Golden Globes 2019 Predictions: Matt Roush Gives His Picks for the TV Categories
What’s new at the Golden Globes? Just about everything! Carol Burnett will receive the first TV special-achievement award (named in her honor). And looking at the TV drama and comedy categories, nine of 10 shows are first-time nominees, and seven are freshmen series.
With so much new blood, it’s trickier than ever to guess how the unpredictable Hollywood Foreign Press Association voters will swing. Here’s how we think and/or wish the night will go.
Bodyguard
DRAMA SERIES
Better late than never. The Globes finally acknowledged FX’s The Americans, my No. 1 show of 2018, for its terrific farewell season while snubbing last year’s winner, The Handmaid’s Tale, and network fan favorite This Is Us. The competition is buzzy — Netflix’s Bodyguard, Prime Video’s Homecoming, FX’s Pose and BBC America’s Killing Eve (starring Globes cohost and nominee Sandra Oh) — but Americans has the gravitas and quality to rise above.
Will and Should Win: The Americans
COMEDY SERIES
It will be hard to beat last year’s sparkling champ, Amazon Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. If voters seek something different, NBC’s The Good Place would be an inspired choice. The other options range from dark (HBO’s Barry) to funny-sad (Netflix’s The Kominsky Method) to morose (Showtime’s Kidding).
Will and Should Win: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
DRAMA ACTOR
All are deserving, but the Globes tend to favor big performances, so Bodyguard’s memorably anguished Richard Madden and Pose’s flamboyant Billy Porter could upstage the quieter work of Stephan James (Homecoming), Jason Bateman (Ozark) and Emmy winner Matthew Rhys (The Americans).
Will Win: Porter
Should Win: Rhys
DRAMA ACTRESS
The Globes also love a big-name star turn, which gives the complex work of Julia Roberts in Homecoming an edge over Eve’s Oh, The Americans’ sublime Keri Russell, Outlander’s Caitriona Balfe and returning champ Elisabeth Moss of Handmaid’s. Will Win: Roberts. Should Win: Russell.
COMEDY ACTOR
Rewarding visionary 2016 winner Donald Glover of Atlanta would make up for snubbing the series in the best comedy category, but the star power here is considerable: Kominsky’s Michael Douglas, Kidding’s Jim Carrey, Emmy winner Bill Hader of Barry and the strangest of all nominations, Sacha Baron Cohen for Showtime’s prank show Who Is America? I’m betting on old Hollywood to come through. Will Win: Douglas.
Should Win: Glover
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
COMEDY ACTRESS
The HFPA likes to mix it up, with back-to-back wins rare, so don’t be shocked if Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan (who won last year) is left applauding either Kristen Bell (The Good Place), GLOW’s spunky Alison Brie, two-time winner Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown) or nine-time nominee Debra Messing (Will & Grace).
Will Win: Brie or Bell
Should Win: Brosnahan
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
The year’s most nominated show, FX’s riveting The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, is the front-runner in a strong category that includes HBO’s Southern Gothic Sharp Objects, Showtime docudrama Escape at Dannemora, PrimeVideo’s jaunty A Very English Scandal and (somehow) TNT’s The Alienist.
Will and Should Win: Versace
LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE ACTOR
As the murderer in Versace, electrifying Emmy winner Darren Criss is the one to beat. His strongest competition are two British favorites, English Scandal’s Hugh Grant and Benedict Cumberbatch as the mercurial Patrick Melrose, though Genius: Picasso’s Antonio Banderas is also impressive. (Alienist’s Daniel Brühl is the fifth candidate.)
Will and Should Win: Criss
Sharp Objects
LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE ACTRESS
A tough call, with Amy Adams as Objects’ self-destructive heroine facing Escape’s devastating Patricia Arquette. Either seems more likely than Emmy fave Regina King (Seven Seconds), Dirty John’s Connie Britton or The Tale’s Laura Dern. I’ll go with Adams, who has never been this disturbing.
Will and Should Win: Adams
The Kominsky Method
SUPPORTING ACTOR
This mashup category of comedy, drama and limited series/movie performers is always a head-scratcher. How to compare Henry Winkler’s scene-stealing in Barry with Edgar Ramírez’s impact in the title role of Versace? Just as deserving: Kominsky’s Alan Arkin, English Scandal’s Ben Whishaw and Succession’s Kieran Culkin.
Will and Should Win: Winkler for the scope of his career (it would be his first Globe in 40 years)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Two Emmy winners — Maisel’s Alex Borstein, representing comedy, and Westworld’s Thandie Newton for drama — are up against Versace’s Penélope Cruz, Objects’ haunting Patricia Clarkson and Handmaid’s remarkable Yvonne Strahovski. I expect the Globes will go for star power.
Will Win: Cruz
Should Win: Strahovski or Borstein
2019 Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, January 6, 8/7c, NBC
