Ever
since Peak TV became the era of Peak Limited Series (which I think started
around 2014-15 with the arrival of Fargo and True Detective) the
Golden Globes has done a fair amount of struggling to keep up. This was hard
enough when all of the Supporting Acting awards included drama and comedy, but
it wasn’t much easier when you had to choose between People Vs. O.J. Simpson,
The Night of and The Night Manager as they did in 2017. (They took a
lot of heat for passing over Courtney Vance and Sterling Brown for the first in
favor of Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie for the last, even though anyone who
saw both knew that it was a very tough judgment call.)
Things
have gotten better over time: they recognized Gianni Versace, but paid
tribute to Sharp Objects in the same year and would honor Chernobyl
and The Loudest Voice as well. They’ve also had the problems of not being
able to tell a limited series from an actual one: Watchmen got shut out
by the Golden Globes because everybody thought it was going to be a series. And
last year, there was still a bit of rust: The White Lotus wasn’t
nominated for Best Limited Series at all, but you have to give credit for the HFPA
for being the only organization to give a Best Limited Series to The
Underground Railroad.
So
now that they are finally giving Limited and Anthology series their full
attention, how did they do the first time out? Well, let’s take a look:
BEST
LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR TV MOVIE
This
is a pretty good group, a decent mix of the old and the new. The White Lotus
more than deserves to be here for its second season as does The Dropout.
I expected, though I’m not thrilled to see Pam and Tommy here. I think I now have to give Black Bird the
time and energy its due.
I
acknowledge the presence of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer story more as an
acknowledgment of its immense popularity (?) then its actual greatness. It’s
hard not to think that, say, Gaslit or Under the Banner of Heaven, both
of which did well at the Critics Choice are not better series. And if the Globes
wanted to honor a show that got into the head of a serial killer, I think The
Patient would have been a better choice. But at least they didn’t nominate Inventing
Anna
BEST
ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR TV MOVIE
It
is more likely that the Globe in this category will honor the past year than
the one to come. Colin Firth, Andrew Garfield, and Sebastian Stan all starred
in series that were part of the previous year’s Emmys, not the futures. Taron
Egerton might well be nominated for Blackbird.
As
for Evan Peters, in my opinion this is a very questionable choice. I would
sooner have seen Sean Penn for Gaslit or Michael Shannon for George
and Tammy. Still, this was going to be a tricky category no matter what.
BEST
ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY OR TV MOVIE
Another
sign the Globes are ahead of the critics. Amanda Seyfried and Lily James were
inevitably going to be present. But it was far from a foregone conclusion that
Julia Roberts would be and I never expected to see Jessica Chastain here for George
and Tammy. (I can’t remember now if she was nominated by the HFPA last year
for Scenes from a Marriage.) Chastain gives the HFPA a slight edge.
I’m
disappointed to see Julia Garner for Inventing Anna to be sure and I
would have been happier to see Michelle Pfeiffer or even Toni Colette here
instead. But this isn’t a bad group.
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY OR TV MOVIE.
Ok.
Domhnall Gleason more than earned his spot for The Patient and it’s
really hard not to argue for Paul Walter Hauser for Blackbird. The
Globes have an advantage because they nominated F. Murray Abraham for his
wonderful work in The White Lotus.
Seth
Rogen is here for Pam and Tommy. Is this a point for the HFPA over the Critics’
Choice who chose to ignore him? I’m not sure because of my feelings towards the
series. I love Richard Jenkins in just about everything he’s ever done, but I’m
disappointed to see him here instead of any of Naveen Andrews or any of the
supporting talent from Gaslit.
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY OR TV MOVIE.
THEY
NOMINATED AUBREY PLAZA! Finally! Some organization has acknowledged her for the
talent she is! Ok, deep breath. Let’s deal with the other nominees.
Jennifer
Coolidge more than earned her spot for the second season of The White Lotus,
considering you know, how it ended for her. Problems with Monster aside,
I’m still always glad to see Niecy Nash-Betts nominated for anything and it
looks like Claire Danes, at least, will be fighting it out for a Supporting Actress
nomination for Fleishman is in Trouble. And let’s be honest, Daisy
Edgar-Jones was one of many, many talented supporting actresses who last year
got drowned out of an Emmy nomination because of the mass love for, well, The
White Lotus. I won’t lie, I would have preferred Meghan Fahy here instead
of Edgar-Jones but that’s because I love her NEARLY AS MUCH AS AUBREY PLAZA. (Ok,
ok, breathe.) All in all, a good group.
Well,
the nominations for the Golden Globes for TV this year are a good group. It’s a
decent balance between streamers and cable, and ABC had the best showing of any
broadcast network in nearly a decade. Now
comes the question: will anyone care?
The
Golden Globes broadcast had been pushed from its traditional Sunday to Tuesday
January 10th. NBC has only a
one-year holding deal with them for this year. And Globes is apparently
involved in a purchase that will change its status. The question now comes down
to: are the actors and creative forces behind the movies and TV going to put
their money where their collective mouths are?
Last
year, the Golden Globes answered a question nobody ever thought would be asked:
if an awards show takes place and nobody shows up – including the TV crews –
did that awards show actually happen? This year, NBC is showing up but the rest
of the question remains the same. The Golden Globes claimed that they cleaned
up their act and can be let back in. My reaction is the same one I had for
Netflix’s viewership for the past decade: I don’t trust an organization where you
have to take their word for what they’ve accomplished. I was proven right for
my distrust in that regard. The question is not now whether I believe them but
whether Hollywood does and will they, in that way, that they do every time
there’ve been scandals in almost every major awards show decide all is forgiven
and go back to business as usual. The next few weeks will tell us a lot – and not
just about who ends up winning this year’s awards.
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