Jo Koy was hired at the last minute. The writer for the Golden Globes had little time to put together a show. This was obvious tonight as Koy’s opening monologue was a disaster — his jokes were just crude, not witty, and they bombed.
Later in the show, the Globes gave an award for Best Stand Up Comic to Ricky Gervais, their former host (5 times) who they loathed for making fun of them. Was it a coincidence that Gervais got a Globe? I’d say no. They want him back. Pronto.
Tonight’s Golden Globes show was otherwise unremarkable. It went fairly smoothly. There were no outbursts about Trump or politics, or wars anything remotely objectionable. The show ran without problems but it was a high wire act, certainly. The new owners of the show and the Globes and Dick Clark Productions and all the Hollywood trade magazines want to return to CBS next year. They were not going to blow it.
Most of the show was written in a careful way. The few really good bits came from Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig — genius — and another with Issa Rae and Simu Liu — trenchant. But most of the dialogue was the usual banter, inoffensive enough to accommodate the CBS audience.
Will the ratings be good? CBS hoped the NFL game would run right into the show. It didn’t. There was almost a 40 minute break. Did viewers leave or stay? We’ll find out in the morning. The Jo Koy monologue may have turned off some who were watching. But they would have missed some lovely speeches, including Lily Gladstone, Emma Thomas, Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook, and so on. There were gems to be sifted from the rubble.
All in all, A minus, I’d say. The Globes will be back on CBS next year without a doubt.
