GLOBE-TROTTING FUN

Warren Beatty once famously said, “The Golden Globes are fun; the Oscars are business.” But there was no merriment last time, when the writers strike torpedoed the Globes ceremony and such winners as Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”) had to accept his award in his driveway from a delivery boy. Nominations will be announced on Dec. 11 and, if a SAG strike doesn’t hit this year, winners will accept Globes back at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 11.

DRAMA PICTURE

Favorites

“Australia”

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“The Dark Knight”

“Doubt”

“Frost/Nixon”

“Gran Torino”

“Milk”

“The Reader”

“Rachel Getting Married”

“Revolutionary Road”

“Seven Pounds”

“Slumdog Millionaire”

Spotlight: Over the last 64 years, the Oscars have rubber-stamped one of the Globes’ two best pictures (drama and comedy/musical) 42 times, usually the drama winner. How to predict which one will prevail next? Think backward from the Oscars, where the winner is usually the film with the most nominations, which include lots of crafts categories that the Globes don’t have. That means the current front-runners are probably “Button,” “Dark Knight” and “Revolutionary Road” or maybe “Australia.”

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DRAMA ACTOR

Favorites

Benicio Del Toro, “Che”

Leonardo DiCaprio, “Revolutionary Road”

Clint Eastwood, “Gran Torino”

Hugh Jackman, “Australia”

Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”

Ben Kingsley, “Elegy”

Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”

Sean Penn, “Milk”

Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”

Will Smith, “Seven Pounds”

Spotlight: When Brad Pitt won the supporting actor Golden Globe for “Twelve Monkeys” 13 years ago, he delivered a charming acceptance speech confessing his nervousness. (“I’d like to thank the members of -- actually, the makers of Kaopectate. They’ve done a great service for their fellow man.”) Voters love him. Pitt was recently nominated for “Babel” (2006), which won best drama picture, so he’ll probably be back.

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DRAMA ACTRESS

Favorites

Cate Blanchett, “The Curious

Case of Benjamin Button”

Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting

Married”

Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”

Nicole Kidman, “Australia”

Keira Knightley, “The Duchess”

Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”

Meryl Streep, “Doubt”

Kristin Scott Thomas, “I’ve Loved

You So Long”

Kate Winslet, “Revolutionary

Road” / “The Reader”

Spotlight: The Golden Globes appreciate blockbuster superstars who cross over to do serious little indies -- like past champs Charlize Theron (“Monster”) and Nicole Kidman (“The Hours”). This year, that trend could help Anne Hathaway (“Rachel Getting Married”).

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COMEDY/ MUSICAL PICTURE

Favorites

“Burn After Reading”

“Cadillac Records”

“Happy-Go-Lucky”

“High School Musical 3: Senior Year”

“Last Chance Harvey”

“Mamma Mia!”

“Sex and the City”

“Vicky Christina

Barcelona”

Spotlight: Voters adore musicals in this category so much that they often nominate them even when they’re bombs (“The Producers,” “Phantom of the Opera”). A notable exception: “Rent.” Was it just too young-skewing? That’s the question looming over “High School Musical 3,” which might, like “Mamma Mia!,” get a boost because of box-office success overseas. Members of the Hollywood foreign press care a lot about that.

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COMEDY/ MUSICAL ACTOR

Favorites

Josh Brolin, “W.”

Jim Carrey, “Yes Man”

George Clooney, “Burn After Reading”

Javier Bardem, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Robert Downey Jr., “Iron Man”

Zac Efron, “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”

Dustin Hoffman, “Last Chance Harvey”

Will Smith, “Hancock”

Ben Stiller, “Tropic Thunder”

Spotlight: If Jim Carrey is poised for a big comeback, we may see it start here first. He won two of his five lead actor bids in this category (“The Truman Show,” “Man on the Moon”) but has never been nominated for an Oscar. He even made light of this when he accepted his 2000 Globe for “Moon,” saying, “I’d like to thank the academy . . . oops”

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COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTRESS

Favorites

Tina Fey, “Baby Mama”

Anne Hathaway, “Rachel

Getting Married”

Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”

Frances McDormand,

“Burn After Reading”

Sarah Jessica Parker, “Sex and the City”

Meryl Streep, “Mamma Mia!”

Emma Thompson, “Last Chance Harvey”

Spotlight: With 21 past bids for film and TV, Meryl Streep this year will surely tie or break Jack Lemmon’s Globe record of 22 noms. And with five past movie wins and another for TV, Streep is tied with Jack Nicholson for most statuettes (his six are all for films). Can she not only surpass him, but also become the first star to win the lead acting categories for both drama (“Doubt”) and comedy/musical (“Mamma Mia”) in the same year? She has won these races in different years in the past: drama twice (“The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” “Sophie’s Choice”) and comedy/musical once (“The Devil Wears Prada”). Sigourney Weaver is the only thesp to receive two acting awards for film work in one year (1988): drama actress (“Gorillas in the Mist”) and supporting actress (“Working Girl”).

