Golden Globes Pick Boyhood & First-Time Winners

If I'm being honest, this was probably the least successful hosting stint of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the Golden Globes (which still means it's better than average, just not as great as what they've done the past couple of years). I'm sure some if it was due to their North Korea bit with Margaret Cho falling flat a bit as well as people's uncomfortableness with the Bill Cosby jokes, but to Fey and Poehler they had to go there so to speak and knowing it was their last time hosting gave them the freedom to do whatever. They still managed to make a brilliant joke at Cecil B. Demille recipient George Clooney's expense and their "Who'd You Rather" skit is already a classic, so it was all worth it. So, the winners...

Best Motion Picture, Drama: Boyhood
Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best Actress, Drama: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Actress, Comedy or Musical: Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Best Actor, Drama: Eddie Redmayne, Theory of Everything
Best Actor, Comedy or Musical: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best Supporting Actor: J.K, Simmons, Whiplash
Best Animated Film: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Best Foreign Language Film: Leviathan
Best Screenplay: Birdman
Best Score: Theory of Everything
Best Song: "Glory," Selma

Boyhood led with 3 wins picking up Best Drama Film, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress followed by Birdman and Theory of Everything which both picked up two awards each, one for their leading actors and another for Screenplay and Score respectively. The Grand Budapest Hotel was the surprise winner for Best Comedy/Musical over Birdman while one of Oscars' front-runners The Imitation Game went home empty-handed. J.K. Simmons continued his awards season dominance by picking up Supporting Actor. Julianne Moore and Amy Adams picked up the Best Actress awards solidifying one as the front-runner (Moore) and the other as possible spoiler to the short list (Adams). Selma might yet figure importantly in the Oscar race, but its momentum this awards season is sorely lacking. Their win in Original Song, however, gave them an opportunity to talk about the film in relation to current events and that's not nothing. Finally, How to Train Your Dragon 2 won Best Animated Film in a bit of an upset to the presumed front-runner The LEGO Movie. I went 8 out of 14 with my predictions thinking the HFPA would pick Birdman and Cumberbatch among a few other misses.

Best TV Series, Drama: The Affair
Best TV Series, Comedy: Transparent
Best Actress, Drama: Ruth Wilson, The Affair
Best Actress, Comedy: Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Best Actor, Drama: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Best Actor, Comedy: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Best Mini-Series or TV Movie: Fargo
Best Actress, Mini/TV Movie: Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman
Best Actor, Mini/TV Movie: Billy Bob Thorton, Fargo
Best Supporting Actress: Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Best Supporting Actor: Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart

On the TV side, the big winners were new series and first-time winners. In fact, every single acting award went to first-time winners from the CW's first Golden Globe win ever with Gina Rodriguez picking up Best Comedy Actress (her win and speech were the highlights of the night) to 8-time nominee Kevin Spacey finally winning his first Golden Globe. The HFPA really went niche this year honoring not only Netflix and the CW, but Amazon as well with two wins for its ground-breaking show Transparent for Best Comedy and Best Comedy Actor. Showtime's freshman series The Affair also picked up two awards for Best Drama and Best Drama Actress. Fargo faced stiff competition, but came out on top over True Detective and The Normal Heart winning Best Mini-Series/TV Movie and winning Best Actor for Billy Bob Thorton (notably beating Matthew McConaughey). The Normal Heart did walk away with one award for Matt Bomer as Downton Abbey and The Honorable Woman also pick up an award each. I did horribly in my predictions this year getting only 4 out of 11 correctly, but two female-created shows winning the top two awards plus acting wins with roles dealing with race, trans, gay, and sexual abuse issues? As Fey/Poehler made the crowd chant tonight... TV *IS* BETTER.

Golden Globes: TV Nominations

Like last year, the Hollywood Foreign Press' penchant for honoring the newest, shiniest things actually paid off with some much needed new shows and faces appearing in their TV nominations. Let's take a look...

Best TV Series, Drama

• The Affair
• Downton Abbey
• Game of Thrones
• The Good Wife
• House of Cards

It's a bit sad to see last year's nominee Masters of Sex not make it back, but I guess it's somewhat fitting that fellow extra marital affair Showtime show took its place. I probably would ditch Downton Abbey to get The Americans some damn recognition or Mad Men... has everyone forgotten about Mad Men? At least The Good Wife makes it in here after being snubbed by the SAGs yesterday.

Best Actor, Drama

• Clive Owen, The Knick
• Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
• Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
• James Spader, The Blacklist
• Dominic West, The Affair

With last year's winner Bryan Cranston out of the competition, this is a wide open race. Though again, I grieve for Jon Hamm whose show seem to have fallen out of award bodies' graces or something just when they could all be winning acting awards finally! I'd think Spacey, as an Oscar winner, is the favorite here but I don't really know.

Best Actress, Drama

• Claire Danes, Homeland
• Viola Davis, How To Get Away With Murder
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
• Ruth Wilson, The Affair
• Robin Wright, House of Cards

Nice to see Wilson, who was just fabulous in Luther, get some kudos. It also makes total sense for them to nominate Davis and I'm just shocked her show didn't go more love from the HFPA. The other nominees are solid, but it's a bit hard to accept it totally when just last year they nominated Tatiana Maslany! Maybe, she can only be nominated for one major award every year (GG last year, SAG this year).

Best TV Series, Comedy

• Girls
• Jane the Virgin
• Orange Is The New Black
• Silicon Valley
• Transparent

Yup, hell has finally frozen over. I mean this is a major awards show and neither Big Bang Theory nor Modern Family is nominated... anywhere! Not even in the acting categories. I honestly never thought I'd see the day. It's also fantastic that this category is mostly made up of new shows including my favorite one this season Jane the Virgin, which is also the very first show from the CW honored with a Golden Globe nod. Transparent, meanwhile, is the first show from Amazon to get a nod. It's all very cool, but I am still lighting a candle for the non-nomination of Parks and Recreation and last year's surprise champ Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Best Actor, Comedy

• Louis C.K., Louie
• Don Cheadle, House of Lies
• Ricky Gervais, Derek
• William H. Macy, Shameless
• Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Cheadle is the only repeat nominee here so even though this category is usually my least favorite at least the HFPA is mixing it up. Shameless' genre switch to comedy is paying dividends for Macy and I hear nothing but praise for Tambor (my pick to win). Last year's winner Andy Samberg was curiously left out.

Best Actress, Comedy

• Lena Dunham, Girls
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
• Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
• Taylor Schilling, Orange Is The New Black

I can't even be mad that last year's winner (see a pattern here?) Amy Poehler is not nominated, because GINA FUCKING RODRIGUEZ got nominated. She and her show are absolutely delightful and I know people say that the Golden Globes don't really matter, but tell that to someone like Gina who's breaking through right now on a new show from a little seen network. This is everything to her right now and I'm so happy for her.

Best Mini-Series Or TV Movie

• Fargo
• The Missing
• The Normal Heart
• True Detective
• Olive Kitteridge

Other than those new and fresh nominees up above, one of the reasons why I was happy with the HFPA today was because they corrected what the Emmys and the SAG got so very wrong i.e. placed True Detective under Miniseries rather than a Drama Series. NOW I'm interested by the competition amongst it, The Normal Heart, and Fargo. The latter leads all TV shows with 5 nods and I think I'm rooting for it. It's going to be a real race though.

