Monday, December 8, 2025

My Generally Pleased Reactions to the 2025 Golden Globe Nominations for TV

 

Those of you who read my columns know that throughout the years I've celebrated the Golden Globes through good times and, as we are all aware now, horrible organizational times. I've seen it have no hosts, great hosts and Ricky Gervais. And no matter how dreadful the actual ceremony could be – and in 2024 it was absolutely wretched – I've stood by it for one major reason: their awards for television.

I've never had any illusions that they were perfect and when I learned the horrors involving the late and now unlamented Hollywood Foreign Press Association I was stunned because over the 21st century the Golden Globes had been far ahead of the curve compared to the Emmys when it came to nominating and awarding some of the greatest dramas and comedies of the era of Peak TV. They gave Best Drama to shows the Emmys never did such as Six Feet Under, Boardwalk Empire and The Shield and comedies such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mozart in the Jungle and The Kominsky Method. They paid tribute to performers the Emmys never recognized once for landmark performances such as Chloe Sevigny for Big Love, Katey Segal for Sons of Anarchy, Michael C. Hall for Dexter and Steve Carell for The Office and those wins are the tip of the iceberg. Both they and the Critics Choice Awards have done more to guide me towards which shows will likely be nominated for Emmys in the following year and just as often which shows should have been nominated and won in the previous year.  I may have my issues with their leadership but rarely have I had it with their winners and nominees.

Ever since the Critics Choice Awards started giving their awards for TV at the end of the year along with film (the former changed in the winter of 2015) both awards shows will usually find a consensus for which shows will be nominated in the year to come as well as the ones that are at least for the moment the early favorites. Much can change in six months – and almost certainly will – but in these two awards as well as the various guild awards which will come in the next few weeks we will get a sense of where the Emmy voters might be thinking. So let's look at the Golden Globe nominations for TV for the year 2025 as well as my reactions.

 

BEST DRAMA SERIES

Four of the shows that were nominated are in common with the Critics Choice Awards: The Diplomat, The Pitt, Pluribus and Severance. The biggest difference is two who the Critics Choice excluded and I'll be honest this was two of the biggest snubs. Slow Horses is here for Season 5 and Season 3 of The White Lotus, which was completed shutout by the Critics Choice, has the most nominations of any series with six.

I have no problem with any of the six nominees.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA

We see a common thread between the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice on five of the selections: Sterling K. Brown, Diego Luna, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Scott and Noah Wyle. Gary Oldman absolutely should have been nominated by the Critics Choice Awards instead of Billy Bob Thornton for Landsman so the Globes are actually one up on them here.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Again five of the six nominees share commonality with the Critics Choice: Kathy Bates, Britt Lower, Bella Ramsey, Keri Russell and Rhea Seehorn. I could quibble about Carrie Coon being excluded for The Gilded Age but since 1) she has been recognized further down and 2) the sixth nominee is Helen Mirren for her superb dark turn in Mobland which the Critics Choice Awards ignored. No notes.

 

BEST COMEDY SERIES

The Golden Globes chose to recognize The Bear which may demonstrate their old habits rather than the fourth season being deserving of awards. The other five nominees are to be expected: Abbott Elementary, Hacks, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building and The Studio. Interestingly Abbott was nominated for any other awards while Only Murders, which received just one nomination from the former group leads all comedy contenders with four. They also seem to have finally dropped the musical adage which was here for years.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Four of the six nominees were here last year: Adam Brody, Steve Martin, Martin Short and Jeremy Allan White. Seth Rogen's nomination for The Studio is no surprise; Glen Powell's for Chad Powers is because it was ignored by the Critics Choice Awards all together.

Honestly I'm inclined to think collectively this is a more realistic group of nominees then the Critics Choice Awards and since Alexander Skarsgard isn't here for Murderbot I'm more inclined to approve.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Kristen Bell, Jean Smart and Natasha Lyonne for Poker Face all made the cut. In all candor Selena Gomez deserved to far more than Rose McIver for Edi Peterson did by the Critics Choice. Ayo Edebiri and Jenna Ortega were almost certainly going to be here as opposed to Rose McIver. This is both a better selection then the Critics Choice Awards and a more likely group.

 

BEST LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE

No surprise that Adolescence and Dying for Sex are here and only a minor one that Black Mirror is representing. All Her Fault and The Girlfriend were significant forces in the Critics Choice Awards as well; I will be reviewing the former very soon and the latter down the road. The Beast in Me was expect to do better than the Critics Choice Awards did. Somewhat surprising: no presence for Sirens or Death By Lightning which did very well at the Critics' Choice.

 

BEST TV LIMITED/MOVIE ACTOR

Stephen Graham is the only Emmy nominee here. Both Charlie Hunman for Monster: The Ed Gein Story and Matthew Rhys for The Beast in Me were nominated by the Critics Choice Awards. Tellingly the two previous seasons of Monster received multiple nominations from the Golden Globes and this time Hunnam is the only nominee. The third season may have gone too far.

I am aware of Jude Law's performance in Black Rabbit and Paul Giamatti's in Black Mirror. I have never heard of The Narrow Road to the Deep North and suspect Jacob Elordi's nomination has more to do with his double-dipping for Frankenstein. That happens a lot with the Golden Globes.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A TV MOVIE/LIMITED SERIES

Michelle Williams was expected to be here and Rashida Jones was nominated for an Emmy for her work in Black Mirror. Robin Wright was nominated for The Girlfriend by the Critics Choice Awards as well as Sarah Snook for All Her Fault.

I'm thrilled to see Amanda Seyfried in the hunt for her overlooked performance in Long Bright River even if it just for double dipping same as Elordi. Claire Danes always deserves recognition and I will no doubt get to The Beast in Me down the road as well.

 

One last note: Golden Globes you really have to take a note from the last year of your predecessors and divide the Supporting Actor and Actress awards between drama/comedy and Limited Series TV movie. It's not as egregious as past years but still. Anyway.

 

BEST TV SUPPORTING ACTOR

Two nominees are present from Adolescence and The White Lotus and they're who you expected: Owen Cooper and Ashley Walters from the former and Jason Isaacs and Walton Goggins for the latter. We also see the winner is Best Drama Tramell Tillman for Severance and two time Emmy winner Billy Crudup for The Morning Show. I guess we won't get to hear: "Thank you Sal Saperstein" unless Seth Rogen wins but honestly when it comes to drama this is a better group that the Critics' Choice Awards did.

 

BEST TV SUPPORTING ACTRESS

The biggest snub in this category, perhaps the entire list of nominees for TV, is the absence of Katherine LaNassa for The Pitt. Considering she managed to win at the Emmys last September a nomination seemed a foregone conclusion, especially considering that the two other winners in Supporting Actress: Hannah Einbinder for Hacks and Erin Doherty for Adolescence were nominated. That said there's still an argument that the Golden Globes did a better job then the Critics Choice Awards to an extent, considering that they nominated Catherine O'Hara for The Studio and three actresses from The White Lotus: Carrie Coon, Parker Posey and Aimee Lou Wood, all of whom received Emmy nominations.

 

All things together this is a solid group that overall has a better sense of the Zeitgeist when it comes to TV then the Critics Choice generally does (sorry). I will confess to being surprised that Yellowjackets was skunked by both groups as well as recent series like The Lowdown. But honestly I'm looking forward to both awards shows mainly because two of my favorite comediennes Nikki Glaser and Chelsea Handler will be back at the helm for each.

Expect reviews for some of the contenders before the year ends and I'll be back with my predictions for the Golden Globes in January.

No comments:

Post a Comment