Golden Globe TV race opens up as old favorites ousted
By Piya Sinha-Roy
LOS ANGELES, Dec 11 (Reuters) - New contenders will face award-winning heavyweights in the television races at the Golden Globes in a nominations list on Monday that dropped old favorites like "Veep" and "House of Cards."
Amazon Studios' ground-breaking transgender comedy "Transparent" and its Golden Globe-winning star Jeffrey Tambor were notably absent from Monday's nominations list, as well as Netflix political drama "House of Cards" and its Globe-winning star Kevin Spacey.
The omissions follow sexual misconduct allegations against Tambor and Spacey, who was dropped from the upcoming sixth season of "House of Cards."
Tambor has denied allegations by two actresses and Spacey has issued an apology to one of his multiple accusers. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the accusations.
The comedy series race opened up to include the return after 11 years of NBC's "Will & Grace" sitcom, alongside "black-ish," "Master of None," "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and single mother tale "SMILF."
Psychological thriller "The Sinner" edged into the limited series category, which was dominated by Emmy champion "Big Little Lies" garnering a leading six nods including best limited series or TV movie and acting nods for leads Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon.
Time Warner Inc's premium cable channel HBO led all networks with a total of 12 nominations, followed by streaming platform Netflix Inc. with nine nods.
The TV acting races served up a mix of television veterans and newcomers.
Australian Katherine Langford, 21, from Netflix's controversial teen suicide drama "13 Reasons Why" was a surprise addition in the best TV drama actress race.
"My sincere hope is that the recognition continues to shine a light on so many of the important life issues and struggles we portray in '13 Reasons Why,'" Langford said in a statement.
Kyle MacLachlan was nominated for reprising his role as FBI special Agent Dale Cooper in Showtime's reboot of David Lynch's 1990 supernatural murder mystery series "Twin Peaks."
"What a surreal experience to be nominated today for a role that I was so lucky to win this award for 26 years ago," MacLachlan said.
Alison Brie from wrestling series "GLOW," Pamela Adlon from "Better Things," Rachel Brosnahan from "Mrs. Maisel" and Frankie Shaw from "SMILF," were all fresh faces in the comedy actress category.
But HBO's political satire "Veep" was left empty-handed on Monday, along with its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The Globes best drama series nominees largely echoed the line-up earlier this year for the Emmys, television's highest honors.
Netflix's British royals saga "The Crown" and 1980s sci-fi mystery "Stranger Things" take on Hulu's Emmy champion "The Handmaid's Tale," NBC's family drama "This is Us" and HBO's medieval fantasy "Game of Thrones." (Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy Editing by Sandra Maler)
