HBO will bring back its True Detective anthology drama franchise for a fifth season along with the show’s fourth-season executive producer, Issa Lopez.

The fourth season of True Detective, which starred Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, ended its run this past Sunday as the most-watched iteration of the franchise, with 12.7 million cross-platform viewers, according to the network.

It’s unclear whether the franchise’s fifth season will continue the storyline of the fourth season, which followed two detectives as they investigated the disappearance of several employees of an Alaskan-based research station. What is clear is that series showrunner and executive producer Lopez will return to helm the new season, despite criticism about season four of the series from franchise creator Nic Pizzolatto. 

Lopez will continue to create content for HBO, including the upcoming True Detective season, as part of the new multiyear production deal with HBO. “Issa Lopez is that one-of-a-kind, rare talent that speaks directly to HBO’s creative spirit,” HBO executive VP of programming and head of drama series and films Francesca Orsi said in a statement. “She helmed True Detective: Night Country from start to finish, never once faltering from her own commendable vision, and inspiring us with her resilience both on the page and behind the camera.” 

True Detective returns Sunday, January 14 on HBO, as True Detective: Night Country debuts. Issa Lopez is the creator, director and executive producer, and Jodie Foster portrays Det. Liz Danvers. Eight men who were operating a research station in Alaska disappear, and Danvers and Det. Evangeline Navarro, played by Kali Reis, investigate. 

Lopez is a Mexican filmmaker whose work includes Tigers are Not Afraid and Todo Mal. She told B+C she was “fighting madness” during the pandemic, and was kicking around ideas for a whodunit movie. 

Then HBO reached out and asked her what she might do with True Detective. 

She’d not done television before. 

“I love cinema more than anything in the world, but I do love good TV,” Lopez said. “It’s a dream of anybody — if I ever make TV, I wish it was with HBO.”

Besides watching the earlier seasons of True Detective, Lopez watched the films Seven (“a masterpiece!”) and The Silence of the Lambs to help get her in the mindset. Foster, of course, played investigator Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. 

“I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to bring back Jodie as a detective,” Lopez said she wondered. 

Lopez sent Night Country scripts and her Tigers movie to Foster. She was sure Foster would turn the project down. “She has a reputation for being incredibly picky with what she takes,” Lopez said. 

The actress and director met for lunch. They went over a script. Lopez had written Danvers as a woman on the verge of a breakdown. Foster said she liked playing powerful women. She had some other ideas. “She could be bitter and she could be tired and she could be a terrible stepmom,” Lopez said Foster suggested. 

The director countered, “You want me to make her into an a**hole.”

Foster responded, “Yup.”

Foster was in. 

Lopez was also keen to create the rare project where the antihero, a cornerstone of peak TV, is a female. How many female antiheroes can you name?

“After the Walter Whites, after the Tony Sopranos, after the Donald Drapers … having a woman go there would be fascinating,” Lopez said. 

A Decade of ‘True Detective’

Season one of True Detective, with Matthew McConaghey and Woody Harrelson, was set in Louisiana and premiered in 2014. Season two, with Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams, was set in California and aired in 2015. Season three, from 2019, had Mahershala Ali and Carmen Ejogo, and was based in the Ozarks. 

Season four of the anthology series has six episodes. Reviews from the new season are pretty positive. USA Today called Night Country “an astounding work of art.”

Entertainment Weekly gave it a B. “Strip away the spooky atmospheric embellishments and obligatory Easter eggs, and the series is still a shrewd and engrossing saga about community, generational trauma, industrialization and how perilous it can be to underestimate women,” it said. 

NPR said it is “the best True Detective season since the original.”

‘Very Peculiar’ Alaska 

Lopez said a sense of place has always been vital to True Detective. She loved the idea of setting the series in Alaska, which she described as “a very peculiar universe.” It’s cold, it’s vast, it’s “its own ecosystem,” Lopez said. She added that the state has almost double the number of people who are reported missing, per capita, compared to the rest of the U.S., and almost double the murder rate. 

“I felt like that was an interesting thing to explore,” she said. 

HBO felt it would be difficult to pull off such a large production in remote Alaska. So they shot the series in Iceland, with B-roll shot in Alaska.

