It’s that time of year again, when awards season rears its trophy-sized head and threatens to derail friendships faster than the 2016 election. (Okay, maybe it’s not that severe, but we get pretty serious about TV around here.) The nominations for this year’s Golden Globes are out, and with them comes celebration, aggravation and various levels of perplexity.
Here are the 5 biggest surprises that came from the small screen side of the nomination process. This isn’t about snubs, really, since we’ve already covered those, although I could rant and rave all day about Bloodline not getting nominated for Best TV Drama. This is more about what’s actually there. Now pardon me while I go watch a Coke commercial while you read this first one.
You couldn’t throw a rock across the Internet in 2015 without hitting a thinkpiece about the second half of the final season of Mad Men, one of the most critically lauded shows of all time. But you wouldn’t know that by looking at the Best Drama category, where Mad Men is most certainly absent. Sure, Jon Hamm got recognized for his work as the forever dapper Don Draper, but the rest of the ensemble was duly shut out, as this was the only category the show was nominated in. Should have had better advertising, I guess.
Lady Gaga For Best Actress
News of Lady Gaga joining the American Horror Story universe was met with just about every kind of reaction possible to humanity, and now that Hotel is heading into the final leg of the season, audiences have gotten fully used to the pop star stripping down and sucking blood on a weekly basis. Are her performances on the same level as Jessica Lange before her? Probably not. Does the limited number of limited series on TV have something to do with it? Probably so. Either way, I can’t wait to see what insane clip they show if she wins.
So Few Nominations For Broadcast Networks
For the past few years, the balance between network and cable/streaming nominations has been growing more uneven, and it’s only getting “worse” now that there’s more cable and streaming output than ever before. This year, the two most successful network shows (by way of Globe nominations) are Empire with two and American Crime with three. Three of the relatively few network nominations come in the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, where the leads from The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin are recognized, as is Jamie Lee Curtis for Scream Queens. Outside of that, it’s basically Alan Cumming for Good Wife and Rob Lowe for The Grinder. Step it up, broadcast channels. You’re getting drowned out.
Flesh & Bone For Best Miniseries
Starz: a network known for putting out hyper-violent dramas like Spartacus and dense historical dramas like Outlander. Flesh & Bone: a drama about a troubled ballerina rising to the top of the American Ballet Company as the veteran dancer is dealing with an injury. It’s no surprise that it works, really, since Starz is good at picking its projects, but it’s surprising that Flesh & Bone is already receiving award nominations after only five episodes have aired. What if the end of the season is the biggest pile of hot garbage we’ve ever seen? What then, Globes?
Six Comedy Series Nominations
The lone TV category in this year’s Golden Globes to have six nominees lined up, Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy has got some obvious choices like Veep and Transparent, which are easily two of the best shows on TV right now. And you’d think that the extra nomination would allow for another superb standout to get recognized, but the two outliers in the category are Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle and Hulu’s Casual. Yawn. How is Netflix’s Master of None not on here, especially since Aziz Ansari got a Best Actor nod? How did Difficult People not get the Hulu vote, and why wasn’t Amazon’s Catastrophe or Red Oaks on here? This is no laughing matter, people.
The 2016 Golden Globes will be held on January 10, 2016.
