Ledger Snags Golden Globe Nom

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Frost/Nixon" lead the Golden Globes with five nominations each, among them nods for best drama. "Doubt" also has five, including four acting slots.

Other best-drama nominees Thursday: "The Reader," "Revolutionary Road" and "Slumdog Millionare."

Heath Ledger got a supporting actor nod for his performance as The Joker in the Batman hit "The Dark Knight."

Also named in that category are Tom Cruise and Robert Downey, Jr., both for "Tropic Thunder," Ralph Fiennes in "The Duchess" and Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt."

Interviewed Thursday on The Early Show, Dalton Ross, assistant managing editor of Entertainment Weekly magazine, said the biggest surprise was that "Milk" was not nominated for best drama, although its star Sean Penn did get an acting nomination. In the run-up to the movie award season, Gus Van Sant's "Milk" has been picking up numerous honors, including Producers Guild Of America's Stanley Kramer Prize.

Meryl Streep has two nominations, best dramatic actress for "Doubt" and musical or comedy actress for "Mamma Mia!"; and Kate Winslet also has two, best actress for "Revolutionary Road" and supporting-actress for "The Reader."

Also chosen for dramatic actress are: Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"; Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"; and Kristin Scott Thomas, "I've Loved You So Long."

Nominees for dramatic actor are Leonardo DiCaprio, "Revolutionary Road"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; Brad Pitt, "Benjamin Button"; Sean Penn, "Milk"; and Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

Tina Fey's great year continues with NBC's "30 Rock" earning a nomination for best comedy and Fey received a best actress nod.

The series about the backstage goings on at a TV show has won two Emmy Awards for best comedy, with Fey the show's creator and star. Fey was also a "Saturday Night Live" sensation this fall for her impersonation of Sarah Palin.

Showtime's "Weeds" and "Californication," HBO's "Entourage" and NBC's "The Office" will compete with "30 Rock" for best TV comedy.

Fox's "House" was the only broadcast nominee for best TV drama. Besides "In Treatment," other nominees were HBO's "True Blood," Showtime's "Dexter" and the reigning Emmy winner, AMC's "Mad Men."

Ross said he was surprised by the way cable TV shows dominated the television nominations.

"One of the things we're seeing is the effects of the strike," he told The Early Show viewers. "Remember the writers strike? A lot of shows did not come back in the spring and had scaled down slates for the networks in the fall."

He also said a number of nominations went to TV shows and movies that did not have large audiences and suggested this might prompt more viewers to check them out. He mentioned the HBO show "In Treatment" and the sleeper hit "Slumdog Millionaire" as examples.

Clint Eastwood could be taking home a Golden Globe not for acting or directing, but for best original motion picture score in his film "Changeling."

Other nominees for best score unveiled Thursday include: Alexandre Desplat for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," James Newton Howard for "Defiance," A.R. Rahman for "Slumdog Millionaire" and Hans Zimmer for "Frost/Nixon."

Ross said his favorite nomination was Tom Cruise's nod for a cameo role as a studio boss in "Tropic Thunder."

All Golden Globes winners will be announced on the awards broadcast airing Jan. 11.

Movie nominations

Nominees for Best Picture, Drama, are:

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
  
• "Frost/Nixon"
  
• "The Reader"
  
• "Revolutionary Road"
  
• "Slumdog Millionaire"
  
• "The Visitor."

• "Burn After Reading"
  
• "Happy-Go-Lucky"
  
• "In Bruges"
  
• "Mamma Mia!"
  
