The folks at TV's Big Four networks might as well have slept in Thursday morning and skipped the announcement of the Golden Globes nominations.
In the latest sign of their lack of critical love and viewer sizzle, commercial broadcasters ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC together scored a paltry nine nods (though three more than last year), while streaming service Netflix boosted its total from last year's seven to singlehandedly claim the lead with nine nominations distributed across six series ("Narcos," ''Orange Is the New Black," ''Grace and Frankie," ''Bloodline," ''House of Cards" and "Master of None") plus its original film, "Beast of No Nation."
Fellow streaming video outlet Amazon snagged five nominations (up from two last year) and Hulu scored its first.
Grand total for digital on-demand outlets: 15.
With its two nominations, tiny broadcast outlet CW beat CBS' single mention (for supporting dramatic actor Alan Cumming in "The Good Wife") as well as NBC (which will air the Globes awardscast on Jan. 10, but was completely snubbed on Thursday by the Globes). CW's "Jane the Virgin" leading lady Gina Rodriguez – last year's winner – and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" star Rachel Bloom are pitted against each other in the musical or comedy actress category.
Broadcast networks were shut out altogether in the music or comedy series category, where they used to glow. "Casual," on Hulu, shares the category with "Mozart in the Jungle" and "Transparent" (both on Amazon), "Orange is the New Black" (Netflix), and "Silicon Valley" and "Veep" (HBO).
The nominees for best drama series include only Fox's breakout hit "Empire" among broadcast networks, plus USA's "Mr. Robot," Netflix's "Narcos," Starz' "Outlander" and "Game of Thrones" on HBO.
Even pay-cable network HBO, which traditionally ruled at awards time, has been humbled by this year's digital invasion. It has seven nominations, down from 15 last year.
Premium rival Showtime suffered a falloff, too, with last year's nine nominations shrinking to three.
But Starz, which had two nominations last year, enjoyed a happy uptick to six, spread across its series "Flesh & Bone," ''Blunt Talk" and time-travel romance "Outlander," which got three nominations, including best drama, best actress (Caitriona Balfe) and best supporting actor (Tobias Menzies).
Fox, shut out last year, landed four nominations thanks to two for "Empire," plus Rob Lowe in the comedy actor category on its freshman "The Grinder" and Jamie Lee Curtis in its new horror-comedy "Scream Queens."
The most nominations for any show was three, scored by USA's quirky thriller "Mr. Robot" along with ABC's prestige drama "American Crime," FX's "Fargo," Starz' "Outlander," PBS' miniseries "Wolf Hall" and the much-honored Amazon comedy "Transparent."
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which bestows the Golden Globes, exhibited a lack of sentiment for AMC's "Mad Men," which completed its stellar run last season. Only Jon Hamm, in the dramatic actor category, was saluted.
FX's "The Americans," which seems to singularly suffer the role of best stealth drama (having been ignored for nearly every award in its three seasons, other than the prestigious Peabody), maintained that status by escaping Globes notice again this year.
Other notable absentees on the nomination rolls were HBO's fading "Girls" as well as "True Detective" (which, after landing four nominations in its premiere season, was critically lambasted for its second cycle).
Showtime's "Homeland" also suffered neglect, while its splendid drama, "The Affair," was cited only with a supporting dramatic actress nod for Maura Tierney.