Best Actor, Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Martin Freeman, Fargo
• Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart
• Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo
• Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
• Woody Harrelson, True Detective

Weird that Sherlock (and thus Benedict Cumberbatch) wasn't nominated, but maybe it wasn't eligible? That said, this is a fun category. McConaughey and Harrelson may be the frontrunner, but I would count out any of the others at all.

Best Actress, Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Freak Show
• Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
• Frances O'Connor, The Missing
• Allison Tolman, Fargo

Though I've seen all of them in other roles, the only nominated role I've actually seen is Tolman's and she's fabulous in it so I hope she wins. And she's finally in the right category as well! How some people thought she was a supporting character on the show confuses me.

Best Supporting Actor

• Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart
• Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
• Colin Hanks, Fargo
• Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge
• Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

Nice to see Bomer and Hanks nominated and of course they would fine a way to nominate Murray. Cumming is fantastic of course, but I actually think his co-star Matt Czuchry would have been a better choice. Of course this category should be split or at least expand to ten nominees because combining genres is just plain ridiculous.

Best Supporting Actress

• Uzo Aduba, Orange Is The New Black
• Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Freak Show
• Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
• Allison Janney, Mom
• Michelle Monaghan, True Detective

Yeah, I guess this is fine. I mean I'm actually SUPER HAPPY that Aduba picks up her first Golden Globe nod and Janney is unstoppable, but again this category could've been expanded to ten and it would still not be enough room!

My thoughts on the film nominations to come tomorrow once I've slept on them. They weren't nearly as exciting as the TV ones though.

Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Meant to write about the SAG nominations much, much earlier today but didn't have the time. So in an effort to be complete, here's a few quick thoughts on the nominees even though all everyone will be talking about tomorrow are the Golden Globe nominees. Oh well!

BEST ENSEMBLE

• Birdman
• Boyhood
• Grand Budapest Hotel
• Imitation Game
• Theory of Everything

Both Boyhood and Birdman have been a favorite in the awards circuit so far and it's pretty much a two-movie race for now and this guild did little to rock the boat. Birdman does lead with 4 nominations, but Boyhood is right behind it at 3 including this ensemble nod consisting of only its four leads. Thrilled to see Grand Budapest show up here and Imitation Game makes sense. I did love Theory of Everything, but I really thought it would've been replaced by Gone Girl, Selma, or Into the Woods. Those latter two films though were hurt by their late release. But whither Gone Girl? It's lack of awards momentum so far has left me confused.

BEST ACTRESS

• Jennifer Aniston, Cake
• Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Jennifer what now? I mean in the back of my head she was going to get a Golden Globe nod, but that's it so this surprise nomination is just that. Can she go all the way or is the TV-dominated SAG just voting for their old pal Rachel Green? The rest seem set for Oscars. It'd made sense for critics favorite (so far) Marion Cotillard to get left off here. Would've loved to have seen someone like Gugu Mbatha-Raw or Jenny Slate though.

BEST ACTOR

• Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
• Michael Keaton, Birdman
• Eddie Redmayne, Theory of Everything

Even before "awards season" began this category has always been about Keaton vs. Redmayne vs. Cumberbatch so it makes sense to see them here and they'll most likely take this fight to the Oscars as well. They'll most likely go up against not nominated David Oyelowo and perhaps Timothy Spall. If so, Keaton would be the lone American... food for thought. Is it just me or is Carell and his film slowly fading from people's mindset? I didn't particularly enjoy the film so I'm okay with that.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone, Birdman
• Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
• Naomi Watts, St. Vincent

Even with Watts surprise nomination, I thought this was pretty much expected, but I had expected Watts to have been nominated for her work in Birdman NOT St. Vincent. How she vaulted past Jessica Chastain for her work in either Interstellar or A Most Violent Year is pretty crazy. I was also banking on a Tilda Swinton or Carrie Coon nod, but it's not to be. With that said, I love all of these actresses so I'm all good.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Robert Duvall, The Judge
• Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
• Edward Norton, Birdman
• Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

So enough people actually saw The Judge and liked it enough to nominate Duvall? I'll take their word for it. Then again the next best choice was who? Andy Serkis for Apes? Josh Brolin for Inherent Vice? Tyler Perry for Gone Girl? For all the talk about the Best Actress field being "weak," I think this category could use some more options.

BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE, FILM

• Fury
• Get On Up
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Unbroken
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

I had been banking a nomination for those two awesome Marvel films this year, Captain America and Guardians of the Galaxy, but alas. Get On Up though? Really? Again, I'll take their word on it.

With Breaking Bad not eligible this year and the nominating committee finally recognizing streaming networks, there were a lot of new shows and faces. It's not perfect, but it's not bad overall.

BEST COMEDY ENSEMBLE

• Big Bang Theory
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Modern Family
• Orange is the New Black
• Veep

I'm really, really happy to see Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Orange is the New Black, and Veep on this list. When the first two weren't nominated last year for their outstanding freshman seasons I was livid so nice to see them make right. I get that Big Bang and Modern Family are two of the biggest comedies on TV right now, but man we get it. How about some love for Parks & Recreation and Shameless? Maybe next year? I won't hold my breath.

BEST DRAMA ENSEMBLE

• Boardwalk Empire
• Downton Abbey
• Game of Thrones
• Homeland
• House of Cards

I bet all of these shows are relieved to not have to compete with Breaking Bad this year. I'm hoping this means Game of Thrones win, because that cast is just ridiculous. I have nothing negative to say about the other nominees, but it is hard to take this list seriously with such obvious snubs as The Good Wife, Mad Men, Masters of Sex, The Americans... I can go on and on.

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY

• Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
• Julie Bowen, Modern Family
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep
• Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation

If we must nominate someone from Modern Family, can we at least nominate Sofia Vergara? She, Falco, and Louis Dreyfus were nominated last year, so whatever (though yay Veep). I am glad to see Poehler back in the mix after missing out last year and MY GIRL EMMY-WINNING UZO ADUBA! YES! To be perfectly frank, I would've been 100% okay if all five nominations went to Orange is the New Black here.

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY

• Ty Burrell, Modern Family
• Louis C.K., Louie
• William H. Macy, Shameless
• Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory
• Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

God, this is the worst category. Two actors from Modern Family? Parsons... again? I don't doubt their talents, but the lack of new nominees here year in, year out bugs me. Where's Adam Scott, Andre Braugher, Adam Driver, Chris Messina, Nick Offerman, Andy Samberg, and on and on and on.

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA

• Claire Danes, Homeland
• Viola Davis, How To Get Away With Murder
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
• Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
• Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
• Robin Wright, Homeland

If they had to add another nominee to make sure to honor Maslany then I'm all for it. She's now won 2 Critics Choice Awards and been nominated for a Golden Globe and a SAG award. Fuck you, Emmys. But hey, real talk now... Maggie Smith? Doesn't care if she wins or gets nominated. So stop it. Keri Russell, Lizzy Caplan, Elisabeth Moss, and plenty of other actresses would love to take her wasted spot.

