The Golden Globe nominations are always sent from the bizarro world, and that is what we have come to expect. While the two main film categories, Best Drama and Best Comedy or Musical, unfolded as expected, with Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, and Les Miserables showing strength, there was also a Django Unchained surge that cannot be discounted. But I am not here to prognosticate; I am here to laugh at some of these ridiculous nominations and snubs! (Here is a full list of nominees.)
1) No "Mad Men" in Best Drama!
Are. You. Kidding. Me. Yes, this category is tough, with shows like Homeland, Downton Abbey, and Boardwalk Empire. And no, I don't think The Newsroom is good, exactly, but of course the Hollywood Foreign Press nominated it. But I cannot believe how absurd it is to leave out Mad Men, one of the best shows in the history of television, which had a great season. Just utter lunacy. People will say that The Newsroom took its place; I say Breaking Bad, a fellow AMC show that has never been nominated before, has that distinction. Breaking Bad is fantastic, but the HFPA has shown no signs it likes it other than nominating Bryan Cranston always. What a disaster.
2) No "Game of Thrones" in Best Drama — AND NO DINKLAGE
I could have folded this into the snub above, but it's worth its own slot. Because this, too, is a disaster. Game of Thrones so deserves to be in the Best Drama category. Also, Peter Dinklage, who won last year, was not even nominated after a great season! Oh, lord, help me.
3) So Much "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"!
I will not pretend to have seen Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, so I cannot comment on the qualitative choice of nominating it in the Best Comedy/Musical category nor on both Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt receiving lead actor/actress nods. I will laugh about it, though, because what? No Ted here, the biggest comedy of the year that critics also liked? Or to use more HFPA-like logic, no Barbra Streisand for The Guilt Trip just so she can be on the show?
4) No Robert DeNiro
DeNiro has put in so little effort in so many of his recent movies. Yet he is wonderful in Silver Linings Playbook and is considered an Oscar front-runner. So the HFPA decides not to nominate him. Naturally.
5) Yes, "Smash"
The joke about Smash being nominated in the Best Comedy or Musical category will be that it was both a musical and a comedy (even though it was a drama!). What a farce. I'm going to throw out a compliment, though, because NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt and EVP of Communications Richard Licata knew how to score with HFPA members so well during their tenure together at Showtime that I see their work here. Wow, I say.
6) Yes, Hayden Panettiere
I actually think she's pretty great on Nashville. She is also, I will point out, a lead on the show even though she's nominated in the supporting actress category (costar Connie Britton got nominated as a lead). I like the show, so I'm not going to complain personally, but people are upset about this one.
7) No Keira Knightley
As awards pundits looked at the fall releases, Anna Karenina itself was a question mark, but Keira Knightley was thought to be a definite lock (for Oscar too). That ship seems to have sailed (too bad, in my opinion). Rachel Weisz is the surprise for The Deep Blue Sea, but this category is just strange this year. When the drama and comedy/musical actresses are in one group for the Oscars, it's a three-way race among Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty). Here, I guess Cotillard will win?
8) Best Director Category
View this video on YouTube
Tom Hooper, doing nothing, on the Les Miserables set.
Apparently, Les Miserables and Silver Linings Playbook were sprung from the head of Zeus, because neither Tom Hooper nor David O. Russell was nominated.
9) No "American Horror Story: Asylum"
Last year, the FX show got a nomination in the competitive Best Drama category. This year, it was submitted in the clearer field of Best Miniseries or Movie — and was snubbed. Jessica Lange was nominated, though. I guess The Girl is the surprise here, but you can never count out HBO in this category, and Sienna Miller and Toby Jones were nominated also. Political Animals, which did not do well for USA, is here and probably shouldn't be. I give up!