The Hollywood Foreign Press has released the highly-anticipated list of nominees for the 2016 Golden Globe awards, and it’s made one thing abundantly clear: streaming services are here to stay as serious contenders in the new world of television.
Unlike other awards shows, the Golden Globes celebrates both film and television, marking a time when actors from both sides of the business (which are increasingly blurring) can gather to celebrate the craft. And since it’s one of the few shows where alcohol is permitted, and funny man Ricky Gervais will be returning to host, it’s always a hilarious, live event where anything can happen.
Related: Netflix, HBO cleanup in Rolling Stone’s list of 2015’s 25 best shows
Here’s a breakdown of some of the most noteworthy bits from today’s big nominations reveal.
Movies
Carol and Steve Jobs reigned supreme with five and four nominations, respectively, all in major categories. Carol, the Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara-starring film about a taboo love affair in the 1950s was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Drama, and both key actresses in the film will battle it out for Best Actress In A Motion Picture, Drama. Todd Haynes was also nominated for Best Director – Motion Picture.
Meanwhile, Michael Fassbender received a nomination for his role as the title character in Steve Jobs, as did Kate Winslet for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture as Joanna Hoffman. Aaron Sorkin also received a nod for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture, and both films were nominated for Best Score.
The Big Short and Revenant both received four nominations; and Room, Ridley Scott’s The Martian, Tarentino’s The Hateful Eight, and The Danish Girl each received three. Interestingly, sci-fi film The Martian somehow managed to grab a nomination for Best Motion Picture, Comedy, and Best Actor In A Motion Picture, Comedy for Matt Damon — now that’s range. Needless to say, viewer response has been mixed: while it might be a great film, it has clearly joined Orange is the New Black on the historical list of shows that got nods in categories in which they probably don’t belong. The third nom for that film, by the way, was for Ridley Scott as Best Director – Motion Picture.
Also worth noting is comedian Amy Schumer’s newly-crowned status as the queen of comedy, with two nominations for Trainwreck for Best Actress In A Motion Picture, Comedy as well as Best Motion Picture, Comedy.
Other films that made the cut with one or two nominations include a number of one-word power titles, like Spotlight, Joy, Spy, Brooklyn, Trumbo, Concussion, Youth, Creed (yes for Sly Stallone), and Spectre; along with other more verbosely-titled flicks including the rebirth of a classic franchise in Mad Max: Fury Road, a more personal doomsday harbinger in Ex Machina, along with nods for Danny Collins, Infinitely Polar Bear, Love & Mercy, Beasts of No Nation, Bridge of Spies, 99 Homes, and yes, 50 Shades of Grey, and Furious 7.
It’s worth noting that one of those films (Idris Elba’s Beasts of No Nation) was a Netflix original release — but we’ll get into more on the streaming titan’s big day below.
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Television
Stream team
With a few awards shows under their belts, streaming services are proving themselves true contenders on the small screen (and in Netflix’s case, the big one too). The 2016 Golden Globes paid off well for the biggest players in streaming, with Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu all appearing with multiple entries on the nominations list.
Netflix came out on top with a grand total of nine nominations, surpassing every other provider, including both streaming services and networks – yes, even HBO). This includes eight nominations on the TV side, and one for the movie Beasts of No Nation.
The list includes a few nods for the cocaine-driven Narcos (Best TV Series, Drama and Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama for Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar), Orange is the New Black (Best TV Series, Comedy and Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Limited Series, or TV Movie for Uzo Aduba); Bloodline (Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series, Limited Series or Movie for Ben Mendelsohn); Grace and Frankie (Lily Tomlin as Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy); House of Cards (Robin Wright as Best Actress in a TV Series, Drama); and Aziz Ansari’s Master of None for Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy.
The top winner for Amazon was, not surprisingly, Transparent, which garnered three nominations itself for Best TV Series, Comedy; Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy for Jeffrey Tambor; and Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Limited Series or Movie for Judith Light (talk about a comeback). But the streaming site was also nominated for its ballet series Mozart in the Jungle (Best TV Series, Comedy and Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy for Gael Garcia Bernal.)
Hulu clocked in with a single nomination for Casual in the Best TV Series, Comedy category. Interestingly, not one regular network TV show ranked in that category, so Casual will be battling it out for the win with fellow streaming series Mozart in the Jungle, Orange is the New Black, and Transparent, and premium cable network HBO’s Silicon Valley and Veep.
Premium and cable
Speaking of HBO, the network/streaming service was nipping at Netflix’s heels, trying to reclaim its top spot with a respectable seven nominations, including the two aforementioned, as well as Best TV Series, Drama for Game of Thrones, and nods for Julia Louis-Dreyfuss for Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy for Veep, Queen Latifah in Bessie (Best Actress in a TV Movie or Limited Series), David Oyelowo for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series for Nightingale, and Oscar Isaac for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series for Show Me a Hero.
Other premium network series that made the cut include Starz (Outlander, and Patrick Stewart’s Blunt Talk), and Showtime (Penny Dreadful, Ray Donovan, The Affair). Top cable contenders included FX (American Horror Story: Hotel, Fargo), and, of course, AMC (Better Call Saul, Mad Men). Perhaps most notable from this list is Lady Gaga’s first nod as an actress for Best Actress in a TV Movie or Limited Series.
Network
Regular network TV, however, wasn’t completely absent from the list. Popular shows like Empire, Scream Queens, Jane the Virgin, How to Get Away With Murder, and The Good Wife. But there were a number of new show entries on the list that show progress is not slowing down at all for traditional linear TV. Among them were three nominations for USA Network’s new critical phenom Mr. Robot, a nod for Rachel Bloom for Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy for the hilarious Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW). Rob Lowe was also honored for Fox’s The Grinder (Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy.)
The aforementioned crossovers between TV and film acting are particularly evident this year: both Idris Elba and Lily Tomlin received nods in both categories. Elba was nominated on the film side for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture in Beasts of No Nation as well as for his role in title role in Luther for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series. Meanwhile, veteran actress Tomlin will battle for Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy for her role as the quirky Frankie in Netflix’s Grace and Frankie as well as for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy for Grandma.
The 2016 Golden Globes, hosted by Ricky Gervais, will take place on Sunday, January 10, 2016 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. It will air live on NBC at 8 p.m. EST. Get out the popcorn and beer; it’s sure to be a fun ride.
Check out a full list of the nominees.
