Dec. 16—I meant to peruse all the Golden Globe TV nominations before starting to write this, but I couldn't get passed best drama. No Justified, which has been showing up on 10-best lists and is my pick for the most consistently satisfying drama this year — strong characters, dynamite acting, good story, rich dialogue, strong sense of place — or Breaking Bad, which after a bit of a slow start got even deeper into the moral decay of Walter White and just how far he'll go to protect himself, his family and his business? How do they miss those two? And although I thought Friday Night Lights' fifth and final season wasn't quite as good as seson four, it still was a strong season and worthy of inclusion.
By putting in the insane, off-the-rails (and yet somehow I can't stop watching) American Horror Story, that's how. The show is so over-the-top that it sometimes seems as if co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk watched every haunted-house/possession movie ever made, then decided to try to incorporate all of them into their own ghost story. But, especially in its two most recent episodes, it can be poignant and touching, even when it's being so sick that you're glad that Murphy and Flachuk discovered writing, because it keeps them off the street. Still, the show is waaaaaay to much of a mess to take a slot that should go to either Justified or Breaking Bad.
I hjave fewer quibbles with the nominations for Game of Thrones, HBO's fantasy series, or Homeland, Showtime's Machurian Candidate-influenced thriller that comes off like a more intellectual and (even) more paranoid 24. I'm a little less warm to Boss or Boardwalk Empire, especially the latter, which seems so much like it was written with one eye on awards that its elegance leaves me a little cold. Other misses include The Good Wife, which has had a great year, despite some rocky moments during the fall season (when CBS made it even harder to follow by sticking it on Sundays, where it's constantly bounced out of its time slot by football overruns).
But forget Justified's snub in the best-drama series category. How did Margo Martindale, who gave the TV performance of the year as more-dangerous-than-she-looks Mags Bennett on Justified, get snubbed in the acting categories? Part of this can be blamed on the inconsistency of Globes categories — there are more supporting actors out there than lead actors, and yet the Globes lumps comedy, drama and miniseries performances together in supporting categories, while separating them in the lead categories. So Jessica Lange, who overacts like she's trying to make the horses whinny in American Horror Story, gets a nod while Martindale doesn't in category that lumps one comic performance (Sofia Vergara in Modern Family) among several dramatic ones (my vote goes to Maggie Smith in Downtown Abbey, even if it is the sort of wickedly imperious role she's played for something like 40 years).
Other worthy supporting performances — Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad, Walton Goggins and Jeremy Davies in Justified, Aimee Teegarden in Friday Night Lights, just about the entire supporting cast of Parks & Recreation were crowded out. But at least Peter Dinklage got a nod for playing the conniving Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones. I mean, he won an Emmy, so you'd expect him to get a nomination — but then again, so did Martindale.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the best-actress/drama category is Callie Thorne, an actress I've always liked, for her role as a therapist-to-football-stars in USA's Necessary Roughness, which even if it's on the most popular cable network doesn't have quite the profile of some other USA shows (my USA pick would have been Mary McCormack for In Plain Sight). I thought Mireille was just too dour in AMC's even more dour The Killing, but awards-show voters seem to love her performance as an obsessed detective/single mom. But I'm good with Julianna Margulies in The Good Wife, Madeleine Stowe in Revenge and especially Claire Danes in Homeland getting nods. I don't understand how Connie Britton can get snubbed for an American Horror Story performance that has required her to steadily get more uneasy, angry and terrified and still manages to find her character's heart (especially in this week's episode), but then the actress — who went from one of TV's best marriages in Friday Night Lights to one of its worst in AHS — has a long run of awards-show bad luck.
The Globes got it closest to correct with the best actor/drama series category, although Jeremy Irons' performance in The Borgias was so hammy that you could practically smell pork coming off the screen. Most of these are pretty natural picks: Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire, Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad, Kelsey Grammer for Boss, Damian Lewis as the enigmatic former POW in Homeland. Snubs: Kyle Chandler (who won the Emmy for Friday Night Lights), Sean Bean for Game of Thrones.
In the best comedy/musical series category, Enlightened has plenty of admirers, although it's one of those shows that seems more like a drama and gets called a comedy because it's a half-hour long; I don't recall Showtime's self-referential Episodes having as many admirers, but Hollywood awards-show voters are suckers for series that mock Hollywood. Glee (an actual musical!) and Modern Family got their expected nods, and Fox's divisive New Girl crawled in there, as did its adore-her-or-get-irritated-by-her star, Zooey Deschanel. Which leaves ... well, let's start with Parks & Recreation, which has had a great year; Community, which is inconsistent but has knocked a few episodes out of the park; The Office, which has survived a season of transition (although I thought the spring episodes were stronger than many of the fall ones); and a number of other past faves that have fallen on hard times.
Besides Deschanel, the best actress/musical/comedy category made up for a couple of series snubs by giving nods to Parks & Rec's Amy Poehler (deserved) and 30 Rock's Tina Fey (not so sure anymore). Laura Dern and Laura Linney, the best things, respectively, about Enlightened and The Big C, round out the category. Surprised to see Johnny Galecki get a nomination for The Big Bang Theory while awards-show fave co-star Jim Parsons was ignored, especially with BBT junking itself up with too many characters. Matt LeBlanc got a nod for playing a twisted version of himself on Episodes. The other nominations — Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock, David Duchovny on Californication, Thomas Jane for Hung — have such a whiff of deja vu about them, you wonder whether the Hollywood Foreign Press Association even bothered with anything new in the category.
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