With so many cable outlets now in the business of producing fine original programming, perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising that they are not only making an impact at awards time, but beginning to dominate in some areas, in the same way HBO has all but made the movie and miniseries categories at the Emmys its personal playgrounds.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the Golden Globes nominations public today, and their choices were further proof that if you're still watching only the five commercial broadcast networks, you're not really watching television anymore. Of the 11 television categories, only one, "Best Actress in a Comedy," had the majority of its nominees from broadcast network shows. CBS had as many nominations as the USA Network, just one (Sissy Spacek in the movie Pictures of Hollis Woods, which aired last week).

HBO was the most honored network with 18 nominations. Though much of the focus will be on what wasn't honored, namely the final season of The Sopranos and its star James Gandolfini. Edie Falco did get a nomination for "Best Actress in a Drama," an eclectic category with seven nominees, two of whom have won Academy Awards (Holly Hunter of Saving Grace and Sally Field of Brothers & Sisters) before and a third who has had multiple Oscar nominations (Glenn Close of Damages). The other nominees in this category are Patricia Arquette (Medium), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), and Minnie Driver (The Riches).

The "Best Drama" category contains six series from six different networks. Last year's winner Grey's Anatomy got a nomination, although the 2005 winner Lost was left out. The HBO entry here was the polygamy drama Big Love, and not the more highly touted (by American critics, anyway) The Wire. The other nominees were House (the show and its star Hugh Laurie were the only Globes nominees from Fox), Damages, The Tudors, and Mad Men. The nod to The Tudors over Showtime's other series Dexter and Brotherhood will cause some head-scratching, but the Globes are famous for having a collective taste that doesn't jibe with the critical consensus.

Speaking of odd tastes, Showtime's Californication was a nominee for best comedy/musical series along with Extras and Entourage from HBO, Pushing Daisies and 30 Rock. Pushing Daisies isn't the easiest series to classify, but it doesn't seem much like a comedy. It's certainly less of a comedy than Ugly Betty, the winner in this category last year and ignored this year. One thing you can say about the Golden Globes is that there are fewer legacy nominations of the sort that have made the Emmys so boring; but the flip side is that shows like Lost and Ugly Betty are feted when they are new and then get dropped for no particular reason.

Golden Globe Best TV Comedy Nominations 

The nominees in the "Best Actress in a Comedy" category, also known as the Revenge of the Big Three, are America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies, and token cable gal Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds). "Best Actor in a Comedy" is a near match for the series nominations, with only Steve Carell of The Office coming from a non-nominated show. Carell will face off against likely favorite Ricky Gervais (Extras), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), David Duchovny (the best thing in Californication), and Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies).

"Best Actor in a Drama" is a category for men who haven't graced many awards podiums in their time, other than Hugh Laurie, the winner of this Globe the last two years. He is joined by Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors), and Bill Paxton (Big Love). Many seemed to think Rhys Meyers was as far in over his head as Henry VIII would have been trying to swim the English Channel, but he did win a Globe two years ago for playing Elvis, so he may be a good long shot pick.

The "Best Supporting Actor" Globes are always fun since they combine all genres in one category. Here, you'll find Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven of Entourage facing off against William Shatner's scenery-chewer on Boston Legal, Donald Sutherland's sly patriarch in Dirty Sexy Money, Ted Danson playing against his usual type on Damages, and Andy Serkis, best known for being CGI'd in The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, as a serial killer in Longford.

The "Best Supporting Actress" category matches Anna Paquin (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee), Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters), Rose Byrne (Damages), Samantha Morton (Longford), Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl), and Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy, who must own incriminating photos of every awards voter in Hollywood.

The Globes are a good TV draw not only because they are seen as an Oscar precursor, but also because the stakes seem lower and everyone is more loose as a result (the open bar helps). But that appeal could be tested this year due to the Writers Guild strike. If the strike is still in progress on January 13 -- and there are few in Hollywood who think it won't be -- the presenters will have to wing it from the stage.

Awards show banter is a frequent target for criticism and many viewers would actually welcome its absence, but the lack of star power in the telecast itself would be a major problem indeed, at least for NBC. The WGA will decide the issue of whether the Globes will receive a waiver, which would allow its members to write for the show and for stars to appear without facing the decision about crossing a picket line. The SAG awards have been granted such a waiver due to the Screen Actors Guild's vociferous support of the WGA, but a waiver for the Globes does not appear likely.

Whether anyone is willing to buck peer pressure and cross a probable picket line to appear on the Golden Globes telecast will be a topic of great conjecture over the next month. Maybe the Foreign Press Association can rethink things and give Powers Boothe a nomination for his work last season on 24. Boothe is still remembered around Hollywood as the one actor who showed up to collect an Emmy in 1980 in the midst of a strike by SAG. Nominate him this year, and at least you would have the first building block of a Globes telecast.

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