You know what didn’t happen Sunday? The 79th annual Golden Globes airing on TV.
NBC pulled the plug on the awards telecast due to a lack of diversity within the voting membership of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, while Netflix, Amazon and WarnerMedia also refused to participate in any events until the HFPA changes its ways.
Founded in 1943, the HFPA is a nonprofit organization of journalists based in the U.S. who cover the entertainment industry for publications predominantly abroad.
It largely went unchecked until a Los Angeles Times expose last February revealed that the HFPA did not have a single Black voter in its 87 members from over 40 countries.
The HFPA issued an apology: “We must and will do more. These are the initial steps we will take over the next 60 days … we are committed to achieving these objectives in order to increase transparency in our organization and build a more inclusive community.”
In October, the group announced 21 new members, including six Black journalists, but it was too little too late as NBC announced that it wouldn’t be airing the awards on Jan. 9.
This allowed the Critics Choice Awards to swoop in and announce that it would televise its ceremony on The CW on Jan. 9, sparking a petulant rivalry with the Golden Globes as both organizations announced their nominees on Dec. 13.
Ultimately, the Critics Choice Awards postponed its in-person ceremony due to the COVID-19 Omicron variant, but the HFPA still announced its winners in a private ceremony.
So, if you even still care, which movies and shows won the awards?
On the Comedy/Musical side, Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” won Best Picture, Best Actress for Rachel Zegler as Maria and Best Supporting Actress for Ariana DeBose as Anita, while Andrew Garfield won Best Actor as Jonathan Larson in “Tick, Tick … Boom!”
On the Drama side, Netflix’s slow-burn Western “The Power of the Dog” won Best Picture, Best Director for Jane Campion and Best Supporting Actor for Kodi Smit-McPhee, while Will Smith won Best Actor as the father of Venus and Serena Williams in “King Richard” and Nicole Kidman won Best Actress as Lucille Ball in “Being the Ricardos.”
Kenneth Branagh won Best Screenplay for “Belfast.” “Encanto” won Best Animation. Japan’s “Drive My Car” won Best Non-English Language Film. Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” won Best Original Song. Hans Zimmer won Best Original Score for “Dune.”
On the TV side, HBO’s “Succession” won Best Drama, Best Actor (Drama) for Jeremy Strong and Best Supporting Actress for Sarah Snook, while Michaela Jae Rodriguez won Best Actress (Drama) for FX’s “Pose.” O Yeong-su won Best Supporting Actor for Netflix’s “Squid Game.”
The HBO Max series “Hacks” won Best Comedy and Best Actress (Comedy) for Jean Smart, while Jason Sudeikis won Best Actor (Comedy) for “Ted Lasso” on Apple TV+.
Barry Jenkins’ harrowing Amazon series “The Underground Railroad” won Best Limited Series, while Kate Winslet won Best Actress (Limited Series) for HBO’s “Mare of Easttown” and Michael Keaton won Best Actor (Limited Series) for Hulu’s “Dopesick.”
It will be fascinating to watch whether studios actually promote their wins for award-season clout or if they ignore them in solidarity with boycotts. Several publications refused to even cover last night’s private ceremony, which was basically a glorified Twitter thread.
The Twitter announcements were hard to follow, listing the names of the winning actors but not mentioning the films or shows for which they won. The captions were cringeworthy like “West Side Story” winning Best Musical because “laughter is the best medicine.” Is tragedy funny? They deleted the tweet and reposted to say, “Music is the best medicine.”
In the end, what does it all mean? Do the Golden Globes even matter anymore?
The star-studded ceremony was once a bellwether for the Oscars as the first major award ceremony in January, but trying to read the tea leaves is an unreliable Oscar predictor.
In the past 10 years, the Globe drama winner has gone on to win the Best Picture Oscar only 40% of the time: “Argo,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Moonlight” and “Nomadland.” The other 60% failed to win the Oscar with “The Descendants,” “Boyhood,” “The Revenant,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “1917.”
The Globe comedy/musical winner only won 20% of the time in the past decade: “The Artist” and “Green Book.” The other 80% failed to win the Best Picture Oscar with “Les Miserables,” “American Hustle,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Martian,” “La La Land,” “Lady Bird,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Borat: Subsequent Movefilm.”
NBC says it’s open to bringing the Globes back in 2023 if it takes step to diversify.
See the full list of winners here.