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA

• Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
• Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
• Woody Harrelson, True Detective
• Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
• Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

The more distance I get from True Detective, the less positive things I have to say about it. With that said, however, I still think those two guys were pretty great so I guess I'm okay with their double-dipping here and plenty thankful they didn't nominate the show for Ensemble. That said, hey SAG committe Mad Men does still exist you know. Jon Hamm, Matthew Rhys, Matt Czuchry are guys who exist.

BEST ACTRESS, MOVIE/MINISERIES

• Ellen Burstyn, Flowers in the Attic
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honourable Woman
• Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
• Julia Roberts, The Normal Heart
• Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful

No big surprises here though it's worth to note that the Gyllenhaal siblings have bookend nominations so it's a good awards season for the household! I wish Alison Tolman had been nominated though.

BEST ACTOR, MOVIE/MINISERIES

• Adrien Brody, Houdini
• Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: His Last Vow
• Richard Jenkins, Olive Kitteridge
• Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart
• Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo

They do love them some Cumberbatch. Were there any snubs? The only two I can think of is Martin Freeman for either his work in Fargo or Sherlock and Matt Bomer for The Normal Heart.

BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE, TV

• 24: Live Another Day
• Boardwalk Emppire
• Game of Thrones
• Homeland
• Sons of Anarchy
• The Walking Dead

I mean sure. What is there to say really? Maybe Agents of SHIELD especially with so many more fight sequences this season, but whatever.

Emmy Nominations and Predictions: Drama

Yesterday, I took a look at the comedy categories and talked about who the favorites are and who should've been nominated. With one day left until the Emmys, here are my thoughts and predictions for the drama categories.

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
House of Cards
Mad Men
True Detective

Last year, I was fine with The Good Wife not being nominated, but this year I'm just ANGRY. There's just no excuse for that show to have been left off the list this year after its mind-blowing fifth season. I guess I should be satisfied that there aren't any real dogs among the nominees (maybe Downton Abbey a little?), but how great would it have been to see something like Masters of Sex or The Americans (this show in particular was largely ignored by the TV Academy as well as Hannibal) in the lineup. Breaking Bad is the slight frontrunner here after snatching the reins from Mad Men last year and delivering a nearly flawless final final season, but True Detective (in the wrong fucking category by the way) is the buzzy new kid on the block starring the McConnaisance so it's not a lock by any means.

Prediction: Breaking Bad
Alternate: True Detective
Should Win: Breaking Bad
Should've Been Nominated: The Good Wife, Masters of Sex, The Americans, Hannibal

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Woody Harrelson, True Detective
Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

The Oscars should beat the Tonys at this year's Emmys. I mean, I've made my peace that Oscar winner McConaughey will win and not undeservedly so especially since Tony winner Cranston already has won three times prior, so it's all good. And to be brutally honest, I'm pretty much just anti-Daniels this year whose win last year still confounds and angers me (over Cranston? over Spacey? over Hamm?). So everyone else can literally win as long as it's not Daniels. With that said, did the TV Academy not watch Hannibal with its stunning season-long two-man standoff between Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy? Because wow.

Prediction: Matthew McConaughey
Alternate: Bryan Cranston
Should Win: Bryan Cranston
Should've Been Nominated: Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy, Matthew Rhys

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Lizzy Caplan, Masters of Sex
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Kerry Washington, Scandal
Robin Wright, House of Cards

The sheer happiness I felt when Caplan's name was called on nomination morning was tempered a bit when I realized that Elisabeth Moss was left out. Out of all last year's nominees, I would've pegged Moss to be the safest based on what she did on her show this season. Her non-nomination was one of those things that you didn't think about until it happened and then everything hurt. I am happy that Margulies came back after being left out last year, especially after such a brilliant season. I have no idea who the favorite is. Danes has won the past two years, but Caplan could surprise as could Golden Globe winner Wright. Write-in vote for Moss? Write-in vote for Tatiana Maslany! Who am I kidding? It'll probably be Jeff Daniels and I'll get angry all over again.

Prediction: Julianna Margulies
Alternate: Robin Wright
Should Win: Lizzy Caplan
Should've Been Nominated: Elisabeth Moss, Tatiana Maslany, Keri Russell

BEST DRAMA SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jim Carter, Downton Abbey
Josh Charles, The Good Wife
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

I actually still like Downton Abbey and Carson is a hoot, but Carter's nomination is just ridiculous especially in such a seriously competitive and stacked category already. Very happy to see Charles nominated here and it does lessen the sting of his character's loss in the show (and the show's snub... yes, still not over it). Previous winners Dinklage and Paul upped their level making it really easy to see and want either one in the winner's circle again. Voight is the wildcard as he could swoop in as the veteran Hollywood actor to get his first Emmy win. Dean Norris probably should've gotten nominated as well as a couple of my genre picks Jordan Gavaris and Dylan O'Brien.

Prediction: Aaron Paul
Alternate: Peter Dinklage
Should Win: Josh Charles
Should've Been Nominated: Dean Norris, Jordan Gavaris, Dylan O'Brien

BEST DRAMA SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Joanne Froggat, Downton Abbey
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey

The good news is that I heart all of these actresses so even if I think a couple of nominations are lazy (Smith, Hendricks), the TV Academy couldn't really do much wrong here. I'm rooting for Gunn and Baranski in equal measure as I want the former to win for delivering just an outstanding tour-de-force performance and the latter to win to continue the awesome Good Wife streak to five years of kick-ass actresses winning the Emmy from that show. With regards to who should've been nominated, there are a few names, but most are from genre shows so I didn't expect them too much. Though what does Maisie Williams have to go to get in on the Emmy love for Game of Thrones? Pay attention, people!

Prediction: Anna Gunn
Alternate: Maggie Smith
Should Win: Anna Gunn
Should've Been Nominated: Maisie Williams, Lana Parrilla, Katheryn Winnick

And if you're still reading here are just my predictions for the Miniseries/TV Movies categories:

BEST TV MINISERIES: Fargo
BEST TV MOVIE: The Normal Heart
BEST ACTOR, MINISERIES/MOVIE: Billy Bob Thornton
BEST ACTRESS, MINISERIES/MOVIE: Cicely Tyson
BEST SUPP. ACTOR, MINI/MOVIE: Matt Bomer
BEST SUPP. ACTRESS, MINI/MOVIE: Julia Roberts

Predicting Guest Acting at Creative Arts Emmy Awards

I keep forgetting that the Emmy Awards are being held a whole month earlier than usual this year, which means the Creative Arts Emmys is happening this weekend, tonight specifically. It's their way of trying to handle the approximately 100 or so awards they have to give out. The only acting awards being given out tonight are those for Guest Acting, so here are my thoughts and predictions on those...

