After dominating the past several awards seasons, AMC's Mad Men is showing signs that the shine might be wearing off as it failed to snag a drama series nomination. It would have been its fifth straight year. (The series also lost the drama series Emmy this year to Showtime's Homeland after winning four in a row.) Jon Hamm was the only castmember to receive acting recognition, snagging his fifth nom in the lead actor category.
While his supporting co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz earned nominations, as did writer-director Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained star Jamie Foxx did not receive a bid from the HFPA. His title character is a strong-but-silent type, a slave-turned-bounty hunter who fits the mold of the steely, stoic cowboy. It's one of the film's less showy lead roles, so while he helps carry the movie, the gold rewards will go elsewhere.
The Globes showed its hand when it matched point for point with the motion picture drama nominees in the directing category, a possible sign of what may come when Oscar nominations are revealed in January. With Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, Ben Affleck, Quentin Tarantino and Kathryn Bigelow taking up the five coveted slots, Tom Hooper and David O. Russell — whose films (Les Miserables and Silver Linings Playbook, respectively) were nominated in the comedy/musical category — were left on the outside looking in.
It's tough to whittle down notable comedy series nominations into just five spots, but with New Girl switched out for HBO darling Girls and Glee ousted for NBC's musical series Smash, the Globes left out several worthy contenders including the aforementioned New Girl as well as 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation.
Considered by many to be his best role in years, Robert De Niro played the obsessive, superstitious bookie father of recovering psych ward patient Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook. The two-time Oscar winner earned a SAG nomination on Wednesday, but went unrewarded for his work in the family drama by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
If there was a time for Matthew McConaughey to receive any recognition as the flamboyant Dallas in Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike, the Golden Globes would be it. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.
Though the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, snagged a notable nomination in the original song category for Adele's brooding title track, Javier Bardem — who received a surprise SAG nomination the morning before — failed to grab a supporting actor nom for his deliciously villainous role, Raoul Silva.
The darling of Sundance and double Gotham Independent Film Award winner, Beasts of the Southern Wild ran afoul of SAG rules for the low paychecks it gave its non-union actors in Louisiana. But the HFPA has no such requirements, so it comes with some surprise that its five-year-old star, Quvenzhané Wallis, did not earn a nomination. Writer/director Benh Zeitlin also came away empty-handed.
It's surprising but this is the first year Breaking Bad has been nominated in the drama series category, and though Bryan Cranston nabbed his third straight leading actor nom, his counterpart Aaron Paul — who won his second straight Emmy this past September — couldn't break through in a crowded field.
A decade ago, the final chapter of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings saga, Return of the King, won best picture. The highly anticipated first prequel, The Hobbit, has received less enthusiastic reviews, with many calling into question its run time (nearly three hours) and special 48 frames per second camera work. Still, its pedigree meant it was a contender, at the very least.
After scoring a supporting acting nomination for Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage last year, the HBO epic failed to be a blip on the Globes radar this time around. With goose eggs for other genre fare like The Walking Dead and no series nom for American Horror Story: Asylum (when it was recognized last year), have the effects worn off?
With three nominations on the day, Modern Family has nothing to complain about. But with a core ensemble cast, one can't help but think the ABC comedy could have scored more acting noms than it did (for Sofia Vergara, Eric Stonestreet).
In a crowded year for animation, one of the most critically beloved but commercially disappointing cartoons, Paranorman fell short of a Globe nomination. A box office flop, the 3D stop-motion film was overshadowed by both Frankenweenie and Hotel Transylvania in the Halloween animation department.
Two and a Half Men's Jon Cryer won his second Emmy for his work on the CBS sitcom just a few months ago, but that doesn't always translate into Golden Globe recognition. Cryer failed to snag his first nomination.