By David Wiegand
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco — As batty as the Golden Globes are about movies, they’re often off the charts with regard to television nominees. And so it was Thursday morning when the Globe nominations were announced in Hollywood.
The TV part of the nominations may give television PR departments something to throw on ads, but unlike movies, TV nominations aren’t even remotely considered harbingers of bigger awards. Globes buzz may or may not impact voting for the Oscars, but whatever buzz there is for a TV show means nothing to the Emmys since they’re held in September.
There were some intelligent TV nominations among the head-scratchers, because even a broken clock is correct twice a day. No complaints with best actor/miniseries or movie nods for Matt Damon and Michael Douglas in “Behind the Candelabra,” or Al Pacino in “Phil Spector,” Idris Elba in “Luther” or Chiwetel Ejiofor in “Dancing on the Edge.” Interestingly, Elba and Ejiofor are also nominated for best actor/film drama awards: Ejiofor for “12 Years a Slave” and Elba for” Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”
Ejiofor was very good in “Dancing on the Edge,” but only a foreign press association would consider the Starz mini-series worthy of much attention. Jacqueline Bisset was lovely in the miniseries, but not really all that worthy of a supporting actress nomination. It’s also nominated for best mini-series or movie, which is ridiculous.
Even weirder are all the nominations for the quickly canceled “The White Queen,” another Starz miniseries. It was fun and lusty, but not really all that awards-worthy.
The foreign press also has an odd fascination for Andy Samberg and his freshman sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” It’s a decent show, but in the crop of new comedies, I’d personally rank “The Crazy Ones” higher and have found myself liking “The Millers” more as the fall season has continued.
There is also a Globes nomination for Zooey Deschanel in “New Girl,” which is a bit odd. If you are going to single that show out for anything, Jake Johnson and Max Greenfield are more worthy.
Some categories, the Globes got right. Best actress, drama: Robin Wright (“House of Cards”), Julianna Marguilies (“The Good Wife”), Kerry Washington (“Scandal”), Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) and Taylor Schilling (“Orange Is the New Black”).
No quarrel with best actor/drama nominees: Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), James Spader (“The Blacklist”), Michael Sheen (“Masters of Sex”), Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”) and Liev Schreiber (“Ray Donovan”).
I like the nomination for Corey Stoll for best supporting actor for “House of Cards,” but much as I really do like Josh Charles in “The Good Wife,” I think there are better candidates in this category.
Among the omissions? BBC America’s dazzling “Broadchurch,” for one. HBO’s “Derek” for another, and its star, Ricky Gervais. Nothing for Connie Britton in “Nashville?” And how about “Mad Men.” Is that still on? Happy about Aaron Paul getting a nod for “Breaking Bad,” but I also would have recognized Anna Gunn.
And then there’s the whole “Homeland” thing. Nothing for Claire Danes? Nothing for Damian Lewis? Nothing for the series? There’s a burbling sense that the series is having trouble sustaining its high-wire act, but still, to omit it entirely from nominations is absurd. Granted, the best drama series category was pretty full, but although some may consider it heresy, I would argue that even if it is wobbling a bit, “Homeland” is more worthy than “Downton Abbey.”
Note that the show Edie Falco is nominated for is called “Nurse Jackie,” not “Nurse,” as it was listed Thursday on the Globes web site. They may correct it later in the day.
Now if they’d only correct a few of the nominations.
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