NBC Tops TV Golden Globe Noms

December 21 -- NBC's tumultuous year was steadied today, when the peacock net received a stellar 15 Golden Globe Award nominations.

Just one week after NBC abruptly ousted its entertainment chief, Garth Ancier, several of its programs — Frasier, Will & Grace, and The West Wing — were awarded multiple nods for the 58th annual Golden Globe Awards, which will be televised Jan. 21.

Though the TV side of the Golden Globes is usually greeted with less fanfare than are the film categories (which often serve as a critical gauge for possible Oscar nods), the nominations bestow a mark of excellence on small-screen shows and stars. According to Variety, the Globes are more accurate at forecasting Emmys, which take place in September, than they are at predicting actual Oscar winners.

The 84 voting members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded Golden Globes to shows like The X-Files and The Sopranos long before the TV Academy did.

HBO earned 12 nominations today, while CBS, Fox, and Showtime scored seven apiece.

"[The Golden Globes] are way up there" in terms of importance to Hollywood, Frasier star Kelsey Grammer told Reuters after the nominations were announced. Grammer was nominated for best comedic actor.

"It is always a joy to be nominated. There's no question about it, and it is always disappointing when you are not," Grammer said.

Nominees for best dramatic series were CBS's crime drama C.S.I., NBC's medical hit ER, ABC's legal ensemble The Practice, HBO's Mafia show The Sopranos, and NBC political drama The West Wing.

Young leads Jessica Alba, star of Fox's Dark Angel, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, of the WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, received their first nods for best dramatic actress. Other nominees include Sopranos co-stars Lorraine Bracco and Edie Falco, Once and Again's Sela Ward, and Judging Amy's Amy Brenneman.

Up for best actor in a drama are André Braugher (Gideon's Crossing), James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), Rob Lowe (The West Wing), Dylan McDermott (The Practice), and another West Wing-er, Martin Sheen.