Last night was the 65th annual Golden Globes awards ceremony. And by “ceremony,” I mean “press conference.” And by “press conference,” I mean bizarre, hard-to-watch presentation in which Access Hollywood‘s Billy Bush and Nancy O’Dell read the nominees, announced the winners, and provided commentary on the winners all in a row. “Here are the nominees. The winner is X. That’s strange, I thought it would be Y.” Writers, we miss you!
When all the winners were announced (an commented upon by Bush and O’Dell), only one would bring a statue home to Westchester County: Bedford resident Glenn Close, who won the “Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series” award for her work on Damages. Kudos!
While I’m glad for Close, her win is part of a larger Golden Globes trend that I find a little disturbing. Out of all of the TV shows that were recognized, nearly all of the winners aired on cable. Besides Damages, shows bringing home awards included Mad Men, Extras, Californication, Entourage, Longford, and Life Support. Only 30 Rock, for which leading lady Tina Fey scored a well deserved performing award, can be picked up on good ol’ rabbit ears. Does that mean we all have to pay more for better TV? I sure hope not. What’ll happen next? Will we have to pay more for admission to prestige movies? (Maybe I’m just bitter that my new favorite show, Pushing Daisies, went zero for three with its Golden Globe nominations.)
In any case, it’s a shame Glenn Close didn’t get to make a speech. I would much rather have heard her insights about creating her Damages tough-cookie character—not Billy Bush’s. Close, if you’re reading this and would like me to use a future Poptional Reading column to publish your would’ve-been acceptance speech, all you have to do is ask. (And please do. There really is very little by way of pop culture going on in January, especially with this writers’ strike hanging around.)
Speaking of the writers’ strike, there is one county resident who stands to benefit from its prolonging: Lasse Hallström. FOX pulled the plug on the Northern Westchester native’s new sci-fi series, New Amsterdam, back in the fall, when it was replaced by more episodes of Don’t Forget the Lyrics. Now that the network is out of new shows, New Amsterdam, like its immortal NYPD homicide cop protagonist, gets a second chance at life. It’ll debut after FOX’s current sci-fi show, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles runs out of episodes in March. The show’s official debut is March 10, but look for sneak previews after American Idol on March 4 and March 6.
Does FOX’s original cancellation of the show mean it’s not any good? That’s the big question. Either way, though, it’s airing on a network, so don’t expect it to bring home any Golden Globes next year.
Glenn Close? Are you out there? Anyone else want to say anything to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association? Let me know at comments@westchestermagazine.com.
