Golden Globes 2016: Why ‘Undateable,’ ‘Galavant,’ ‘Master of None’ are worthy of Comedy Series nods
We are back today with the second entry in our Golden Globes 2016 preview series, where we examine a given category that is going to be under the microscope by the Hollywood Foreign Press over the next several weeks. The nominations are going to be announced on December 10, but we want to get a jump on that and share not only who / what we think should be the nominees, but also see where you stand.
If you missed our first piece yesterday on Outstanding Drama Series, here’s how it works: Voting will be open on all categories until December 9 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific time. Then, we’ll announce who the readers’ picks are. Sadly we have no Golden Globes ourselves to hand out; only a wide array of kudos.
Today, we are focusing on Outstanding Comedy Series.
“Galavant” (ABC) – Sometimes we feel like the Comedy category is inundated with far too much drama, and it takes away from what we think this award was really meant to recognize: Shows that are effective at making us laugh. “Galavant” does that, even though we’re not entirely bullish that the Globes will remember it given that it aired so early in 2015. Nonetheless, it was brilliantly funny, and the songs were so infectious that they still remain in our head.
“Master of None” (Netflix) – It it the best new show of the fall? It’s certainly among them. The main question we have for the Aziz Ansari comedy is whether or not voters are simply going to have time to even see it in the period of time in which voting is underway. There is certainly no more current show in the mix.
“Parks and Recreation” (NBC) – This is the category of Aziz this year! Sure, he’s only a cast member here rather than the lead, but this nomination is all about the ensemble. Amy Poehler is brilliant as always, and this show was a fine example through seven seasons of how to be hilarious, while at the same time extrapolating meaning and heart from situations.
“Silicon Valley” (HBO) – We loved it last year, and season 2 was even better than season 1 in between the three-comma club, the “let Blaine die” board, the show’s frequent meta-commentary, and much more. It’s been nominated at many shows, but we still feel like it is under-appreciated.
“Undateable” (NBC) – The biggest underdog of the group. The unfortunate secret is that this show has been doing really great stuff for a while now, but just not enough people are seeing / talking about it. We love the cast, and the decision to go to live episodes only has added an added zeal and spark to what is a fairly standard sitcom format. We know that “Saturday Night Live” gives you some of the unpredictability of live TV, but watching a complete story play out live every week is an exciting, hilarious experience that’s really missing across the television medium.
Honorable mentions – “Community” (Yahoo Screen), “Louie” (FX), “Man Seeking Woman” (FXX), “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix), “Veep” (HBO)
(The one asterisk that we should add here is that we have not yet seen “Transparent” season 2, which is not being released until next month. Therefore, we cannot comment on it.)