The Envelope: Here are 4 promising new TV shows that may catch Golden Globe voters’ eyes

Awards season isn’t just heating up for the movies. The Golden Globes, only weeks away, celebrate the small screen as well. A number of newbies cleaned up at last year’s awards, including “Transparent,” “Jane the Virgin” and “The Affair.” Will this year’s freshman class make as much of a splash? Here’s a rundown of four promising entries that feature creative elements as varied as musical numbers and tattooed puzzles.

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“Casual” | Hulu

Comical and moving in equal measure, “Casual” centers on the freshly divorced Valerie (Michaela Watkins), her teenage daughter, Laura (Tara Lynne Barr), and Valerie’s brother, Alex (Tommy Dewey). The three of them navigate the dating scene, and their familial relationships, with cringingly funny results. They’re each on her or his own path of discovery, and perhaps even recovery, that is anything but casual.

The reviews: The Boston Globe’s Matthew Gilbert calls it “wonderful … a wise, amusing, and poignant take on personal growth and the fears and freedoms brought on by change.” The Los Angeles Times’ Mary McNamara calls it “smart, funny, disarmingly sincere and sneakily self-aware.” But the A.V. Club’s Joshua Alston feels that the presence of producer-director Jason Reitman “only serves to bolster the nagging feeling that ‘Casual’ might have worked better as a movie-length project.”

The scoop: “It’s refreshing to have a character this age, who isn’t only defined by her job, isn’t only defined by being a mom, being a wife, being sidelined to this person who carries a function,” says Watkins. “We’re actually inside of her, where women are all things.” The actress finds the writing and the scenarios so realistic, “playing the role gets a little scary sometimes because it doesn’t feel like acting.”

“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” | The CW

Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) has it all, almost. A Manhattan attorney on the brink of partnership, she’s struck by the emptiness of her life moments before running into her summer-camp boyfriend Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III). Before you can say “restraining order,” she leaves New York behind to move to West Covina, where Josh now lives. The hourlong comedy showcases Rachel’s crazy exiness as well as her great pipes in daffy, delightful musical numbers.

The reviews: USA Today’s Robert Bianco names it “fall’s best new series and easily its most unusual.” Variety’s Brian Lowry echoes many critics when he cites Bloom as “a talent to be reckoned with.” The Times’ McNamara suggests “now that the concept has been established, the scripts will need to give her firmer footing and a little more room to move.”

The scoop: “Ex” co-creators Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna (“The Devil Wears Prada”) dove into the character through their own crazy ex-periences, creating “an otherwise very smart, capable, but deeply unhappy person, letting herself be taken over by the drug that is love,” says Bloom. Rebecca is relatable to anyone who’s either been a crazy ex, or had one. “She’s me if I didn’t have a filter.”

“Blindspot” | NBC

A woman appears in the middle of Times Square, in a duffel bag, wearing nothing but ink. Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) has had her memory wiped clean with experimental drugs, and her body covered in tattoos that make up a kind of treasure map. The biggest clue leads to FBI agent Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton). It quickly becomes evident that Jane has a very particular set of skills that put her in good stead with the team deciphering the signs on her body.

The reviews: Newsday’s Verne Gay says “the spirit of ‘Blindspot’ is much more aligned with a comic-book sensibility than a standard prime-time thriller,” and adds, “I was surprised by an unexpected reaction: I actually wanted to know what happens next week.” And McNamara says, “‘Blindspot’ comes out of the box with tantalizing, high-energy grace.” But the A.V. Club’s Alex McCown says “the show simply lacks the confidence to let its audience connect the dots.”

The scoop: In playing a cipher, “I try not to read the scripts too far in advance so I don’t have extra information that I don’t need,” Alexander says. “I want to keep her simple. The best thing about her in my opinion, and something we can all learn from her, is that she just uses her gut; she’s all about intuition and instinct.” But the best part of playing Jane? “The butt-kicking. It’s really incredible to play as a woman because we don’t typically see these types of roles for females.”

“Narcos” | Netflix

The world of Colombian narcotics traffickers in the 1980s and their leader, Pablo Escobar (Wagner Maura), is too insane to be made up. Narrated by DEA agent Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook), “Narcos” propels the viewer through the rise of both Escobar and the U.S.’ addiction to cocaine. The dirty business is made vibrant by the performances, the attention to detail — many scenes are in Spanish with subtitles — and the filming on location in Colombia.

The reviews: Vulture’s Margaret Lyons calls star Maura, as Escobar, “fantastic, patient, understated. Normal, even.” The New York Times’ Neil Genzlinger says the show is “built on sharp writing and equally sharp acting, as any good series needs to be.” But the Atlantic’s David Sims complains that “the effect is more like a Ken Burns documentary than an engaging serialized drama.”

The scoop: Brazilian actor Maura couldn’t speak a word of Spanish, so he flew to Colombia five months before shooting and began to learn — in Escobar’s hometown. “It’s one of the most difficult things I have done as an actor,” he says. He shows great range as the notorious drug trafficker. “The character is one of the biggest assassins of the 20th century, and at the same time he’s a family guy who plays with his kids and loves his wife — although he had lovers — he was worried about the poor people; he had this kind of social commitment. He was a very complex character.”

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