Television: The Globes as News Event Equaled Utter Failure

It was quite a strange experience to watch the canceled Golden Globes event become a news event rather than an awards show. Gone were the beautiful glittery gowns and the lovely stars who wear them. There weren’t those awkward red carpet “personalities” asking the stars those meaningless questions to which we all want to know the answer. There was nothing but calm and quiet. You don’t really notice how much you love the noise until it’s that quiet.

Instead, there were the Access Hollywood hosts, Billy Bush and Nancy O’Dell, dressed up and standing at the podium. The show played out like an Access Hollywood episode classed up ever so slightly, with swollen Globes adorning the backdrop as the two infotainment journos got busy reading the nominees and the names.

When the first winner was announced, Cate Blanchett for I’m Not There, co-host Bush took the opportunity to give props to loser Amy Ryan and to also add that he felt Cate Blanchett only won because “she played a man.” Apparently, no one has taught Mr. Bush awards show etiquette – you don’t give your opinions on the winners or the losers after the fact.

Everyone always makes the common complaint that awards shows are boring because of the speeches. Well guess what? This should prove, beyond any doubt, that the wins and speeches are the most exciting thing about awards shows. People like to see other people win things. And maybe a part of them likes to see people lose things. The Globes is one of the rare awards shows that encourages its recipients to be funny rather than serious. Many of them still take it all very seriously, but in the end, stuff happens there that would never happen at the Oscars.

The other thing it proved was that awards shows need writers. If you give Billy Bush an opportunity to improvise, this is what you will get. It won’t be funny, insightful, or entertaining. Not to knock Bush completely; he did what he had to do under the circumstances. He’s a red carpet guy, not an awards guy. They were lucky they had Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger there to speak about the Globes.

The cancellation of the Golden Globes was a disaster for countless industries, maybe a few careers, and certainly the box office take of many an awards contender. Without the late night hype and televised publicity of the talk shows and of the Globes, no movie can really take full advantage of the season.

The Golden Globes used to be a dress rehearsal for the Oscars. It is, for many, the first time they have to really dress up and compete for the film awards. It is probably agonizing for many of them, especially when the camera zooms in to catch their losing-with-grace expression. Nonetheless, the Globes is such a big party nobody cares all that much who wins or loses.

Now, instead we had a dress rehearsal for an Oscar season without the Oscars, which maybe was the whole point of canceling this show. The writers had to do something dramatic and this was a great way of saying, okay, do we have your attention now? The answer is, yes, you have our attention, but what do you want us to do about it? Awards shows without writers are like coffee beans without a grinder.

This past week, the Directors Guild, along with some heavy hitters in Hollywood like Tom Hanks, George Clooney, and Steven Spielberg, met to mediate the tense standoff. Perhaps by the time you read this the strike will have come to an end with the writers coming out on the winning side.

Globes Winners

MOTION PICTURES:

• Picture, Drama: Atonement

• Actress, Drama: Julie Christie, Away From Her

• Actor, Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

• Picture, Musical or Comedy: Sweeney Todd

• Actress, Musical or Comedy: Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose

• Actor, Musical or Comedy: Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd

• Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There

• Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

• Director: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

• Screenplay: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men