Lopez called it a “challenge” to make Iceland look like Alaska. “Ice is ice, but the cities, the streets, the cars — nothing looks like Alaska,” she said. “We had to bring stuff from Alaska, from wardrobe to cans for the pantries.”

Alaska often emerges as a minor character in series set there, including the one-season ABC drama Alaska Daily, ‘90s drama Northern Exposure, which recently debuted on Prime Video, and unscripted shows such as Bering Sea Gold and Alaskan Bush People on Discovery. 

“It’s a corner of America we don’t often see in the media,” Lopez said. “It feels full of secrets.”

Edgy crime drama Criminal Record debuts on Apple TV Plus January 10. Set in London, it is the story of two detectives — an older white man near the end of his career and a Black woman just starting on hers. Peter Capaldi plays Daniel Hegarty and Cush Jumbo is June Lenker. 

An anonymous phone call offers a tip on an old murder case. Lenker suspects the wrong man may be in prison and Hegarty is keen to keep his legacy intact — and leave the case alone. 

“The story lends itself to looking at the world of London from two very different lenses,” executive producer Paul Rutman said. “Their different world views drew us into drilling into issues and questions about gender and institutional racism. We hold a magnifying glass up to what it feels like to be in those moments.”

Executive producer Elaine Collins said Capaldi injects Hegarty with a sense of mystery. “He brings a lot of intelligence to the role — the intellect is clear when you watch him play the part,” she said. 

Rutman said Jumbo, who played Lucca in The Good Wife and The Good Fight, shines as the underdog. “There’s something very, very honest and real and unguarded about the way she acts,” he said. “She’s very good for those small moments.”

True Detective: Night Country premieres on HBO Sunday, January 14. Jodie Foster and Kali Reis play a couple of detectives trying to figure out why eight men at a research station in Alaska have disappeared. They confront the darkness of winter in Alaska and the darkness within themselves. 

Issa Lopez is the showrunner, writer and director of all the episodes, and executive produces as well. From Mexico City, Lopez has a background in horror, including directing the 2017 film Tigers Are Not Afraid. She described the new season as a “modern Western” and said it pushed her way out of her comfort zone. 

“Why not make the thing that scares you the most?” López said at an HBO event in New York that saw her interviewed by Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO, HBO & Max Content.

An anthology crime series, True Detective debuted in 2014. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were the detectives in the first season, set in Louisiana. Season two, in 2015, had Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn in the cast and was set in California. Season three, from 2019, featured Mahershala Ali, Carmen Ejogo and Stephen Dorff and was set in the Ozarks. 

True Detective: Night Country has plenty of scares. López hinted at “something incredibly sinister hiding in the shadows that goes deeper than human understanding.” 

HBO will continue its True Detective anthology series with Jodie Foster in the starring role.

The new instalment, True Detective: Night Country, will be helmed by Issa López and will also star Kali Reis. The limited series will follow two detectives as they investigate the disappearance of six men operating the Tsalal Arctic Research Station in Alaska. 

The True Detective franchise initially debuted in 2014 with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, while the second season in 2015 starred Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn. Mahershala Ali took over the starring role in the third season of True Detective airing in 2019.

“We are tremendously excited to return to the True Detective franchise and to be working with the multi-talented Issa López, whose singular vision for her Night Country installment will be beautifully realized with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis in the starring roles,” HBO Programming executive VP Francesca Orsi said in a statement. 

True Detective: Night Country will be executive produced by López, Foster, Barry Jeknins, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Alan Page Arriaga, Mari Jo Winkler, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Cary Joji Fukunaga, and Nic Pizzolatto.■  

Also: HBO Max's Customer Base Is Almost 30% Ad-Supported After Less Than One Year 

History’s new sci-fi series Project Blue Book leads the list of new cable and streaming services launching during the first full week of the new year.

Other shows launching during the week of Jan. 7-Jan. 13 include Nat Geo’s silicon valley-themed miniseries Valley Of The Boom and MTV’s reality series Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club.

