Writers' strike lead to cancellation of Golden Globes
The Golden Globe Awards ceremony was canceled Monday when NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association couldn't reach an agreement on how to deal with the writers' strike and the resulting Screen Actors Guild boycott.
The Globes would have aired Sunday night on NBC. Instead, the HFPA reportedly will release the names of the winners in a media conference covered by NBC News, so that winners might still comment on their victories. But as negotiations dragged out Monday even that faced resistance from writers and a potential actor boycott.
"NBC feels that it's better to have an awards show with no one watching than have a show where no one shows up," a network source said on its MSNBC.com cable-Internet offshoot.
A tentative schedule floated Monday would find NBC airing a "Dateline" interview show with top nominees at 6 p.m. Sunday on WMAQ Channel 5, followed by a Golden Globes clip show at 7, the media conference at 8 and a reaction show checking in at the various studio parties at 9.
In a way it's no great loss. The Globes are widely dismissed in the industry, as the HFPA comprises about 100 foreign journalists with often-dubious credentials. Past winners have been trendy at best and at worst laughably corrupt.
But the Globes are a popular party -- for the industry and viewers -- ramping up to the Academy Awards, and they have been known to influence Oscar nominations. NBC pays the HFPA a reported $5 million for the TV rights and earns millions more than that in advertising, so both sides wanted Sunday's show to go through.
But they got caught in a bind in the Writers Guild of America's strike against Hollywood producers over new-media fees. Not only would nothing be written for presenters, but the Screen Actors Guild -- which has its own impending contract battle with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers this year -- announced last week that its members would honor the picket line and not attend the ceremony.
"There appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross picket lines to appear on the Golden Globe Awards as acceptors or presenters," said Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg.
The Oscars are now in jeopardy as well, as again nothing would be written for the host or presenters if the strike isn't settled, and the writers guild has also refused to grant its permission for use of classic film clips.