The Case against the Golden Globes

[LessAspin]

The goofiest major entertainment industry awards show — the Golden Globes — is once again upon us. This year they feel even weirder than usual.

The ceremony is normally in January, but the 2021 edition was postponed for two months to keep pace with the Globes’ desire to influence Oscar voters, whose 2021 ceremony was also postponed for two months due to the pandemic. Hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are splitting duties from opposite coasts. And since it’s not safe to gather a ton of people inside one theater, none of the traditional open-bar chaos will ensue, though that’s no guarantee that people won’t be getting sloppy on their webcams.

The Golden Globes can be fun to watch, but that doesn’t erase the fact that they’re — well, let’s not sugarcoat it. They’re super annoying. Recent news has underlined the many reasons why: They’re corrupt, the organization that gives them out is pretty shady, and the nominations are frequently so off-the-wall that people usually spend more time arguing about them than consulting them as a helpful guide for catch-up viewing. In terms of honors, they mean very little, but we keep talking about them every year mainly because they air on TV...

The Golden Globes’ TV slot is a big reason the awards loom large in the cultural imagination. The show has aired on television for decades, but the telecast really grew in 1995, when it moved from TBS (a cable station) to NBC (a broadcast network), where it now airs annually. And according to the Los Angeles Times, NBC pays a lot for that privilege:

https://www.vox.com/22301883/golden-globes-2021-bad-corrupt-emily-paris-music-minari

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