Sunday night’s Golden Globes were an exercise in show-biz futility.
So what else is new?
If anyone thought the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would shake things up in terms of rewarding fresh faces in television, fuggedaboutit. But I will say this: At least the Golden Globes lived up to its hard-earned reputation as a joke of an awards show never to be taken seriously.
There were few surprises Sunday night, save for Rachel Bloom (good), “Mozart in the Jungle” (two awards, both bad), “Mr. Robot” (nice) and Taraji P. Henson (“Empire”) overcoming her unjust Emmys snub to win as Best Dramatic Actress.
Bloom was an unexpected pick for her little-watched CW series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” Her victory recalled fellow CW stablemate Gina Rodriguez, who came out of nowhere in 2014 to win a Golden Globe for “Jane the Virgin.” Good for her and for “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” which, despite its win, probably won’t get much of a ratings or pop-culture bump. (“Jane the Virgin” didn’t benefit from its victory in terms of viewers and its buzziness has been reduced to a whisper.)
As for Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle”: WTF? Best Comedy Series? Best Comedy Actor for star Garcia Gael Bernal? This show was so boring, I couldn’t get past four episodes last season. I did write in The Post last Friday that I was haunted by the specter of Bernal somehow winning a Golden Globe, even though I picked Jeffrey Tambor, last year’s winner, to repeat Sunday night. So at least I was right about something. And, let’s face it, Bernal is not — I repeat, is not — funny. Perhaps Amazon did a nice job schmoozing the HFPA voters (all 80-something of them). I can’t figure out any other reason for rewarding “Mozart in the Jungle” with anything.
As for “Mr. Robot,” which won two major awards, good for it, and for star Christian Slater. The USAÂ series won a lot of loyal fans after premiering as a surprise hit last summer. And Slater, whose TV past was checkered at best, has now vanquished his “show killer” status once and for all (he won for Best Dramatic Actor). I picked “Narcos” to win that category, and thought that “Game of Thrones” should win as one of TV’s biggest shows. But what do I know?
And while I didn’t officially pick a winner for the Best TV Movie/Anthology category, the fact that wooden, vamping amateur Lady Gaga won for “American Horror Story: Hotel” speaks volumes about the artistic hollowness of these awards. They’re a joke.
I thought Wagner Moura (“Narcos”) deserved to win for Best Dramatic Actor; that award went to Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), the sentimental choice now that AMC’s long-running series, always a critics’ darling, has left its thousands of fans bereft after concluding last spring. Get a life and move on.
It was nice to see TV veteran Maura Tierney win for “The Affair” (I picked Joanne Froggatt as the sentimental favorite for the final season of “Downton Abbey), and at least Henson — snubbed for an Emmy last fall — won a much-deserved Golden Globe for her electrifying work as Cookie Lyon on “Empire.” I thought she deserved to win, though I picked Robin Wright (“House of Cards”) as the favorite.
I’m glad I was wrong.