TV Coverage of Golden Globes as Awkward As the Awards

Things quickly fell apart for the networks covering the Golden Globes Award live

By Alicia Hollinger

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/13/08 — 

Television coverage of the 2008 Golden Globes was as uncomfortable as the award press conference itself. As said on the TV Guide post-show about the winners’ announcements, “The only way to describe it was awkward. There was no way they could succeed and they didn’t.”

Winners were announced by the usually breathless on-air hosts of the TV entertainment shows. Film critic Leo Quinones said “After seeing the ad-libing from these announcers–writers, please come back to work!”

“The losers were the entertainment journalists who announced the awards,” said Andy Wallenstein of The Hollywood Reporter. “I found it nauseating and self-aggrandizing. They made it about themselves which was atrocious.”

Chris Harrison on the TV Guide channel said “The 65th Annual Golden Globes will go down in history as the show that never was. No show-stopping entrances that put rumors to rest, no chance for new stars to get their spotlight to shine, no gowns, no glitz, no glamour, no nothin’. It’s the year the Golden Globes went away.”

Even NBC had to air its pre-taped pre-show with Matt Lauer after the press conference on the West Coast when affiliate KNBC decided to go live with the conference broadcast. The Lauer show, in another example of when a news reporter is asked to do awkward broadcasts for the entertainment division, aired interviews with nominees like Denzel Washington, noting he and others were contenders on the show to follow, which had already aired with Denzel losing.

TV Guide Channel, who carried some of the catty commentary, didn’t look so great, either. The actual reading of the winners was over in about 25 minutes, so they repeated it twice in the hour-long slot. And due to the only really funny moment of the evening, the station may get a chance to chat with the FCC come Monday.

The show reached Best Actor David Duchovny, who said he went to the movies while on location in Vancouver and timed it to come back right when the awards were over. “I knew if the message light was blinking I won, because no one calls a loser.”

He went on to say fuck twice. “James Gandolfini got to say fuck on TV and he always won. So if you get to say fuck you win and I guess I was helped by that.” When he realized it was live TV, apologized, saying “oh shit.”

Carrie Keagan at the award conference noted “The publicists were cheering as loudly as they could when their client won.” Dayna Devon from Extra: “We want to say to Jorge, we think you should be negotiating the writer’s strike, because if you can get Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Inside Edition & Extra on one stage, YOU can do anything.” Kim Serafin from In Touch Weekly: “You watch cause you want to see the fashion, you wanna see your favorite actor or an actress drinking at the table… or stuck in the bathroom…”

Whether anyone watched at all will be known in the morning when the overnight ratings come in – that’s if they are high enough to even get a rating.