The night’s first award went to Ms. Kidman, who won best actress in a television movie or limited series. “Power of women!” she said, holding up her Globe and name checking her female co-stars. Ms. Kidman won for her role in “Big Little Lies,” in which she plays a battered wife who summons the courage to leave her husband. Her co-star Alexander Skarsgard won for best supporting actor, and the show won for best limited series or TV movie.

As expected, Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel about the repression of women, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” matched its best drama win last year at the Emmy Awards. Elisabeth Moss, who stars in that series, also repeated her Emmys win, collecting the trophy for best actress in a drama. The “This Is Us” star Sterling K. Brown was named best dramatic actor, the first time in Globes history that a black man had won that prize.

“You wrote a role for a black man that could only be played by a black man,” Mr. Brown said in his speech, thanking the “This Is Us” creator, Dan Fogelman, for creating his part. “I am being seen for who I am, and being appreciated for who I am, and it makes it that much more difficult to dismiss me or dismiss anybody who looks like me.”