Every year members of the film community come together for a handful of awards shows, with the Golden Globes and Academy Awards being the most high-profile of the bunch. And–like clockwork–immediately following these awards shows, people who are supposed fans of the medium get atop their high horses and holler into the rafters myriad complaints about the respective ceremonies.
“The Golden Globes are too boring.” “The Oscars broadcast is too long.” “My favorite movie should’ve won but didn’t.” So on and so forth.
To those who spend their time complaining about the Golden Globes or Oscars every year, here’s an idea: don’t watch! I’ve never seen an episode of Oak Island on the History channel. As far as I can tell from the commercials, those fellas on the show have been digging the same hole on the same island for over a decade now. Do I complain about it? No. I simply watch something else, something I actually enjoy.
On the media side of things, for the past decade or so nearly every outlet puts out a predictable doom-and-gloom article about how awful the subsequent ratings are for the Golden Globes or Academy Awards. Last I checked, ratings for every long-standing program are down across the board. The bottom line is that with a thousand television channels, dozens of streaming options, and the internet, it’s nearly impossible for any one program to ever gain year-over-year market share.
This year’s Golden Globes ceremony had some truly memorable moments, from Chadwick Boseman’s wife accepting his post-humous award to Tracy Morgan being Tracy Morgan. Were there also some technical difficulties and soft spots throughout the broadcast? Sure. One would have to be insane to expect otherwise.
But the biggest difference between this year’s broadcast and those in the past was that it felt like another Zoom meeting, something I’m sure we’re all sorely sick of by now. As a result, I’m sure millions of casual television viewers decided to skip the broadcast this year, or perhaps watched a bit but weren’t entertained enough to stick around for very long.
That’s fine. Totally understandable. But you know what comes next? The inevitable onslaught of headlines declaring in no uncertain terms, “Worst Golden Globes ratings EVER!”
Thanks for the breaking news, Big-J journalists! Any other graves of things some people genuinely enjoy you might want to dance on?
My point is that everyone knows the Golden Globes and Academy Awards ratings are going to be in the gutter this year. Tons of high-profile movies weren’t released. The ceremonies are mere husks of their former selves. And so many people weren’t able to watch many of the films that are in contention.
So while it’s expected that we’re going see some disappointing figures over the next day or so, please media people, don’t dwell on them. Let’s just be mature about the state of the world right now and move past it.
