unclebarky.com
Let's hear it for the Golden Globes.
No, seriously.
The much-maligned Hollywood Foreign Press Association by and large did an intelligent job of picking and choosing the best television has to offer in nominations announced late last week.
Its best and brightest decisions were three nominations for Showtime's Homeland, which the Screen Actors Guild completely snubbed in its nominations announced last week. Two other deserving series, Starz's Boss and HBO's Enlightened, also were ignored by SAG but recognized by the Globes' small, mysterious band of voters.
Cable ruled the Globes' list of five best drama series nominees, with four rookies -- Homeland, Boss, FX's American Horror Story and HBO's Game of Thrones -- joining HBO's second-year Boardwalk Empire.
The broadcast networks broke through in the best comedy series category, with nods for Fox's new New Girl, ABC's Modern Family and Fox's Glee. The other nominations went to Enlightened and Showtime's Episodes.
The miniseries/movies categories are warmed over, with PBS's Downton Abbey and HBO's Mildred Pierce already the big Emmy winners. But both aired too late for last January's Globes ceremony, so they'll be competing anew. A welcome addition to the category is BBC America's The Hour, which aired too late for Emmy consideration but has three Globe nominations.
In the Globes' six drama categories, cable productions amassed 25 of the 30 nominations. In two additional supporting actor/actress categories, in which dramas and comedies are both eligible, cable got seven of the 10 nominations.
Broadcast networks fared better in the three comedy categories, taking eight of the 15 nominations.
The Globes ceremony airs Jan. 15 on NBC, with the SAG Awards shown Jan. 29 on both TNT and TBS. Click for the complete list of Globe nominees (both TV and movies) and for SAG nominations.
Read more by Ed Bark at unclebarky.com