I'll get to "Pushing Daisies" shortly, but I wanted to say a few words about the Golden Globe TV nominations (with a full list) after the jump...The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is such a weird group that there's no point in getting worked up about their choices for nominees and winners. (Not that the Emmys are much more credible these days, of course.) But while everyone focuses on the movie nominations, I'm always interested in their TV choices. The HFPA may be a joke, but they invariably nominate a more diverse (and often deserving) batch of shows and actors than the same-old, same-old Emmy voters.
The drama series nominees, for instance, include big hits like "Grey's Anatomy" (sigh...) and "House," but also newbies like "Mad Men," "Damages" and "The Tudors," plus under-the-radar "Big Love." The acting nominees include Michael C. Hall and Jon Hamm, of whom I would be pleasantly stunned to see on the Emmy roster come July.
Showtime, as usual, gets more love than it ever gets from the Emmys ("Brotherhood" is their only major series to not get a nomination, I think), and even BBC America gets some attention, with a few nominations for "The State Within" and "Jekyll."
I'm not in love with all of these nominations -- "Grey's," "Entourage," "Californication," no "Shield" and almost no "Sopranos" -- but they at least acknowledge that TV changes and evolves each year, and that new and obscure shows are just as worthy of celebration as the familiar hits.
My friend Rich Heldenfels has this theory that Hollywood awards shows are basically like Chamber of Commerce awards: they're not about what's best, but what's best for business. So it makes more sense to reward shows that film in industry towns, that are ratings hits or feature movie stars "slumming" on the small screen, etc.
The HFPA has its own starstruck qualities, and their love of the new also means they lose attention quickly, but at least there's something to talk about with these nominees beyond, "God, not them again!"
Here are all the nominees for TV (to read the full movie list, you can go to the official site):
Series, Drama: "Big Love," HBO; "Damages," FX Networks; "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; "House," Fox; "Mad Men," AMC; "The Tudors," Showtime.
Actress, Drama: Patricia Arquette, "Medium"; Glenn Close, "Damages"; Minnie Driver, "The Riches"; Edie Falco, "The Sopranos"; Sally Field, "Brothers & Sisters"; Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace"; Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer."
Actor, Drama: Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"; Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"; Hugh Laurie, "House"; Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "The Tudors"; Bill Paxton, "Big Love."
Series, Musical or Comedy: "30 Rock," NBC; "Californication," Showtime; "Entourage," HBO; "Extras," HBO; "Pushing Daisies," ABC.
Actress, Musical or Comedy: Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?"; America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"; Tina Fey, "30 Rock"; Anna Friel, "Pushing Daisies"; Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds."
Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"; Steve Carell, "The Office"; David Duchovny, "Californication"; Ricky Gervais, "Extras"; Lee Pace, "Pushing Daisies."
Miniseries or Movie: "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," HBO; "The Company," TNT; "Five Days," HBO; "Longford," HBO; "The State Within," BBC America.
Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Bryce Dallas Howard, "As You Like It"; Debra Messing, "The Starter Wife"; Queen Latifah, "Life Support"; Sissy Spacek, "Pictures of Hollis Woods"; Ruth Wilson, "Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre)."
Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Adam Beach, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"; Ernest Borgnine, "A Grandpa for Christmas"; Jim Broadbent, "Longford"; Jason Isaacs, "The State Within"; James Nesbitt, "Jekyll."
Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Rose Byrne, "Damages"; Rachel Griffiths, "Brothers & Sisters"; Katherine Heigl, "Grey's Anatomy"; Samantha Morton, "Longford"; Anna Paquin, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"; Jaime Pressly, "My Name Is Earl."
Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Ted Danson, "Damages"; Kevin Dillon, "Entourage"; Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"; Andy Serkis, "Longford"; William Shatner, "Boston Legal"; Donald Sutherland, "Dirty Sexy Money."
Mad props to Mad Men and Jon Hamm, both richly deserved nominations.
ReplyDeleteYeah, any nominations for last season's Grey's Anatomy are a complete joke.
Glad to see Donald Sutherland was acknowledged for his fantastic work in Dirty Sexy Money. I realize the show is a modern day Dynasty, but Sutherland brings his A-game every week.
