FIRST TIME’S THE CHARM
‘ Transparent’ and ‘ The Affair’ win big at the Golden Globes
Ihope Emmy voters took notes during Sunday night’s Golden Globe Awards. Now that’s how to give out awards. to people who actually deserve them.
What a novel concept for the tired awards-show genre.
the Globes hit all the right notes, rewarding statuettes to the rightful winners — and to quite a few first-time nominees. It was almost as if we, the viewers of these tV shows and movies, were choosing the victors!
In short, the Globes go t it right.
When’s the last time anyone said that about the staid, predictable Emmys?
Notwithstanding lackadaisical co-hosts tina Fey and Amy Poehler — back for their final cohosting gig and invisible for most of the telecast — it was nice to see actors, actresses and tV shows cited for legitimately good work, rather than the rote choices by Emmy voters (Jim Parsons and Julia Louis-Dreyfus … again?!).
How great was it to see a stunned Gina Rodriguez, who won as Best Actress, Musical or comedy for “Jane the Virgin,” deliver a teary, heartfelt thank-you to her family? Ditto for Ruth Wilson, a stranger to US audiences, awarded for her stunning acting on “the Affair.” She’s a stranger no more.
And did anyone really think a streaming series l i ke “transparent” — which premiered quietly last fall and didn’t make much noise thereafter — would win two awards? Not only did “transparent” outduel better-knowns hows like “Girls,” but it snared veteran actor Jeffrey tambor his first Golden Globe after forty-plus years in the industry. tambor, t re m - bling, dedicated his award to the transgender community (the raison
d’etre for “transparent”). classy, selfless move.
“the Affair” also won (for dramatic series) after its maiden season, and while I still think Dominic West deserved to join Wilson as an “Affair” winner, I can’t quibble with Kevin Spacey’s “House of cards” victory.
All in all, Sunday’s Golden Globes showed what awards shows should be about — the talent, and not the hype.
Kudos to a job welldone.