Damages

The nominations for the 65th annual Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning, and in the television categories, there's a good chance you haven't seen most of the nominees unless you have cable.  But unlike other awards shows where HBO is the cable giant, this year's nominees come from a wide variety of cable networks.

FX's Damages led all TV shows with a total of four nominations, while shows like AMC's Mad Men about ad executives in the 1960s and Showtime's Californication about a struggling, self-destructive writer and The Tudors about Henry VIII, all received multiple nominations.  Meanwhile, established network hits like Heroes, Lost, Desperate Housewives and 24 were completely shut out.  Continue reading for the full list of TV series nominees.

Best Drama Series:
Big Love
Damages
Grey's Anatomy
House
Mad Men
The Tudors

Best Lead Actor, Drama:
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Bill Paxton, Big Love
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors

Best Lead Actress, Drama:
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Glenn Close, Damages
Minnie Driver, The Riches
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer


From those drama nominees, one thing is clear: the Hollywood Foreign Press does not like the major networks.  Only five of the 18 drama nominees come from the big four, while all those smaller cable shows sneaked in.  They also recognized a lot of freshman dramas.  Damages, Mad Men, The Tudors, The Riches and Saving Grace are all in their first year of eligibility.  Mad Men might be the biggest surprise, but it's becoming clear that, even if average TV viewers have never heard of it, the period drama is all the rage in the industry.  It's two nominations follow a week in which TV Guide's Matt Roush declared it the best show of 2007.


Best Comedy Series:
30 Rock
Californication
Entourage
Extras
Pushing Daisies

Best Lead Actor, Comedy:
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
David Duchovny, Californication
Ricky Gervais, Extras
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies

Best Lead Actress, Comedy:
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds


Pushing Daisies clearly got the stamp of approval as hottest new show with these three well-deserved nominations, rivaled by 30 Rock, which also picked up nominations in all categories.  While the cable supremacy isn't as clear in the comedy races, Showtime continues to soar with three more nominations, and the biggest surprise is probably Californication, a tiny show that barely existed as a blip on most critics' radars.


Best Supporting Actor:
Ted Danson, Damages
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Jeremy Piven, Entourage
Andy Serkis, Longford
William Shatner, Boston Legal
Donald Sutherland, Dirty Sexy Money

Best Supporting Actress:
Rose Byrne, Damages
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy
Samantha Morton, Longford
Anna Paquin, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Jaime Pressly, My Name is Earl


The TV supporting races are always interesting because they combine dramas, comedies, TV moives and miniseries.  In those situations, you get the kinds of races where Becker, Ari Gold, Gollum and Captain Kirk are nominated against each other.  The big story is Damages, which is the most nominated TV series with four nominations thanks to these two supporting noms.  However, great as the show is, the HFPA is doing some heavy cheating here: anyone who has seen it knows that Rose Byrne as Ellen is the true leading lady of the series, but because Glenn Close is a bigger star, she gets the top billing while Byrne gets shuffled off to the supporting category.  Aside from that, these nominees are your typical hodge podge of Emmy nominated supporting performers. 

Kudos to Dirty Sexy Money, becoming the only new major network drama to get a Golden Globe nomination, which also helps ABC lead the TV nominees with 11, thanks in large part to the fantastic crop of new shows including Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Samantha Who??  Meanwhile, major networks like CBS and FOX have plenty to worry about, as CBS didn't get a single nomination while FOX only got in for Hugh Laurie and House.

The 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards will air on Sunday January 13 at 8pm on NBC.


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of FX)