I'm glad to see Jim Broadbent and company getting nominated for LONGFORD, another reminder of what HBO can do.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea about the "Chamber of Commerce awards". I live in Nashville and it's always interesting to see the difference in what the CMA nominates for Country and what the Grammy's nominate. With the Grammy voters being able to vote for whoever they want to and the CMA voters following the $$$.
ReplyDeleteHere is Johnny Cash's opinion on the matter:
http://www.geocities.com/wabasso/images/Billboard_ad.jpg
What's frustrating about the Globes is that they'll nominate Jon Hamm and Donald Sutherland (who single-handedly keeps "Dirty Sexy Money" on my Season Pass list), but they'll totally ignore Connie Britton for Edie Falco and The Slumming Movie Stars.
ReplyDeleteJohn Slattery (Mad Men) is the the most frustrating snub for me here -- oh, and count me in on any 'Connie Britton wuz robbed' signs as well.
ReplyDeletehi Alan, what are your thoughts on the WGA award nominations?
ReplyDeleteSorry to see no love for Chuck, but it features no big stars of any kind, so I guess that's not surprising. Quite pleased to see all the noms for Pushing Daisies, as I have a feeling the Emmys won't know what to do with it.
ReplyDeleteI was jazzed when I heard Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall, and Lee Pace's names come up.
ReplyDeleteDo the Emmys pay attention to the Globes the way the Oscars seem to at times? I've never noticed if they matched up or not.
Do the Emmys pay attention to the Globes the way the Oscars seem to at times?
ReplyDeleteNot really. They're too far apart, chronologically (the historically short memories of awards show voters and all), plus, as already discussed the HFPA tends to nominate stuff that the Emmy voters either don't like or don't know exists.
I really don't understand all the love for Katherine Heigl as Izzy Stevens. She's grown to be the character I hate the most... yet she's the one getting most of the accolades lately. Sandra Oh, Sara Ramirez, and Chandra Wilson are far superior.
ReplyDelete"I'm glad to see Jim Broadbent and company getting nominated for LONGFORD, another reminder of what HBO can do."
ReplyDeleteActually, it is what British production companies can do when they have a bit of extra funding. It is like Extras, the only thing HBO does is sign few checks and sort out US distribution.
Alan, for what season(s) of TV are the nominations? I see Pushing Daisies on here but fall shows have aired less than half their seasons by the time nominations are presumably submitted. Calendar year would be splitting seasons, and going all the way back to the beginning of last season is a huge amount of time.
ReplyDeleteYay for Anna Friel of Pushing Daisies!
ReplyDeleteUm, that's about the only nomination I can get jazzed about. Well, that and Alec Baldwin, but that was a given for me.
"Big Love" over "Dexter" for a drama nomination. I stopped there.
ReplyDeletenothing for Damian Lewis? And he's British!
ReplyDeleteComment: for what season(s) of TV are the nominations? >>>
ReplyDeleteAll nominations are based on calendar year 2007.
Glad to see Jeremy Piven and Kevin Dillon got nominations again.
ReplyDeleteSorry that the Globes, like the Emmys, don't know how to classify
Kevin Connolly to throw him a nod as well.
Kevin Connolly is the straight man to a group of comics in a show that can best be labled a Dramedy.
He is everyone's Bud Abbott. His facial expressions, sarcastic comments, and bluntness speak for the everyman who watches the show and sits in awe of Hollywood's excess and behaviors.
Kevin Connolly's faced with the fact the Hollywood and the Foreign press always overlook the subtle talent of the straight man.
I hope they get it right next year, because Season 4 of Entourage was all about the drama surrounding Eric Murphy and Adrian Grenier's Vincent Chase growing up and growing apart.
Funny, no? Great acting, absolutely!
I am rather disappointed in the choices this year. Californication, Grey's Anatomy, and Boston Legal all seem to be so overrated. I would have liked to have seen Grey's left off that list completely. Instead, how about some attention to "Lost"? The 2nd half of the 3rd season showed a lot of talent. I'm also disappointed that no one nominated "Heroes".
ReplyDeleteWhat about some credit given to someone on "The Office" besides Steve Carell? Every episode of that show is incredible, and I think much of that is the background cast.
