'OITNB' May Be Overlooked by Awards... Again

This year's Golden Globe race for Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy, is kind of a doozy. The category holds five of my favorite TV shows: Girls, Silicon Valley, Transparent, Jane the Virgin and Orange is the New Black. Everyone has a favorite show from that group, but sadly my favorite might not be the one to actually take home that literal golden globe trophy — you know I'm talking about OITNB, right? It's a huge bummer, because we know the beloved Netflix show about the little prison that could just won't receive the love it greatly deserves. It's a bummer. It makes me question life. Is there any possible way we're all wrong, and that Orange is the New Black can win at the Golden Globes?

Here's the thing about the Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy category: It's kind of a joke, no pun intended. Unless we're talking about Glee, the departed Smash, or the brand new Galavant, there aren't musical series on TV, so WHY is this even still part of the category? First step towards getting OITNB its Golden Globe: lose the word "musical" from the award category.

And the second step in getting OITNB its Golden Globe? Split the comedy category into two different categories. We honestly need to gather everyone together and have a real serious talk about how we're defining "comedy" from here on out. Yes, all of these shows make us laugh, but none of them are — THANKFULLY — accompanied by a laugh track. But also, these shows make us cry. Also, these shows make us laugh at things that aren't necessarily funny, but in the context of the show they're hilarious. OITNB is the prime example — it's set in a prison. Prison is inherently not funny; hello, Oz was not funny, and neither was Prison Break.

OITNB is a dramedy, plain and simple. It makes us laugh, it makes us cry, it makes us think, and it needs it's own category. OITNB, Transparent, and maybe even Girls fit into this category. It's not fair for the shows to go up against things that can be considered straight comedies — i.e. shows that are intending to make us LOL. That's what Silicon Valley is intending to do, and it's working very well for the show. Both OITNB and Silicon Valley are fabulous shows, but they're two completely different shows and it's not fair to either one of them to be all grouped together (along with some "musical" show that doesn't exactly exist).

OITNB was overlooked at the Golden Globes and Emmys last year, and it'll follow the same way this year. It sadly won't win Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy. The Foreign Press loves to award the little known and little seen underdog. Remember last year when they gave this honor to Brooklyn 99? I was super excited, but last year I was also one of like fifteen diehard Brooklyn 99 fans. This year, I'll willing to wager the award either goes to Silicon Valley or Jane the Virgin.

Hopefully one day everyone will love and appreciate OITNB like we do. Everyone else just has to get with the program (and probably subscribe to Netflix).

Image: Jessica Miglio for Netflix; Giphy