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TV DRAMA SERIES

Favorites

“Breaking Bad”

“Dexter”

“Gossip Girl”

“Grey’s Anatomy”

“House M.D.”

“In Treatment”

“Life on Mars”

“Lost”

“Mad Men”

“Summer Heights High”

“The Tudors”

“True Blood”

Spotlight: Don’t scoff at the possibility that “Gossip Girl” could get nominated. After all, the young-skewing “Beverly Hills 90210” scored bids twice (1992, 1993), although its current incarnation isn’t likely to repeat. “Gossip” has another plus: The Globes have never been afraid of celebrating high-camp prime-time soaps, as evidenced by five successive bids by “Dallas” beginning in 1980 and six consecutive noms for “Dynasty” from 1982 onward (with a win in 1984).

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TV DRAMA ACTOR

Favorites

Simon Baker, “The Mentalist”

Gabriel Byrne, “In Treatment”

Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”

Michael C. Hall, “Dexter”

Dennis Hopper, “Crash”

Joshua Jackson, “Fringe”

Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”

Hugh Laurie, “House M.D.”

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, “The Tudors”

Stephen Moyer, “True Blood”

Jason O’Mara, “Life on Mars”

Christian Slater, “My Own Worst Enemy”

Spotlight: Sometimes the Globes are far out in front of the Emmys, as they demonstrated in 2002 when Kiefer Sutherland won for actor just weeks into the first season of “24.” At the Emmys, Sutherland didn’t win till Season 5. Other times, the Globes follow the Emmys, which bodes well for Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), who recently pulled off a jaw-dropper over last year’s Globe champ Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”). However, Globers usually prefer the breakout rookie. That favors Jason O’Mara in “Life on Mars.”

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TV DRAMA ACTRESS

Favorites

Patricia Arquette, “Medium”

Sally Field, “Brothers & Sisters”

Mariska Hargitay, “Law & Order: SVU”

Holly Hunter, “Saving Grace”

Jane Kaczmarek, “Raising the Bar”

Anna Paquin, “True Blood”

Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer”

Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”

Brooke Shields, “Lipstick Jungle”

Anna Torv, “Fringe”

Spotlight: Fifteen years ago, Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin won Oscars for playing mother and daughter in “The Piano.” W hile Hunter won the only one of her seven Globe bids for that role, Paquin remains winless here after two nods. Now, the two could face off with Hunter competing for the sophomore season of her hit basic cable crime drama while Paquin hopes her hip horror show makes it 10 in a row for HBO having a filly in this race.

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TV COMEDY SERIES

Favorites

“Californication”

“Entourage”

“Little Britain”

“The Office”

“Pushing Daisies”

“The Starter Wife”

“30 Rock”

“Ugly Betty”

“Weeds”

“Worst Week”

Spotlight: The Globes love to reward TV shows in their first seasons: “3rd Rock From the Sun” (1997), “Ally McBeal” (1998), “Desperate Housewives” (2005) and “Ugly Betty” (2007). “Ugly Betty” had the added appeal of having a foreign pedigree, as does newcomer “Worst Week,” which is a remake of a modest British success. And unlike the early years of the American version of “The Office,” which has yet to follow in the Globe-winning footsteps of the original, “Worst Week” is not competing against a better-known version of itself.

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TV COMEDY ACTOR

Favorites

Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”

Kyle Bornheimer, “Worst Week”

Steve Carell, “The Office”

David Duchovny, “Californication”

Jay Mohr, “Gary Unmarried”

Lee Pace, “Pushing Daisies”

Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”

Tony Shalhoub, “Monk”

Charlie Sheen, “Two and a Half Men”

Spotlight: Curiously, last year’s champ, David Duchovny, made headlines recently as his real-life troubles mirrored those of his sex-addicted character on “Californication.” His love affair with the Globes began in 1996 with the first of four consecutive nods for “The X-Files,” with a win in 1997. With his victory last year, Duchovny became the only actor in Globe history to win for both a drama and comedy series. Now, he could be the first repeat winner in this category since Michael J. Fox took three in a row for “Spin City” beginning in 1999.

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TV COMEDY ACTRESS

Favorites

Christina Applegate, “Samantha Who?”

America Ferrera, “Ugly Betty”

Tina Fey, “30 Rock”

Anna Friel, “Pushing Daisies”

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “The New Adventures of Old Christine”

Debra Messing, “The Starter Wife”

Mary-Louise Parker, “Weeds”

Billie Piper, “The Secret Diary of a Call Girl”

Spotlight: Last season, Tina Fey began her sweep of the awards trifecta at the Globes, winning here two weeks before taking the SAG kudos and nine months before making Emmy history by winning three of those trophies in one night. Now, hot on the high heels of her “SNL” appearances as Sarah Palin, Fey is back at the helm of “30 Rock” skewering the TV industry.