Hollywood Foreign Press Announces Golden Globe Nominees

The Golden Globe Awards are presented annually to recognize the year’s best films and television programs. The 2012 event officially got underway on December 15 when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced this year’s award nominees.

You can view the full list of nominees here. The Artist raked in six film nominations, while The Descendants and The Help came away with five. On the TV side, Downton Abbey and Mildred Pierce each led with four nominations, while Homeland pulled in three. It was a good haul for HBO and Showtime (26 nominations) and new shows (7 out of 10 best series nominations).

As always, though, the most interesting chatter revolves not around who got nominated, but who got left out. There weren’t too many surprises in the film categories. One interesting note is that Ryan Gosling was nominated for his performances in The Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love, but not for Drive. The hilarious Melissa McCarthy, who just picked up a SAG Award nomination, didn’t make the best supporting actress category for her performance in Bridesmaids. However, her costar, Kristen Wiig, did receive a nomination.

The TV nominations saw a little more of the zaniness that is the hallmark of the Golden Globes. Brand new shows like American Horror Story, Boss, and New Girl garnered series nominations, while heavyweights like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead (a personal favorite of mine) did not. Previous actor/actress winners Jim Parsons, Chris Colfer, and Katey Sagal are all absent this year, although Parsons’ Big Bang Theory costar Johnny Galecki received a nomination instead.

So, who’s going to win? My crystal ball is a bit hazy, but here’s how I see the major categories shaking out:

Best Picture – Drama: The Descendents will probably win, but don’t count out The Help.

Best Actor – Drama: Tough call with all the heavyweights in this category; I’ll go with George Clooney in The Descendents.

Best Actress – Drama: The smart money is on Viola Davis in The Help.

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical: I’d be surprised if it’s anything other than The Artist.

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical: The Artist is going to have a big night; Jean Dujardin takes home this award.

Best Actress – Comedy/Musical: Michelle Williams, for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn.

Best TV Drama: Boardwalk Empire, which won last year, will be hard to beat. Nonetheless, I’m going with another HBO hit, Game of Thrones.

Best TV Comedy: Glee won last year, and Glee will win again this year.

Best Miniseries/TV Movie: PBS gets a win with Downton Abbey.

Of course, another intriguing question surrounding this year’s Golden Globes ceremony has nothing to do with the awards themselves: which celebrities will host Ricky Gervais skewer with his rapier wit? We’ll all find out when this year’s ceremony airs January 15, 2012, live on NBC.

SmartBrowse "2012 Golden Globe Nominations" at midwesttapes.com to shop the movies and TV shows that were nominated. Let us know what you think of the nominees and our predictions in the comments section below.