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting this week:

Jan. 7 -- No Offence (Comedy) – Acorn TV

Jan. 8 – Good Trouble (Drama) – Freeform

Jan. 8 – Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club (reality series) – MTV

Jan. 8 -- Project Blue Book (sci-fi drama) – History

Jan. 11 – Informer (thriller) – Prime Video

Jan. 13 – True Detective (drama) – HBO

Jan. 13 – Valley Of The Boom (drama) – Nat Geo

HBO has introduced a new video trailer for the third season of its original anthology series True Detective, which returns to the small screen on Jan 13.

The third season of the series tells the story of a macabre crime in the heart of the Ozarks, and a mystery that deepens over decades, according to network officials. True Detective stars Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Stephen Dorff (Somewhere) and Carmen Ejogo (Selma).

Beverly Hills, Calif. — HBO programming president Casey Bloys was on the hot seat Wednesday at the network's TCA summer press tour session as TV critics peppered the executive with questions about the network’s controversial new series Confederate.

Complete coverage of the 2017 TCA Summer Press Tour.

The series, which will be produced by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and will depict what the nation would look like if the South had won the Civil War, drew initial backlash when ammounced, from critics concerned about how the issue of race, and slavery in particular, would be portrayed.

Related: HBO Greenlights ‘Confederate’ From ‘Game of Thrones’ Producers

Bloys said the network’s decision to announce the show via a press release without any context from the producers was “misguided” and should have been handled differently.

“If I had to do it over again I would have let the producers sit and talk about it,” Bloys said. “The key to all of this is the context and hearing from the creators. All we can do is ask people to judge the final product rather than what it could be or might be.”

MCN Flashback > TCA16: HBO's Casey Bloys Takes Heat During TCA Session

Bloys also said the long anticipated revival of Western-themed series Deadwood is coming closer to fruition, adding that he’s excited about the new script for the David Milch series, which ran on HBO from 2004-2008. “If we can do it for a budget that makes sense and we can get the cast together then we’re inclined to do it," Bloys said. 

He also said the network is close to greenlighting a third season of its anthology series True Detective, which will feature Moonlight actor Mahershala Ali. “I’m very impressed and excited about what I’ve read,” Bloys said of the script for True Detective.

Bloys also addressed the Game Of Thrones spinoffs, saying that none of the characters in the current Game Of Thrones series will appear in any of the series followups.   

Read more TCA '16 summer tour coverage

HBO Casey Bloys’ won’t soon forget his first appearance at the Television Critics Association summer tour since being named the network’s programming president after taking some critical questions from TV writers.

As Bloys confirmed the end of the network’s biggest show Game Of Thrones after its eighth season he was hit with several questions from reporters about Thrones and new series Westworld's sexualized violence against women, including rape.

While Bloys said that the concerns are valid, he said that the violence cuts across both men and women, jokingly adding “we’re going to kill everybody.”

Bloys -- who took over the position this past spring from the departed Michael Lombardo -- said Game Of Thrones will not be eligible for the 2017 Emmys season because of the late summer launch of its seventh season, but added he’s confident the network will still have enough content to continue its run as the top Emmy-nominated network in the industry. Game Of Thrones earlier this month earned an industry high 23 Emmy nominations.

“Even without Game Of Thrones my hope is that we will have some new candidates that will help keep our count up,” Bloys said.

HBO Renews 'Real Time With Bill Maher'

Bloys also discussed several other issues during the session, including being open to a third season its anthology crime series True Detective if the network can find the right take on the franchise. He added the network could continue the franchise without creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto taking the lead.

-- The new Jon Stewart digital animated series could debut later this fall, according to Bloys. The series will be revolve around a parody of a fictional cable news network.

-- Bloys also said canceling the The Mick Jagger/Martin Scorsese music series Vinyl was a difficult decision. The series had been greenlit for a second season after its first episode, but the show struggled from a ratings perspective.

 “We didn’t think it was worth the producer’s time our time our resources to try to thread the needle just a little bit,” he said.

New HBO programming head Casey Bloys will shepherd an impressive stable of scripted dramas, comedies, original movies and specials — the envy of most content distributors across virtually all distribution platforms — but he also has some holes to fill going forward.

