With so much attention being paid to the prestige pictures that are opening all month, vying for trophies leading up to the Oscars, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the Golden Globes also hand out awards to television shows.
The Globes, which will be held on 10 January, have much less of an impact on the Emmys, which were held earlier in September. It distinguishes itself by highlighting the shows the Emmys probably will not. For instance, last year, the Globes awarded best TV drama to The Affair, which failed to secure any Emmy nominations in the major categories.
The Globes also tend to be a little bit eccentric – its taste is notoriously inconsistent. If handing out prizes to both The Affair (best TV drama) and its leading lady Ruth Wilson (best actress TV drama) last year was seen as unorthodox, it’s stranger still that neither was nominated for season two. Instead, Maura Tierney, who plays Helen Solloway, the wife Dominic West’s character Noah cheats on in the show, has a nomination for best supporting actress.
Other standouts this year include three nominations for Starz’s historical drama Outlander; another two nominations for Amazon’s rather lackluster Mozart in the Jungle; one for Aziz Ansari’s rather dodgy acting work in Master of None; one for Rachel Bloom’s excellent turn on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, whose viewers could all probably fit in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton; and one for Lady Gaga’s work on American Horror Story: Hotel. Her understated performance on the show is deserving of recognition, but whoever thought we’d be here talking about Lady Gaga’s acting nominations? The Globes, man. They just do what they wanna do.
The Globes have also nominated the smash hit Empire for best drama, which was shut out of the same category at the Emmys earlier this fall. Emmy winner Game of Thrones is the only other returning show in the category. The two are joined by buzzy newcomers USA hacker drama Mr Robot, Netflix’s Pablo Escobar bioseries Narcos and Outlander.
Outlander is the real surprise here – beloved by its ardent (and mostly female) fanbase, it hasn’t made a huge impact in cultural circles. Still, the time-bending drama that vacillates between Scotland post-second world war and way back in 1743 deserves nominations nonetheless.
While the best drama nominees represent network, cable and streaming shows, the comedy field is dominated by HBO and streaming services. The subscription service and awards magnet has Silicon Valley and Emmy winner Veep are competing against Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent, Hulu’s Casual and Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.
This year, HBO’s two-part Olive Kitteridge dominated the best limited series category at the Emmys, but I hope that ABC’s truly excellent American Crime will be allowed to shine in the same category at the Globes. It joins category mainstay American Horror Story: Hotel, Fargo (which won last year), Starz’s new ballet drama Flesh and Bone and PBS’s BBC import Wolf Hall.
As mentioned above, the nominations in the acting categories have a few surprises but are much more conservative in general. Outlander star Caitriona Balfe heads up the lead actress (drama) category, joining How to Get Away with Murder’s Viola Davis, Empire’s Taraji P Henson, Penny Dreadful’s Eva Green and House of Cards’ Robin Wright.
Kevin Spacey, who took home the best actor (drama) award last year for House of Cards, is nowhere to be seen on this year’s ballot, replaced by newcomers like Mr Robot’s Rami Malek, Narcos’ Wagner Moura and Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk; all were more vital and nuanced than Spacey’s ham-fisted president. Jon Hamm is the only recognition for Mad Men’s final season, and Liev Schreiber has another chance to win for Ray Donovan.
Jeffrey Tambor, who won last year’s best actor (comedy) trophy for his excellent work on Transparent, is the only returning nominee to the category, and the only one from a show in its second season. All the other contenders are brand new.
Aziz Ansari’s Master of None was one of the best comedies of 2015 and probably deserved to be recognized in the streaming service bonanza, but the writer/director/actor’s performance is probably one of the show’s weakest links. Still, here he is holding down the fort in the best actor (comedy) category. Mozart in the Jungle’s Gaël García Bernal, The Grinder’s truly great Rob Lowe and Blunt Talk’s Patrick Stewart are the other first-timers.
The CW took home its first-ever Globe last year in the best actress (comedy) category when Gina Rodriguez won for Jane the Virgin, and she’s nominated again this year, but the good news is her network mate Rachel Bloom got a nod for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, one of the best new shows of the season which has constantly struggled to find viewers. These two young ladies are joined by three vets: Veep’s perpetual winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Scream Queens’ Jamie Lee Curtis and Grace and Frankie’s Lily Tomlin.
Kirsten Dunst, who has not been nominated for a Golden Globe since Interview with the Vampire way back in 1995, when she was 13, will finally be back in contention for her thick midwestern accent in Fargo. The best actress (limited series or TV movie) category is a real mixed bag with Dunst joining the aforementioned Lady Gaga for American Horror Story: Hotel as well as Flesh and Bone’s Sarah Hay, American Crime’s Felicity Huffman and Bessie’s Queen Latifah.
The UK has its best showing in the best actor (limited series or TV movie) category with native sons Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall), Idris Elba (Luther) and David Oyelowo (Nightingale) all in competition. Guatemala native Oscar Isaac, truly great in HBO’s Show Me a Hero, joins them as does Fargo’s Patrick Wilson, the category’s sole American. After all, this is the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
For television the supporting categories at the Globes have always been odd, jamming together performers from comedy, drama and limited series, and this year is no exception. This year the supporting actress category features a show-off between two Emmy winners: Orange Is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba and American Crime’s Regina King. They’re up against Transparent’s Judith Light, The Affair’s Maura Tierney and last year’s winner, Downton Abbey’s Joanna Froggatt.
For the supporting actors, Outlander shines once again with Tobias Menzies’ nomination, as does Mr Robot with Christian Slater’s. The Good Wife’s Alan Cumming, Wolf Hall’s Damian Lewis and Bloodline’s Ben Mendelsohn all have a shot too.
Just as with their nominations, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association loves to pick interesting and colorful winners and be a bit contrarian to the Emmys, so if there is one thing guaranteed when the awards are handed out on 10 January, it’s that they’ll be just as wacky as the nominations.
