This week, we’re celebrating the highs, lows, best, and worst of the year with The Awfulies.

Started in 2022 and expanded in 2023, the Awful Announcing staff has cast its votes for who we think should take home the coveted golden microphone.

Keep an eye on category and winner reveals all week long. And be sure to let us know who your pick would have been for the winners as we examine the best in television of 2024.

Best Studio Show: Inside the NBA

Even amid all of its uncertainty, it was another banner year for Inside the NBA. One could even argue that the speculation — and ultimate reality — that TNT would be losing its NBA rights only added to the weekly experience that is the league’s signature studio show.

As a result, it’s hardly a surprise that Inside the NBA is taking home its second consecutive Awfulies award. The TNT — and future ESPN — program was the clearcut winner, with NFL Live being the only other candidate to receive multiple votes. Three-peating, however, could prove easier said than done as there’s still no shortage of speculation regarding Inside the NBA‘s future entering 2025.

Best Debate Show: First Things First

We’ll give this to the technically newest kid on the block in this category: First Things First.

But there’s nothing new about Nick Wright at Fox Sports 1. What is new, though, is how Wright and Co. take the tired sports debate show blueprint and have managed to twist it into something fresh. And that’s not to say that First Take and Pardon the Interruption don’t have their respective places in sports debate show lore.

But there’s a difference.

It’s self-aware. Wright, Kevin Wildes, and Chirs Broussard know the genre’s pitfalls and avoid becoming the over-the-top caricatures that dominate other shows. They still debate, but it’s smart, focused, and never forced.

Nick Wright may be a Chiefs homer, but he predicted the AFC Championship game script to a T pic.twitter.com/gPEIgBLwNB

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 29, 2024

In a world of noise, First Things First keeps it simple — and that’s why it works.

Best Sports Doc: Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants

Hard Knocks seems to be at a crossroads nearly a quarter-century into its existence. The training camp version has grown stale — how many times can you watch a bottom-of-the-roster player fight to make the team, only to wind up on the practice squad before it gets old? — and the in-season version has failed to find much footing to this point.

The inaugural offseason edition of Hard Knocks, however, proved to be a welcome addition to the franchise, providing unique access to a part of the NFL calendar fans are typically excluded from. In fact, Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants might have been too good, as the franchise’s attempt (or lack thereof) to re-sign Saquon Barkley has seemingly loomed over the entirety of the team’s 2024 campaign.

pic.twitter.com/Ei1b9Mw7KX

— TG Videos (@TalkinGiantsVid) July 17, 2024

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see whether any teams agree to participate in the offseason edition of the series and, if so, how much they’re willing to share. But even if Hard Knocks: Offseason proves to be one and done, it at least gave us one of the franchise’s most memorable moments since Rex Ryan demanded a “Goddamn snack.”

Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants faced stiff competition, edging out Netflix’s Mr. McMahon in a tight race for this year’s Awfulies award.

Best Broadcast Innovation: Peacock Gold Zone

You had us at Scott Hanson and the Olympics. Throw in Andrew Siciliano, and you’ve got a dream lineup for football diehards — except this time, it has nothing to do with football.

In its debut year on Peacock, Gold Zone was a runaway hit, redefining how fans consume Olympic coverage. By combining the Red Zone-style format with live, whip-around coverage of the Games, Gold Zone unlocked streaming’s full potential. It’s seamless, dynamic, and — most importantly — designed for modern viewers who want more action and less waiting.

Rugby 🥉
Gymnastics 🥇

Simultaneous fun yesterday on Gold Zone @peacock @NBCOlympics. pic.twitter.com/SBJ8PffAGQ

— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) July 31, 2024

The success of Gold Zone marks a watershed moment for the industry. It proves that streaming platforms can innovate, not just replicate, traditional broadcasts. Hanson and Siciliano’s ability to juggle live events with expert pacing and energy is a masterclass in keeping audiences engaged.

Best Biz Decision: ESPN getting Inside the NBA

Perhaps even more than the new set of NBA media rights deals themselves, the fate of the beloved studio show Inside the NBA drove the fan narrative around the future of NBA consumption. Once it became clear earlier this year that TNT would likely lose its rights to air NBA games, fans wondered if this was the end of Chuck, Shaq, Kenny, and Ernie on TV.

Luckily for us, a solution was found. TNT would license Inside the NBA to ESPN, the current crew would retain creative control, and in exchange, TNT would get some much-needed live sports inventory in the form of some leftover Big 12 football and basketball games destined for ESPN+. Assuming everything goes to plan, it’s a win-win-win.

Now, there were certainly some other worthy nominees in this category. The NBA tripled its media rights fees in a $76 billion deal and is now locked in with three companies — Disney, Comcast, and Amazon — that have a level of stability few other media cos can offer. The SEC on ABC package turned out to be a huge success in Year One and has made the battle for college football ratings supremacy much more competitive. Netflix is entering live sports in a big way with its Christmas Day NFL games.

But in the end, the best decision is the one that keeps the most fans happy. And that is Inside the NBA staying on our airwaves.

Worst Biz Decision: TNT losing the NBA broadcasting rights

TNT involuntarily ending its 35-year relationship with the NBA won the Awfulie for Worst Business Decision by a landslide, though we here at AA may have egg on our faces when this is all set and done.

On the surface, losing broadcast rights to the second most important professional sports league in the United States generally is a bad idea. The panicked buying spree from TNT in the immediate aftermath signaled exactly how those inside the network felt about losing the NBA. It’s difficult to replace the NBA with Mountain West football, the French Open, and a couple of College Football Playoff games each year.

But now Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav — who rather infamously said that TNT did not need to have the NBA leading up to negotiations with the league — is looking more like an accidental genius. In foregoing the NBA, TNT is saving itself over $2 billion annually in media rights payments. And so far, the channel has been able to maintain the same price on the carriage fee it charges distributors. Its stock price has been rewarded.

It’ll take years to know if this move stands the test of time as a poor business decision. But at least for now, TNT seems to be on steady footing compared to where many speculated they’d be without the NBA (read: nonexistent).

Still, losing the NBA is a tough pill to swallow, especially given the network’s long history with the league. Surely if given a do-over, TNT would be more inclined to match the number that the league was asking for and avoid the lawsuits and reputational damage to the brand that plagued the network this year.