Mad Men took three of the major awards, including Best Drama, at the inaugural Critics' Choice Television Awards in Los Angeles.
Modern Family, which had been nominated for six awards in all, won best comedy.
Organisers hope the event will be as successful at predicting Emmy winners (nominees are announced on 14th July) as sister ceremony the Critics' Choice Movie Awards is at Oscar forecasting.
Mad Men's Jon Hamm won best drama actor while co-star Christina Hendricks shared best supporting actress with Justified's Margo Martindale.
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has started work on the much anticipated Season Five, with production starting in August and a premiere scheduled for March. Weiner was tight-lipped about plot details, including how the show will deal with star January Jones' real-life pregnancy. "I'm very happy for her," he said. "We'll have to deal with it one way or another. It's really pretty binary."
Hamm will make his directorial debut with the first episode. He said: "I am excited. Anxious. Those are two good adjectives. Terrifed. That's another one. But excited, mostly."
Best actress in a drama went to Juliana Margulies for legal show The Good Wife while the equivalent comedy award went to Tina Fey for 30 Rock, set behind the scenes in a fictional live sketch comedy.
Other comedy prizes went to best actor Jim Parsons, for The Big Bang Theory, best supporting actor Neil Patrick Harris, for How I Met your Mother, and best supporting actress Busy Philipps, for Cougar Town.
The Real Housewives of Beverley Hills and Hoarders were joint winners of best reality series, American Idol won best reality competition and Jon Stewart's The Daily Show won best talk show.
Meanwhile, Danny DeVito, who won an Emmy in 1981 for TV sitcom Taxi, was honoured with the Icon Award.
The awards lunch was presented by Briton Cat Deeley who missed out on best reality show host - for So You Think You Can Dance - to fellow nominee Mike Rowe, for Dirty Jobs.
WINNERS at the inaugural Critics' Choice Television Awards:
Best drama - Mad Men
Best comedy - Modern Family
Best Actor in a drama - Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Best Actress in a drama - Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Supporting actor in a drama - John Noble, Fringe
Supporting actress in a drama (tie) - Christina Hendricks, Mad Men; Margo Martindale, Justified
Actor in a comedy - Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Actress in a comedy - Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Supporting actor in a comedy - Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Supporting actress in a comedy - Busy Philipps, Cougar Town
Best reality series (tie) - Hoarders; The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Best reality series competition - American Idol
Best reality show host - Mike Rowe, Dirty Jobs
Best talk show - The Daily Show
-11:01AM BST 21 Jun 2011