For its fifteenth year, the ATX TV Festival returns to downtown Austin May 28–31, 2026 — and TVReviewer's editorial desk will be there to track every panel, premiere, and reunion through a critic's lens.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — The ATX TV Festival, founded in 2012 by co-presidents Caitlin McFarland and Emily Gipson, has grown from a 700-attendee weekend in its inaugural year into a five-day institution that industry insiders call "TV camp for grown-ups." Season 15 will gather television's writers, showrunners, and on-camera talent at the Paramount Theatre (713 Congress) and the Stateside Theatre (719 Congress) for four days of premieres, retrospectives, and the festival's signature behind-closed-doors conversation.
TVReviewer.com will dedicate its festival coverage to the work itself — what the panels reveal about each show's writing room, how the reunions complicate or confirm a series' legacy, and which of the year's three honorific awards point toward the prestige slate critics will be writing about through the rest of 2026.
The five W’s
- WHO
- Co-presidents Caitlin McFarland and Emily Gipson, with Head of Programming Jennifer Morgan and a 24-member advisory board including Noah Hawley, Beau Willimon, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Phil Rosenthal, and Richard Linklater.
- WHAT
- The ATX TV Festival, Season 15 — a five-day celebration of television featuring premieres, anniversary reunions, master classes, and three honorific awards (the Texas Made Award, the Collaborator Award, and the Warren Littlefield Award).
- WHEN
- Thursday May 28 through Sunday May 31, 2026. Opening at 9:00 AM Central on May 28.
- WHERE
- Downtown Austin, Texas. Primary venues: Paramount Theatre and the Stateside Theatre, both on Congress Avenue, operated by the Austin Theatre Alliance.
- WHY
- To gather the people who make television and the people who love it as one community, year-round. The organization's stated motto is "TV for all, y'all," and its on-the-ground "Be Cool" policy is widely credited with keeping A-list talent returning year after year.
What our critics will be tracking
Season 15's programmed slate runs from the prestige to the populist, and TVReviewer's coverage will follow the shows that already sit on our reviewing schedule and the panels that will reshape what we cover next.
The Friday Night Lights 20th-anniversary reunion — with Connie Britton, Kyle Chandler, Gaius Charles, Adrianne Palicki, Jesse Plemons, and Aimee Teegarden — carries the Texas Made Award, the festival's tribute to a series rooted in the state. Ryan Condal's first look at House of the Dragon Season 3 arrives at a pivotal point for HBO's Targaryen saga. Brooke Shields headlines the Acorn TV premiere of You're Killing Me. The Everybody Loves Raymond 30th-anniversary panel with Ray Romano and Phil Rosenthal closes a sitcom era. CBS's Marshals brings showrunner Spencer Hudnut and cast members Arielle Kebbel and Matthew Taylor to a Grit/Guts/Stunts deep-dive.
This year's Collaborator Award goes to casting directors Sharon Bialy and Sherry Thomas — the partnership behind Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Walking Dead, and Barry. The Warren Littlefield Award recognizes Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Ted Lasso, Shrinking) and his collaborators.
Also on the slate: a Sweet/Vicious 10th-anniversary reunion, an All Creatures Great and Small panel from PBS Masterpiece, a "Three Men and Adena" deep-dive on Homicide, an Other Bennet Sister screening, a Reality Master Class with Boston Rob Mariano, and the inaugural Indie TV Pilot Competition in partnership with Mark Duplass.
- /atxtv/ — the standing pre-festival brief: founders, lineup, awards, "Be Cool" policy, venues, badges, live countdown.
- /atx-tv-festival-2026/ — the festival hub, updated daily May 28–31 with reviews and panel recaps.
- /2026atxtvmediaapp/ — our media-app reference for festival press logistics.
- /calendar.html — ATX fits the awards-season chronology between Cannes and the Emmy nominations.
- /shows/ — cross-linked review pages for every panelled show as they go live.
Follow the festival directly
About TVReviewer.com. TVReviewer.com is an independent television criticism site covering the most-discussed shows on streaming and prestige television — from Severance and The White Lotus to Slow Horses, Andor, and The Pitt. Award-show coverage is now syndicated to our sister site tvawardshow.com.
via the contact form at /about/
atxtv@ssmandl.com