BEST DRAMA GUEST ACTOR
Dylan Baker, The Good Wife
Beau Bridges, Masters of Sex
Reg E. Cathey, House of Cards
Paul Giamatti, Downton Abbey
Robert Morse, Mad Men
Joe Morton, Scandal

I expected stronger showings for Mad Men and The Good Wife (and it's insane both shows don't even make it into Guest Actress). For the past two years, I kept wrongly predicting Michael J. Fox and I don't even think he submitted his name this year. That said I'm rooting for Bridges for his heartbreaking storyline, but they might give it to Morse or Giamatti. I wished Pedro Pascal had been nominated though for his fantastic work in Game of Thrones.

Prediction: Paul Giamatti
Alternate: Robert Morse
Should Win: Beau Bridges
Should've Been Nominated: Pedro Pascal, John Noble

BEST DRAMA GUEST ACTRESS
Kate Burton, Scandal
Jane Fonda, The Newsroom
Allison Janney, Masters of Sex
Kate Mara, House of Cards
Margo Martindale, The Americans
Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones

A bit annoyed that last year's winner (yay!) Carrie Preston didn't repeat especially in a category with the a few repeats (Fonda, Martindale, Rigg), but I actually don't care because this category is ALL ABOUT Allison Janney for me. Her character and her performance is my everything. I might hurt somebody if she doesn't win this. Spoiler alert: I have similar feelings in the comedy category. Also to all voters, did you watch Hannibal? I count four women easy on that show who you should've nominated.

Prediction: Allison Janney
Alternate: Jane Fonda
Should Win: Allison Janney
Should've Been Nominated: Gina Torres, Gillian Anderson

BEST COMEDY GUEST ACTOR
Steve Buscemi, Portlandia
Louis C.K., Saturday Night Live
Gary Cole, Veep
Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live
Nathan Lane, Modern Family
Bob Newhart, Big Bang Theory

This category is pretty boring, which is why I really wished they had gone nuts and nominated Prince for his bit role in New Girl. It's also boring because I think everyone knows that Bob Newhart could very well repeat his (deserved) win last year. I don't even have anyone I'm really rooting for among the nominees. Maybe Cole just because he's in the show I like the most from the options.

Prediction: Bob Newhart
Alternate: Steve Buscemi
Should Win: Gary Cole
Should've Been Nominated: Prince, Andrew Rannells

BEST COMEDY GUEST ACTRESS
Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black
Joan Cusack, Shameless
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Natasha Lyonne, Orange is the New Black
Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live

I do love the TV Academy's love for Orange is the New Black and these specific nominations are pretty flawless. I would've even added Taryn Manning, but maybe that's a bit overkill. Of course even though her show change from Drama to Comedy, Cusack is still inexplicably in this category so whatever. But who cares because I'm putting ALL OF MY ENERGIES to making sure Aduba wins. Janney and Aduba are MUST wins. I will cry if they don't. I will throw pies. (If Laverne Cox wins, I'll be upset for like a second and then really happy though.)

Prediction: Uzo Aduba
Alternate: Laverne Cox
Should Win: Uzo Aduba
Should've Been Nominated: Taryn Manning, Romy Rosemont

Why I even make predictions in these categories is beyond me since year in, year out I've done horribly. I hope that doesn't jinx my picks. And just for kicks, three more random categories that will be decided tonight...

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"No Trouble," A Christmas Carol - The Concert
"Les Mis," Key & Peele
"Home For the Holiday," Saturday Night Live
"Merroway Cove," Sofia The First: The Floating Palace
"Day Is Gone," Sons of Anarchy
"Bigger!" 67th Annual Tony Awards

Even though I haven't heard of any of the other songs, I don't really care because "Bigger!" from last year's Tony Awards really needs to win. The song is great, but the performance by Neil Patrick Harris is EPIC. Just watch:


BEST MAIN TITLE DESIGN
Black Sails
COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey
Masters of Sex
Silicon Valley
True Detective

I would refer you to this post over at The Film Experience if you want to view all of these. I'm rooting for Masters of Sex, because it's just so fun (and to be honest I'm kinda over these deep, brooding title sequences that a lot of shows prefer to do now). And while it's not high art, I do love the fun and retro title sequence for Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

BEST SPECIAL CLASS PROGRAM
The 71st Annual Golden Globe Award
The Oscars
Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Opening
The Sound of Music Live!
The 67th Annual Tony Awards

This will be interesting, because I think it's a fight of the Award Shows with Cool Hosts (who get the Emmys if their show wins). On the one hand, NPH's Tony show was great (see above clip) but Ellen's Oscar was a viral hit. On the other hand, Fey and Poehler made the Golden Globes a must watch. Of course, I'm also assuming that while The Olympics is always a threat, Sochi being Sochi will make them not likely to win and The Sound of Music Live! was a joke nomination, right?

Anyways, those are just a small percentage of the awards being given out tonight. I'm sure the pundits are hoping to see which shows win those technical categories to figure out which way the TV Academy is going. The Normal Heart should be a big winner, but the regular series race is actually up in the air. Last year, Breaking Bad had this race sewn up, but True Detective is a tough challenger. And could this finally, FINALLY be the year Modern Family loses (to Orange is the New Black)? We'll all find out next week for sure!

End-Of-Year: Favorite 2013 TV Shows, Part 1

My goal was to get this list posted a few days after I picked my acting winners, more than two weeks ago, so clearly that didn't happen. In any case, below is the first part of my ranked list of TV shows I watched in 2013. You may think having a Top 35 List is pretty much giving everyone an trophy, but that's not even half the number of the shows I saw last year. And thus...

35. Cougar Town - New network, but same hijinks. At this point, the show really is just a bunch of drunks having fun together. I'm not complaining.

34. 30 Rock - Probably too low, but I sort of already fell out of mad love with the show a few seasons ago. With that said, their final season was a back to form and it'll truly be missed if only for my love Jenna Maroney.

33. Big Bang Theory - The most popular show on TV right now isn't perfect, but the cast chemistry in undeniable. When the show takes advantage of its full ensemble, it's very good.

32. New Girl - Its sophomore season was really great including the back half which aired last year minus the whole Schmidt two-timing storyline, but while still good, it seems to have stagnated early in its junior season just a bit.

31. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - I was lukewarm on the pilot and a few of the early episodes were a bit unmemorable. With that said, I've become oddly invested in the characters and while it's still not the show I know Whedon can deliver, it's still a show I like to watch.

30. Arrested Development - I actually saw the whole series for the first time last year which is why I've ranked it here since while I was intrigued at how they structured the latest season in Netflix, it made for rough watching early on.

29. How I Met Your Mother - This ranking would be much higher if the show took full advantage of Cristin Milioti, because every episode she's been featured in has been aces. But look this is one of my favorite shows the past few years and while the unique final season framework hasn't been super successful, at least they're doing something different.

28. Community - Most people would like to forget that this Dan Harmon-less season ever happened, but I was never really one of those people who thought it was a bad season, just different. In fact, I ended up loving a handful of episodes.

27. Girls - I actually think I may have liked this season over the first one and its lower ranking only means A LOT of new shows premiered this year. That said, I honestly don't get the haters for this show. Okay, maybe if they're complaining about anything Jessa-related.

26. Call the Midwife - Managed to watch the first two seasons last year and ended up loving its mix of high-stakes drama (delivering babies!) with some organic comedy (Miranda Hart!).

