Though recipients of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globes in movie categories often seem a lame compromise of glamour over artistry, winners in the TV categories are a lot less embarrassing than those named by, say, the TV Academy itself during the Emmys.

Which is kind of curious, since the HFPA’s emphasis is clearly on film. But the Globes tend to champion largely deserving cutting-edge if underseen programming (last year’s “Nip/Tuck,� and the Globes honored the British “Office� two years ago, before almost anyone in America had heard of it) – of course, if it did the same thing in movie categories, it would lose its cachet as an Oscar bellwether, the reason Hollywood kowtows to the HFPA so much. The Globes honored HBO shows (“The Sopranos,� “Six Feet Under,� “Sex and the City�) in major categories long before the Emmys managed to. And, of course, the Globes is more willing serve as the official coronation of a new hit than the Emmys, who tend to wait a year or so before upsetting the status quo (Emmys snubbed “Desperate Housewives,� while the Globes were more in tune with the Zeitgest nine months prior, though last year more viewers wanted to watch the show itself than to see it win awards – hence, this year’s Global retreat to Mondays).

Imagine the disappointment in discovering that rather than advancing the Emmy race, as the Globes often do, this year they seemed content to follow last September’s ceremony.

Given all the small films that earned nominations – “Brokeback Mountain,� “Good Night, and Good Luck.�, “The Squid and the Whale,� for starters – it seems a bit odd that popular but hardly brilliant programs like “Commander in Chief� and “Grey’s Anatomy� took top TV nominations. “Rome,� for all its button-pushing decadence, may be HBO’s most conventional drama to date. “Lost� is a holdover nominee from last year (which is not to say undeserving), so only “Prison Break’s� nomination seems inspired or really noteworthy, as is star Wentworth Miller's acting nomination.

The comedy nominees seem more representative of what one tends to get from the Globes: Two HBO shows, the requisite huge hit (though ask anyone – “Desperate Housewives� has lost a lot of spin off its fastball this season), and some new sensations. “My Name is Earl’s� nomination was a foregone conclusion (as was star Jason Lee's Best Actor nod), but to see UPN – UPN! – get a nomination for a major award (for “Everybody Hates Chris�) both gratifying and apocalyptic. And while I found “Weeds� underwhelming, it’s nice to see that the HFPA were watching something besides the networks and HBO.

Mary Louise Parker is genuinely charming on “Weeds,� so she might just win the Best Actress in a TV Comedy Globe if the other nominees – all from “Desperate Housewives,� naturally – cancel each other out. (Such a theory has proved inoperative in the past, however, as Teri Hatcher won the Globe and Felicity Huffman -- a two-time Globe nominee this year -- won the Emmy.) Kyra Sedgwick's nomination for TNT's "The Closer" was another nice example of someone, somewhere in the HFPA paying attention.

The telefilm/miniseries category essentially cherry-picked September's Emmys, with the notable and heartening additions of BBC America's "Viva Blackpool" and Showtime's "Sleeper Cell." Outside of the Lead Series acting categories, the TV nominations seemed to ape the Emmys' practice of filling the ranks with big-name movie stars.