A satisfying nod to TV’s finest

It was worth getting up at 5 a.m. just to hear the Golden Globes nominees for best actress in a dramatic TV series: Holly Hunter, Glenn Close, Edie Falco, Sally Field, Minnie Driver, Patricia Arquette and Kyra Sedgwick. What is this? The Oscars? And pinch me that only two are younger than 40. There’s hope for Hollywood yet.

Everyone will be talking about the movies and film actors that got nominated, and what it means for the Oscar race, but let us take a moment and be grateful that the Golden Globes also awards work in television. Because after the strange and arbitrary race that is the Emmys, it’s nice to see a little common sense and a willingness to embrace the new and eccentric.

To wit: Michael C. Hall, nominated for his performance in “Dexter”; FX getting the dramatic credibility it has so long deserved with nods to “Damages”; AMC’s “Mad Men” proving that not only can you launch a terrific show on a network known for old movies, but you can make button-down shirts sexy (even in the summer). “The Tudors” breathed new life into the costume drama and was duly rewarded with nominations for best drama and best actor in a drama (Jonathan Rhys Myers).

A few old fave network shows held their own: “House” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” “30 Rock” and “The Office,” and it was nice to see “Pushing Daisies” included among best comedies. Surprises included the shutout of “The Sopranos” in best drama and the acting categories (aside from Falco), and Showtime’s “Californication,” which split critics into heated camps, up for best comedy and best actor in a comedy (David Duchovny).

“The Sopranos” omission can only be construed as a chilly reaction to an uneven final season and much-debated closing scene, while the honoring of “Californication” seems to indicate a soft spot some journalists have for Duchovny and, of course, any flagellation of L.A. and the entertainment industry. Either that or dementia.

And where are the women of “Big Love”? The HBO drama about a polygamist family got the big nod, as well as one for lead male Bill Paxton, but MIA are all the wonderful wives – Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ginnifer Goodwin and Chloë Sevigny. Did they cancel one another out?

I guess you can’t have everything, not even at the Golden Globes.

mary.mcnamara@latimes.com