25. Please Like Me - There's something just super appealing to the quirky, brash humor by Josh Thomas in this fun British show about a guy coming out of the closet and yet stubbornly refuses to change one iota.

24. Vikings - I honestly didn't expect to love a show about the lives of Vikings and yet with fully realized characters and superb production qualities, this History show really delivered. Plus it has a hot monk!

23. Teen Wolf - This is a supernatural show full of hot guys and kickass ladies. Do I really need to explain more about why it's one of my not-at-all guilty pleasures?

22. Sleepy Hollow - When this show premiered, I pointed out that its pilot walked "the fine line of embracing its weirdness while also providing a refreshing sense of gleeful sincerity in its tone" and fortunately the show maintained this throughout while also developing its characters and its overwrought, but entertaining mythology.

21. The Crazy Ones - This is a show that definitely got much better as it went, especially when it stopped being the Robin Williams show and became more of an ensemble show, a really funny one at that. Its end tag bloopers is one of my favorite things this past season. Also Kelly Clarkson in the pilot! Win!

20. Hannibal - As a huge fan of Bryan Fuller, I knew this show would be right up my alley and while it's less whimsy and more gory than his other shows, the quality remains. It helps that Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy are doing amazing things in their roles.

19. Elementary - I don't subscribe to comparing this show with BBC's Sherlock since they're both so different. What I do love about this show is the fresh take Miller brings to the character and his fantastic relationship with Liu's Watson.

18. Downton Abbey - I never know which season of this show I'm honoring--the one that aired in the US early last year or the one that aired in the UK later last year. No matter, as I think the show has found its sweet spot between period piece and soap opera melodrama and I can't get enough of it.

17. House of Cards - While it wasn't my favorite Netflix original of last year, it was still such a delight to see Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright plot together to take over the world. I can't wait to see what/who else they can manipulate and destroy.

16. Mad Men - Ranked the exact same last year, I do think people have started to really take the greatness of this show for granted. But it's still pretty damn great especially with its central character so much more broken than ever. Also, this season gave us Bob Benson, so there you go.

I'll hopefully post the second part of my rankings aka my Top 15 before the end of the week, but whenever I say that it usually takes a few more days or week to actually happen. In the meantime, here are a few honorable mentions...

An Adventure in Space and Time - This was a BBC television movie that dramatized the origins of the show Doctor Who airing in time for the 50th Anniversary of the show. So good, but as it was a movie, didn't make my list.

Fringe - Based on the last three episodes it aired in 2013, this would be a Top 20 show easy, but I wanted to honor newer shows and it already made my Top 10 list last year.

Lizzie Bennett Diaries - Such an inventive take on the Pride & Prejudice story, adapted for the YouTube generation. Since it was a web series, I felt it'd be better to call it out here rather than including it in my list. Watch it here.

Reality Shows - I saw a lot of good to great ones the past year, but with so many scripted shows to honor I had to take them out. But from old favorites (Amazing Race, Masterchef, Face Off) to new surprises (The Writers' Room, Masterchef Junior) to silly fun ones (American Ninja Warrior, Whodunnit?, Hollywood Game Night), I had to pay tribute to them in some small way.

Screen Actors Guild Loves American Hustle & Breaking Bad

As expected, American Hustle picked up Best Ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Award last night keeping it as a favorite to win Best Picture at the Oscars despite losing in the individual acting categories. All of the BFCA acting winners repeated their wins with the SAG solidifying their frontrunner status, which bodes especially well for Matthew McConaughey and Lupita Nyong'o whose facing stiff competition in their categories. 

Best Ensemble: American Hustle
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Breaking Bad and Modern Family came out on top, both winning Ensemble and Actor, which means for two years in a row, Bryan Cranston walked home with two awards (last year in TV Actor and as part of Argo's ensemble). It also means Modern Family has won the Ensemble award for four straight years, which frankly is ridiculous. Meanwhile, Michael Douglas' win completes his awards sweep for his role as Liberace. And as much as I love them, Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren's wins seem so thoughtless especially considering the competition. In Mirren's defense, she at least had the decency to call out the rightful winner in her category who was Elisabeth Moss.

Best Ensemble, Drama: Breaking Bad
Best Ensemble, Comedy: Modern Family
Best Actress, Drama: Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Best Actress, Comedy: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Best Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Best Actor, Comedy: Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Best Actress, Miniseries: Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
Best Actor, Miniseries: Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra

I actually didn't watch much of the ceremony, catching only the tail end right around the Life Achievement presentation for the legendary Rita Moreno. I mean why did they hold this year's ceremony on a Saturday? The In Memoriam segment this year seemed more gut-wrenching than in previous years. In terms of Oscars, this win obviously puts American Hustle on top, but Nyong'o's win over Jennifer Lawrence is worth a mention. And then there's Dallas Buyers Club, which was the only film this year to pick up two awards. Coupled with a surprise Best Ensemble nomination here and a Best Editing nomination at the Oscars and is everyone underestimating this film?

Golden Globes: TV Nominations

The Hollywood Foreign Press finally used their penchant for the newest and shiniest thing for good picking up where the Emmy Awards and Screen Actors Guild couldn't in honoring some of the new shows and faces of TV. In fact, House of Cards, a new show from Netflix, leads with 4 nods alongside HBO's Beyond the Candelabra.

Best TV Series, Drama

• Breaking Bad
• Downton Abbey
• The Good Wife
• House of Cards
• Masters of Sex

Only Breaking Bad and Downton Abbey repeated their SAG nominations from yesterday while both of those alongside House of Cards repeated their Emmy nods. That's all well and good, but I just want to celebrate the return of The Good Wife (after a two-year absence) as well as the HFPA recognizing new show Masters of Sex. There are other new shows they could've obviously honored (Orange is the New Black, The Americans, Orphan Black), but this is more than what other groups have done so far.

Best Actor, Drama

• Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
• Michael Sheen, Masters of Sex
• Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
• James Spader, The Blacklist

Can we take a moment to light a candle for Jon Hamm and Mad Men? The show was shut out of the nominations through no apparent faults of its own. Also weird to see last year's winner Damien Lewis or this year's Emmy winner Jeff Daniels missing, but this is Cranston's award to lose. Not to mention he's in a category with four guy from NEW shows. Talk about in with the new.

Best Actress, Drama

• Taylor Schilling, Orange Is The New Black
• Robin Wright, House of Cards
• Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
• Kerry Washington, Scandal

Like the men, there's a lot of new blood here most notably for the awesome breakthrough of both Taylor Schilling and Tatiana Maslany, their show's lone, but monumental nomination. Maslany especially has been a critic/internet favorite ever since her BBC America show aired so to see here here with all the big names is a delight. Just really didn't expect last year's winner Claire Danes to be out of the running though.

Best TV Series, Comedy

• The Big Bang Theory
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Girls
• Modern Family
• Parks and Recreation

It was a very, very good day for Michael Schur. Not only does his show Parks and Recreation finally get a series nod for the first time, but his new show (also my favorite NEW show of the fall) Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes it in. Those nominations alone make this category the best it's been in years. Hey, remember last year when they nominated Smash? Though I did think Veep or the final season of 30 Rock was going to make it in.

