The Golden Globes nominates 12 Years A Slave, American Hustle, Breaking Bad, and a bunch of celebrities it wants to party with

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced its nominees for the annual Golden Globes, and once again it’s an absolutely unassailable list of the year’s best entertainment as made by famous people it would be fun to party with on television. Of course, those allegations of payola and blatant appeals to ratings that have dogged the HFPA for years aren’t entirely borne out by this list, which didn’t say, blatantly nominate Brad Pitt or Oprah Winfrey, just to ensure they’ll attend. (As a producer of 12 Years A Slave, Pitt will probably be there anyway.) But the Globes did continue to break with the by-now-established awards season norm here and there, for better or for “What the hell?”

On the film side, beyond expected nods for Gravity and 12 Years A Slave, the Globes offered the first big recognition for Rush, which scored a Best Drama nomination and another Best Supporting Actor nod for SAG nominee Daniel Bruhl; the only recognition so far for Kate Winslet, Sally Hawkins, Julie Delpy, and Idris Elba; and a lot of love for Her, Frances Ha, Philomena, and Nebraska across all its categories. Still, it’s a dead heat race between long-presumed frontrunner 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle, with seven nods apiece.

Although, they won’t actually compete against each other, seeing as American Hustle submitted itself as a comedy, possibly based entirely on Bradley Cooper’s hair. Instead it’ll face off against the year’s other exercises in hilarity and/or intermittent singing Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska, Her, and even The Wolf Of Wall Street, possibly based entirely on Jonah Hill’s face. And while you might not regard bleak stories of struggling musicians, sour old men, digital-age loneliness, or the rampant abuse of Wall Street as “comedy,” you certainly can’t blame these movies for not wanting to compete with 12 Years A Slave or Gravity. For all the explanation you need, just look at Saving Mr. Banks—a movie whose stars and sentimentality seem like surefire Globes-bait, but it was almost entirely shut out after opting to submit as a drama.

Most of the biggest “snubs” came on the television side, where seemingly permanent nominees Mad Men, Homeland, Game Of Thrones, and 30 Rock are, surprisingly, nowhere to be found. Instead their spots were entirely usurped by newer shows like House Of Cards, Masters Of Sex, and even Brooklyn Nine-Nine—a comedy that’s aired only 11 intermittently good but still improving episodes, yet it’s already been deemed worthy of pushing out the likes of Veep. That admirable, if not exactly justified commitment to shake things up led to nominations for a lot of actors seemingly being rewarded just for being in new (and semi-new) series this year, like Michael J. Fox, Jason Bateman, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, and James Spader. And with a list like that, perhaps the real surprise on the TV side is that the HFPA didn’t give anything to The Crazy Ones’ Robin Williams, based entirely on the fact that he’d be fun on the red carpet.

Still, for all the talk of baffling categorizations and inexplicable choices, it’s important to remember that a) Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany finally got something, so everything is automatically fine and b) really, this is just the Golden Globes, and all this “awards” stuff is but a framework constructed entirely so you can watch Amy Poehler and Tina Fey goof around while celebrities get drunk. Keep that in mind while you peruse this list.

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama
12 Years A Slave
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena
Rush

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
American Hustle
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
The Wolf Of Wall Street

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
David O. Russell, American Hustle