Much is being made about comic Ricky Gervais's acerbic wit the other night at the Golden Globes (see a sample below, in case you missed it). I would not waste my time watching the show -- I'm not sure if it's even broadcast here in Australia -- but I did catch excerpts online later.
Having lived several years in Los Angeles, like most people anywhere near the periphery of the entertainment business, I gradually learned one of the worst-kept secrets in Lotusland: The Golden Globes are widely reviled and known to be a complete scam in Hollywood. The only reason anyone there gives it any attention or bothers to show up is because the outcome is seen as a marketing trendsetter for the all-important Oscars.
The ugly truth was exposed a few years ago in an excellent documentary called “The Golden Globes: Hollywood’s Dirty Little Secret. If you ever have a chance to see it, do so. As this article notes, "the group behind the Golden Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has about 90 members, and many have reputations more as star-struck fans and moochers than serious reporters."
Film critic John Powers describes the group’s members as "essentially just bottom-feeders around the industry, who’ve somehow been inflated to this point where their judgment is supposed to be very, very important."
So considering most everyone in that room didn't want to be there the other night, Gervais's routine was probably far more welcomed and less painful than most may have thought.
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3 comments:
What struck me, just from the opening 30 seconds of the clip, was the awful venue they were in. A hotel ballroom? Really? That's worse than my high school prom and only a step above meeting at the church rec center.
Ricky Gervais was the only thing that saved the evening.
You put it well when you said the GG are an indicator of the marketing behind the Oscars. The Director's Guild Awards are a better indicator of Oscar success.
Bunch of effete self-gratification seeking snobs. Went on strike a few years ago demanding more money, and yet mustering all their collective creativity to justify such a payout, they produce nothing but reproductions of decades old sitcoms and rehash after reboot of movies already made. They degrade classics in their degenerate and uncreative visions. Truth apparently does hurt.....doesn't it?
There are a few that break stride like "The Walking Dead" and "The Big C" but overall I have not been impressed with HollyWeird in decades and the sooner it breaks off the continent and sinks into the ocean, the better off we will ALL be.
No I didn't watch it, nor shows that demand attention in the interests of self eddification and attention woring: Idol, so called reality shows and so on.
I don't usually watch tv at all. The only time I see it is when at other peoples homes.
Just happens I saw the golden globes because I was at friends and they "had to see it" and my wife wouldn't let us leave.
After watching it I walked away thinking "that was crap, and that dood may have just wrecked his career. "
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