Best Actor, Comedy

• Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
• Don Cheadle, House of Lies
• Michael J. Fox, The Michael J. Fox Show
• Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
• Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Bateman, Cheadle, and Parsons all repeat their Emmy/SAG nominations so that's whatever. But it's Fox and not Robin Williams who won the "veteran in a new comedy show" slot. And I didn't expect Samberg to be cited here, but any love for his show is fine by me. I'd probably trade any of these men with Adam Scott or Jake Johnson though.

Best Actress, Comedy

• Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
• Lena Dunham, Girls
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
• Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

This is pretty much the same nominations as last year except Falco replaces host Tina Fey (HFPA just really didn't care to say goodbye to 30 Rock at all). It's a solid list, but I hope reigning winner Louis-Dreyfus would be okay if I beg and plead for Poehler to win one. I mean come on now!

Best Mini-Series or TV Movie

• American Horror Story: Coven
• Behind the Candelabra
• Dancing on the Edge
• Top of the Lake
• White Queen

Behind the Candelabra leads and is probably the frontrunner. That said, I still need to see Top of the Lake and Dancing on the Edge which I hear are pretty good.

Best Actor, Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
• Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dancing on the Edge
• Idris Elba, Luther
• Al Pacino, Phil Spector

Just a couple of movie stars slumming it on TV. I'm talking of course about Ejiofor and Elba who are both nominated in the film categories as well this year. Realistically they don't have a chance against Emmy winner Douglas.

Best Actress, Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Helena Bonham Carter, Burton and Taylor
• Rebecca Ferguson, White Queen
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven
• Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
• Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake

A few crossovers with SAG and the Emmy, but I'm hoping Moss avenges Mad Men's impromptu fall from grace to win here.

Best Supporting Actor

• Josh Charles, The Good Wife
• Rob Lowe, Behind the Candelabra
• Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
• Corey Stoll, House of Cards
• Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

Year in, year out, I just find it so ridiculous that the HFPA combines supporting roles in this way, but at least they made some excellent choices with Paul, Stoll, and Charles especially which surprised me.

Best Supporting Actress

• Jacqueline Bisset, Dancing on the Edge
• Janet McTeer, White Queen
• Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
• Monica Potter, Parenthood
• Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

See SAG and other award shows, the HFPA was okay not nominating Maggie Smith. You can do that also! Pretty incredible for Panettiere to repeat her nomination from last year. I'd probably give it to any of the ladies from Orange is the New Black or newly SAG-nominated Mayim Bialik, but really the one snub that absolutely pains me is Anna Gunn. That nomination really should've been a no-brainer. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

My thoughts on the film nominations to come later today!

Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Busy day meant I'm only just writing my thoughts down on this morning's SAG nominations even though just a few hours from now everyone will be talking about the nominations for the Golden Globes. That's when you know you're fully entrenched in awards season where there's a different accolade every day to keep track of! In any case, this is one of the big ones as actors is a huge group of industry folk, but unfortunately it also means their choices tend to be fairly conservative and preferential to veterans. That's why the word I would describe today's nominations would be... eh.

BEST ENSEMBLE

• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• August: Osage County
• Dallas Buyers Club
• The Butler

Big sigh of relief from Harvey Weinstein as both August: Osage County and The Butler make it into this shortlist after getting not much love from critics. Of course those two films, with their super starry cast, was tailor-made for this award and should do well in the next couple of months. 12 Years a Slave was the frontrunner and with a leading 4 nominations, it is still the frontrunner. I don't think anyone expected Dallas Buyers Club to be cited here. I was expecting Inside Llewyn Davis or Her and disappointed both came up empty-handed today.

BEST ACTRESS

• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock, Gravity
• Judi Dench, Philomena
• Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
• Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

It's super difficult to actually complain about the nominees here, because I love all of these actresses and the two performances I've seen (Blanchett and Bullock) are phenomenal. But it's also the same names everyone has been predicting give or take a possible Amy Adams spoiler. I feel for the actresses in smaller films like Julie Delpy (still my wishful dark horse), Brie Larson, Greta Gerwig, and Adele Exarchopoulos.

BEST ACTOR

• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Chiwitel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
• Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
• Forest Whitaker, The Butler

Apparently Robert Redford's absence here is pretty shocking, but with a field THIS strong I'm not too disappointed. If anything, I wish they could've found room instead for Oscar Isaac or Michael B. Jordan. I like Forest Whitaker, but I think this was a wasted nominated for him. Chiwetel Ejiofor in the meantime should be the man to beat if I had it my way.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
• Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
• Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
• June Squibb, Nebraska
• Oprah Winfrey, The Butler

Like the lead category, it's hard to actually find fault with the actors cited, but it'd be great if there was a surprise entry like a Margo Martindale or a Melonie Diaz. Or how about Elizabeth Banks for her work on Catching Fire. That's right I said it. Anyways, I'm happy for Nyong'o though who was quite good and I've got to admit that Winfrey was damn fun to watch in her film. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the performances.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
• Daniel Bruhl, Rush
• James Gandolfini, Enough Said
• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
• Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

This is the one category that still feels unformed and yet I wouldn't be too shocked if most (or all) of these men are also Oscar-nominated. Bruhl is the most vulnerable probably with Jonah Hill, Bradley Cooper, and Will Forte trying to crack the category. That said, I'm kind of hoping Gandolfini makes it all the way for a posthumous Oscar. It's sentimental for sure, but not undeserved.

BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE, FILM

• All Is Lost
• Fast and Furious 6
• Lone Survivor
• Rush
• The Wolverine

Kind of shocked not to see Catching Fire, Thor, or Iron Man 3 here. I mean The Wolverine? All Is Lost? What?! Whatever.

And if you thought the film nominees were unexciting, the TV nominees make the film nominees look bold and fresh. Not to say the nominations are bad, but there was such an explosion of great new shows this year and unfortunately you could barely tell with the following nominations.

BEST DRAMA ENSEMBLE

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Downton Abbey
• Game of Thrones
• Homeland

Breaking Bad leads with 4 nominations and it's probably going to win this award and everything else until the Emmys next year for its widely successful final season. Games of Thrones makes a come back after getting snub last year, though in its place is perennial favorite Mad Men, which seems to be losing steam awards-wise of late. As I said, the lack of new shows (Masters of Sex, The Americans, Orphan Black, House of Cards, etc.) sting, but it's also something no one was really expecting anyways.

BEST COMEDY ENSEMBLE

• 30 Rock
• Arrested Development
• Big Bang Theory
• Modern Family
• Veep

Last year this group nominated Glee and The Office, so at least there's nothing that insane happening this year, but even with the fresh inclusion of Veep (and comeback nomination for Arrested Development), it still feels old hat. I thought Girls would make it in and don't get me started of their continuing to ignore Parks and Recreation. For my money this year, Orange is the New Black and Brooklyn Nine-Nine were leagues ahead of most of these shows.

