The nominations for the 71st annual Golden Globes are in, and after reviewing the list and doing the side-by-side comparisons between this year’s and the last few years, we’ve picked over the picks to find the snubs, note the surprises and try to figure out what the Hollywood Foreign Press was thinking with their choices, for better or worse. All in all, what we came up with was a list of five major points to note, including the lack of Game of Thrones’ representation, Netflix’s rise to acclaim and HBO’s noticeable drop in that regard, and more.
No Game of Thrones? Really?
Game of Thrones earned itself a Golden Globe nomination for Outstanding TV Drama in 2012, but it was left off the list in 2013 in all the major categories, including Outstanding Drama, and that seems to be the case this year as well. It’s hard to argue against this year’s list, especially as newcomers House of Cards and Masters of Sex had such promising starts in their debut seasons. Still, the Game of Thrones snub stings even more as it’s the second year in a row that the show wasn’t acknowledged.
Other snubs and notable noms…
It may be a long shot to hope that Showtime’s Shameless get some awards recognition (apart from Joan Cusack's much deserved Emmy nods), and FX was once again ignored for The Americans and Justified, but I did hope Orange is the New Black would make its way onto the Outstanding Drama list, perhaps edging out Downton Abbey. Alas, with House of Cards and Masters of Sex representing new series on the list, and taking two of the three spots that were spoken for by The Newsroom, Boardwalk Empire and Homeland last year. The Good Wife managed to secure itself a spot on the list and is the sole representation for network TV dramas in the category. And that’s one more network TV drama than was on the list last year, so extra points for that.
Also left off the list this year is Mad Men, though that’s nothing new as the series hasn’t received a Golden Globe nomination for Outstanding Drama since 2010. I also would have liked to see Arrested Development take one of the Comedy spots, perhaps over Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as I’ve never been a fan of a series being eligible for awards nominations partway through its first season, as is the case for the Fox comedy.
Other shows I would've been pleasantly surprised to see on the nominee list: Bates Motel or Hannibal. But those may be a bit too far outside the box for the HFP. At least AHS made it onto the list to represent the horror genre.
Best Actress in a Comedy list is almost identical last year.
Zooey Deschanel, Lena Dunham, Edie Falco, Julia Louis Dreyfus and Amy Poehler are this year’s nominees in the Actress Comedy category. The only thing difference between last year’s list of comedy leading ladies and this year's is that Edie Falco took the place of Tina Fey. And we can’t even really argue that this is a huge change, considering Falco was nominated for the award (for Nurse Jackie) in 2010 and 2011.
Looking at this year’s Emmy nominations, which is very similar to the Golden Globes’ list — minus Deschanel, plus Laura Linney and Tina Fey — I can’t help but wonder if this is an issue of these organizations focusing on the same women and the same shows each year and not looking closely enough at some of the other leading talent in comedies out there, or if there still aren’t enough female leads in comedies in existence to offer more competition. At least, not enough that we can see a bit more variety among the nominees in this category from year to year. Regardless, I still wouldn’t mind seeing Patricia Heaton or Martha Plimpton on this list, or any of the ladies on Happy Endings, though that would’ve been an even longer shot, considering the show is cancelled now.
Great female nods and more notable snubs…
The Americans’ Keri Russell and Shameless’s Emmy Rossum both deserve nominations for their performances in their respective roles. I’d also support a nom for Joan Cusack (Shameless). Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like The Americans or Shameless are on The Hollywood Foreign Press’s radar at all. Also left off the list was Claire Danes for Homeland, though it’s worth noting Homeland wasn’t nominated at all in the major categories this year. The last season had its issues, but Danes’ performance has been consistently great.
It seems she was bumped by newcomers Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black) and Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black). It’s hard to argue against either nomination there, as both women face challenging — and in Maslany’s case, multiple — roles and deliver consistently great performances. Finally, kudos to Monica Potter for earning a much-deserved nomination for her role as Kristina in Parenthood. The character battled cancer at the end of last season and ran for mayor in the most recent season, and Potter delivered an outstanding performance throughout both arcs. Of the other female snubs worth noting, it would've been great to see Michelle Fairley or Emilia Clarke nominated for Game of Thrones. Or anyone from Game of Thrones, really.
Netflix is up, HBO is down…
Premium cable continues to dominate in nominations this year, and it looks like Netflix is able to run with them there, as the streaming video service earned multiple nominations, between Arrested Development (Jason Bateman for Best Actor in a Comedy), House of Cards (Best Drama, Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright for Best Actor/Actress, Corey Stoll for Supporting Actor) and Orange is the New Black (Taylor Schilling for Best Actress), Netflix is dead even with Starz and Showtime, both of which also received six nominations each.
And then there’s HBO, which did manage to out-nominate every other network on the list, which is definitely worth pointing out. HBO is still the winner in total nominations, but the channel fell noticeably short of its total nominations from last year, and didn't make the list for Outstanding Dramas at all this year.
HBO held one spot in the Outstanding Drama category in 2011 with Boardwalk Empire, and two spots in 2012 with Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones. Last year it held two spots again, this time for Boardwalk Empire and The Newsroom.
This year, HBO missed the Drama list completely. They did a bit better in the Comedy category, with Girls holding its spot for Outstanding series, and Julia Louis Dreyfus and Lena Dunham holding their spots in the Best Actress Comedy category, and HBO also made the list for their TV movies Behind the Candelabra and Phil Spector. But by my quick count, it’s a difference of something like 16 or 17 nominations at last year's Golden Globes and a total of 9 for 2014’s Golden Globes. Given that I think Game of Thrones’s snub was a Hollywood Foreign Press miss, particularly in the Outstanding Drama category, I don't even know if HBO is entirely to blame for this. But it wasn’t just Game of Thrones that could have helped HBO. Last year, the channel had three big TV movies locking in nominations (Game Change, The Girl and Hemingway & Gelhorn) where as this year, it was just two (Spector and Candelabra). That, added to no Boardwalk Empire or The Newsroom made a noticeable difference in the premium cable’s showings.
View the full list of nominations here.
