TV nominations illustrate different strengths for HBO, Showtime

By David Bauder, The Associated Press

NEW YORK, N.Y. – HBO and Showtime dominated the television nominations for Golden Globe awards on Thursday, illustrating how the archrival pay cable networks have evolved to have very specific strengths.

HBO programs and actors were responsible for 15 nominations, with two-thirds of them in the movie or miniseries category. Three HBO productions — “The Normal Heart,” ”Olive Kitteridge” and “True Detective” —were among the five nominees for best miniseries or TV movie. The others were FX’s “Fargo” and Starz’s “The Missing.”

Showtime, meanwhile, has supplanted HBO in critical eyes as the home of more highly regarded regular series. Eight of Showtime’s nine nominations were for programs or actors in series — despite Showtime’s “Masters of Sex,” whose lead actress Lizzy Caplan was nominated for an Emmy this year, being one of the Golden Globes’ most prominent snubs.

ABC’s groundbreaking “Modern Family,” on a five-year Emmy Award winning streak for best comedy, was another Golden Globe shutout victim.

FX received eight nominations and Netflix seven — both more than the three largest commercial broadcasters (ABC, CBS and NBC) received combined.

“Fargo” was the individual program with the most nominations, earning five. HBO’s “True Detective” had four nominations, setting up a best actor matchup between its two stars, Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.

The nominations for best TV drama illustrated the variety of programming services striving for excellence — two premium cable networks, a commercial broadcaster, a public broadcaster and online provider. Nominees were “The Affair” from Showtime; “Downton Abbey” from PBS; “Game of Thrones” on HBO; “The Good Wife” on CBS; and “House of Cards” on Netflix.

The tiny CW network got a big boost with its critically acclaimed new series, “Jane the Virgin,” earning nominations for best comedy and best actress for star Gina Rodriguez.

The best comedy nominations embraced the new, with HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” Amazon’s “Transparent,” Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” and HBO’s “Girls” joining “Jane the Virgin” as nominees.

Besides “Modern Family,” also left out were last year’s surprise winner, Fox’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” HBO’s “Veep” and television’s most popular comedy, “The Big Bang Theory.”

Showtime’s “The Affair,” in its inaugural season, earned three nods: Besides the nomination for best drama, both actors portraying cheating spouses — Dominic West and Ruth Wilson — are nominees. Similarly, the couple at the centre of best drama nominee “House of Cards” — Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright — were nominated, as well.

Viola Davis of ABC’s new “How to Get Away With Murder” earned a best drama actress nomination while the other popular lead of an ABC Thursday night series, Kerry Washington of “Scandal,” did not.

Julianna Margulies of CBS’ “The Good Wife” and Claire Danes of Showtime’s “Homeland” also were nominated for best actress. Other drama acting nominees were Clive Owen of Cinemax’s “The Knick,” Liev Schreiber of Showtime’s “Ray Donovan” and James Spader of NBC’s “The Blacklist.”

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