As we did on the movie side, here’s a quick look at today’s major Hollywood Foreign Press Association Golden Globe nominees in TV and some early thoughts. Mostly, as is the case with any TV awards these days, the Golden Globe lists are proof that with the current flood of quality shows on a multitude of platforms, lists of 5 nominees just aren’t going to cut it. There are simply many more deserving nominees than there are slots, and that means that even without awful inclusions (of which there are a few), there are bound to be worthy shows and performers left out. That being said, here’s where the HFPA wound up:
BEST DRAMA
NOMINEES: THE AFFAIR, DOWNTON ABBEY, GAME OF THRONES, THE GOOD WIFE, HOUSE OF CARDS
Look, I enjoy Lady Mary, Carson and Bates as much as the next commoner, but in a TV universe that needs to find room for The Americans, The Knick, Mad Men, The Leftovers, Penny Dreadful and more, Downton Abbey is a merely above-average soap that’s woefully out of place. The recognition for The Affair is fair enough, although the series isn’t as distinctive as the shows above.
Early Favorite: HOUSE OF CARDS
Dark Horse: THE GOOD WIFE
BEST COMEDY
NOMINEES: GIRLS, JANE THE VIRGIN, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, SILICON VALLEY, TRANSPARENT
No one can fault the HFPA for a lack of edginess in this category, although excluding Louie from a nomination is just this side of insane. The nod to Jane the Virgin was probably the single biggest shock of the day, and underscores how much critics’ groups undervalue genre drama, as CW’s The Vampire Diaries and Arrow have never received serious consideration. As good as Veep and Modern Family still are, excluding them from the list of nominees after several years in the running doesn’t feel unfair, although Brooklyn Nine-Nine must be wondering just what happened after it went from winning last year’s award to not even being in this year’s running, without any loss in quality. Also worth noting: comedy has been network TV’s last remaining bastion of leadership, but there’s not a single broadcast nominee this year. (NBC, which airs the Golden Globes, has only one chance to be thanked by any winner during the broadcast, and that’s in the unlikely event that James Spader wins Best Drama Actor.)
Early Favorite: TRANSPARENT
Dark Horse: JANE THE VIRGIN
BEST MOVIE/MINISERIES
NOMINEES: FARGO, THE MISSING, THE NORMAL HEART, OLIVE KITTEREDGE, TRUE DETECTIVE
As good as all these nominees are, THE HONORABLE WOMAN belonged on this list, and so did SHERLOCK, if a bit less urgently.
Early Favorite: TRUE DETECTIVE
Dark Horse: FARGO
BEST DRAMA ACTOR
NOMINEES: Clive Owen, THE KNICK, Liev Schreiber, RAY DONOVAN, Kevin Spacey, HOUSE OF CARDS, James Spader, THE BLACKLIST, Dominic West, THE AFFAIR
Jon Hamm, Michael Sheen, Matthew Rhys and Justin Theroux would have been worthy replacements for all these men except Clive Owen.
Early Favorite: Kevin Spacey
Dark Horse: Clive Owen
BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Claire Danes, HOMELAND, Viola Davis, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, Julianna Margulies, THE GOOD WIFE, Ruth Wilson, THE AFFAIR, Robin Wright, HOUSE OF CARDS
There are more superb actresses left out than there were room to nominate: Lizzy Caplan, Keri Russell, Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington, and the supernaturally gifted Tatiana Maslany and Eva Green, both of whom gave performances like nothing anyone’s seen before on any platform.
Early Favorite: Viola Davis
Dark Horse: Julianna Margulies
BEST COMEDY ACTOR
NOMINEES: Louie C.K., LOUIE, Don Cheadle, HOUSE OF LIES, Ricky Gervais, DEREK, William H. Macy, SHAMELESS, Jeffrey Tambor, TRANSPARENT
Do HFPA voters miss the days when Ricky Gervais was hosting the Globes? How else to explain his inclusion in a category that could instead have nominated Thomas Middlechurch for Silicon Valley or Chris Messina for The Mindy Project? Also, to take nothing away from William H. Macy, it’s just wrong that he managed a nomination while the luminous heart of Shameless, Emmy Rossum, couldn’t in her best (if least comic) season.
Early Favorite: Jeffrey Tambor
Dark Horse: Louie C.K.
BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Lena Dunham, GIRLS, Edie Falco, NURSE JACKIE, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, VEEP, Gina Rodriguez, JANE THE VIRGIN, Taylor Schilling, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
As noted, the exclusion of Emmy Rossum here is a damn shame. Also with cause to complain: Mindy Kaling, and Anna Faris for the untrendy Mom.
Early Favorite: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Dark Horse: Gina Rodriguez
BEST MOVIE/MINISERIES ACTOR
NOMINEES: Martin Freeman, FARGO, Woody Harrelson, TRUE DETECTIVE, Matthew McConaughey, TRUE DETECTIVE, Mark Ruffalo, THE NORMAL HEART, Billy Bob Thornton, FARGO
The casts of True Detective and Fargo were unquestionably award-worthy, and Ruffalo, with two nominations on the day (the other for Movie Supporting Actor for Foxcatcher) is never less than wonderful. Stephen Rea’s delicious turn in The Honorable Woman, though, was worthy of note as well. Benedict Cumberbatch has, of course, played Sherlock Holmes before, but that didn’t make this season’s performance any less remarkable.
Early Favorite: Matthew McConaughey
Dark Horse: Billy Bob Thornton
BEST MOVIE/MINISERIES ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Maggie Gyllenhaal, THE HONORABLE WOMAN, Jessica Lange, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, Frances McDormand, OLIVE KITTEREDGE, Frances O’Connor, THE MISSING, Allison Tolman, FARGO
A very reasonable group, but I won’t pretend to be rooting for anyone other than Gyllenhaal, who gave the performance of the year in the show of the year.
Early Favorite: Frances McDormand
Dark Horse: Alison Tolman
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
NOMINEES: Matt Bomer, THE NORMAL HEART, Alan Cumming, THE GOOD WIFE, Colin Hanks, FARGO, Bill Murray, OLIVE KITTEREDGE, Jon Voight, RAY DONOVAN
If the other categories are overstuffed, imagine this one and the next, which combine the best non-lead performances in all comedies, dramas, miniseries and movies into a single tiny group, the awards equivalent of the stateroom scene from A Night At the Opera. These 5 nominees are all very good–and probably half a dozen equally deserving groups of 5 could have been assembled.
Early Favorite: Matt Bomer
Dark Horse: Bill Murray
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Uzo Aduba, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, Kathy Bates, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, Joanne Froggatt, DOWNTON ABBEY, Allison Janney, MOM, Michelle Monaghan, TRUE DETECTIVE
Not to end on a down note, but in another category for which there were probably 20 superb candidates, it’s not clear what Joanne Froggatt and Michelle Monaghan–whose performances were, make no mistake, quite good–are doing here.
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