Bloys replaces former president of programming Michael Lombardo. Under Lombardo, HBO last year racked up the greatest Emmy Awards performance in history, taking home a network record 43 of them in September, including a record haul of 12 for signature series Game of Thrones.

Bloys, who is also overseeing documentaries, films, sports and Cinemax programming, is in command of an upcoming slate HBO hopes will continue to thrive against emerging powers Netf lix, Amazon and Hulu along with more conventionally distributed rivals such as Showtime, Starz and FX.

With Game of Thrones winding down — it’s signed for another season and likely to have an eighth season, too, but showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss intimate the end is near — industry observers have wondered what HBO has cooking in terms of potential replacements.

High-profile springtime newcomer Vinyl, from creators Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese and starring Bobby Cannavale and Ray Romano, failed to live up to the hype, although it will return for one more go-round.

Vinyl averaged 4.3 million viewers across multiple plays and screens, according to HBO. Juggernaut Game of Thrones, by contrast, averaged 7.8 million viewers for its May 22 episode.

Sources close to the network say Bloys — who focused mostly on comedy series, late night and specials projects at HBO before adding drama series when executive vice president Michael Ellenberg left earlier in the year — already has his hands on a number of high-profile projects scheduled for this year. They include 1970s porn-themed The Deuce, from producer David Simon (The Wire, Treme); and an adapation of Westworld from Star Trek and Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams.

Comedies Insecure from Issa Rae and Vice Principals, starring Danny McBride, are also in the queue, and drama series The Leftovers will continue with a third and final season.

Lombardo — credited with reviving HBO after a post-Sopranos creative slump with such shows as Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, True Detective and Girls — moves into a production role and will develop projects for the network.

His departure, after more than 30 years at the Time Warner Inc.-owned programmer, hit the trades the afternoon of Friday, May 20. The appointment of Bloys was announced May 23.

HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler praised Lombardo in a statement: “It goes without saying that Mike’s contributions over these many years, most especially in the last nine as president of programming, have been nothing short of extraordinary.”

Along with Ellenberg’s departure, HBO in December named longtime executive Peter Nelson as executive vice president of HBO Sports, replacing Ken Hershman, who had resigned a month prior.

Cable shows and specials led by Fox News’ Republican Presidential Candidate Debate dominated last week’s Twitter TV Ratings, according to Nielsen.

Thursday’s Republican Debate – which generated 24 million viewers -- drew more than 3 million Tweets that reached more than 9.2 million unique Twitter users to top all TV shows for the period of Aug. 3 to Aug. 9, said Nielsen.

Jon Stewart’s final episode as host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show on Aug. 6 drew 233,000 tweets across 4.2 million Twitter users to finished second for the week. Overall, the show generated 3.5 million viewers. 

ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars, USA Network’s WWE Monday Night Raw and HBO’s True Detective finish among the top five series and specials for the week, according to Nielsen.

WWE’s pay-per-view event Battleground wrestled the top spot among the most social shows on Sunday, according to Nielsen’s Twitter TV Ratings report.

The PPV event, which was also streamed live on the pro wrestling outfit’s WWE Network OTT service, drew 292,000 Tweets last night that reached 1.9 million unique Twitter users, said Nielsen.

ABC’s Celebrity Family Feud game show reached 1.3 million unique users to finish second while Sunday’s episode of HBO’s True Detective drew a little over 1 million tweets to finish third. CBS’s Big Brother and Spike’s mini-series Tut rounded out the top five for the night.

ESPN’s third round coverage of the 2015 Open Championship golf tournament was the most social sports show of the day, generating 58,000 tweets and reaching 3.1 million unique Twitter users, said Nielsen.

The top 2015 Writers Guild Awards went to True Detective and Louie on Saturday night.

The first iteration of HBO’s crime franchise True Detective was not only the WGA’s best new series, but its top drama skein.

The premium network also picked up wins in the long-form adapted category for Oliver Kitteridge, while John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight won recognized as the best comedy/variety series.

Louis C.K.’s FX series Louie was the WGA’s best comedy and twinned the win with the award for best episodic comedy for “So Did the Fat Lady” installment.

Lifetime latched its first WGA award for Deliverance Creek, which triumphed in the long-form original category.

