Happy awards season! With the start of a new year comes one of the best times of the year – awards season. So far, the Golden Globes and the Emmys have taken place, and the Oscar nominations were recently released. While it’s still a little too early to be making Oscar predictions, as the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGs) and the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) have yet to be held, the Emmys and the Golden Globes have already set out some front runners for the Oscars race and have cemented newer television shows as not just ones to watch, but some of the best on television right now.
Some of the very exciting television wins from the Emmys and the Golden Globes hail from FX’s “The Bear”. Ayo Edebiri, Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach won big at both the Golden Globes and the Emmys for their respective roles in “The Bear”. In 2023, season two of “The Bear” reached heights the first season hadn’t dreamed of. Season two of “The Bear” features star studded guest star episodes that don’t distract from the main plot, but lead viewers to explore more behind the show. “The Bear” rightfully sweeps both the Golden Globes and the Emmys, both in the comedy acting categories and the comedy television series category.
On the opposite side of the coin from “The Bear” is season four, the final season of “Succession”, which sweeps the television drama categories of the Golden Globes and the Emmys. “Succession” is no stranger to award fanfare. Its four seasons have not gone unnoticed by academies, and now, almost each of its main cast have an acting award to their name. Over the course of the airing of “Succession”, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kiernan Culkin, and Matthew Macfayden have gained awards for their acting in the drama categories. Jesse Armstrong, writer and creator of “Succession”, now has multiple awards for his writing on the show. The show’s end was a tough pill to swallow for many online, but the final season’s awards run was very successful and proved how much of a powerhouse this show was.
The huge wins for the television categories aren’t where the Golden Globes stop. They also hand out some acting awards in the film categories that are worth standing ovations. For “The Holdovers”, Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins for Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture at the Golden Globes. For “Killers of the Flower Moon”, Lily Gladstone wins for Actress in a Drama Motion Picture. Gladstone’s performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon” also gained her a nomination for Best Actress at the Oscars, making her the first Native American actress to ever be nominated for an Academy Award. As we look toward the Academy Awards, some categories to watch for include the Best Original Song category and the Best Actor category. For Best Original Song, most people think that “What Was I Made For?” from Billie Eilish will take home the statue, but Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” has proved to be a strong academy favorite as awards season progresses. In the Best Actor category, a tight race between Paul Giamatti for “The Holdovers” and Cillian Murphy for “Oppenheimer” has appeared out of the woodwork, with Giamatti winning over Murphy at the Critics Choice Awards. As the road to the Oscars continues, predictions will be able to be narrowed down even further than this, but for now, until the SAGs and BAFTAs happen, a lot is still up in the air.
For now, the Emmys and Golden Globes have presented viewers with critically acclaimed shows that deserve viewers attention. For those who haven’t watched “Succession” on HBO Max yet, all four award winning seasons are available for streaming. For those interested in hopping on “The Bear” train, now is a great time to get on, as the third season prepares to release later this year. For those looking for something a little more tame or comforting, “Abbott Elementary”, another Emmy winning comedy, awaits new viewers on Hulu and airs on ABC.
For those looking to “study up” before the Academy Awards, which will air live on Mar. 10, “The Holdovers”, “Oppenheimer”, “Killers of the Flower Moon”, “Barbie”, and “Poor Things” are the leading award standouts so far. One film worth mentioning, glaringly absent from most nomination slates, is A24’s “The Iron Claw”, starring Jeremy Allen White and Zac Efron. For fans of underdogs (characters and films), wrestling, and stories with heart, “The Iron Claw” should be a part of your “ones to watch” lineup, although the film remains without nominations from most award academies.
Overall, 2023 was a phenomenal year for film and television alike. Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic boomed, “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” gathered audiences into theaters once more, making way for a lot of these film’s successes. The rest of the awards season will prove to be exciting.
