Producers Guild Picks Argo

This year has probably been the most wide-open Oscar race in recent years with no real front-runner and more than a handful of films that could legitimately win the big prize. With all of that said, we now turn to the guilds which usually indicate where the industry love is at the moment. It's especially worth nothing that the Producers Guild of America Awards have awarded the last five Academy Award Best Picture winners, more notably during the last three years as they expanded to 10 nominees just as the Academy has done and adopted preferential voting just as the Academy uses.

All of this is to say that it's a very good sign for Ben Affleck's Argo as his film fended off tough competition to take the top prize making his film as the unofficialy front-runner of the moment having won big at the BFCAs and the Golden Globes. If he wins at the DGA (likely) and the film unexpectedly shocks at the SAG Awards (less likely), then his Best Director snub at the Oscars will start to mean less and less. In fact, his snub may have actually helped the film's Best Picture chances. The rest of the PGA winners seem expected with Searching for Sugar Man being the Documentary front-runner all along and the nearly $200 million-grossing Wreck-It Ralph beating presumed front-runners, but little-seen ParaNorman and Frankenweenie.

Here's a list of the PGA winners/award recipients:

Motion Picture: Argo
Animated Motion Picture: Wreck-It Ralph
Documentary Motion Picture: Searching for Sugar Man

Drama Television: Homeland
Comedy Television: Modern Family
Long Form Television: Game Change
Non-Fiction Television: American Masters
Live Entertainment and Talk Television: The Colbert Report
Competition Television: The Amazing Race
Sports Television: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
Children's Television: Sesame Street
Web Series: 30 Rock: The Webisodes

Milestone Award: Harvey and Bob Weinstein
David O. Selznick Achievement Award: Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
Norman Lear Achievement Award: J.J. Abrams
Visionary Award: Russell Simmons
Stanley Kramer Award: Bully

The TV awards seem more stale as usual with 5 of last year's winners also winning here, 6 if you count 30 Rock winning yet again for Web Series. I'm not saying these aren't well-deserved, but I'm a big proponent of also spreading the wealth. And what a couple of days for J.J. Abrams! He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award last night a day after news broke out that he would be helming the next Star Wars film.