CBS’s The Good Wife’s won best episodic drama for “The Last Call” installment.

WGA'S TV, NEW-MEDIA NOMINEES AND WINNERS

DRAMA SERIES

Game of Thrones, Written by David Benioff, Bryan Cogman, George R.R. Martin, D.B. Weiss; HBO

The Good Wife, Written by Leonard Dick, Keith Eisner, Ted Humphrey, Michelle King, Robert King, Erica Shelton Kodish, Matthew Montoya, Luke Schelhaas, Nichelle Tramble Spellman, Craig Turk, Julia Wolfe; CBS

House of Cards, Written by Bill Cain, Laura Eason, Sam R. Forman, William Kennedy, Kenneth Lin, John Mankiewicz, David Manson, Beau Willimon; Netflix

Mad Men, Written by Lisa Albert, Heather Jeng Bladt, Semi Chellas, Jonathan Igla, David Iserson, Janet Leahy, Erin Levy, Patricia Resnick, Tom Smuts, Matthew Weiner, Carly Wray; AMC

True Detective, Written by Nic Pizzolatto; HBO - WINNER

COMEDY SERIES

Louie, Written by Pamela Adlon, Louis C.K.; FX - WINNER

Orange Is the New Black, Written by Stephen Falk, Sian Heder, Tara Herrmann, Sara Hess, Nick Jones, Jenji Kohan, Lauren Morelli, Alex Regnery, Hartley Voss; Netflix

Silicon Valley, Written by John Altschuler, Alec Berg, Matteo Borghese, Jessica Gao, Mike Judge, Dave Krinsky, Carson Mell, Dan O’Keefe, Clay Tarver, Rob Turbovsky, Ron Weiner; HBO

Transparent, Written by Bridget Bedard, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster, Ethan Kuperberg, Ali Liebegott, Faith Soloway, Jill Soloway; Amazon Prime

Veep, Written by Simon Blackwell, Kevin Cecil, Roger Drew, Sean Gray, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Georgia Pritchett, David Quantick, Andy Riley, Tony Roche, Will Smith; HBO

NEW SERIES

The Affair, Written by Dan LeFranc, Hagai Levi, Melanie Marnich, Eric Overmyer, Kate Robin, Sarah Treem; Showtime

The Knick, Written by Jack Amiel, Michael Begler, Steven Katz; Cinemax

Silicon Valley, Written by John Altschuler, Alec Berg, Matteo Borghese, Jessica Gao, Mike Judge, Dave Krinsky, Carson Mell, Dan O’Keefe, Clay Tarver, Rob Turbovsky, Ron Weiner; HBO

Transparent, Written by Bridget Bedard, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster, Ethan Kuperberg, Ali Liebegott, Faith Soloway, Jill Soloway; Amazon Prime

True Detective, Written by Nic Pizzolatto; HBO - WINNER

LONG FORM ORIGINAL

Deliverance Creek, Written by Melissa Carter; Lifetime - WINNER

Return to Zero, Written by Sean Hanish; Lifetime

LONG FORM ADAPTED

Houdini, Written by Nicholas Meyer; Based on the book Houdini: A Mind in Chains: A Psychoanalytic Portrait by Bernard C. Meyer, M.D.; History Channel

Klondike, Parts One, Three and Six, Teleplay by Paul T. Scheuring, Parts Two, Four and Five, Teleplay by Josh Goldin & Rachel Abramowitz, Based on the book Gold Diggers by Charlotte Gray; Discovery Channel

The Normal Heart, Teleplay by Larry Kramer, Based on his play The Normal Heart; HBO

Olive Kitteridge, Teleplay by Jane Anderson, Based on the novel by Elizabeth Strout; HBO - WINNER

“Pilot” (The Leftovers), Teleplay by Damon Lindelof & Tom Perrotta, Based on the book by Tom Perrotta; HBO

SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA – ORIGINAL

“Apocalypse No” (Bad Shorts), Written by Ben Zelevansky; luckybirdsmedia.com

“City of Angles” (Caper), Written by Amy Berg & Mike Sizemore; hulu.com

“Episode 1 – Nurture” (F To 7th), Written by Ingrid Jungermann; youtube.com

“Episode 113: Rachel” (High Maintenance), Written by Katja Blichfeld & Ben Sinclair; helpingyoumaintain.com - WINNER

