Page Text: Golden Globes: What’s Even Happening… and Who Will Win?
Did you realise it’s the Golden Globes tomorrow? No? That’s not surprising.
Despite many other awards and other events getting delayed, the HFPA are going ahead with the Golden Globes this weekend! Should we be surprised? No, not really. There’s little risk of spreading Omicron to stars and guests if there are no stars or guests attending. Even the press have been told not to bother applying to, it’ll be a very small, simple event.
This year’s ‘ceremony’ isn’t going to be aired on TV, and with no celebrity presenters, nor any nominees attending, there wouldn’t be much to watch except HFPA representatives reading lists and announcing winners. But therein lay an opportunity.
More than ever before, the Golden Globes are standing alone, abandoned by all their past supporters, one of the first notable events of the award season, yet the last to change plans. I strongly believe they should just make it an open stream on YouTube like they do with the nominations announcement every year. That would grab an international audience of anyone who is interested but wouldn’t have searched out, or paid, for ways to watch it otherwise.
Here in the UK it’s not an awards show that usually gets aired on TV, even on subscription services, so I usually have to search it out the next day on YouTube, often finding clip montages at best. If it was on YouTube, I’d stay up to watch it, even this year.
However, in one of the most unfathomable decisions yet by the HFPA, they’ve said that’s NOT happening. There will be no way to watch the Golden Globes this year at all. What a stupid choice!
Everyone knows, ‘out of sight is out of mind’, so now, rather than simply suffer the shame of being called out on their failings, they’ve effectively cancelled themselves into oblivion. Why are they even doing anything this year?
There’s still an award ceremony, in the Beverly Hilton Ballroom, just the only ones who see it will be those few in attendance. Where there was an opportunity to refocus attention where it needed to be, show the new leadership, diverse additions, hear about the things that they’ve been doing, now there’s nothing but a stream of tweets and a press release once all is said and done. For an organisation that’s trying to regain credibility, profess transparency, and prove it has changed, taking their biggest event behind closed doors is an idiotic move, and a wasted opportunity.
Where they could’ve taken their own reins for a year, holding on to what interest there was left in their awards, the HFPA has likely just put the final nail in their own coffin. I don’t see how they get back to prominence and any level of legitimacy after this, what TV network is going to pick them up next year? It’s going to be a hard sell.
Despite their insignificance, here are my predictions, though they’re probably far from correct. I have a first choice (1) a backup choice (2) and who I’d personally vote for in some instances (P).
Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy
“The Great” (Hulu)
1. “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
“Reservation Dogs” (FX on Hulu)
2P. “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV Plus)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama
1. Brian Cox (“Succession”)