The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, that mysterious group responsible for the most meaningful meaningless awards show of them all, have announced this year's Golden Globe nominations.Easy as the Globes are to mock as a whole, the HFPA has an odd history of being more open to new TV product than the Emmys. Sometimes, that's a good thing (Sarah Michelle Gellar was once nominated for "Buffy"), sometimes not so much (Keri Russell won for "Felicity"), but it's often nice to see some unusual suspects show up on the nominations list.
Not so much this year, where the only TV newcomer of note is "In Treatment," and where most of the nominees are either familiar ("House"), bad ("The Tudors," which gets love as a production with lots of international actors), or both ("Entourage," which inexplicably includes a nomination for Kevin Connolly as best actor in a comedy).
Feel free to discuss 'em if you want. I have some major blog catch-up to do.
No love for the Shield? That's disappointing, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteI laughed when I saw you posted a picture of Kevin Connelly because when I read through the list of nominations, that jumped out as the biggest WTF nom of the year. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteWhile agreed on the biggest WTF, let's make note that the HFPA finally caught up with the Emmys (something they don't often do, not liking to admit they were ever wrong in the first place) and nominated Neil Patrick Harris for How I Met Your Mother.
ReplyDeleteEverything else is just kind of there - most egregious problem for me, since I rag on Entourage enough already and Alan already pointed that out, is Californication and not Pushing Daisies sticking around from last year's comedy lineup.
is Californication and not Pushing Daisies sticking around from last year's comedy lineup.
ReplyDeleteIf we're going to talk snubs (which Poniewozik does at length), we're going to be here a while. No Shield, or Wire, or Lost, or Chuck, or... Oddly, as my man from Time points out, the Emmys had a hipper list of nominees this year.
If we're going to talk snubs...we're going to be here a while. No Shield, or Wire, or Lost, or Chuck, or...
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, none of those shows fit into the HFPA Pattern (Speaking of which, I'd love to have some Lt. Broyles exposition to help explain the thing to me right now): unlike the Emmys, it isn't big on rewarding shows in their final year, only a few shows reach the status of being consistently nominated season by season, and getting BACK into the category is quite uncommon (I'd be curious to see the stats).
So at this point, I'm reduced to arguing about which out of their narrow criteria of shows makes the cut; with last year's precedent Daisies really had a shot, and it was taken away by a show that has no business becoming a "regular." I was silly enough to have hope for it, hope I never had for any of the other shows listed.
Which is sad.
I'm interested to see your take on the four acting nods for In Treatment, Alan. Two I think were well deserved (Byrne and Weist), two I think should have gone to other cast members (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Charles rather than the nominated Blair Underwood and Melissa George).
ReplyDeleteJoe, Wasikowska definitely deserved the nomination more than George, but George is a relatively well-known international-type actress, where Wasikowska's basically a nobody as far as the HFPA is concerned.
ReplyDeleteAnd I warmed to Underwood quite a bit by the end, though some of that may just be residual love of the amazing Glynn Turman episode (the single best installment of the series). Charles was good, but I think Underwood's highs were higher.
I agree with Poniewozik that no nominations for Generation Kill is upsetting. I guess the HFP found it difficult to delve into the subject matter and large cast.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say that the True Blood nominations are the biggest head-scratchers for me. I actually enjoyed the show, but really? It was a guilty pleasure, not a best drama candidate.
ReplyDeleteOh well. It's not like I actually expected The Shield to get a nomination, but it would have been nice.
True Blood noms for best series and acting are insane, given the quality of The Wire, The Shield, etc. True Blood is enjoyable but not outstanding. Oh yeah, nobody cares about the Globes anyway. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI think Blair Underwood's acting ability gets overshadowed by his devasting hotness. I thought he and Josh Charles (also hot) were both excellent. Not a big fan of Melissa George, that seemed a bizarre choice.
ReplyDeleteThe snub of "The Wire" didn't even occur to me because I'm so used to it not being nominated.
While I don't think Piven is deserving of a nomination, it makes some sense, but the Kevin Connelly nomination is just ridiculous. Maybe it's because he's dating a Hilton?
ReplyDeleteThe True Blood noms are also a stretch especially when so many other better shows were left off.
