Key races to watch at the Golden Globes Sunday are between HBO, with two finalists in the best drama category (Game of Thrones, Westworld), Netflix, with two dramas of its own (Stranger Things, The Crown), and Amazon, with two comedies (Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle).
Joining HBO and Netflix in the best drama race is NBC’s hot rookie This Is Us.
Amazon’s Transparent won for comedy in 2015 while Mozart in the Jungle won in 2016. Other entrants in this year’s race are newcomer Atlanta, from FX, ABC’s black-ish and HBO’s Veep.
Of course, anything can happen with the Golden Globes awards. Just 85 voters comprise the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Both key categories had surprise winners last year. Besides Mozart snagging top honors for comedy, USA’s Mr. Robot was best drama.
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The HFPA gives out Globes in 25 film and television categories at the Beverly Hilton.
HBO led with 14 nominations, followed by FX at 9 and ABC, Amazon, AMC and Netflix at 5.
A mere nomination helps a ratings starved show, but a Golden Globe win can get it off the bubble. Rachel Bloom seeks to defend her title of best comedy actress for her work on The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Earlier in the day, Mark Pedowitz, CW president, addressed TV critics and reporters at TCA press tour in Pasadena. “Great critical work, a critically acclaimed, nominated show like Crazy -- it deserves to be picked up,” he said. “Sometimes you just leave it on the air and hope it finds an audience.”
CW pal Gina Rodriguez of Jane the Virgin joins Bloom in the category — she won in 2015 — along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Veep, Sarah Jessica Parker of HBO’s Divorce, Issa Rae of HBO’s Insecure and Tracy Ellis Ross of ABC’s Black-ish.
Best actress in a drama features Caitriona Balfe of Starz’s Outlander, Claire Foy of Netflix's The Crown, Keri Russell of FX’s The Americans, Winona Ryder from Netflix's Stranger Things and Evan Rachel Wood of Westworld.
Best actor in a comedy is between Anthony Anderson of Black-ish, Gael Garcia Bernal of Mozart in the Jungle, Donald Glover of Atlanta, Nick Nolte of Epix’s Graves and Jeffrey Tambor of Transparent.
Best drama actor features Rami Malek of Mr. Robot, Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul, Matthew Rhys of The Americans, Liev Schrieber of Showtime’s Ray Donovan and Billy Bob Thornton of Amazon’s Goliath.
Jimmy Fallon hosts the show, and NBC airs it live.
