All You Need to Know about the Golden Globes

The New York Times has the deets – awkward though they may be – for watching the show that Twitter killed before it even had a chance to air. Just kidding. Either way, for anyone who might be interested in watching:

What time do the festivities start?

The ceremony begins at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific.

If you’re committed to watching all possible coverage, you’ll want to park yourself on your couch by 4 p.m. Eastern time, 1 p.m. Pacific — that’s when E! begins its preshow coverage. The official Golden Globe Awards preshow begins streaming live from the official @GoldenGlobes Twitter account and on the website at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, 3:30 Pacific. And the network broadcasting the ceremony, NBC, also has a preshow; with Jane Lynch and Susan Kelechi Watson as hosts, it starts at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific.

Where can you watch the ceremony?

On television, NBC is the official broadcaster. Online, if you have a cable login, you can watch via NBC.com/live. Depending on where you live, there’s also Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, AT&T TV Now, YouTube TV or FuboTV, which all require subscriptions, though many are offering free trials.

And of course, the Times must fill in Gen-Z on what all the fuss is about. I guess the end goal here is to revamp the Globes to become Gen-Z friendly.

Just what are the Globes anyway?

The 25 film and television awards are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 journalists mainly known for this ceremony. There’s no overlap with the more than 9,000 Academy Awards voters, but because of the timing (Oscar nominations this year fall on March 15), the Globes can seem like they’re influential.

The Globes ARE influential. It isn’t that they can seem like they’re influential. They’re influential because people — theoretically, prior to the recent uproar — watch the show and thus they see people win. And that is how people are, and how they vote in a consensus. They vote, much of the time, on momentum and passion.  Now they really don’t, not in 2021. They vote defensively — as in: which of these contenders is going to get me screamed at less.

The H.F.P.A. has been in the spotlight recently after a Los Angeles Times investigation highlighted the lack of Black voting members. (This year’s slate of eligible Black-led films, including “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “One Night in Miami,” “Da 5 Bloods” and “Judas and the Black Messiah,” were shut out of the Globes’ best picture nominations.) A New York Times report also found that the tax-exempt nonprofit paid more than $3 million in salaries and other compensation to members and staff.

In Best Picture Musical / Comedy — Hamilton which, last time I checked, had only one white person in the cast. And The Prom, which is not only diverse in all possible ways. You can’t find a single film made this year that literally checks every single box necessary to satisfy the needs of every single group.

Best Actress — two black actresses, which is more inclusive that the SAG awards this year. Viola Davis in Ma Rainey and Andra Day in the United States vs. Billie Holiday.

Best Actor – Riz Ahmed in The Sound of Metal and Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Supporting Actor – Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah, Leslie Odom, Jr. One Night in Miami.

Best Director – three, count ’em three women after last year’s freak out over the lack of women. Here we have Chloe Zhao, Nomadland, Regina King, One Night in Miami (second black woman to be nominated for Best Director where DGA and Oscar have ZERO). And Emerald Fennell with Promising Young Woman.

Screenplay – Chloe Zhao for Nomadland and Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman.

So yes, one category – Best Picture Drama – has mostly white casts but two of the films are directed by woman and one is directed by a woman of color.

I’m not sure all of this taken into consideration shows a lack of progress, but okay.

What should you watch for?

Netflix once again dominated the nominations this year, garnering a whopping 42. Its films include David Fincher’s Old Hollywood biopic, “Mank,” which picked up six nominations, and Aaron Sorkin’s latest courtroom drama, “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which got five. Hulu’s “Nomadland,” which stars Frances McDormand, picked up four, and the film’s director, Chloé Zhao, could become the first woman of Asian descent to be honored in a director category. Chadwick Boseman is also a favorite to be honored for best actor for his final film role as a trumpeter in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Jane Fonda will be given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, and Norman Lear will get the Carol Burnett Award for contributions to television.

But yes, despite these wins we’re still looking at the Globes being under a cloud of shame. Twenty years ago it would be unheard of that a woman of Asian descent (from China) is going to win Best Director, or that three of the most dominant Best Director winners for the last ten years would be from Mexico.

Will you watch? What are you hoping to see?