In the world of entertainment awards, the Golden Globes are where you'll find the most TV shows that live and die by word of mouth. It's where you'll see the small screen establishment get upended and set ablaze while the new TV regime rises up and demands attention. That pattern of sorts continued with this morning's release of the 2017 Golden Globes nominations, and there were shocks galore oozing from the announcements. Here are the 5 biggest WTF elements of this year's honorees.
Stranger Things For Best Drama
We adore Stranger Things here at CinemaBlend, and as soon as that initial eight-episode season had come to a close, I knew that Netflix had delivered one of my favorite new series of all time. But I would have predicted this world would transform into the Upside Down before I'd have predicted any awards love raining down on Matt and Ross Duffer's genre-bending thriller. Horror and science fiction almost never play well where prestigious accolades are concerned, but Stranger Things now sits among the very best dramas of 2016, and it's absolutely deserving. Double the joy for Winona Ryder earning a Best Actress in a Drama nomination. Let's hope that Barb can come back to at least call out the nominations.
CBS And Fox Were Completely Shut Out
In recent years, it's become more and more likely that network TV will never again hold the majority of small screen nominations in any awards context, but this year was more stark than most, with neither CBS nor Fox getting any recognition for their series from the past year. Nothing from the Big Bang Theory cast or Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Criminal Minds or Pitch or anything. We all know that the point of creating TV isn't solely to be rewarded during live events, but it can't be encouraging that so many cable and streaming outlets are producing such high numbers of top-quality series on a yearly basis.
No American Horror Story For The First Time
Since its non-subtitled debut back in 2011, American Horror Story has been as reliable a target for Golden Globe nominations as anything, with Lady Gaga successfully taking the Best Actress reins last year from exiting leading lady Jessica Lange. But this year, the show kept its theme a secret, it was chopped from its normal season length to 10 episodes (without a winter hiatus), and it told what was arguably its most coherent (but still batshit) story yet. With Cuba Gooding, Jr. involved, no less. And what happened? It got completely shut out. Perhaps it's due to the boom in limited series; for instance, Ryan Murphy's People vs. O.J. Simpson cleaned house. Or perhaps it's The Butcher's fault. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how things go down next year.
Male Westworld Actors Get No Love
Few TV shows in 2016 took the Internet by storm like HBO's long-anticipated Westworld, the brainy and twist-filled sci-fi drama from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, so it was expected to get recognized in several key categories. But while Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton were righteously nominated, what about the show's male cast members? Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright and Jimmi Simpson (among others) all turned in stellar performances in Season 1, with the latter two seeming certain to get picked. The actor nominations all went to truly talented thespians, to be sure, but it's extremely surprising that Westworld didn't produce any of them.
Nick Nolte And EPIX Getting A Nom
It was befuddling to hear the Best Musical or Comedy series get named without HBO's Silicon Valley in the bunch, especially since the show just won the Critics Choice Award last night. But the biggest mindblower in the Comedy categories was the recognition of veteran actor Nick Nolte, who has very recently wowed audiences with his work as an openly repentant and regretful ex-President on the EPIX series Graves. This is the first big accolade Nolte has gotten for TV work since 1976's miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, and it's the only big accolade earned by EPIX, as Graves is the first original scripted series from the film-heavy network. Plus, it's not even a particularly acclaimed show, though Nolte and co-star Sela Ward are noted standouts.
With all of its shocking nominations now out in the public forum, the 2017 Golden Globes will be telecast on ABC on Sunday, January 8, 2017, at 5 p.m. PT. To see what shows you'll likely see getting honored for the next ceremony, check out our midseason premiere schedule.
