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« Roush Dispatch
Golden Globes: A No-Show Show
Jon Hamm by Craig Blankenhorn/AMC
What if they gave an awards show and nobody came? That heretofore rhetorical question has been answered twice in the last week, with unspeakably unwatchable results.
First came CBS’ comically corny and pitifully rated People’s Choice Awards last Tuesday. With its ceremonial and traditionally well-attended all-star party scrapped by the writers’ strike, this new and unimproved version (with winners accepting in awkward taped segments) was emceed by poor Queen Latifah from what looked like a drag queen's bunker. I only made it through the first commercial break of that sad excuse for a show before bailing.
But I had no choice but to slog through all of NBC’s historic (for all the wrong reasons) telecast Sunday of what the network called “The Golden Globes Winners Special.” Though only an hour long, it felt much longer than the usual three-hour glamourfest as Billy Bush and Nancy O’Dell struggled to vamp their way through what can only be thought of as an extra-long edition of No Access Hollywood. Typical moment of wit: “Imagine a guy named Hamm being an actor,” Bush quipped after announcing Jon Hamm’s win for best drama actor for Mad Men. (Yay for that, by the way.)
No stars around to accept, just one pundit on hand, and two babbling anchors rattling off winners that more canny viewers could have seen announced earlier in real time over on the TV Guide Network or E!, both of which aired live telecasts from the actual awards announcement press conference (which looked an awful lot like one of those early-morning nomination announcements, minus stars).
Bush and O’Dell had to fill, fill, fill to stretch the off-camera announcements to an hour’s length. They were as breathless as the show was weightless. No suspense, no drama, no tipsy winners to make a spectacle of themselves. In short, no fun. And NBC has only itself to blame for this debacle. The tug-of-war between NBC (which had pressed for exclusive rights to air the announcements as a “news” special), Dick Clark Productions and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association got really ugly late last week, and no one came out a winner here. Least of all the viewers.
If I feel bad for anyone in all of this, it’s for the winners from underdog shows like AMC’s Mad Men (which also won for best drama series) and NBC’s 30 Rock (whose creator-star Tina Fey won for comedy actress, though Alec Baldwin and the show itself were upset by, respectively, Californication's David Duchovny and HBO’s Extras). These shows could have used the publicity bump that would've come from accepting their awards on camera, especially the ultra-glamorous cast of Mad Men.
As for who won (for what it matters, because it’s really more about the movies), I applaud the Globes for recognizing Mad Men and Jon Hamm, and Glenn Close’s win for Damages was a solid no-brainer. And while Jeremy Piven was overdue his first Globe win for Entourage, I wish the supporting category wasn’t such a mixed bag of comedy, drama and TV-movie actors so Ted Danson could have been singled out for his stunning dramatic turn on Damages. The Globes were predictably unpredictable in the comedy categories. Their picks weren’t my picks, but so what?
It’s not like we’ll remember who won and lost a year from now. What we’ll never forget is what a bad idea it was to televise any aspect of the Golden Globes at all this year.
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Jan 13, 2008 11:30 PM
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I'm not a fan of award shows in general, but I really feel for Mad Men. They are deserving of all their awards and I'm sorry a wider audience didn't get to witness them win...because everyone should experience the talented yumminess that is Jon Hamm. 
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Jan 14, 2008 12:27 AM
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I was lucky enough to discover the shorter and slightly less horrible coverage on E! a few minutes after the show started. I think they really should have done it the same way they do the nominations and moved the ceremony to either last Friday morning or this morning. If they had given the awards out during the Today show perhaps they could have gotten some of the winners to appear or atleast phone in. Anything would have been better than what we got.
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Jan 14, 2008 4:22 AM
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I switched from NBC to CNN. While I could do without Larry King's backbeat, I did not find the "ceremony" all that bad. The NBC fiasco was a true train wreck. The somehow managed to make an hour long special feel longer than the actual awards! I also found it comical that CNN was completely done with their announcements at least a full half an hour before NBC finished their show.
As a side note I am thrilled that John Hamm was recognized for "Mad Men". I miss the show (and many others) already.
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Jan 14, 2008 6:50 AM
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oh no! I didn't realize it was being shown on other stations! I agonized through the NBC telecast. I was working on homework at the same time so I wasn't completely paying attention-but what little attention I did pay made me nauseous--Nancy O'Dell and whoever that was with her were HORRIBLE. Awful!
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Jan 14, 2008 8:44 AM
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Matt -
You made it to the first commercial with Bush and O'Dell. I did not make it past the first two minutes.
I love watching the Golden Globes because they are so freeform - loose and unpredictable.
Who at NBC in their right mind thought Bush and Odell were the people to have hosting that debacle? They are snippet read off the prompter mannequins, not satirists, comedians or talk show hosts.
I hope NBC learns something from this. But I think things will get worse if the strike does not end soon.
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Jan 14, 2008 8:56 AM
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Typical moment of wit: “Imagine a guy named Hamm being an actor,”
On the bright side, imagine the glee of the Writers Guild watching the show. I think anchors "banter" really drove home the point of why we need the writers back at work!
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Jan 14, 2008 10:01 AM
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The actual press conference, which was thankfully broadcast by E! and TVGuide Network was miles better than the 5 minutes of Access Hollywood I attempted to sit through.
I watched the live coverage at 6pm PT and then tuned in to NBC at 9pm to see what I had missed only to find out it was a completely different thing.
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Jan 14, 2008 12:24 PM
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Loved it. Hated it. As follows:
1. Loved that I was able to get to the bottom line in 1 hour, instead of having to sit through 3+ hours of torture to get to the "good" awards.
2. Hated that I didn't know that stations other than NBC were carrying the results. I was therefore subjected to the idiocy that was Bush and O'Dell.
Will NOT make that mistake again.
3. Loved that Jon Hamm and Mad Men won. Both very deserving.
4. Hated not seeing George Clooney on the red carpet. Despite the loss of eye candy, I would be happy to see this format next year.
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Jan 14, 2008 12:55 PM
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Okay, so you all saw that Billy Bush was hosting, still watched and are let down because he was horrible? hahahahaha!!! That's like having Ms. Teen USA host the Democratic Debate and being let down that she didn't do a good job.
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Jan 14, 2008 1:09 PM
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While ordinarily I would tune in to root Jon Hamm and "Mad Men" on for anything and everything (while bemoaning the lack of a nom for the exquisite January Jones), I had to pass because the prospect of a straight needle in the eyeball is more appealing than having to watch just ten seconds of Billy Bush doing anything.
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Jan 14, 2008 3:19 PM
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I'm happy for David Duchovny! The X-Files always made a huge showing at the Globes, and I was worried that DD's days in the spotlight were over. Not so, apparently 
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Jan 14, 2008 4:27 PM
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The main reason to watch the Golden Globes is because it is usually more fun than the other award shows. With the show being nothing more than reading the winners names, there was really no reason to watch this year. So I watched Persuasion on PBS Masterpiece instead. Lovely film.
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Jan 15, 2008 11:08 AM
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I watched a few moments on TVGC, then switched to NBC to see how they were handling it. (And the answer is...badly.) Within a minute or so I changed the channel back to TVGC, but even then, I could only hang on for around 4 or 5 award announcements before I abandoned it altogether. I either don't or can't watch most of the TV shows that won, so I really had no impetus to stick around.
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Jan 15, 2008 2:58 PM
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