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA

• Claire Danes, Homeland
• Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
• Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
• Kerry Washington, Scandal

ANNA GUNN! God, yes. All the awards to her. But look, I love Maggie Smith and all, but you really don't have to nominate her every single time. It's okay. She's never going to show up any ways. Instead we could've given it to Dockery or Margulies (both nominated last year) or those in new shows like Tatiana Maslany, Robin Wright, Tatiana Maslany, Keri Russell, Tatiana Maslany, Lizzy Caplan, and of course Tatiana Maslany.

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA

• Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
• Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Jeff Daniels, Newsroom
• Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
• Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

Of course, Bryan Cranston. Duh. Give him the award already. But I'm sad about the exclusion of his co-star Aaron Paul. Love me some Dinklage always and Spacey was a no-brainer for this crowd as as the other two even though I again wish for newer blood like Mandy Patinkin, Matthew Rhys, Andrew Lincoln, etc.

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY

• Mayim Bialik, Big Bang Theory
• Julie Bowen, Modern Family
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep

Well at least Betty White was not nominated again and Julia Louis Dreyfus and Mayim Bialik got well-deserved citations. But how you can have this award without Amy Poehler is just confounding. Also shocked to see Lena Dunham come up empty (she also wasn't nominated last year) as well as to see none of the ladies from Orange is the New Black make the list.

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
• Ty Burrell, Modern Family
• Don Cheadle, House of Lies
• Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory

Blah, blah, blah they're all talented and whatever but wow I could probably come up with a list of about a dozen or so actors I'd rather see nominated like Adam Scott, Nick Offerman, Andre Braugher, Adam Driver, Jim Rash, Jake Johnson, etc.

BEST ACTRESS, MINISERIES

• Angela Bassett, Betty & Coretta
• Helena Bonham Carter, Taylor & Burton
• Holly Hunter, Top of the Lake
• Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
• Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake

Nothing too shocking here, except to say that I'm pretty annoyed that Jessica Lange gets to compete in this category at the Emmys and over in Drama for this award. Also was Emmy winner Laura Linney not eligible? In any case, with those two ladies not in the running, it's a good chance for Moss to pick up the win here. I'm rooting for her!

BEST ACTOR, MINISERIES

• Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
• Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
• Jeremy Irons, The Hollow Crown
• Rob Lowe, Killing Kennedy
• Al Pacino, Phil Spector

Interesting to see Emmy nominated Benedict Cumberbatch to not get nominated here despite being in two Best Ensemble films. But no matter who was nominated, the result will be the exact same as the Emmys with Michael Douglas prevailing as it should be.

BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE, TV

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Game of Thrones
• Homeland
• The Walking Dead

This is the same nominees as last year except Homeland replaces Sons of Anarchy. You can also tell that this is pretty much the Best Drama category except The Walking Dead replaces Downton Abbey. In other words... zzz.

Screen Actors Guild Vote for Argo & Downton Abbey

Lincoln may have walked away with the film with the most wins tonight at the SAG Awards for Actor and Supporting Actor, but it's Ben Affleck's Argo which came out on top unexpectedly winning Best Ensemble putting it firmly in the lead especially after its PGA, Golden Globes, and BFCA wins earlier in the season. Katniss and Catwoman, I mean Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway, solidified their advantage over their fellow Oscar nominees by winning here and each giving gracious and beautiful acceptance speeches to boot.

Best Ensemble: Argo
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Shockingly enough even with the actors giving Alec Baldwin his 8th award and Modern Family still being honored as the Best Comedy Ever, the TV awards actually provided some nice surprises like Bryan Cranston's first ever SAG win (compared to his three Emmy Awards) and Downton Abbey picking up Best Drama Ensemble aka the biggest shock of the night. Phyllis Logan, who looked astonishing all glammed up unlike her character Mrs. Hughes, accepted the award surrounded by her surprised and gleeful co-stars.

Best Ensemble, Drama: Downton Abbey
Best Ensemble, Comedy: Modern Family
Best Actress, Drama: Claire Danes, Homeland
Best Actress, Comedy: Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Best Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Best Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Best Actress, Miniseries: Julianne Moore, Game Change
Best Actor, Miniseries: Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys

The motto of the night though seemed to be to spread the love around, which I endorse, with no one TV show or movie getting more than two wins. 30 Rock got two wins for Tina Fey and Baldwin and as many times as they have already been awarded, it's kind of nice to honor them especially with their show having its final episode this week. Lincoln also got two wins and while Daniel Day-Lewis is a lock to win his third Oscar, his fellow SAG winner Tommy Lee Jones is in a 3-way fight with Golden Globe winner Christoph Waltz and BFCA winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. But the big story moving forward is definitely Argo's win (which also makes Cranston the only double-winner tonight). With how open the Oscar race has been all season, can Argo really go all the way after its most recent big wins especially with its director not nominated for Oscars? People will keep asking this, so buckle up.

End-Of-Year: Favorite 2012 TV Shows, Part 2

A mixture of laziness, writer's block, work, and tennis has conspired to delay this post of my top 10 favorite TV shows of the past year. I was supposed to have posted this a day after I posted the bottom part of my Top 30 list, but alas. So without further a due...

My Top Ten TV Shows of 2012

10. Fringe - This should probably be ranked higher, but this final season, which has been pretty good, isn't matching the highs I felt last season where the alternate universe arc reached its zenith. But those last few episodes last season makes this a worthy top 10 inclusion especially with the promise of major tears coming for the series finale airing tonight. I'm so not ready to say goodbye to these characters.

9. The Good Wife - Yes, Kalinda's S4 arc with her husband is perhaps the one blight in an otherwise another excellent year for this show with Alicia doing better than ever balancing the whole mom/lawyer/wife dynamics while everyone else experience some growing pains. The law firms' financial troubles have been particularly well handled I thought. This show remains the blue ribbon example of casting and ensemble work certainly in all of network TV.

8. Sherlock - The first season, which also had just three episodes, ended up in my top ten list two years ago for the seamless way Moffat updated the Holmes story for our times with pitch perfect acting from Cumberbatch and Freeman to bring the roles of Holmes and Watson to life. This season second was more of the same with higher, more personal, stakes and a couple of brilliant turns from Andrew Scott and Laura Pulver playing Moriarty and Irene Adler respectively.

7. Breaking Bad - Coming off an explosive season and heading towards the finish line, this past season had a lot riding on it, but I think this transitional period went just right. Walter's devolution has reached its peak while everyone around him are really starting to suffer none more so than Skylar played devastatingly by Anna Gunn. The heat is on and things are reaching its boiling point.

6. Downton Abbey - It's very difficult to say anything about this show because most people on this side of the ocean haven't seen the latest season, but I quite enjoyed it, more so than last season which I also quite liked. With the war over, the show was able to focus more with its characters. Like most soap operas, and yes this show can be characterized as such with no shame, there are insane plots, but in the end it's also about whether you care enough about these people to put up with all the crazy and I really do care. Which is why certain developments make it that much more difficult to accept.

5. Shameless - I already gave this cast my Best Ensemble award, because I really do think the young actors making up the Gallagher family are doing something special. It helps that they are led by a very good Rossum who has found that once-in-a-lifetime role that was tailor-made to show off just how talented she is. We are continually rooting for them, for her, to suceed and when they inevitably don't you can't help but keep watching and hoping.

