Over the past few days the Hollywood Foreign Press, the WGA, SAG and NBC have been playing tennis with the idea of broadcasting the 2008 Golden Globe Awards. A new scenario has presented itself however, word out of Deadline Hollywood is that the WGA won’t picket the 2008 Golden Globes as long as it isn’t broadcast by AMPTP member NBC. This was the sticking point for the Screen Actors Guild as they weren’t interested in crossing a picket line organized by their sister union.
NBC appeared to be sticking to their guns and were going to hold the HFPA to their contract, saying they were obligated to allow the network to broadcast the event. It seemed NBC thought the threat would get the orgs to back down, but instead it appears things have changed as Variety has posted an article saying that NBC “appears to be backing away from telecasting next Sunday’s (Jan. 13) Golden Globes Awards — allowing the event to proceed without TV cameras.”
What does this mean? Well, it means the show is going to most likely move forward with all its celeb drinking, glad handing and partying only the interested public will be forced to suffer as they won’t get to see any of it. Thanks WGA, this is your fault. Don’t go blaming it on NBC or the AMPTP, it was your decision to picket a show that a small minority of the public actually looks forward to and if you do the same thing to the Oscars be prepared to be hated on even more.
I know I speak for only a few people that actually enjoy the award shows, but it is this small group that the WGA is truly hurting. The HFPA will lose money, as will NBC, but it is all peanuts to them, they don’t care as much as the small group of folks such as myself that actually look at shows such as the Golden Globes and Oscars as official wrap-up to the events they covered in the past year. My finger is firmly pointed at the WGA that has been offered the opportunity to benefit from the broadcast of both the Globes and Oscars the same they are with David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants agreement, but they are remaining firm in their point to hurt the public in this case and the public alone.
The Variety report finishes up by saying, “The network had not issued an official confirmation Sunday and there was no update from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. or show producer Dick Clark Prods. But industry sources said NBC appeared to be relenting on its previous insistence that it would telecast the awards, even with stars unwilling to cross WGA picket lines.
“The absence of a telecast would enable the HFPA to stage the Globes as a private party at the Beverly Hilton — with hopes that the full complement of stars would attend. WGA officials have indicated that the guild won’t picket a non-televised event.”
So there you have it. Next Sunday feel free to enjoy Fox’s “Terminator” or CBS’ “Comanche Moon” because no matter what happens there will continue to be networks that benefit from the non-televised event. Good on yah, WGA, way to think things out.
This strike is officially annoying.
