Golden Globes TV Review: Ceremony Takes Chance With Weekday Telecasts, But Replaces Snark With Saccharine In Energy-Efficient Show

After all the scandal and skepticism tonight, was this really the Golden Globes that NBC, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions wanted from Todd Boehly?

Back on television after two sordid and then supposedly reform-filled years, the once tumultuous and influential ceremony had high hopes – but the unpredictable 80^e They’re only halfway there at the annual Golden Globes.

Big winning hardware was handed out Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverby Angela Bassett, The Fables and director Steven Spielberg, Everything, everywhere, all at onceby Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, elvis even Austin Butler, Abbot Primary School and its creator stars Quinta Brunson, The Banshees by Inisherin Director Martin McDonagh and co-lead Colin Farrell, game of thronesturnoff home of the dragonand the white lotus and star Jennifer Coolidge, among deserving others. yellowstoneby Kevin Costner euphoriaby Zendaya, tars Cate Blanchett and failure’s Amanda Seyfried also triumphed but missed tonight.

Along with those tributes to Eddie Murphy and Ryan Murphy (no relation, I’m assuming), the Risen Globes certainly seem to have the voice of Tinseltown to get going again — once the stars and thank-you’s off the stage is. Barometer. May I add that when the show is back, whoever buys it, Niecy Nash-Betts or Regina Hall will host the hosting slot. As moderators on Tuesday The newcomer: federal agencies and girl trip Stars brought the shine or bite.

Frankly, much needed bite.

With most in a still-soaked City of Angels likely checking weather apps and local TV sites for information on whether more rain is coming or how long the dry spell that began this afternoon will last, the ceremony, hosted by Jerrod Carmichael, more than extremely low-energy and unmanageable for three hours.

Also against The beginner and The newcomer: federal agencies on ABC, The FBI shows on CBS and the resident On East Coast Fox, tonight’s first Tuesday Globes sought to reverse the rules on the declining ratings that have pulverized Sunday awards shows over the past decade.

I can’t deny this noble effort, which is probably the biggest and best bite of the night.

Tomorrow the ratings will undoubtedly be low, perhaps lower than ever. It’s as much a part of it as the grand piano casually taunting people tonight. But finding a reliable audience for advertisers fleeing Sundays, as the Jesse Collins EP Globes and NBC did, is something the Oscars, Emmys and others might want to consider in a renewed wave of relevance. in this multi-platform and social media world

However, the now-profitable HFPA and the Globes deftly dodged another NFL attack (although there was an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns on TNT tonight), dropping the ball Tuesday by making it through a drunkenly throwing Replaced Snark and Boast. with Saccharin. Let’s put it this way: heroic as Volodymyr Zelenskyy is, a video speech by the President of Ukraine should not be the highlight of a Hollywood awards ceremony.

He saved it for the end of his Cecil B. DeMille Award speech, but let me say, not for the first time: Thank God for Eddie Murphy and this exact addition to last year’s Oscar clap fiasco.

Yes, a roaring Ricky Gervais getting prude A-listers to clutch their pearls has become predictable year after year. Still, at least there was a laugh or two to enjoy when the After life Creator hosted.

Can’t really say that about the figurative teetotaler (other than tipsy white lotus Boss Mike White) saw us tonight.

Usually a room-reading sage, Carmichael’s quick jab at the absent Tom Cruise for returning his world trio due to the HFPA’s lack of black members or a code of conduct until about a year ago was spot on – especially with Top Gun: Maverick Co-stars Jay Ellis and Glen Powell are on opposite sides of the stage. Carmichael’s revelation, with added fire on Cruise’s disputed Scientology beliefs and the long-pondered whereabouts of church leader David Miscavige’s wife, sent a hushed room tumbling and burning unmindful of the boxer or the acrimony.

A later unpredictable part from Carmichael, who bashed both Will Smith and Rock Hudson, fared no better, and a “from the hotel that killed Whitney Houston” joke drew audible scorn.

Assuming HFPA chief Helen Hoehne has a strategy in hand, it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to put the tainted staged event back on the Hollywood agenda. Damn it in its own context or it’s enough to be too safe to play with padded railings to see NBC or any other network, streamer or outlet pick up the Globes now that Comcast’s $60 million a year network is doing the same. is over from tonight. Unknown.

It shouldn’t have been.

Carmichael went full James Stockdale and rhetorically boarded Jump Tuesday, rhetorically asking why he was there and responding, “I’m here because I’m black.”

RELATED: Jerrod Carmichael’s Golden Globes Opening Monologue Tests HFPA Over Lack of Racial Diversity: ‘I’m Here Because I’m Black’

For a moment, it looked like the return of the Golden Globes would get all the gestalt therapy and shatter the clown mirrors into which awards shows so often fall.

But no. In an opening monologue that swept the charts, the mostly quick-witted comedian explained that he was the first black host for the HFPA and revealed that he was paid a whopping $500,000, things quickly turned bleak. In an attempt to thread a sharp needle, Carmichael offered his appreciation for the talent at the tables in front of him as the real reason he accepted the gig.

Let’s just say, like the Golden Globes themselves tonight, it was a tough sell.