One of the biggest surprises of 74th Golden Globes was when Netflix drama The Crown won the Best Drama series. The British show based on the life of Queen Elizabeth II bagged one of the biggest awards of the night, outshining public favourites Game of Thrones, Stranger Things and critically acclaimed Westworld.
While the world was betting their hopes on HBO's outstanding fiction work Westworld to emerge as the star of the night, it was a subtle, composed and poised show based on the British Royal that walked away with the honour. This surprise win of the biographical drama just proves how much Golden Globes root for the underdog.
One thing the awards are always known for doing is supporting that nominee one has least expectations from. Of course the popular ones do get the much-deserved nominations and that itself is a big deal considering the ever increasing amount of content both online and on TV. The judges make sure to present the big Best TV Series (Drama) Award to the one which people never anticipate would win.
For the past 6 years, the winners of the big awards have been either biopics or situation based shows. In 2010, Mad Men received its last Golden Globes for Best Drama Series, which was also the last time a popular show amongst the public won the honour. The 1960's based fictional drama is regarded as one of the finest television work in all aspect and also one of the most popular one before this decade began.
From the inception of the second decade of 21st century, fantasy fiction has taken the front seat in form of Game of Thrones. While the show has ruled the Emmy Awards right from Season 1, the show hasn't really impressed the Golden Globes judges ever. In the last 6 years, GoT has been nominated 5 times for Best Drama series and has been defeated by lesser popular shows, every time.
In 2011 and 2012, Homeland took home the trophy while in 2013 Breaking Bad was the undisputed winner. In 2014, when the competition was fierce between GoT, House of Cards and Downton Abbey, it was The Affair that surprised everybody with their win. In 2015, again just debuted Amazon Prime series Mr Robot emerged as the underdog and took home the trophy. Something similar happened this year when Netflix's newly launched and critically acclaimed biopic drama The Crown stole the limelight from equally acclaimed and more popular debut shows Stranger Things and Westworld.
So does that mean, Golden Globes is not yet ready for the 'genre-drama'?
Talking about this year's nominations and Globes disinterest to award GoT despite nominating it for 5 years, the case looks strong. Undoubtedly, The Crown is a brilliantly made show based on a real person, emotions and situations, but it is not one of the best this year. On the other hand, science-fiction horror and one of the most popular shows of 2017, Stranger Things is different, vulnerable, and thrilling and something people haven't seen before. Similarly, Westworld is probably one of the most layered shows within the sci-fi genre.
Maybe, things would've been different for Westworld had it not played itself in the genre game. If it would've been a constructed life in the mind of the person rather being set in the somewhat alternate universe, the show would've been the 'golden boy' for the globes. But it seems the prestigious platform is yet to get itself accustomed to the fantasy-fiction world.
Till then, let's hope they keep finding gems like The Crown which are at equal par with genre shows with their realism and history. But, we are, in our hearts, hoping for either a different section for genre shows or equal acknowledgement.
Judges of next year's 75th Golden Globes, please surprise the genre fans one-time atleast.
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