“Episode 204” (Vicky and Lysander), Written by Damon Cardasis and Shannon Walker; youtube.com

“Episode 207” (Vicky and Lysander), Written by Damon Cardasis and Shannon Walker; youtube.com

ANIMATION

“Bob and Deliver” (Bob’s Burgers), Written by Greg Thompson; Fox

“Brick Like Me” (The Simpsons), Written by Brian Kelley; Fox - WINNER

“Covercraft” (The Simpsons), Written by Matt Selman; Fox

“Pay Pal” (The Simpsons), Written by David H. Steinberg; Fox

“Steal This Episode” (The Simpsons), Written by J. Stewart Burns; Fox

“Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl” (Bob’s Burgers), Written by Nora Smith; Fox

EPISODIC DRAMA

“A Day’s Work” (Mad Men), Written by Jonathan Igla and Matthew Weiner; AMC

“Devil You Know” (Boardwalk Empire), Written by Howard Korder; HBO

“Donald the Normal” (Rectify), Written by Kate Powers & Ray McKinnon; Sundance Channel

“Friendless Child” (Boardwalk Empire), Written by Riccardo DiLoreto & Cristine Chambers and Howard Korder; HBO

“The Last Call” (The Good Wife), Written by Robert King & Michelle King; CBS - WINNER

“The Lion and the Rose” (Game of Thrones), Written for Television by George R.R. Martin; HBO

EPISODIC COMEDY

“The Cold” (Modern Family), Written by Rick Wiener & Kenny Schwartz; ABC

“Landline” (New Girl), Written by Rob Rosell; Fox

“Low Self Esteem City” (Orange Is the New Black), Written by Nick Jones; Netflix

“So Did the Fat Lady” (Louie), Written by Louis C.K.; FX - WINNER

“Three Dinners” (Modern Family), Written by Abraham Higginbotham & Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman; ABC

“The Wilderness” (Transparent), Written by Ethan Kuperberg; Amazon Prime

COMEDY / VARIETY (INCLUDING TALK) – SERIES

The Colbert Report, Writers: Michael Brumm, Nate Charny, Aaron Cohen, Stephen Colbert, Rich Dahm, Paul Dinello, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Ariel Dumas, Glenn Eichler, Gabe Gronli, Barry Julien, Jay Katsir, Sam Kim, Matt Lappin, Opus Moreschi, Tom Purcell, Meredith Scardino, Max Werner; Comedy Central

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Writers: Rory Albanese, Dan Amira, Steve Bodow, Tim Carvell, Travon Free, Hallie Haglund, JR Havlan, Elliott Kalan, Matt Koff, Adam Lowitt, Dan McCoy, Jo Miller, John Oliver, Zhubin Parang, Owen Parsons, Daniel Radosh, Lauren Sarver, Jon Stewart, Delaney Yeager; Comedy Central

Inside Amy Schumer, Head Writer: Jessi Klein Writers: Emily Altman, Jeremy Beiler, Neil Casey, Kyle Dunnigan, Kurt Metzger, Christine Nangle, Dan Powell, Amy Schumer; Comedy Central

Jimmy Kimmel Live, Head Writers: Molly McNearney, Danny Ricker, Gary Greenberg Writers: Jack Allison, Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, Joelle Boucai, Josh Halloway, Sal Iacono, Eric Immerman, Bess Kalb, Jimmy Kimmel, Jeff Loveness, Bryan Paulk, Rick Rosner, Bridger Winegar; ABC

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Writers: Kevin Avery, Tim Carvell, Dan Gurewitch, Geoff Haggerty, Jeff Maurer, John Oliver, Scott Sherman, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Juli Weiner; HBO - WINNER

Real Time with Bill Maher, Head Writer: Billy Martin Writers: Scott Carter, Adam Felber, Matt Gunn, Brian Jacobsmeyer, Jay Jaroch, Chris Kelly, Bill Maher, Danny Vermont; HBO

