Are Award Shows Over?
A Golden Globes recap: the highs, and the lowest ratings ever in its history.
The winners’ excuses for skipping the Golden Globes ceremony on Tuesday kept piling up, some more outlandish than others.
Zendaya had to work. (Fair.)
Cate Blanchett, who loves a dramatic red-carpet moment, was somehow too busy to RSVP “yes.” She was in the U.K., working, which is to say marinating in her brilliance. (Come on, Cate! Let us bask in your glow!)
Amanda Seyfried, whose uncanny Elizabeth Holmes portrait made her a shoo-in to win a Globe, stated in absentia that she was “deep in the process of creating a new musical” and thus could not be there. (I love this excuse so much and plan to use it next time I decline an invitation.)
Meanwhile, Kevin Costner was trapped up the California coast due to the crazy rainstorms — a legitimate excuse! (Nominee Brendan Fraser had one too.) In one of those unscripted viral moments that earned the Globes its anything-can-happen reputation, presenter Regina Hall, accepting Costner’s acting award for Yellowstone on his behalf, at first poked fun at his no-show, then backtracked once she realized the why of it. “He so much wanted to be here but because of the unprecedented weather and flooding, he has to shelter in place in Santa Barbara,” she said, squirming while reading the Teleprompter. She added: “Jesus. This is a sad story right now. … Let’s pray, everyone!”
It was riveting, real television, and yet the aforementioned actresses hadn’t bothered to show up to the party. Perhaps, without forswearing statuettes in the tradition of Tom Cruise, they were indirectly boycotting a shadowy organization — the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — that was exposed for corruption and lack of diversity within its membership. The 2023 festivities, which aired live on NBC after three years in the doghouse, showed that the HFPA is seemingly committed to rehabbing its tarnished image. While attendance wasn’t mandatory, the pros continued to outweigh the cons: The Globes remain a crucial campaign stop en route to winning the ultimate trophy, an Oscar, and equally important, they’re a rarified PR opportunity to bejewel oneself in loaned designer duds and get on those classy best-dressed lists. The glaring absences, however, seemed a sign that some stars have stopped giving a damn about appearances — at this event, at least. And if that’s the case, why should we, the viewers back home, tune into a three-hour, drawn-out broadcast when we can crack open our copy of Spare instead?
The Nielsens speak volumes. The Globes’ ratings slipped from 18.3 million in 2020 to 6.9 million in 2021 and then 6.3 million this year, hard evidence that public interest is waning fast. I predict the downward trend will continue as award shows slide into irrelevance, wrestling TikTok and other media for attention. With arched brows, many inside the industry wonder whether NBC will drop the low-rated Globes in 2024 — and cut the cord entirely, echoing millions who have done the same to network TV.
“I just watch the highlights the day after now, and that's been sufficient for me,” Jennifer Armstrong, the celebrated pop-culture analyst and author of When Women Who Invented Television tells me. “If I feel that way as a professional, I'm sure many regular folks feel even more-so! I always liked being part of the moment, but not enough to keep cable at this point.”
Call me a Luddite, or a Frank Navasky, but I’m not ready to quit a tradition dating back to my tweens, when I forced my family to gather round Ye Olde Panasonic and consume every hour of the boozy Globes, the prestigious Oscars, even the stuffy SAGs, lest we miss a Christine Lahti Highlight! By which I reference the winded actress dashing from the bathroom to the stage in 1998:
It was a simpler time, wasn’t it? In that era, we didn’t have YouTube, Instagram and Twitter to clip the buzziest cuts in real time (recall: The Slap of 2022), feeding bits and morsels to those opting out of the whole shebang, for which, I believe, there will always be an audience, though ever shrinking. I might just be the last woman standing. I get twitchy if I make other plans, like creating a new musical. I’m deep in the process!
Without further ado, my favorite high points from The 80th Golden Globe Awards:
Host Jerrod Carmichael, edgy and stylish, took risks onstage the way the best comedians do, from predecessor-provocateurs Ricky Gervais to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. He might need to enter witness protection following the Shelly Miscavige joke that wasn’t really a joke. Seriously, where is she?
Austin Butler accepted a Globe for his sizzling performance as Elvis … while speaking in The King’s Southern twang. Butler, who hails from California, hasn’t dropped the accent since filming the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic. You know what? I LOVE THAT. (I have a soft spot for pretentious Method actors.) Last year, Butler told Entertainment Tonight, “When you live with something for two years, and you do nothing else, I think that you can’t help it. It becomes a fiber of your being.” Never change, Austin!
Other heartwarming, high-spirited acceptance speeches by Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Jennifer Coolidge (White Lotus), who caused her show-runner to burst into tears. “If you don’t know Mike White,” she said, “this is what you should know: It’s like — he’s worried about the world. He’s worried about people. He’s worried about friends of his that aren’t doing well. … He really is one of the greatest people I’ve ever met.” Turning toward White, she continued: “He gives me so much excitement to be — you make people want to live longer, and I didn’t.”
The fashion did not disappoint. My pick for Best Dressed Actress is Letitia Wright in a Dreamsicle Prada number that offered a refreshing, strikingly modern contrast to all the ruffles, feathers and sequins on the carpet:
And last but not least, the award for Best Dressed Actor goes to … envelope please … Seth Rogen in a salmon Dior suit!
I applaud Rogen’s full, belated embrace of Millennial Pink, albeit like eight years behind the now-dated trend. On second thought, pink is forever. We’ll see if more men follow suit at the Oscars. You know I’ll be watching.