The Golden Globes are always a joke. Foreign Press favorites and international artists receive favored consideration. Plus, winning a Golden Globe bears no relationship on whether you’ll win an Oscar. Or even be nominated for an Oscar. So you can’t use them to handicap. And for television, the awards come after the Emmys so the same people who won in September often win one of these in January. Gee, CHERNOBYL, and FLEABAG won. What a surprise!
I also find Ricky Gervais now repellent. Once upon a time I admired him. I thought his version of THE OFFICE was one of the freshest, funniest sitcoms I had ever seen. His early hosting duties were edgy but with a twinkle. And now he’s just a bitter, unfunny, sad guy whose only act is shock humor. For me it’s gotten to the point where even if I agree with the targets he’s skewering I still hate him.
But the message is clear: When you hire Ricky Gervais to host the show (considering his track record) you are forfeiting any class and stature and thus cheapening your awards even before the show begins. The Foreign Press would gladly sacrifice dignity for trending.
So why should I care? And why should I watch?
If there is a good moment or memorable speech I’m sure there’ll be clips of it on line. I’m told they used a clip from VOLUNTEERS in the Tom Hanks montage so sorry I missed that three second portion of the 3+ hour self-lovefest. I’m sure Tom’s speech was classy (and thus out of place). I’ll see a clip.
For great television on Sunday, those two NFL Playoff Games were fantastic. Drama, suspense, great moments – only thing missing was the gowns.
36 comments :
Ditto-didn't watch, didn't care. Ricky is a bore to me (and if he knew who I was I'm sure he'd feel the same about me). There was plenty on Amazon Prime to keep my attention, and a lot of YouTube videos on plumbing.
I agree with everything you said about Gervais, but to me, he was *never* funny. Sorry, I just never got his appeal.
"forfeiting any class and stature and thus cheapening your awards"
but you already said
"The Golden Globes are always a joke."
Coming to the celebrities, just look at the comments section
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-mE0KZnzyc
Viewers loved him ripping apart these perverts.
Come on Ken, we know you love the scathing attack as much as we do ;)
Did Tom thank the writers like you, who wrote great scripts, which shaped his career?
Or did he just kiss directors ass?
Listen to the laughs. They loved the jokes.
Hollywood loves to laugh at themselves.
The Epstein joke and the reactions says it all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBroP4vDcOk
The cats - dogs joke was brilliant.
Leo joke was brutally honest.
And what a slap on the face of Apple's Tim Cook. All dressed up and smug and hobnobbing with celebrities and Ricky takes him down.
The look on De Niro's face when Ricky joked about his best bud Epstein 😂😂😂
So nowadays you basically hate all award shows, hosts, movies, TV shows....
What happened?
I love reading your blog but your posts about awards shows have been more of the same lately as well. No offense meant but before you when have posts like this, there's a lot witty snark that's fun to read, now it's just simply complaining. But of course this is your blog and your prerogative but just want to share my thoughts as a long time reader.
I stopped being able to take the Golden Globes seriously years ago when Pia Zadora won for New Star of the Year
I still don't get the point of the Golden Globes. You've got Oscars for movies, Emmys for television, Grammys for music, then Golden Globes for . . . all of the above? What's the point? Why not just do away with Golden Globes, or do away with all of the others and just have the Golden Globes?
Either way, my heart still goes out to all of the people in the thankless jobs of having to put these shows together and coordinate them and everything - having been in a similar position before, it's incredibly difficult and there's very little glory in it.
Joe, who's the guy partying with Jeffrey Epstein in these photos? He looks awfully familiar. Any idea?
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/07/11/us/politics/09dc-trumpspstein1/09dc-trumpspstein1-articleLarge-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale
https://media12.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/201907/nn_sgo_trump_epstein_tape_190717_1920x1080.760;428;7;70;5.jpg
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/ATK2LIVIWMI6TBZTJDEHENPTSY.jpg&w=767
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ad1ysX2iLmA/maxresdefault.jpg
For the first time ever, it was a show that awarded GGs to shows I have never seen (yet) and some I haven't even heard of. And what the fuck was the deal with TWO announcers, a guy and a gal? I thought that maybe the lady said "I can't handle this shit anymore, I'm outta here!" Or had a sex change halfway through the show. At least one of the escorts kept my attention, Dylan Brosnan, Pierce's son. I was yelling at the TV "Dude, eat SOMETHING!" I wager that if he lifted his shirt and you looked into his belly button you'd see his spine.
@ Joseph,
They make loads of money from telecast rights.
Awards shows are a business.
1917 was the big winner. And there's nothing more entertaining to watch than war. Guess the guy in the White House is preparing to win a Golden Globe too.
I liked him last night.
They kept Ricky off except for the Monologue, a few lead-ins and the end. But I have to say, watching Tom Hanks, the nicest guy in Hollywood, react to Rickey Gervais telling Hollywood to go fuck off was amazing. The wide shots of the star-studded audience was one of the whitest things I have seen since the Republican convention.
I disagree with you that Ricky Gervais is only into shock humor. I know you probably won't, but listen to his interview on the Sam Harris podcast, Making Sense. He talked about starting out and the state of the internet intolerance. Did you know John Wayne was trashed because his 1970 Playboy interview was not "Woke" enough? I think we need an asshole defending our side too.