Saturday Night Live, Head Writers: Seth Meyers, Colin Jost, Rob Klein, Bryan Tucker Writers: James Anderson, Alex Baze, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Steve Higgins, Leslie Jones, Zach Kanin, Chris Kelly, Erik Kenward, Lorne Michaels, Claire Mulaney, Josh Patten, Paula Pell, Katie Rich, Tim Robinson, Sarah Schneider, Pete Schultz, John Solomon, Kent Sublette, Lakendra Tookes; NBC

COMEDY / VARIETY – MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES – SPECIALS

The 68th Annual Tony Awards, Written by Dave Boone; Special Material by Jon Macks; CBS

71st Annual Golden Globe Awards, Written by Barry Adelman; Special Material by Alex Baze, Dave Boone, Robert Carlock, Tina Fey, Jon Macks, Sam Means, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Mike Shoemaker; NBC - WINNER

2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards, Written by Gerry Duggan, Wayne Federman, Patton Oswalt, Erik Weiner; IFC

Bill Maher: Live from D.C., Written by Bill Maher; HBO

Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles, Written by Sarah Silverman; HBO

QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

Hollywood Game Night, Head Writer: Grant Taylor; Writers: Alex Chauvin, Ann Slichter; NBC - WINNER

Jeopardy!, Written by John Duarte, Harry Friedman, Mark Gaberman, Debbie Griffin, Michele Loud, Robert McClenaghan, Jim Rhine, Steve D. Tamerius, Billy Wisse; ABC

DAYTIME DRAMA

Days of Our Lives, Written by Lorraine Broderick, David Cherrill, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Rick Draughon, Christopher Dunn, Janet Iacobuzio, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan, Melissa Salmons, Christopher Whitesell; NBC

General Hospital, Written by Ron Carlivati, Anna Theresa Cascio, Suzanne Flynn, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O’Connor, Elizabeth Page, Katherine Schock, Scott Sickles, Chris Van Etten; ABC - WINNER

CHILDREN’S SCRIPT – EPISODIC AND SPECIALS

“Girl Meets 1961” (Girl Meets World), Written by Matthew Nelson; Disney Channel

“Haunted Heartthrob” (Haunted Hathaways), Written by Bob Smiley; Nickelodeon - WINNER

“Haunted Sisters” (Haunted Hathaways), Written by Boyce Bugliari & Jamie McLaughlin; Nickelodeon

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – CURRENT EVENTS

“Losing Iraq” (Frontline), Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS

“United States of Secrets: Privacy Lost (Part Two)” (Frontline), Written by Martin Smith; PBS

“United States of Secrets: The Program (Part One)” (Frontline); PBS; Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS - WINNER

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS

“Episode Five: The Rising Road (1933-1939)” (The Roosevelts: An Intimate History), Written by Geoffrey C. Ward; PBS

“League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis” (Frontline), Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS - WINNER

“Standing Up in the Milky Way (Episode 1)” (COSMOS: A Space Time Odyssey), Written by Ann Druyan and Steven Soter; Fox

TV NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT

“50th Anniversary of JFK’s Assassination” (CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley), Written by Jerry Cipriano, Joe Clines; CBS News

CBS This Morning, Saturday, Written by Duane Tollison, Evan Gray, Chip Sorrentino, Bill Crowley; CBS News

“Nelson Mandela: A Man Who Changed the World” (World News with Diane Sawyer), Written by Dave Bloch, Lisa Ferri, Diane Sawyer; ABC News - WINNER

TV NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY

“Nowhere to Go” (60 Minutes), Written by Oriana Zill de Granados, Scott Pelley, Michael Rey; CBS - WINNER

PROMOTIONAL WRITING NOMINEES

ON-AIR PROMOTION (TELEVISION, NEW MEDIA OR RADIO)

“How I Met Your Mother,” Written by Dan Greenberger; CBS - WINNER

“WABC-TV On-Air Promos,” Written by Brandon Nelson; WABC-TV

VIDEOGAME NOMINEES

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN VIDEOGAME WRITING

Alien: Isolation, Writers Dan Abnett, Dion Lay, Will Porter; SEGA

Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, Lead Scriptwriter Jill Murray; Scriptwriter Melissa MacCoubrey; Story by Jill Murray, Hugo Giard, Wesley Pincombe; Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Story by Alexandre Amancio, Sylvain Bernard, Travis Stout; Scriptwriting Alexandre Amancio, Travis Stout, Russell Lees, Darby McDevitt, Ceri Young; Additional Scriptwriting Jeffrey Yohalem; Ubisoft

The Last of Us: Left Behind, Written by Neil Druckmann; Sony Computer Entertainment - WINNER

**Note: There were no nominees in Children’s Script – Long Form or Special, Short Form New Media – Adapted, or Television Graphic Art and Animation categories this year.

