New Blood at the Globes
If the barometer of an interesting TV awards show is the number of fresh faces invited to the party, then the Golden Globe nominations (announced Thursday morning) passes the test. Not with a perfect score, mind you. Any institution that so completely ignores NBC's wonderful
Friday Night Lights deserves some spirited jeering.
And the Globes' addiction to sexy sizzle and hype can lead to some puzzling choices:
Big Love, fun as it is, over
The Sopranos' final season? Bill Paxton over James Gandolfini? (And if the Globes is going to shower love on
Big Love, how could the women who play Bill's wives go unheralded, especially Ginnifer Goodwin?)
Californication over
Weeds?
But let's look at the bright side. The Hollywood Foreign Press clearly spent some time checking out the TV landscape during last summer's remarkable season of cable breakthroughs. My own pick for No. 1 show of the year, AMC's
Mad Men, is nominated for best drama, along with its dashing leading man, Jon Hamm. FX's
Damages, with nods for best drama, actress (Glenn Close), and supporting players Rose Byrne and Ted Danson, raked in the most nominations of any TV series.
And I'm delighted to see the Globes taking notice of my top-ranked (in my top-10 list) new network series from the fall: ABC's
Pushing Daisies, nominated for best couple, with recognition as well for its lead couple, Lee Pace and Anna Friel. (I'm just sorry the ridiculous supporting actor categories, which lump together series and TV-movie actors, didn't find room for
Daisies scene-stealers Chi McBride or Kristin Chenoweth).
Other freshman-show nominees include two Showtime series:
The Tudors and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the lusty young King Henry; and the raunchy
Californication and its randy antihero David Duchovny. Other actors emerging from new series with nominations:
Saving Grace's Holly Hunter,
The Riches' Minnie Driver,
Samantha Who?'s Christina Applegate and
Dirty Sexy Money's Donald Sutherland.
Among returning series, I was glad to see my top-ranked comedy,
30 Rock, and its stars (Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin) get noticed, while
The Office fell off the list, though not its star, Steve Carell. And after he was inexplicably passed over at the Emmys, the Globes got it right by nominating
Dexter star Michael C. Hall for his riveting performance. (I'd probably favor him over Jon Hamm and
House's Hugh Laurie, but that's a tough call.)
Probably the most surprising snub after
The Sopranos was the lack of nominations for
Desperate Housewives or any of its cast. The consensus is that this season has rebounded in quality, and the addition of Dana Delany adds even more star power to a cast that have been Globes regulars. But this year, they might as well be gone with the wind that recently leveled Wisteria Lane.
Still, with all the new blood jockeying for attention, this year's Golden Globes could be fun to watch. (And besides, we all know it's really all about the movie stars, anyway. The Globes will be long forgotten by the time the Emmy nominations roll around.) At the moment, the real suspense about the Jan. 13 ceremony hinges on what impact the writers' strike will have - not so much on the telecast itself, but on how many nominees will even show for the party, if parading on the red carpet is equated to crossing a picket line.
Lots more Golden Globes coverage:
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TVGuide.com's complete lists of TV and film nominations
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Photo gallery: Globes nominees' reactions!
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Gold or Guild? Globes Nominees Debate Attending
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Ausiello's Snappy Judgments on the Globe Nominations
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At JumpTheShark.com: Globe Nominations, Yay or Boo?
