The Golden Globes are back, and I still don’t care
I’ve always had a thing about the Golden Globe Awards — a negative thing. Somehow, for many years, this small group of fewer than 100 international journalists found itself behind a juggernaut TV awards show — or, really, a juggernaut promotional vehicle for the studios that was pretending to be a valid awards show. The group, the nonprofit Hollywood Foreign Press Association, was famous for exchanging votes for favors and gifts, nominating almost anyone willing to send them on a free vacation. And yet their awards for TV as well as movies were treated seriously. The best adjective I can come up with to describe the whole thing? Cockamamie.
After getting busted in a Los Angeles Times expose in 2021 for a number of ethical lapses, and criticized for the lack of diversity among its members, NBC chose to cancel the telecast. Tom Cruise returned his statuettes! But the network, along with the streamer Peacock, is bringing back the show on Tuesday night, since the HFPA has announced that it has brought in more voters and some diversity. The organization also now has a universal gift ban.
I’m all for second chances. But the Globes have been such a pointless exercise all along, I’d rather just see it disappear. Alas, it’s probably just too valuable to Hollywood as a way to get attention for movies and shows, and as a way to highlight Oscar hopefuls. While some actors, producers, writers, and directors will surely decide to stay home this year, I imagine the studios are leaning on them all to attend. So far the list of presenters isn’t nearly as starry as usual: Ana De Armas, Ana Gasteyer, Billy Porter, Colman Domingo, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Natasha Lyonne, Nicole Byer, Niecy Nash-Betts, Quentin Tarantino, and Tracy Morgan. Jerrod Carmichael will be hosting.
Tuesday night, what else is on Tuesday night? If you have streaming, almost anything you want is on. If you’re locked into the networks, find a procedural (the “FBI” shows on CBS?) or reruns of “The Office” and consider yourself entertained.