Silliness reigns with 2013 Golden Globe TV nominations that include 'Smash' & 'The Newsroom'

Olivia Munn and Jeff Daniels in "The Newsroom," which the Golden Globes voters nominated ahead of "Mad Men" as one of TV's best dramas.

Credit: HBO

I ordinarily like to begin my analysis of the Golden Globe TV nominations by going on at length about the sketchiness of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and their complete disinterest in and lack of qualification for making any kind of judgment of American television.

This year, though, I think all I need to tell you is the following:

1)The HFPA didn't think "Mad Men" was one of the five best dramas on television in 2012.

2)The HFPA thinks "The Newsroom" was one of the five best dramas on television in 2012.

3)The HFPA thinks "Smash" was a better show than "Parks and Recreation" and "Louie."

4)The HFPA thinks Hayden Panettiere is giving one of the five best performances by a supporting actress in all of television.

So, yeah. The Golden Globes!

Do not attempt to find any kind of logic in their decision-making. Just enjoy the massive amounts of unintentional comedy they provide us, year after year after silly year.

For the sake of amusement, though, let's take a category-by-category look at their ongoing series nominations:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Hayden Panettiere, "Nashville"
Archie Panjabi, "The Good Wife"
Sarah Paulson, "Game Change"
Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey"
Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"

Because the HFPA only cares about the TV nominations as an excuse to get more actors into the ballroom, and to help fill out the middle section of the awards show, they don't even bother with separate supporting categories by genre. Instead, you have a sitcom actress like Vergara competing against a dramatic actress like Panjabi and an actress in a TV-movie like Paulson. And you have them all competing against Panettiere, who isn't terrible on "Nashville," by any means, but fits the Piper Perabo/Keri Russell/Pia Zadora tradition of the Golden Globes being drawn to attractive young starlets whenever possible.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Nice as it may be to see Patinkin recognized by the HFPA when the Emmys didn't, this is a category that for some reason features Danny Huston — there entirely because he's part of a showbiz dynasty — over Aaron Paul, Jonathan Banks, Jared Harris, John Slattery and Peter Dinklage, to name just a few potential superior nominees from the world of drama. 

This is an almost shockingly reasonable collection of nominees, particularly since this would have been a very easy place for HFPA to include Katharine McPhee, who fits their young beauty requirements and is part of a show they approved of otherwise.

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

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Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com