Writers’ Strike Improves Golden Globes Ceremony

The Golden Globes, awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, had to make do without members of the Writers’ Guild of America and without members of the Screen Actors Guild which is honoring the writers’ picket line. The result was a press conference ceremony that was over in minutes, no red carpet and no musical number celebrating the egos of Hollywood. It was quite an improvement.

Naturally, one hopes the strike ends soon with a deal that satisfies everyone. However, if it does go on into February, the Oscars ceremony is also at risk. Actually, this could be the silver lining in the strike. If Ryan Seacrest doesn’t ask, “who are you wearing?” it can only be considered progress. And the prospect of the thing not dragging into the wee hours is even more exciting.

Since there were no “stars,” mere entertainment writers had to present the awards, and then, no doubt take them to Federal Express for delivery. Without acceptance speeches and no “witty” banter between presenters, the pace of the ceremony was rapid, but one didn’t miss anything that was truly important: the nominees and the winners.

This year’s crop of films is a fairly good one, and the awards were rather widely distributed. “Atonement” won for best picture, Johnny Depp received the best actor in a musical or comedy and Daniel Day-Lewis took the prize in drama. Julie Christie was named best actress in a drama, Marion Cotillard won in the musical/comedy category.

On the TV side, the broadcast networks got only 1 award, NBC’s "30 Rock" got Tina Fey the best actress prize. Everything else was cable, which says a great deal about American television these days. Pure and simple, the viewer has to pay for the good stuff.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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