The Golden Globes TV categories are such an afterthought that the first one isn’t even listed until the sixth page of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s press release announcing the nominees. The TV awards exist primarily so HFPA can have even more stars in the Beverly Hilton ballroom, but they’re so far removed, calendar-wise, from Emmy voting as to have no impact at all, and are often even more filled with oddities than the movie categories.
But the various quirks and fetishes of HFPA — particularly their relentless appetite for the hot new thing, whatever it may be — often make their choices more interesting than the TV Academy’s, and that was the case with this morning’s list.
So, yes, there is classic HFPA goofiness like Nick Nolte getting a comedy series actor nomination for his work in Epix’s misbegotten comedy Graves, entirely because he is Nick Nolte. And as much as I enjoy This Is Us, and understand it getting some nominations as the fall’s biggest hit (and one on Golden Globe broadcaster NBC, no less), giving the show two different nominations in the supporting actress field — which, you may recall from past Golden Globes, combine performances from comedies, dramas, movies, and miniseries into one cramped list — is silly.
And yet… a best comedy/musical series category that includes Atlanta, black-ish, Transparent, and Veep is pretty great. (That it also includes the category’s reigning winner Mozart in the Jungle is another case of “HFPA gonna HFPA,” but it’s not like that show is bad, just less impressive than many other options.)
HFPA’s love of the new also led to a drama series field with only one veteran series, Game of Thrones, paired with The Crown, Stranger Things, Westworld, and the aforementioned This Is Us. The ongoing nature of series television means a lot of the Emmy nominees will be the same from year to year, where HFPA’s desire to shake things up leads to a livelier field, even if you don’t agree with all the choices.
And, occasionally, even this bunch can get wise late to great work, like The Americans stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys getting their first Globe nominations for that show. (Russell won a Globe in 1999 for Felicity, back when she was the kind of young ingenue HFPA loves to recognize.)
Some other Globe TV notes:
* Insecure co-creator and star Issa Rae got nominated for actress in a musical or comedy, alongside the previous two winners, Rachel Bloom and Gina Rodriguez, the great Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tracee Ellis Ross, plus Sarah Jessica Parker from Divorce.
* With Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton from Westworld, the Rae and Parker choices means a at least one actress from all of HBO’s Sunday shows this fall got nominated. More surprisingly, Anthony Hopkins seems like the exact kind of performer HFPA loves to nominate (multiple Oscar winner, international, a movie star working in TV), yet neither he nor Ed Harris got nominated with their female co-stars.
* In part because of the supporting actor category mash-up, Sterling K. Brown got nominated for his outstanding work in The People v. O.J. Simpson, but not for his outstanding work in This Is Us. Either way, he’s had a hell of a year.
What does everybody think? Any nominations seem particularly exciting or silly to you?