• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, December 13, 2017

The wacky Golden Globes are at it again, nominating TV shows in a manner that suggests a handful of darts thrown haphazardly at a dartboard, and some of them not even hitting the board.

People of taste (if any such people are still around) had to cringe at the nominations, announced this past Monday, for shows such as Showtime’s “SMILF” and Amazon's “I Love Dick.”

I won't mince words here: “SMILF” is one of the biggest pieces of c-r-a-p that I have ever seen in an adult lifetime spent watching television for a living. Few shows you can name on TV today are more depressing than this show.

Well, except for one: The atrocious, dreary “comedy” on FX called “Better Things,” which earned a nomination for its sad-sack star Pamela Adlon. This show and “SMILF” are actually part of a burgeoning genre of TV shows about single women who hate their lives. Sounds like fun, right? (I am being sarcastic here.)

As for “I Love Dick,” I must have missed my opportunity (if there was one) to consider this for a column or a review. Sorry.

As in past years, the nominations dreamed up by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in whatever time they have available between free meals and press junkets seem to reflect the TV shows that enjoy the greatest amount of publicity.

For example, take “Feud: Bette and Joan.” This limited series on FX with Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange playing battling battle axes Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, respectively, was superficially attractive but ultimately unfulfilling. And for once, I was not the only one who felt that way.

And yet, the HFPA made it the second-most nominated TV show of 2017 with four nominations this week, just after HBO's “Big Little Lies,” which had six.

“Fargo” was up there too on the Golden Globe list with three nominations, even though this particular season of “Fargo” -- in which Ewan McGregor played brothers who were not technically twins but were nearly identical -- was the worst season for this show so far.

“The Crown” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” possibly earned Golden Globe nominations because of the preponderance of press coverage these two shows garnered. The fact is, “Stranger Things” should have had more nominations than the mere two that it received.

“Stranger Things” was so snubbed that it had the same number of nominations as the new “Will & Grace” on NBC.

Speaking of which, the Golden Globes air on NBC January 7 hosted by Seth Meyers. But a Golden Globes special is scheduled for tonight (Wednesday, December 13) on NBC that will happily showcase the “highlights” (if any) of the Golden Globes’ 75 years. Guess who’s co-hosting this special: Debra Messing and Eric McCormack of “Will & Grace.”

Also nominated this year from the stable of NBC shows: “This Is Us” (pictured above). Who would have predicted that?

Broadcast TV in general got short shrift in the Golden Globe nominations, just like what has been happening in recent years with the Emmy Awards. Of the big four networks, only NBC and ABC earned Golden Globe nominations.

ABC had nominations for “Black-ish” and “The Good Doctor” -- the latter of which makes sense. The former does not.

On the other hand, I don't really know what the criteria are for earning a nomination from the Golden Globes. For example, it's pretty easy to nominate Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer for their roles as Bernie and Ruth Madoff in HBO's TV movie “The Wizard of Lies.” They were sensational.

But did every principal actress in another HBO show with “Lies” in the title -- “Big Little Lies” -- deserve nominations? For the record, the four are Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, facing off for best actress in a limited series, and Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley facing off in the best supporting actress category.

When you see this kind of thing, it makes you wonder whether the Golden Globes make their picks based on who they think might draw the most viewers to the telecast on NBC. After all, consistently strong ratings are the best way to perpetuate the myth that the Golden Globes mean anything.