• "Vicky Christina Barcelona"

• "Baader Meinhof Complex"
  
• "Everlasting Moments"
  
• "Gomorrah"
  
• "I've Loved You So Long"
  
• "Waltz With Bashir"

• Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"
  
• Stephen Daldry, "The Reader"
  
• David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
  
• Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"
  
• Sam Mendes, "Revolutionary Road"

• Leonardo DiCaprio, "Revolutionary Road"
  
• Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"
  
• Sean Penn, "Milk"
  
• Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
  
• Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

• Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"
  
• Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"
  
• Meryl Streep, "Doubt"
  
• Kristin Scott Thomas, "I've Loved You So Long"
  
• Kate Winslet, "Revolutionary Road"

• Javier Bardem, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
  
• Colin Farrell, "In Bruges"
  
• James Franco, "Pineapple Express"
  
• Brendan Gleeson, "In Bruges"
  
• Dustin Hoffman, "Last Chance Harvey"

• Rebecca Hall, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
  
• Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
  
• Frances McDormand, "Burn After Reading"
  
• Meryl Streep, "Mamma Mia!"
  
• Emma Thompson, "Last Chance Harvey"

• Tom Cruise, "Tropic Thunder"
  
• Robert Downey, Jr., "Tropic Thunder"
  
• Ralph Fiennes, "The Duchess"
  
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"
  
• Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"

• Amy Adams, "Doubt"
  
• Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
  
• Viola Davis, "Doubt"
  
• Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler"
  
• Kate Winslet, "The Reader"

• "Bolt"
  
• "Kung Fu Panda"
  
• "Wall-E."

• Simon Beaufoy, "Slumdog Millionaire"
  
• David Hare, "The Reader"
  
• Peter Morgan, "Frost/Nixon"
  
• Eric Roth, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
  
• John Patrick Shanley, "Doubt"

• Alexandre Desplat, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
  
• Clint Eastwood, "Changeling"
  
• James Newton Howard, "Defiance"
  
• Hans Zimmer, "Frost/Nixon"
  
• A.R. Rahman, "Slumdog Millionaire"

• "Down to Earth" (performed by Peter Gabriel, written by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman) "Wall-E"
  
• "Gran Torino" (performed by Clint Eastwood), "Gran Torino"
  
• "I Thought I Lost You" (performed Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, written by Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele), "Bolt"
  
• "Once in a Lifetime," (performed by Beyonce), "Cadillac Records"
  
• "The Wrestler" (performed by Bruce Springsteen, written by Bruce Springsteen), "The Wrestler"

Television Nominations

Nominees for Best Dramatic TV Series are:

• "Dexter"
  
• "House M.D."
  
• "In Treatment"
  
• "Mad Men"
  
• "True Blood"

• Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment"
  
• Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
  
• Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
  
• Hugh Laurie, "House M.D."
  
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "The Tudors"

• Sally Field, "Brothers & Sisters"
  
• Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: SVU"
  
• January Jones, "Mad Men"
  
• Anna Paquin, "True Blood"
  
• Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

• "Californication"
  
• "Entourage"
  
• "The Office"
  
• "30 Rock"
  
• "Weeds"

• Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
  
• Steve Carell, "The Office"
  
• Kevin Connolly, "Entourage"
  
• David Duchovny, "Californication"
  
• Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"

• Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?"
  
• America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"
  
• Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
  
• Debra Messing, "The Starter Wife"
  
• Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"

• "Cranford"
  
• "Bernard & Doris"
  
• "John Adams"
  
• "A Raisin in the Sun"
  
• "Recount"

• Eileen Atkins, "Cranford"
  
• Laura Dern, "Recount"
  
• Melissa George, "In Treatment"
  
• Rachel Griffiths, "Brothers & Sisters"
  
• Dianne Wiest, "In Treatment"

• Ralph Fiennes, "Bernard and Doris"
  
• Paul Giammatti, "John Adams"
  
• Kevin Spacey, "Recount"
  
• Keifer Sutherland, "24: Redemption"
  
• Tom Wilkinson, "Recount"

• Eileen Atkins, "Cranford"
  
• Laura Dern, "Recount"
  
• Melissa George, "In Treatment"
  
• Rachel Griffiths, "Brothers & Sisters"
  
• Dianne Wiest, "In Treatment"

• Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
  
• Denis Leary, "Recount"
  
• Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"
  
• Blair Underwood, "In Treatment"
  
• Tom Wilkinson, "John Adams"