"Please never put this show on television," Tom Hanks said Saturday night at the charmingly amateurish TV Critics Association 24th Award Show. In the same Beverly Hilton ballroom where critics had taken in dozens of press conferences over the past two weeks (but also the same space where the Golden Globe Awards are held), critics gussied up and (mostly) put away their pens and tape recorders for their own version of an awards show, which was enhanced considerably by the presence of a bona fide Hollywood star in Hanks, but also by Paul Giamatti, who had starred in the miniseries Hanks helped produce, "John Adams," the "SNL" brain trust of Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey, and the glamorous and newly ubiquitous cast of the it show of the moment, "Mad Men." It's fun to be among stars, critics can admit at the annual event, and they turn from skeptical outsiders to devoted fans they can be. And even if stars may be jaded by shelves full of accolades, they seem to enjoy the ability to thank those who helped draw attention to their work and in some cases kept it on the air. That was the case for "The Wire," said David Simon, winner of the Heritage Award for the series on the collapse of urban institutions in the 21st century through the lens of the police department. It was all but canceled after its third season, Chase said, but for the glowing notices that continued, allowing a fourth season that remains a shining example of the best of t ...
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