Golden Globe Nominees a Mixed Bag, Cable Dominates TV Dramas

Image credit: Focus Features

Of the films nominated for Golden Globes, I’ve seen a grand total of one of them in both the comedy and drama categories: The Kids are All Right. (Drama noms: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The King's Speech and The Social Network, two of which are on my "must see" list. Comedy noms: Alice in Wonderland, Burlesque, The Kids are All Right, Red and The Tourist.)

What does THAT say about me, or, conversely, about the nominations?

Maybe it means – HELLO?! – I should somehow find the time to go see more movies . . . or, perhaps, it's an indication that the movies I have seen in theaters aren't ones the Golden Globe voters find worthy, such as The Town. (Though Jeremy Hurt Locker Renner received a nod for supporting dramatic actor for The Town.) Then again, a lot of the acting and best picture nominations went mostly to people and films which have not yet been released or in limited release smack dab in the middle of the Christmas season, when I don't have a heck of a lot of time to go see them because of all that Christmas stuff I've got to do.

Overall, in addition to Renner's nomination, I was very happy to see that both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore were nominated for lead actresses in a comedy for The Kids are All Right; they were believable and relatable as a middle couple whose family of four was upended after their son tracked down the man who had donated his sperm to the couple. (I reviewed it here.)

When it came to the animated feature films, however, I've seen three of the five nominees – Despicable Me, How to Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 – which is an indication that yeah, I’ve got kids, and I take them to see kid movies more often than I go to see flicks of my choosing.

Image credit: Michael Yarish/AMC

On the TV side, it was somewhat shocking to see that of the best TV drama nominees, only ONE is a network show. Mad Men was, of course, on the list alongside the really solid, though not nearly as nuanced, The Good Wife. The other three nominees are shows I don’t watch: Boardwalk Empire (though I think I SHOULD be watching this one, anyone care to make that argument to me?), Dexter and The Walking Dead.

Best dramatic actress and actor nominations mirrored the TV drama trend, as the sole network nomination went to Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife. Margulies is up against Elisabeth Moss, who really deserves this award after her great fourth season as Peggy Olson, was nominated for Mad Men. The other dramatic actress nominees are: Piper Perabo from Covert Affairs, Katey Sagal from Sons of Anarchy and Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer.

The only network best dramatic actor nominee went to Hugh Laurie for House, but if Jon Hamm doesn’t get it, particularly for that episode of “The Suitcase,” then the Golden Globe voters are seriously off their rockers. Their competitors are: Steve Buscemi from Boardwalk Empire, Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad and Michael C. Hall, Dexter.

Image credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

Comedy-wise, the networks fared better, fielding four out of the six nominees for 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, Glee and Modern Family. (Showtime’s Nurse Jackie and The Big C were also nominated.) Modern Family -- specifically the “Manny Get Your Gun” episode – should walk away with this, without question. Of the female members of the Modern Family cast, only Sofia Vergara received a nomination, while Eric Stonestreet was the only male cast member nominated. What about Ty Burrell? Rico Rodriguez? What, are they blind to their comic genius?

What did you think about the Golden Globe nominations?
Image credits: Focus Features, Michael Yarish/AMC and Eric McCandless/ABC.