The Golden Globes are fighting extinction.
When their show airs live next Tuesday from the Beverly Hilton, it will be a much different scenario than in the past.
Traditionally five or six large– and I mean huge — parties take place at the Hilton immediately following the show. HBO takes over a massive downstairs space, Warner Bros. has its own large room, plus Netflix, Universal, Sony set up gigantic tents. The hotel is brimming with guests crisscrossing the hallways.
This year, however, there are no studio parties. The only party will be one sponsored by Billboard magazine, which has actually nothing to do with the Globes. But Billboard is owned by MRC, the company that now owns the Globes and Dick Clark Productions. They will stage a party where HBO used to, in Club 55, downstairs at the Hilton where breakfast is served and there’s an outdoor patio. The rest of the Hilton will be silent aside from actual guests.
Some parties will take place over the weekend. Netflix is having a celebration on Sunday, so is Warner Bros. But that’s it.
Studios are wary of showing approval for the Globes after two years of scandal revolving around diversity and finances. The Globes had no Black voters until they were pressured to in 2020. Since then they’ve added about a dozen. But that group are not members, and it’s unclear if they will even participate in the show.
NBC has wisely only given the Globes a one year contract after not showing them at all last year. Will this be the final installment? And what will happen if “The Whale” star Brendan Fraser wins Best Actor in a Drama? Fraser has already said he will not come to the event after being groped by a Hollywood Foreign Press Association member during an event in 2003.
Stay tuned…