I know some of you will disagree, but a head-scratcher for me is January Jones' nomination. To me, she's the weak link in an otherwise superbly acted show. I will concede she was better this past season than she was in season 1, but her performance still made me wince more than once.
ReplyDeleteHead-scratcher #2 is Christina Hendricks' omission from the supporting actress category. She is literally perfect as Joan Holloway.
No love for Generation Kill despite HBO dominating the mini-series category.
ReplyDeleteI know some of you will disagree, but a head-scratcher for me is January Jones' nomination.
ReplyDeleteNot a head scratcher for me. January Jones did some amazing work in Season 2.
Pretty much since the Golden Globes felt compelled to nominate "Patch Adams", I've always felt like it was...well, crap.
ReplyDeleteBut how Hugh Laurie gets nominated year in and year out for doing the same thing every single week, and Chiklis (and Goggins and CCH Pounder) get absolutely no love whatsoever is still beyond me.
But then again, if The Shield was the type of show that The Golden Globes nominated, it might not be all that good.
The Shield actually won the best drama Golden Globe in its first season, as you can see in the picture on this blog entry from a few weeks back. But as Myles points out, the HFPA tend to fall out of love with shows pretty quickly, and then it's hell on earth for them to get back into the category once they're gone.
ReplyDeleteEntourage will be getting nominated even after it's canceled, though, because they once did an episode where Ari told Vinnie how important the HFPA is and how much he needed to suck up to them.
Alan,
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected. But I still stand by my Hugh Laurie bashing, too.
Kevin Connelly? Come on - Kiefer Sutherland for 24: Redemption??? House? Hugh Laurie??? No Shield - No Wire - No Damages and not a single actor in any of those series???
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll spend the night of this telecast watching my bride clean the oven.
I agree that TB and Entourage inclusions are ridiculous. I think JJ is a good nom, but also can't believe she's the ONLY fem Mad Men nom.
ReplyDeleteGo NPH!! Go Michael Hall!
EmeraldLiz
I was hoping that the Globes would recognize Jim Parsons for his outstanding role on The Big Bang Theory.
ReplyDeleteThe Kevin Connolly nomination is perplexing to me to. I love the show, but he's not the best part. Ari and Johnny Drama are. Kevin is the Ted Mosby of the group. :)
True Blood is true camp at its best and the show is amazing because of it. It was probably that or Gossip Girl for the "hip show" slot.
ReplyDeleteThe real story is that Mad Men continues with good momentum with January Jones getting recognized in addition to previous nomination holdovers. Although Elisabeth Moss was shut out, but she was really not a lead this season and should've went supporting.
The Golden Globes are awesome. Everyone just gets drunk, and everything's ridiculous. It barely even pretends to be a classy awards show. I still remember Christine Lahti winning while she was in the bathroom and a totally drugged-out Elizabeth Taylor reading the Best Picture - Drama nominees. The Globes are hilarious.
ReplyDeleteLost was robbed. Golden Globes should be ashamed of themselves
ReplyDeleteWait.
ReplyDeleteThe Tudors are bad? No way.
I think that show is wonderful. If you saw The Other Bolyn Girl then you would see what an awful depiction of Henry 8 and company would look like.
Whether you like what Hugh Laurie does on House or not (and I do), one thing's for sure: he gives great acceptance speeches. I keep waiting for him to win an Emmy to liven up that horrible broadcast.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest of the nominations, all I really noticed is how many cable shows got nominations and how few network shows did. I'm bummed about the lack of love for Chuck and Pushing Daisies, but if these awards meant anything you'd think this would be a wake up call to the networks that they're not putting out quality product.
However, as these awards mean nothing other than an excuse to get drunk and update one's Oscar ballot, I doubt the Ben Silvermans of the world will pay much attention.
KEVIN CONNOLLY? Kevin freaking Connolly? I enjoy Entourage as a mild diversion, but let's get real. He is abysmally wooden on a good day.
ReplyDeleteUsually when the HFPA gets it wrong, they nominate a Big Name Star because they care about putting on a good TV show and getting ratings. But Connolly is hardly a household name. So who is he sleeping with to get this nomination? It makes no sense at all.