From 'Atlanta' to 'This Is Us,' TV Golden Globes Match National Vertigo (Analysis)

If this was a strange year for America — and most Americans might agree that 2016 ranged from whacked-out to dizzying to mortifying — then the nominations for the 2017 Golden Globes captured some of the vertigo.

The voters of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. honored several new series that dug into the head-spinning paradoxes of contemporary America, most notably “This Is Us,” NBC’s drama that looks at the lives of interconnected (and multicultural) families past and present. Donald Glover’s “Atlanta,” nominated in the best comedy/musical category, is a sly look at the complexities and contradictions of race, hip-hop and counterculture.

Then there are those series that use the past as a not-too-distant mirror. Best drama nominee “Stranger Things,” Netflix’s period thriller, reinvented 1980s Spielberg-esque wonder as something darker and more sinister. FX’s miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson” led the Globe’s TV pack with 5 nods overall and reanimated seemingly every detail of the 1990s Trial of the Century. It found it all just as maddening and tortuous as it was the first time around.

Also Read: 'La La Land,' 'Moonlight' Lead 2017 Golden Globes Nominations

Not enough dread for you? HBO’s sci-fi nightmare “Westworld,” another best-drama nominee, imagined a vertiginous amusement park populated with badly abused robots.

Of course, this being a Hollywood award show, Monday’s Globe nominations saw plenty of less adventurous nominees filling out the roster. Netflix’s “The Crown” — perhaps the most expensive TV series ever made — is a sumptuous, peek-inside-the-drawing-room look at the rise of Queen Elizabeth II. Fans who cherished the twilight-of-the-empire aura of “Downton Abbey” will feel right at home.

No knock on Julia Louis-Dreyfus and “Veep,” but HBO’s political satire has become an overly safe go-to for award-show voters. Globe voters’ ongoing fondness for Amazon’s classical-music dramedy “Mozart in the Jungle” — last year’s best comedy winner, nominated again this year — appears not to be contagious to the wider public.

And then there were the surprise nods, like Nick Nolte, of Epix’s little-seen political comedy “Graves,” in the best comedy actor category.

Also Read: Golden Globes Nominations by the Numbers: HBO Dominates TV, Lionsgate Leads Movies

But the Globes, true to form, did a reasonably good job of staying focused on the new and the challenging, at least by series standards. For every “oh, of course” nominee, there was another welcome newcomer, such as the nod for Issa Rae, whose HBO comedy “Insecure” could grow into one of those definitive series that capture the early 21st century zeitgeist.

Speaking of that zeitgeist? That was probably best captured in 2016’s strangest show of all, one that came away with zero Globe nominations: The U.S. presidential election. But undoubtedly, that’s a story we will see retold in the years to come.

Golden Globes 2017: See the Nominees (Photos)

Bryan Cranston, Sarah Paulson and Riz Ahmed are among the nominees for the Golden Globes this year
Best Motion Picture – Drama

“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
TWC
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

“20th Century Women”
“Deadpool”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“La La Land”
“Sing Street”
TWC
Best Director – Motion Picture

Damien Chazelle–“La La Land”
Tom Ford–“Nocturnal Animals”
Mel Gibson–“Hacksaw Ridge”
Barry Jenkins–“Moonlight”
Kenneth Lonergan–“Manchester by the Sea”
Lionsgate
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

Casey Affleck–“Manchester by the Sea”
Joel Edgerton–“Loving”
Andrew Garfield–“Hacksaw Ridge”
Viggo Mortensen–“Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington–“Fences”
Amazon Studios
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

Amy Adams–“Arrival”
Jessica Chastain–“Miss Sloane”
Isabelle Huppert–“Elle”
Ruth Negga–“Loving”
Natalie Portman–“Jackie”
Fox
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Colin Farrell–“The Lobster”
Ryan Gosling–“La La Land”
Hugh Grant–“Florence Foster Jenkins”
Jonah Hill–“War Dogs”
Ryan Reynolds–“Deadpool”
Fox
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Annette Bening–“20th Century Women”
Lily Collins–“Rules Don’t Apply”
Hailee Steinfeld–“Edge of Seventeen”
Emma Stone–“La La Land”
Meryl Streep–“Florence Foster Jenkins”
Lionsgate
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

Mahershala Ali--"Moonlight"
Jeff Bridges--"Hell or High Water"
Simon Helberg--"Florence Foster Jenkins"
Dev Patel--"Lion"
Aaron Taylor Johnson--"Nocturnal Animals"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

Viola Davis–“Fences”
Naomie Harris–“Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman–“Lion”
Octavia Spencer–“Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams–“Manchester by the Sea”
Amazon Studios / Roadside Attractions
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

“La La Land”
“Nocturnal Animals”
“Moonlight”
“Manchester By The Sea”
“Hell or High Water”
CBS Films
Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language

“Elle”
“Neruda”
“The Salesman”
“Toni Erdmann”
“Divines”
Sony Pictures Classics
Best Motion Picture – Animated

“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“Sing”
“Zootopia”
Disney
Best Original Score - Motion Picture -"Moonlight"
"La La Land"
"Arrival"
"Lion"
"Hidden Figures"
Best Original Song – Motion Picture

“Can’t Stop the Feeling”–“Trolls”
“City of Stars”–“La La Land”
“Faith”–“Sing”
“Gold”–“Gold”
“How Far I’ll Go”–“Moana”
DreamWorks
Best Television Series – Drama

“The Crown”
“Game of Thrones”
“Stranger Things”
“This Is Us”
“Westworld”
HBO
Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama

Caitriona Balfe–“Outlander”
Claire Foy–“The Crown”
Keri Russell–“The Americans”
Winona Ryder–“Stranger Things”
Evan Rachel Wood–“Westworld”
Netflix
Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama

Rami Malek–“Mr. Robot”
Bob Odenkirk–“Better Call Saul”
Matthew Rhys–“The Americans”
Liev Schrieber–“Ray Donovan”
Billy Bob Thornton–“Goliath”
USA
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy

"Atlanta"
"black-ish"
"Mozart in the Jungle"
"Transparent"
"Veep"
HBO
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Anthony Anderson–“black-ish”
Gael García Bernal–“Mozart in the Jungle”
Donald Glover–“Atlanta”
Nick Nolte–“Graves”
Jeffrey Tambor–“Transparent”
Amazon
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Rachel Bloom–“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus–“Veep”
Sarah Jessica Parker–“Divorce”
Issa Rae–“Insecure”
Gina Rodriguez–“Jane the Virgin”
Tracee Ellis Ross–“black-ish”
Getty Images
Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

“American Crime”
“The Dresser”
“The Night Manager”
“The Night Of”
“People v. O.J. Simpson”
FX
Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television --

Riz Ahmed--"The Night Of"
Bryan Cranston--"All the Way"
John Turturro--"The Night Of"
Tom Hiddleston--"Night Manager"
Courtney B. Vance--"People v. O.J. Simpson"
AMC
Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Felicity Huffman–“American Crime”
Riley Keough–“The Girlfriend Experience”
Sarah Paulson–“People v. O.J. Simpson”
Charlotte Rampling–“London Spy”
Kerry Washington–“Confirmation”
HBO
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Sterling K. Brown–“People v. O.J. Simpson”
Hugh Laurie–“The Night Manager”
John Lithgow–“The Crown”
Christian Slater–“Mr. Robot”
John Travolta–“People v. O.J. Simpson”
FX
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Olivia Colman–“The Night Manager”
Lena Headey–“Game of Thrones”
Chrissy Metz–“This Is Us”
Mandy Moore–“This Is Us”
Thandie Newton–“Westworld”
HBO