"Recount's" victory as best TV flick was no surprise, of course. HBO has dominated this category for the last 15 years, winning 13 times, including the last four years in a row. The paycaster has aired 44 of the 75 movies nominated since 1993 and had three of the five horses in the race this year.

Many of the champs were, like "Recount," dramatizations of real stories from history — either political ("Warm Springs," "Gathering Storm," "Stalin") or riffs on compelling social issues ("Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," "And the Band Played On").