Netflix’s Disappointing Night at the 2020 Golden Globes: Just Two Wins, ‘The Irishman’ Snubbed

Netflix may have won the battle, but it has yet to win the war. At the 2020 Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night, the streaming giant came away with just two awards, despite leading the pack with 34 total nominations. Netflix’s Globes stumble comes as a major surprise, particularly after the success of Martin Scorsese’s mob drama The Irishman, which was snubbed in all five of its nominated categories.

When the Golden Globes nominees were first announced in December, Netflix asserted its awards dominance with 34 total nominations (17 for film, and 17 for television). Naturally, expectations were high heading into the Globes ceremony, and for the first time, it seemed that streaming was poised to take over on both the film and television sides of the ballot.

But while streaming service did win big at the 2020 Golden Globes — HBO, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu dominated the television categories — Netflix had a less than stellar day. The streaming giant walked away with just two awards: Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Laura Dern in Marriage Story, and Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama for The Crown‘s Olivia Colman.

Once again, HBO won first place with four awards, two each for Succession (Best Television Series – Drama and Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama for Brian Cox) and Chernobyl (Best Limited Series/TV Movie and Best Supporting Actor for Stellan Skarsgard). Amazon’s Fleabag also ran the table, winning two awards for creator/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge. >In a surprising turn of events, Hulu also came away with two Golden Globes for Patricia Arquette in The Act and Ramy Youssef’s Ramy. If you have no idea what Ramy is (or who Ramy Youssef is), now is the perfect time to check out this excellent Hulu comedy.

Streaming was far less successful on the film side, where traditional studio releases won the day. Sam Mendes’ war film won Best Picture – Drama, while the comedy honor went to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. In the acting categories — where The Irishman and Marriage Story were incredibly well-represented — the Hollywood Foreign Press does what they do best, handing out surprise wins to Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) and Awkwafina (The Farewell). Even Best Director, which many expected to go to Scorsese and Netflix, went traditional, with Mendes taking home the award.

Did the Golden Globes tank Netflix’s awards chances, or will The Irishman and Marriage Story be able to redeem themselves as awards season gets into full swing? With the Oscar nominations coming on January 13, we won’t have to wait long to find out.

Watch The Irishman on Netflix