Gotta say the Globe voters are much, much better than the Emmy ones.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, worst nomination choice: Grey´s Anatomy - best drama. Season three was afwul, season four is just slightly better. Don´t even get me started on Connie Britton and Friday Night Lights.
If you don´t want to win anything, go produce a show about sports (Lights), sci-fi (Battlestar Galactica) or teens (Veronica Mars)!
While I am thrilled to see immediate recognition for the greatness that is "Mad Men", I can't take any awards show that ignores so much other greatness from "Lost" to "Battlestar Galactica" to "The Shield" and "Friday Night Lights".
ReplyDeleteThe Showtime nominations are mostly ridiculous. Most CRITICS panned schlock like "Californication" and though I am sure many on here liked "Brotherhood", that was possibly the most boring show I have forced myself to sit through, outside of FX's "Damages". (if you want to give awards to the BEST FX series, it should be "The Shield").
Furthermore, it's also hard to take any list seriously that gives awards to a show like "Boston Legal" which is the most ridiculous piece of tripe on the air.
Plus, how again are we supposed to take awards seriously that compare supporting actors ranging from shows like "My Name is Earl" to TV films like "Bury my Heart at Wounded knee"? The Globes need to separate these categories - it's embarrassing.
The only people I take seriously are the Television critics out there - people like Alan Sepinwall or colleagues of his like Matt Roush, Mo Ryan, Tim Goodman, Aaron Barnhart, Ellen Gray, Robert Bianco, etc.
TV critics are the only people in America that watch most to all the shows (far more then the Emmys clearly do) and actually seem to pick nominees and award winners, closer to what most people actually think.
When I saw the nod for "Grey's Anatomy," I realized that this would be a joke. Even *fans* of the show admit that it went downhill, and fast, last season.
ReplyDeleteBut where the HELL is Connie Britton??? Is anyone even WATCHING "Friday Night Lights"? Apparently not. Oh, wait. Britton isn't a "movie star."
Blerg. In what universe is freaking "Entourage" a better show than "The Office"? That's laughable. And I say this as a regular watcher, and fan, of Entourage. But c'mon now.
I know that everyone is sick of THE SOPRANOS, but James Gandolfini and Robert Iler deserved nominations.
ReplyDeleteNo Friday Night Lights? Or Connie Britton? Pretty good noms otherwise, I'd say. Mad Men is very deserving. The Tudors is a complete joke, though - campy costume fare from start to finish, with about three interesting performances in a cast of 15.
ReplyDelete"Boston Legal" and Spader get votes less because the quality of the show and more because it's a political soapbox for causes Emmy voters tend to agree with (This week's was "Bring the National Guard home!" and "No Child Left Behind Sucks!"). In the first season, the show and Spader were much more interesting, as Spader's character was written as an utterly amoral, anything to win, litigator (sort of like Patty Hughes on Damages). But at some point, the decision was made by Kelley et al. to make the show into a weekly political soapbox and to rotate out most of the interesting supporting cast (Julie Bowen, Mark Valley, etc.), and replace them with one-notes like Christian Clemenson and Gary Anthony Williams.
ReplyDeleteThere are still moments of greatness (the first episode with Clemenson holding the firm hostage was a solid explanation of the problems with "Biglaw," and last season's "Denny defends his past" episode was brilliantly constructed), but it's dropped--hard.
As a fan of Grey's let e say, yes last year was bad. This year is better - George and Izzie aside.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why Katie Heigl is winning Emmys (and apparently neither did she) and oddly my favorite character is Meredith - and Ellen will never even be nominated, cause, despite being dumped, drowned, and blown up, she never gets to anything all that dramatic (well at least since mom died. I can live with Lixie though. And I would add that her recent interaction with drunk daddy really almost made me cry)
Really, though, the do love to put her in peril, don't they? I heard her say she asked for a chest guard thingie as having CPR done on her for hours was starting to affect her heart rhythms or something like that).
They can comtinue to give awards to Chandra, though, that's fine with me. :)
and did I mention i heard about Amy whats her name got nominated for Enchanted? I saw it yesterday, i never see Disney, and i loved it to death!
Ken Levine's review of it was on te money.