4. Homeland - Apparently the show jumped the shark, or so the internet is telling me. I do think the whole "Abu Nazir in the United States" plot line was a bit too much, but the rest of the season played out as thrilling, exciting, suspenseful, and nervewracking as the show's hailed first season. In fact, the first few episodes of this season pretty much gave me whiplash from how quickly things were progressing. Lewis, Danes, and Patinkin were just aces. The final episode only made me need the next season more.

3. Community - A part of me wondered whether or not my longing for the show's return had any effect on its relatively high ranking. But even if it did, the show can well damn stand on its own merit especially as still one of the most random and inventive sitcoms out there. An entire episode with the characters playing a video game? A tribute to Law & Order? An epic pillow fort/blanket fort war that leads into a Ken Burns-style documentary episode? An episode where the characters realized they might have been stuck in an insane asylum all this time? I miss you, show.

2. Parks and Recreation - *BEST COMEDY* My #1 show last year drops a spot only because there were maybe a couple of episodes that didn't live up to standards BUT the show is still so damn good. From Leslie's campaign and subsequent rousing win to Ben's Washington sojourn and eventual proposal to Leslie, it's been a year full of big changes for almost every character. The comedy is still gold and the relationships between characters have never been better developed. Basically this show is pretty much the moment when Leslie met Joe Biden: magical.

1. The Hour - *BEST DRAMA* It doesn't happen often, but sometimes shows have the perfect season where every episode is just as strong or better than the rest while characters and plots are working seamlessly with one another. I fully believe this latest season of The Hour was one such season. The first season was good, but was slightly unmemorable while this season pretty much destroyed me. Most of the change had to do with really narrowing the focus of the overarching mystery and making it more personally relevant to the characters. The acting has never been better from the leads and supporting alike with some familiar S1 faces getting much-deserved focus and air time this season along with some excellent casting for new characters. I'd watch it all again in a heartbeat.

Addendum: The network with the most shows in my top 30 is ABC, but none of its shows ranked higher than #17. PBS scored two top 8 shows, which are both technically British imports. Speaking of British shows, 4 made my top 11 including my best show of the year. The network with the second most shows in my list is NBC with 4 including two in the top 3. Only 6 new shows made my list.

Shows that I watched, but didn't rank: 2 Broke Girls, Amazing Race, Big Bang Theory, Don't Trust the B- in Apt 23, Elementary, Glee, Glee Project, Masterchef, Modern Family, The Mindy Project, Nashville, The New Normal, The Office, Project Runway, Raising Hope, Revolution, Smash, Supernatural, Survivor, Teen Wolf, True Blood, Wilfred

Cancelled shows or shows I've stopped watching: 666 Park Avenue, American Horror Story, Arrow, Bunheads, Grey's Anatomy, Grimm, Newsroom, Pan Am, Partners, The Killing, The Secret Circle, Touch, Up All Night, Weeds

And finally, just a brief word of a few shows that merited Dishonorable Mentions...

Girls Night at the Golden Globes; Affleck Also Wins Big

The big winners of the night were undoubtedly a couple of girls, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who both confirmed what everyone already knew when they were announced as host of the show months ago, that they were going to be THE reason to tune in. While I wished they were used more throughout the show, their opening monologue killed especially with hilarious barbs against a couple of James, Cameron and Franco. Whenever they appeared, witticisms just came out of them delighting not just the room, but as my twitter timeline could attest, the millions watching at home. Really if the entire show had been just them riffing with each other, the Golden Globes would have been the best. But alas awards were given out...

Best Motion Picture, Drama: Argo
Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical: Les Misérables
Best Director: Ben Affleck, Argo
Best Actress, Drama: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress, Comedy or Musical: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor, Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actor, Comedy or Musical: Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Animated Film: Brave
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour
Best Screenplay: Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Best Score: Life of Pi, Michael Danna
Best Song: "Skyfall," Skyfall

Les Misérables was the night's top film netting three wins for Picture, Actor, and Supporting Actress. It was a great showing for the divisive musical who had to go up against Weinstein-backed Silver Linings Playbook which still walked home with an award for Actress for Jennifer Lawrence. For Drama, Argo was tops taking home Picture and Director, giving Hollywood's newest golden boy Ben Affleck two wins probably making that Oscar snub sting less. The love was spread around though as all of the other films got some love with Lincoln and Zero Dark thirty picking up Actor and Actress respectively, Django Unchained surprising with two awards for Screenplay and Supporting Actor, and Life of Pi not walking home empty-handed with its win for Score. Amour and Adele, who just wanted a night out with friends, predictably won their categories while Brave took home its first major award of the season. Prediction-wise, I did pretty respectably getting 9 of 14. But now the question must be asked, what does this mean for Oscars? With Affleck's win here and at the Critics' Choice, he and his film would be the absolute front-runner now except for the small detail of him not getting a Best Director nomination from the Academy. Top film Les Misérables also didn't get a Director nomination, which means the race is as confusing and exciting as ever!

Best TV Series, Drama: Homeland
Best TV Series, Comedy: Girls
Best Actress, Drama: Claire Danes, Homeland
Best Actress, Comedy: Lena Dunham, Girls
Best Actor, Drama: Damian Lewis, Homeland
Best Actor, Comedy: Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Best Mini-Series or TV Movie: Game Change
Best Actress, Miniseries/TV Movie: Julianne Moore, Game Change
Best Actor, Miniseries/TV Movie: Kevin Costner, Hatfields and McCoys
Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Best Supporting Actor: Ed Harris, Game Change

The big loser tonight on the TV side would have to be the broadcast networks as they were completely shut out unless you count PBS's lone win for Downton Abbey's Maggie Smith. The rest of the winners came from cable or premium channels with Best Show honors going to Game Change, Homeland, and Girls. Actors, like Smith, who repeated their Emmy wins from a few months back include Julianne Moore, Damian Lewis, Claire Danes, and Kevin Costner. But it was Girls' creator Lena Dunham who made the biggest splash by winning Actress and for her show winning Best Comedy. In terms of predictions, I got a pretty good 8 of 11, but I could've done better if I had just remembered that the HFPA just loves to reward the new, fresh thing (Girls) as well as movie stars (Don Cheadle, Kevin Costner, etc.). But still, can the broadcast networks mount a comeback?

As for the rest of the show, I think it went pretty swimmingly. As I said above Fey and Poehler were just dynamite and I feel ever so sorry for Seth McFarlane trying to top that at the Oscars. Bill Clinton made a fun surprise guest appearance to present Lincoln enabling the Hollywood people present to be sufficiently starstruck while Austrian Arnold Schwarzenegger presented an award to Austrian Michael Haneke. And then there was "girl" of the night, Jodie Foster who had everyone buzzing with her sincere and idiosyncratic speech as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille award wherein she talked about one's right to privacy as she announced that she already came out "about a thousand years ago, back in the stone age." For that speech and for many more, this 70th Golden Globes will certainly be remembered in years to come.