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pasadena.

    Other winners at the 22nd annual TCA Awards were NBC’s “My Name Is Earl” (best new show), “Frontline” (news), “High School Musical” (kids), the PBS film “Bob Dylan: No Direction Home” (movie) and “The West Wing” (Heritage Award).