Golden Globes Snubs and Surprises: ‘When They See Us,’ ‘Game of Thrones’ and More

The 77th Annual Golden Globe nominations are in, and, as usual, they are a lot of TV and film lovers who aren’t happy with them. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association cast their votes and came away with a list of nominees that had Netflix in the lead with 34 nominations for streaming films like The Irishman, Marriage Story, and Dolemite Is My Name, as well as for streaming TV shows like The Crown and The Politician. 

Though people almost always disagree with the HPFA’s choices, this year seems to be a particularly controversial list, with many noting the lack of diversity and women. (Out of 15 slots for both Best Picture categories and Best Director, not a single film directed by a woman was nominated.) The good news for award show junkies is that, while the Globes do unofficially kick off awards season, they also rarely reflect the awards that actually matter, like the Oscars and the Emmys. So just keep that in mind as we review some of the more egregious Golden Globe snubs and surprises this year.

THE SNUBS:

When They See Us: How the HPFA could possibly overlook Ava DuVernay’s supremely excellent When They See Us for Best Limited Series or a TV Movie is a complete mystery to me. That Netflix limited series was the front-runner for the Emmy earlier this year!

Jharrel Jerome for When They See Us: Even if the HPFA could somehow justify skipping over When They See Us (they can’t), there’s no way they can justify not nominating lead actor Jerome, who took home the Emmy for his heartbreaking portrayal of Korey Wise earlier this year. How do you nominate Sacha Baron Cohen but not Jerome? I’m???

Greta Gerwig for Little Women: Really, Globes? You’re not going to nominate a single woman for Best Director or Best Picture out of 15 available slots? There were dozens of great choices—Olivia Wilde, Lulu Wang, Lorene Scafaria, to name just a few—but perhaps the most glaring snub was Greta Gerwig for Little Women.

Lupita Nyong’o for Us: Nyong’o has been a front-runner for Best Actress for her iconic horror performance in Us for months, yet was overlooked by the HPFA. Let’s hope the Academy does better.

Watchmen: Sure, HBO’s Watchmen is still in its early days, but it’s also really, really good. We had hoped it might snag at least one nomination, but no dice.

Marielle Heller for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Heller was completely shut out of the Oscars last year for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and I’ll be damned if I let you people do that to her again. Especially if you’re going to nominate Tom Hanks for his portrayal of Mr. Rogers in this moving biopic.

Game of Thrones: Even though most agree the final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones wasn’t the best, it’s still the final season of a groundbreaking show that took home a ton of Emmys this year. That it got a mere one Globe nomination—for Kit Harrington—is pretty crazy.

Booksmart: I don’t expect Booksmart, my favorite film of the year, to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. But considering the Globes have a separate category for “Musical or Comedy,” I had really hoped they might consider including the best comedy I’ve seen in years. But, uh, I guess Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is a comedy now instead? Sure! I laughed once or twice!

Euphoria: That the HPFA is watching The Kominsky Method but not Euphoria really speaks to the age demographic.

Lulu Wang for The Farewell: OK, I’ll stop listing great films written and directed by women, I swear—right after I rant about The Farewell, Lulu Wang’s lovely, deeply personal film that deserves all the awards. As a foreign film, it was technically not eligible for Best Picture at the Globes. But Wang could have, and should have, been nominated for Best Director.

The Good Place: The Globes threw arguably the best sitcom on TV a bone last year, but not this year, it seems.

THE SURPRISES:

The Politician: I loved The Politician, but did I expect Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series starring Ben Platt to be nominated for awards!

The Morning Show: Who gave the HPFA an AppleTV+ login? Sure, get Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell to the Globes, I guess.

Todd Phillips, Joker: Name a woman, HPFA! Name a woman!

Knives Out: I was pleasantly surprised by the number of nominations Rian Johnson’s Knives Out nabbed, a film I loved but one I assumed was not awards bait. I was particularly pleased to see the excellent Ana de Armas on there, despite not being a big name in Hollywood.

Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart:  I couldn’t be happier about this one. Feldstein absolutely deserves it. I’m only surprised that the Globes thinks so, too, because, as we’ve seen, actual comedies are usually snubbed in favor of dramas with a few good jokes.

The 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Ricky Gervais, will air Sunday, January 5, 2020 on NBC.

Watch When They See Us on Netflix