Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
NEW YORK — Netflix rode the voracious hunger for TV content during a year of pandemic viewership to a dominant showing at the Golden Globe nominations.
The streaming giant scooped up 20 small-screen nods — nearly three times as many as its closest competitor, HBO, and beating the 17 TV nominations it got last year. By one estimate, Netflix will spend about $19 billion on video content in 2021.
Netflix secured three out of the five nominations for best drama TV series — “The Crown,” “Ozark” and “Ratched” — and four of the five acting nods for best actress in that category for Olivia Colman, Emma Corrin, Laura Linney and Sarah Paulson.
“Most folks with their business have one of two things — they have quantity or they have quality. Netflix has both. So naturally they’re going to get more nominations,” said Dan Rayburn, a principal analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
Streaming newcomer HBO Max scored two nominations with “The Flight Attendant,” a best comedy TV berth and also earned “The Big Bang Theory” veteran Kaley Cuoco her first Globe nod.
The service’s big brother, HBO, earned seven nominations thanks to the psychological thriller “The Undoing” and “Lovecraft Country,” a horror series that mixes the supernatural and racial inequalities.
Little-known Pop TV earned five nominations — all for the Canadian comedy “Schitt’s Creek,” which swept the comedy Emmy Awards last year. Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Annie Murphy, Daniel Levy all got nods.
“The Crown” — tracing the history of Queen Elizabeth II — roared to the top of all TV candidates with six nominations, including lead acting nods for Coleman, Corrin and Josh O’Connor as well as supporting nods to Gillian Anderson and Helena Bonham Carter.
“The Great,” the coming-of-age comedy Hulu series about Russia’s Catherine the Great and her scandalous ascension to the throne, got three nominations — for best musical or comedy TV show and stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult. But another crown-connected period piece “Bridgerton” from Netflix failed to earn a single nod despite its popularity.
“The Great” now faces “The Flight Attendant,” “Schitt’s Creek,” “Emily in Paris” and “Ted Lasso” for bragging rights to best comedy TV series. Last year, that was “Fleabag.”
Apple TV+ scored with the debut series of “Ted Lasso,” in which Jason Sudeikis plays an American football coach who takes charge of an elite British soccer team despite having little knowledge of the game. The show was nominated for best comedy and so was Sudeikis.
Other best comedy actor contenders are Eugene Levy for “Schitt’s Creek,” Don Cheadle from “Black Monday,” Hoult from “The Great” and Ramy Youssef from “Ramy,” who currently owns the category crown.
A year after traditional broadcast networks were completely shut out in all nominations, NBC was the lone broadcaster represented Wednesday, scoring a nod for “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” star Jane Levy, playing a computer coder who hears and sees people express their inner thoughts through music.
Netflix’s “Ratched,” Ryan Murphy’s backstory of the notorious nurse from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” earned three nominations despite poor reviews. Stars Sarah Paulson and Cynthia Nixon both got nominations.
“Ratched” will do battle for the best drama on TV with “The Crown,” “Lovecraft Country,” “Ozark” and “The Mandalorian.” Last year, “Succession” won it.
Another notable snub on the TV side was “Dead to Me,” which earned four nominations last year. This year, Christina Applegate’s show got none.
___
Online: https://www.goldenglobes.com
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