As the Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning, celebrities are taking to Twitter and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to voice their honors for the upcoming Jan. 11 show. 

Below are some of the nominees and their reactions: 

Matthew McConaughey: HBO's True Detective (Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television):

"To Rustin Cohle -- I miss that man. Thanks to Nic [Pizzolatto] for the creation and to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the nomination." 

Edie Falco: Showtime's Nurse Jackie (Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical): 

"The Hollywood Foreign Press has been so kind and supportive of me over the years. I’m so grateful for being acknowledged for a show I’ve so deeply loved to work on.”

Liev Schreiber: Showtime's Ray Donovan (Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama):

"Many thanks to the Hollywood Foreign Press. Thrilled to be back on the Globes roster with dear old Dad." [Meaning Jon Voight, who plays his father on the show.]

Dominic West: Showtime's The Affair (Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama): 

“I’m honoured to be nominated in this category and would like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. I’m thrilled that the show and my dear friend and co-star Ruth Wilson have been nominated too. I am very proud of The Affair and my special thanks go to Sarah Treem, David Nevins and all at Showtime," said Dominic West.

Jon Voight: Ray Donovan ( Best Performance by Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television): 

"It’s a wonderful thing. It’s a very prestigious award and I’m grateful for the glow that these nominations give our show. I know our team deeply appreciates it."

Alan Cumming: CBS's The Good Wife(Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television:)

"I am shocked and awed by this nomination, especially in a year when the show itself is honored. The standard of writing on The Good Wife is unparalleled, but matched by the grace of our glorious leader Jules. Thanks HFPA for making it easier to have my hair painted with a silver Sharpie this morning!"

Cumming also Tweeted: "Me: (thinking someone has died as my phone's constantly buzzing) What?! My manager: You got a Golden Globe nomination! Me: For what?!"

Viola Davis: ABC's How to Get Away With Murder (Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series—Drama): 

"Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press for this honor. I'm so thrilled."

Lena Dunham: HBO's Girls (Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series—Comedy or Musical):

"It's a true joy to return to the Golden Globes this year. We are so grateful to the HFPA for their continued recognition, and we at Girls are honored to share a category with such formally daring, forward-thinking shows. We are mega-fans of every one of these programs. As for my fellow comedy actresses, this category continues to be my dream sleepover."

Uzo Aduba: Netflix's Orange is the New Black (Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television):

“I am beyond grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press for this nomination. Being a part of Orange is the New Black is a gift, and I’m so proud to belong to such an incredible family. My deepest thanks Jenji Kohan and all of our writers, the entire cast and crew, and Netflix for giving me this wonderful opportunity.”

Kathy Bates, FX'sAmerican Horror Story: Freak Show, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television:)

"Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press Association. What a wonderful surprise to wake up to this morning!  And my heart felt appreciation to Ryan Murphy for bringing all us freaks together, cast and crew alike."

Maggie Gyllenhaal: SundanceTV's The Honorable Woman (Best Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television):

"I'm thrilled to be nominated for a Golden Globe for “The Honorable Woman”. And doubly thrilled to be nominated alongside such brilliant actresses. And triply thrilled to be nominated with my brother. How many women do you think I'll disappoint if I take him as my date?"

BeauWillimon:creator and executive producer of House of Cards(Best TV Series, drama):

"Our sole aim with House of Cards is to tell the best story we can and hope it connects with audiences. We're so thrilled that the Hollywood Foreign Press has recognized our efforts by nominating the show, as well as Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright — the two stars whose passion, talent and fearlessness make the story of the Underwoods worth telling."

For a full list of the nominees in each category, click here.