‘Transparent’ Should — And Possibly Will — Win Big At The Golden Globes

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If there was one major success story in original streaming content, it was Amazon’s Transparent. The Jill Soloway-created series achieved near universal critical acclaim, and served as online bookseller-turned-everythingseller’s first success in the streaming content game following Netflix’s near monopolistic hold on the industry after its massive achievement with the popular (and critically lauded) series House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. Both of those shows earned praise and awards, and it seems like a natural progression for Amazon’s Transparent to follow suit. It wouldn’t be a huge shock to see Transparent pick up the two Golden Globes for which it’s nominated this weekend, but two wins would certainly be another landmark for the streaming model.

Transparent is nominated in two fields in the Musical or Comedy category: Best Television Series and Best Actor in a Television Series. The former seems like a lock; Jeffrey Tambor‘s performance as Maura Pfefferman is, for lack of a better word, transcendent. Tambor swiftly disappears into Maura (the makeup, wigs, and flowy Californian caftans certainly assist) as much as he does with her former identity, Mort. A double role isn’t a rarity in television, but what Tambor achieves is a duality within a single character — Mort and Maura are the same woman, a revelation that is delivered both by Tambor’s skill as an actor and the show’s writing team, who clearly make careful and considerate effort at making Maura’s trans experience as realistic as possible.

Tambor’s biggest competition is the perennial favorite Louis C.K., and I’m betting that Tambor will manage to rise to the top of his category and take home the award if only because of the massive praise heaped upon him and the series.

For Transparent to win for Best Television Series would be an even bigger deal. It’s up against the already nominated (and previous winner) Girls and two other new series, Jane the Virgin and Silicon Valley. It’s likely that Orange Is the New Black could take the honor, considering its second season helped establish it as one of the most popular streaming original series. The Golden Globes, however, love to pull some surprises — consider last year’s win for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and previous wins for Ricky Gervais’ Extras and The Office.

None of this is to say that it doesn’t have a very good shot. But what a potential win for Transparent would provide is the first major award for a streaming property. Both House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black have earned Emmy nominations (the former nabbing awards for direction, cinematography, and casting, the latter earning wins for actress Uzo Aduba, as well as casting and editing), but neither have taken top prizes. If Transparent wins, it would send a message that streaming content is as good — if not, in some cases, better — than network and cable series. The Golden Globes, as rowdy and rogue as they can be, might very well send a message that would prove streaming content to be the disruptive artistic model it sets out to be.

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