See what I did there? I disagreed with you but I totally respect your opinion. Was that so hard? Come on people!
The Golden Globes are such a joke they hire Ricky Gervais to insult the awards AND the guests. And STILL the guests merrily tot out to be roasted by Gervais. Shrug.
I don’t really feel bad for those sitting in the audience, I don’t think he really was too nasty to any one person.
Was it actually funny though? It made me laugh at times, but it was mainly shock value than clever crafted skewering. I think he did help pop the bubble of pretentiousness that surrounds these things with the last rant of his monologue.
Worth watching his opening at least.
Friday Question: I’m watching Mary Tyler Moore for the first time and really getting why it was so unique and clever and different. It’s so good. I guess the 70s outfits, and maybe Ted Baxter’s broadness, are why it doesn’t seem to get mentioned much these days?
It’s brilliant though. Comedy purely from character. I think Cloris Leachman’s Phyllis is expertly drawn.
But as new viewer I’m also thinking: Hmm Mary Tyler Moore married to the head of the network. In a show produced by her production company. Starring her. With a theme song about how wonderful her character is. I guess it says a lot about the quality of the show and performances that this doesn’t bother me more. It’s so good!
Um. My question: What was it like watching that show in the 70s? Did it maintain its quality? Do you think MTM was as much of a horror back when she was playing America’s sweetheart?
Leo and Marty took the jokes well.
Tom Hanks' shocked reaction is now a meme.
His wife Rita Wilson was annoyed with the Felicity Huffman joke.
Nicole's husband did not laugh. Maybe his platform shoes were biting him.
Brad didn't know how to react. Sort of a lonely confused man.
Finally thank god someone said aloud many things viewers kept on harping.... mainly about the steroid junkie actors / actresses.
I miss the good old Mel Gibson jokes.
I thought Ricky was hilarious last night.
I watched the show - I'm addicted to these things. But if it doesn't bring you joy, then you didn't miss much.
Except for Roman Griffin Davis - that child was poised, entertaining, and so thrilled to be there - https://www.themarysue.com/roman-griffin-davis-gets-his-kingsman-shout-out-from-taron-egerton/
Gervais has been better. I don't mind his poking at people, and some of his jokes last night were funny. Bit, he played up his " I don't care" attitude so much that he didn't sell them very well.
As for Tom Hanks' speech, it was rambling and hard to follow. You didn't miss much.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood won for best musical/comedy. WHAT?!?
I think it's good that you have blogged about it, because the network puts it on the level of the Oscars.
Everyone was laughing at the jokes except for maybe Hanks who kept making weird faces.
Did anyone see 1917? Was it good?
I'd like to add, the gowns were the worst in years.
Ken, I agree. I always liked Gervais in The Office and Extras. Now he just seems not funny but bitter. Kind of like what happened to Joan Rivers in the end. Anyway, Joe, Everyone knows DeNiro only dates/marries black females, and I doubt very much if he would find those ladies around tRump/Epstein....and you know why.
I don't ever watch the program either. And the only clips I watch (and I've watched them many times) are the opening monologues from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler when they were hosts. Funny stuff!
Mean spirited. Insulting. Be snarky, but snarky without clever is just mean. If I’d been on the barbed end of mean, walking out would have been my answer.
An award show at best should celebrate the skill and talent of all concerned. Have fun with the people, they can take it, but don’t throw poison spears at the unarmed. There are numerous platforms in today’s world to attack anybody for any reason, warranted or not.
And I used to like Ricky, too. He used to be clever.
Mean spirited. Insulting. Be snarky, but snarky without clever is just mean. If I’d been on the barbed end of mean, walking out would have been my answer.
An award show at best should celebrate the skill and talent of all concerned. Have fun with the people, they can take it, but don’t throw poison spears at the unarmed. There are numerous platforms in today’s world to attack anybody for any reason, warranted or not.
And I used to like Ricky, too. He used to be clever.
Thought you might enjoy this: https://twitter.com/peter_miller/status/1212644185628532736
It's in response to a viral tweet about choosing a subway seat, as explained here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/nyregion/best-subway-seat.html
We need more award shows
J. Walker: Mary Tyler Moore and her (second?) husband Grant Tinker formed the MTM production company together, but her 1970s series was over and they were divorced when he became the head of a network - and it was NBC (whereas all her various series aired on CBS).
I noticed for most of the categories (such as Director), the announcer read the names of the nominees as well as the movies they were nominated for. For Screenplay, he just read the movie titles, without saying who had written them.
Doing stuff about Mr. Epstein in 2020 doesn't impress me- if Mr. Gervais had done this bit back in 2010- that would have been impressive. And looking on the Google machine, I see an newspaper article from 2011 headlined "Ricky Gervais and Alan Sugar pay tribute to late Jimmy Savile".
I haven't watched the Golden Globes in years but since it was being broadcast live and not re-edited for a later broadcast (like the MTV Movie Awards) I decided to watch, or try to. Within minutes they were bleeping Ricky Gervais on a "live" broadcast which clearly had a 7 second delay to spare people's tender sensibilities. I found that offensive and I turned it off.
Ellen's speech--and Kate McKinnon's heartfelt introduction--are well worth watching.
Pia Zadora didn't win the Golden Globe, her husband bought it for her.
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