Golden Globes' 7-Week Hail Mary
The producer reveals a TV deal is about to be announced after everyone from Netflix to NBC passed on the Jan. awards show, and as publicists wait to commit their clients
The contest for the Golden Globes, an awards show once second only to the Oscars, appears to have fallen flat like a glass of old Moët & Chandon, one of the event’s longtime sponsors.
Once a glamorous destination for TV and movie stars to get dressed up and let their hair down, the Globes seem to have slid precipitously not just in the eyes of the audience but also among potential streamers and networks who have steadfastly said no to the chance to acquire the rights to broadcast the Jan. 7, 2024 show.
Earlier this year, the show, on longtime home NBC, commanded its second-lowest ratings in history at 6.3 million viewers, with cable sibling E! also covering the red carpet fashion. After the show, NBC declined to pursue a new long-term agreement, making its lack of interest known early — the network for months has had an NFL playoff game scheduled for the same time slot as the 81st edition of the Globes (the show was dated by producer Dick Clark Productions, even without a new buyer in place).
The Globes have endured a grinding year of rejection from potential buyers — “They were shopping it around to anyone who would listen,” says one awards insider — amid efforts to possibly curry favor with a broadcast or streaming home (there was speculation that one of the Globes’ newly added categories, Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy Television, was an appeal to Netflix given the streamer and co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ interest in stand-up specials).
Until recently, the show appeared to be left stranded for a second time in recent memory (its 2021 ceremony also was un-televised amid scandals plaguing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association).
But after a long and winding road, The Ankler has learned the troubled show finally has found a home.
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