What to Expect From This Weekend’s Golden Globes in The TV Races

After such an unpredictable year the only thing we can count on for the upcoming Golden Globes is that TIna Fey & Amy Poehler will give us a show to remember. The comedic duo has been sorely missed from the past couple of ceremonies but this year they are back to bring a slight sense of normalcy and comfort to what will otherwise be a night without boozing and schmoozing.

The pair have are met with the seemingly impossible task of bringing to life a ceremony that thrives off lighthearted interactions while also figuring out how to avoid or confront the elephant in the (virtual) room. If anyone can pull it off its this pair who pulled off the single greatest awards joke in recent memory going directly after Leo.

The big question heading into this year’s ceremony is just how many awards will Netflix walk away with. With 20 TV nominations the streaming network represents over a third of the nominees and its easy to see why. 2020 was a year where everyone was stuck at home  with nothing to do but binge anything they could stream while at the same time most networks had less content to produce.

There’s a scenario where the streaming giant takes home six or seven awards but we also know that HFPA voters love to spread the wealth. Will voters really give Netflix half of the TV awards when they’re also likely to take home an armful of film awards as well?

The upcoming ceremony is also one plagued with multiple controversies including a corrupt organization accused of pay-to-play and white-washing. It will be interesting to see if the recent controversies have any influence over the winners. Will the Hollywood Foreign Press feel the need to do damage control or will they double down and shock everyone by naming Emily in Paris the comedy of the year?

After catching up on what to expect from this year’s Golden Globes below make sure to check out the full ADTV team’s predictions.

Drama Categories

This year the drama conversation isn’t really about what will win the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama but, rather, just how many awards will The Crown take home. The royal drama could quite possibly take home four awards, something no drama has done in the modern era. In fact, Gillian Anderson, Josh O’Conner, and Emma Corrin all are entering the night as the respective frontrunners.

The Crown wasn’t the only Netflix drama to rake in nominations. Ozark earned four nominations and broke into the series race for the first time while Ratched became the most nominated new drama of the year with three nominations. No one should be surprised if they both pick up acting trophies. As the creative face of the crime drama Bateman seems like the obvious choice for Ozark while Paulson and/or Nixon could easily represent Ratched.

What makes these categories more difficult to gauge is that most of the acting nominees don’t come with a corresponding series nomination. Better Call Saul, Hunters, Perry Mason, and Killing Eve weren’t nominated for series so in a normal year their actors would likely go home empty handed. But this is also a year where two of the drama series nominees, The Mandalorian and Lovecraft Country, didn’t pick up any acting nominations.

Comedy Categories

The comedy categories are where the HFPA loves to go out on limbs and bring new shows into the conversation. They were the first group to award Atlanta, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Transparent while also changing the conversation and voting for Mozart in the Jungle and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

So, what comedies seem the most likely to fit that trajectory? The Flight Attendant is the flashy debut on HBO Max that took everyone by surprise that will certainly stand out for being the most exciting show in the bunch and it perfectly fits the dramedy tendencies that Globes voters lean towards. Then there’s Ted Lasso that, in all likelihood, will be one of the biggest shows of the night becoming the genuine underdog story that everyone can’t help but cheer for.

Sudeikis and Cuoco are the frontrunners in their respective categories and the lead races almost always match up with the comedy series race. Waller-Bridge and Fleabag. Douglas and The Kominsky Method. Brosnahan and Maisel. Glover and Atlanta. Bernal and Mozart in the Jungle. The list goes on and on.

The only question will be what voters do with Schitt’s Creek. After sweeping the Emmys the final season earned a shocking five Golden Globe nominations – the most any comedy has earned in ten years. The last time a comedy had that many nominations the first season of Glee went home with three trophies.

But the HFPA rarely copies the Emmys especially in the comedy categories and they NEVER go for comedies in their final season (unless you count the short runs of sudden British discoveries like Fleabag and Extras). Voters have also never nominated the Rose family at all before making us question how much they actually like the beloved comedy. But is this really a year where a show with five nominations goes home empty handed? If they award the final season anywhere it will be for Catherine O’Hara in the lead actress race or Dan Levy in the supporting actor race where he’s the apple in a bag of four limited series performances.

Limited Series

It’s been a while since we’ve had a wide-open race at the Golden Globes for Best Miniseries. For the past five or six years they’ve rubberstamped the Emmy winner and called it a day. Since Watchmen was eligible at last year’s ceremony (and was surprisingly shut out) those rules don’t apply this year and we might see a very different group of winners.

The obvious frontrunner is HBO’s The Undoing. It’s the prestige network’s best chance at a win and we all know HBO almost never goes home empty handed. The literary mystery adaptation fits perfectly with past favorites and it features a cast of very Globes friendly talent.

Instead, momentum is leaning towards The Queen’s Gambit, the early Emmy frontrunner. The massive phenomenon quickly became a huge hit for Netflix, is an awards friendly period piece, and it features an ingenue star making performance from double-nominee Anya Taylor-Joy.

There is a chance we might be underestimating Small Axe; Steve McQueen’s cinematic limited series that critics could not get enough of. The decades spanning stories of West Indian immigrants in the UK could easily standout in a year of powerful limited series and John Boyega has the opportunity to surprise everyone in the supporting actor race.

The acting categories also give voters a chance to cut up the Netflix / HBO monotony and award one of a handful of Showtime performances. The lead actor race features three well-liked actors with performances on the premium network; Ethan Hawke, Bryan Cranston, and Jeff Daniels. Hawke seems like the best positioned lead actor to win. Meanwhile in the supporting actor race Brendan Gleeson could finally win on his fourth nomination this time for playing Donald Trump (unless voters are in full fatigue).

What are you predicting for Sunday’s ceremony?