We watched the Golden Globes last light for the first time. We did not plan to; it just came on after the Denver/SD game and Meredy’s nap. Being Tina Fey fans, we stuck around. We didn’t see much of Tina, but we did end up feeling steeped in Americana…which is an odd side effect to something ridden into town by the Hollywood Foreign Press. I am not certain what that body is comprised of, but it is evident that they approve of heavy drinking. It is a group who also amused themselves by seating potential winners as far from the stage as possible so that we could witness each recipient, hugging, kissing, and high-fiving celebrities on their way to the podium. Some were called from so far away they could have gotten frequent flier points. Like the Oscars, the speeches pretty much went to prove that none of these talents have much to say without a script. Lots of people thanked their teams, which I guess is 2014 for posse, which was 2004 for friends on my payroll. Yet, I was particularly impressed that not a single recipient began by thanking the Academy. My guess is there was a huge cue card to that affect. Being new to the game, I was also struck by the fact that the Globes cover both movies and TV..which is very appropriate these days due to the extreme crossover of old movie stars into commercials. Yet, our typical reaction after each award was “Who?” It turns out that we have seen about 10% of everything nominated and recognized Redford, Sandra Bullock, and some other guy whose name is coming to me. Oh, and we recognized Dianne Keaton, who sang a children’s song to Woody Allen that is often performed in 3rd grade at Oak Grove. Meredy knew the song, which made us both feel very hip and with it. We both really like Woody Allen (as a filmmaker…he wouldn’t be so good to, say, co-parent with) and it is my guess that he does not ever attend these functions, not because he particularly distains awards, but he could not take all of the hugging. This was a very huggy crowd, especially once they were in their cups, which was by the end of the red carpet.
Otherwise, the whole thing looked like a (very) low-budget Oscars, where money was saved on a professional crew, monitors that worked and a stage borrowed from the set of Behind the Candelabra (we saw that!..we think) in order to afford all of the booze that greased the wheels of the program. Fortunately, some of the earliest recipients were so stewed I think it tended to sober everyone else up a bit, except for Emma Thompson, who forgot the envelope, but did remember her drink and to remove her shoes. Oh, yeah… and The Wolf of Wall St. won an award for the best comedy or musical?????? It must have been the dance numbers, because they rest of that shit does not strike me as very funny.
All-in-all, we feel much more connected to mainstream America. We don’t really plan to watch many of the programs, though we did note to watch Dallas Buyer’s Club. We the stayed up to watch Downton Abbey and called it a night. Meanwhile, perhaps feeling out of the GG running this year, sweet, wry, stuffy Downton Abbey had a frigging rape scene. I suspect by the end of the season they will have a car chase and a footman who develops super powers. I want to see them win next year just so I can see the entire cast of about 50 file onstage from wherever they sit the PBS people.