Here’s the thing about the Golden Globes: they are somewhat predictable. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association loves glamour, and stars, and glamourous stars. Those are the folks who get nominated. So Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep were recognized; Melissa McCarthy was not. Zoey Deschanel’s New Girl was nominated, Parks And Rec and Community were not. Revenge‘s Madeline Stowe got a nod; Louis CK did not. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has great buzz, but no GG love. The Globes have a category just for comedy or musical, but The Muppets didn’t make it in. Also, three big-name directors — Steven Spielberg (War Horse), David Fincher (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar) — were not nominated this year. Weird.
Nikki Finke has always had pretty strong feelings about the Golden Globes; today she writes:
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s a completely meaningless awards show from a scandal-riddled organization on a network desperate for ratings.
Studios and networks who lavishly lobby the HFPA almost always score nominations. Stars win in direct correlation to their glamour quotient.
And FYI: only once in the last seven years has the winner of one of the Golden Globe best film prizes gone on to win Best Picture at the Oscars (2008′s Slumdog Millionaire), though that came after an 8-year Globe/Oscar winning streak. Last year’s top drama Globe went to The Social Network. Oops.
Um, yeah.
Finke does say:
The only reason I can think of to tune in to the Golden Globes is for the jokes. Over the years, Jack Nicholson has mooned the audience, Jim Carrey has talked out of his butt, Christine Lahti was locked in the bathroom, and other unscripted weirdness occurs at this intimate dinner. Including 1982′s low point when Pia Zadora’s husband bought her best “New Star Of The Year”. Perhaps Christian Bale summed it up best when he took the stage at last year’s Golden Globes and humiliated the HFPA in his acceptance speech. “I never really knew who those guys were. I’d always leave the press junkets going, ‘Who are those oddball characters in that room?'”
So you know, keep all of this in mind.
2012 Golden Globes: Nikki’s Non-Analysis [Deadline Hollywood]
Golden Globe Nominations 2012: Snubs and Surprises [HuffPo]
Beware The ‘Ides of March’? Golden Globes Surprise With Clooney Flick, Snubs Aplenty [WaPo]
Golden Globes: Who Got Snubbed? [Us]