Whether you somehow missed it the first time around, or you did watch it the first time so you know how great it is and therefore you now need to watch it all again for a second time, FX is airing a New Year's Day marathon of their critically acclaimed & award-winning FX series Fargo for your binge-watching enjoyment. Starting at 2 pm ET, the network will be airing all 10 episodes of Season 1 in order, so grab your remote, your long underwear, and your cheese curds, and settle in for a long evening of cold Minnesotan murder. After you've finished, your reactions are likely to range anywhere from "Golly gee, that sure was swell" to "Please tell me that show is going to win ALL OF THE AWARDS" at which point you'll probably start wondering how many Golden Globes Fargo is nominated for when the show airs Jan. 12.
I fall squarely into the "give them all the awards" camp — obviously, since I listed Fargo in second place on my ranking of all of 2014's new shows. And the Hollywood Foreign Press seems to agree with me, since they nominated the show for just about every award it was eligible for at the 72nd Annual Golden Globes. In fact, the only category it missed out on was Best Supporting Actress, which must mean the voters took a bathroom break during all of Kate Walsh's hilarious scenes as "grieving" widow Gina Hess, cause girl was killing it, amiright?
Here are the Golden Globe categories in which Fargo is nominated, who its competition is, and how likely it is to win each award:
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or TV Movie: Colin Hanks
Competition:
• Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart• Alan Cumming, The Good Wife• Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge• Jon Voight, Ray Donovan
This is Matt Bomer's trophy to lose, thanks to his shocking physical transformation (and equally shocking emotional honesty) for his role in Ryan Murphy's AIDS drama. Granted, Bomer did lose in a surprise upset at the Emmys, but the man who stole his crown — Martin Freeman (for Sherlock, not Fargo) — was not even nominated by the HFPA. Frankly, Hanks's nod in this category will have to be award enough.
Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie: Allison Tolman
Competition:
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Freak Show• Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge• Frances O'Connor, The Missing
In a world where all was fair and just, Tolman would take home piles of trophies for her work in Fargo. The show drew attention with the big names in its cast (Freeman, Thornton, Hanks, Carradine, Key, Peele) — but this newcomer carried the entire show on her capable Midwestern shoulders. (Well, Tolman is technically a Texan, but it's hard to imagine Molly Solverson swapping the tundra for the desert.) As it is, Tolman will have to graciously applaud as McDormand accepts her equally well-deserved win for HBO's miniseries.
Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie: Martin Freeman & Billy Bob Thornton
Competition:
- Woody Harrelson, True Detective
- Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
- Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart
- Each other, obviously
This category is truly a clash of the titans. Only three shows are represented in the five slots, with two actors nominated for Fargo and two for True Detective. God bless the soul of anyone who would dare stand in the path of the McConaissance... although this race is perhaps not as cut-and-dry as many might think. McConaughey lost the Emmy for this same role so, even though there's no Bryan Cranston victory lap standing in his way this time around, the reformed actor isn't exactly sailing into the Golden Globes on the back of an established victory. Thornton's turn as devilish hitman Lorne Malvo was just as well-received as McConaughey's Rust Cohle, and remember that Freeman has already pulled one upset in a miniseries category this season. Of course, it's also a possibility that all four Fargo and Detective actors will split the race clean down the middle, resulting in Ruffalo being the last man standing. A trophy for his fiery performance as Ned Weeks would be far from undeserved.
Best Miniseries or TV Movie
Competition:
• The Missing• The Normal Heart• Olive Kitteridge• True Detective
This race is basically a coin toss between Fargo and True Detective everyone else should just thank their lucky stars for their nomination and move on. But I would give the edge to FX over HBO for several reasons: First, Fargo already won this prize at the Emmys, while True Detective failed to secure a win in the admittedly more competitive Drama Series category. Second, Fargo tended to turn up more consistently and in higher slots on critics' end-of-year lists. Finally, while True Detective was lauded loudly by many, it had accrued just as many detractors by the end of its freshman season, thanks to some iffy plotting and a surprisingly saccharine ending; Fargo was decidedly less divisive, maintaining a satisfyingly consistent quality across all 10 of its episodes.
Images: Chris Large/FX (6)
