Golden Globes: TV Nominations

Like I said yesterday with the SAG nominations, after the Emmys these TV awards seem like an afterthought. Like every year there are some choices to be celebrated for sure, but many more tired, lazy, or crazy choices to vilify... if you actually cared that much. Appropriately in this election year, this year's big Emmy winners Game Change and Homeland lead the pack with 5 and 4 nominations respectively.

Best Television Series, Drama

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Downton Abbey
• Homeland
• The Newsroom

Like last year, this is a very premium cable-heavy line-up which means no room for the still wonderful The Good Wife. I'm more surprised, however, by the exclusion of Mad Men which received just one nomination today (for Actor). I'm all about shaking up the nominations, but to replace it with The Newsroom rather than Game of Thrones or even the revived The Walking Dead?

Best Actor, Drama

• Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
• Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
• Jon Hamm, Mad Men
• Damian Lewis, Homeland

Rinse and repeat as these are the exact same men that were nominated by SAG. And my comment stands... I'm not a fan of Daniels and I don't watch Boardwalk Empire. They should've nominated Dan Stevens especially for what he did in S2. No matter this is last year's winner Lewis' competition to lose.

Best Actress, Drama

• Connie Britton, Nashville
• Glenn Close, Damages
• Claire Danes, Homeland
• Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

I'm glad Britton is recognized, but it doesn't have the same oomph as when Madeleine Stowe got nominated last year. I don't even have any real complaints about this category especially since my girl Dockery is still impressing people as per usual.

Best Television Series, Comedy

• The Big Bang Theory
• Episodes
• Girls
• Modern Family
• Smash

Well at least they didn't nominate Glee or The Office which the SAG did, but Smash? Seriously? Seriously? And no 30 Rock for its final season or Parks and Recreation for being inherently awesome? Those two shows' leads are hosting the damn show! And how about last year's nominee New Girl? It's actually BETTER this year. And then there's the perpetually under-appreciated Community. This category gives me all the sad feelings.

Best Actor, Comedy

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Don Cheadle, House of Lies
• Louis C.K., Louie
• Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
• Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

It's not a bad list, just one that doesn't inspire much passion. Still no one from Two and a Half Men so that's a plus. Remember last year when Galecki was nominated instead of Parsons? Now THAT gave me a chuckle.

Best Actress, Comedy

• Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
• Lena Dunham, Girls
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
• Amy Poehler, Parks And Recreation

I... actually love this. I mean I'm not a huge fan of Dunham's acting, but for everything she does with that show I think this nomination is well-deserved. There's still a couple of people I'd swap in, but as a category this one probably has the best nominees.

Best Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Game Change
• The Girl
• Hatfield & McCoys
• The Hour
• Political Animals

I'm a bit confused by HFPA eligibility window. They're clearly honoring The Hour's 2nd season since they nominated it last year for its first, but the show has only aired 3 episodes in the US (less when ballots were due). Maybe they got advanced screeners? Whatever. Happy to see it here as well as the short-lived Political Animals.

Best Actor, Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Kevin Costner, Hatfields and McCoys
• Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
• Woody Harrelson, Game Change
• Toby Jones, The Girl
• Clive Owen, Hemingway and Gellhorn

Really wished Ben Whishaw would've gotten in for his work on The Hour, but alas. And the only performance I've seen here is Cumberbatch's so not much to say.

Best Actress, Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Nicole Kidman, Hemingway and Gellhorn
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
• Sienna Miller, The Girl
• Julianne Moore, Game Change
• Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

American Horror Story strikes again in "mini-series" even though it was honored as a "drama series" yesterday with the SAG. What.the.fucking.ever. Kidman gets two Golden Globes nominations today, one for this and another for The Paperboy, but Moore looks likely to repeat her Emmy win here.

Best Supporting Actor

• Max Greenfield, New Girl
• Ed Harris, Game Change
• Danny Huston, Magic City
• Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
• Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

If you ever think the TV categories at the Golden Globes actually mean anything, you only have to look at the clusterfuck that are the supporting categories to set you straight. Mixing all of these genre in one catch-all category is ridiculous and it leaves off so many worthy people (Aaron Paul, Peter Dinklage, Ty Burrell, Nick Offerman, Damon Wayans Jr., etc.). Patinkin and Greenfield's nominations are rad.

Best Supporting Actress

• Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
• Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
• Sarah Paulson, Game Change
• Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
• Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

See above. NO ONE from Mad Men? Anna Gunn? Mayim Bialik? This list does give us Hayden Panettiere (I thought she was a co-lead though) versus Maggie Smith which is all I could ever ask for. Thanks for that last bit of humor, HFPA.

Click here to read my thoughts on the film nominations.