Tuesday, January 08, 2008

So NBC - under pressure from striking writers and sympathetic movie stars who didn't want to be seen crossing a picket line - finally pulled the plug on Sunday's televised Golden Globes ceremony.

Instead, NBC has dragooned its news division (which is not covered by the Writers Guild strike), with a one-hour "press conference" to announce the winners. The NBC news folks also will produce a "Dateline NBC" special, and "Access Hollywood" will do a post-award show covering the parties.

Well, that was the plan, anyway. Now comes word, from Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily, that the WGA will picket the show, and that several of the big parties have been canceled anyway.

Meanwhile, several of the stars who wouldn't be at the Golden Globes did show up for Monday night's Critic's Choice Awards (which were broadcast on VH1, which for some reason isn't covered by the strike, either). "No Country for Old Men" won Best Picture in voting by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. (Here's the list of winners.) But the main topic of conversation at the Critic's Choice Awards, according to David Poland at Movie City News, was the Globes debacle.