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Golden Globes Ceremony Kicks Off Season Of Big Award Shows

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Golden Globes are this Sunday. The awards show recognizes the best of the year in film and television. And over the last few decades, the Globes has developed a reputation as the weirder, livelier kid brother to Hollywood's flagship ceremonies, like the Emmys and the Academy Awards. Here to talk about the Globes, Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood

Reporter. Hey, Scott.

SCOTT FEINBERG: Thanks for having me.

MARTIN: You excited?

FEINBERG: You know, it's the first big one of the season.

MARTIN: It is, isn't it?

FEINBERG: It is exciting, absolutely.

MARTIN: I love an awards show. But I have to admit, I hadn't thought about this until we decided to do this story. I don't really know what the Golden Globes are about. I mean, I...

FEINBERG: (Laughter).

MARTIN: Where did these awards even come from?

FEINBERG: The thing is the Oscars were sort of the original baby about 91 years ago. And ever since then, other people have been trying to hop on the train and ride the coattails of that. And so the Golden Globes were one of the earlier ones to do that. They're in their 76th year. And they are put on by a group called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which sounds very impressive.

And like the Academy, you kind of think this is a massive thing. But it's actually a group of only about 90 journalists, who write for outlets based around the world. And so the joke each year at the Golden Globes is that these are a lot of things that people these days don't like - Hollywood, foreigners...

MARTIN: Right (laughter).

FEINBERG: ...And the press. So...

MARTIN: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: Yay.

FEINBERG: But...

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: But it's also - it's fun because it's not just about the movies. So much great entertainment these days is in the form of television or limited series anyway. But talk a little bit about how the Globes approaches their categorization because it's different.

FEINBERG: Yeah. It's very different than the Oscars or most other award shows. In this case, you have one of the few times when both film and TV talent - both in the same room, being honored for the two different media. And the other thing that people love about it is that there is flowing booze and, to some degree, food. But nobody's really - wants to be seen on camera eating, but drinking is no problem.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

FEINBERG: And so it creates a looser atmosphere. Plus, people still sort of deep down feel that the Oscar's the big kahuna at the end of the day. So whatever happens here, they can have a good time. And it leads to some memorable moments.

MARTIN: Right. And it's always fun to see your favorite movie star talking to your favorite, like, sitcom star. And you're like...

FEINBERG: Exactly.

MARTIN: Oh, they're friends. I knew they'd be friends.

FEINBERG: (Laughter) Exactly.

MARTIN: Do the Globes end up making the same calls as the Oscars or the other award shows?

FEINBERG: They sometimes do. But it's very interesting because there isn't a direct reason why that would be the case. The Academy is a group of roughly 9,000 people who actually work on making movies. And then here, you've got a group of 90 people who report on movies.

And I think the Globes do sometimes influence the Academy in the sense that the Golden Globes are going to take place on January 6. And then Oscar nomination voting starts January 7 and runs for a week after that. And so sometimes, the picks of the Globes might steer Academy members towards certain movies that they hadn't already checked out or kind of tipped them in one direction or another. But there's no direct correlation.

MARTIN: There's other weirdness though, too. Right? There's a pageant for the children of celebrities.

FEINBERG: (Laughter) Well, they - it used to be less politically correct. And up until maybe a year or two ago, I think they called it Miss Golden Globe. And it was usually the daughter of a celebrity - you know, Jamie Foxx or Sylvester Stallone or somebody...

MARTIN: Right, Sylvester Stallone.

FEINBERG: Yes (laughter).

MARTIN: I think both his daughters one.

FEINBERG: He had three, I think. But first of all, the origin of it might have been to help attract stars to show up at the Golden Globes. Well, you honor their kids, they've got to show up. And there were a number of years when they were sort of a little shady. I mean, they were, actually, kicked off the air for a few years because of some strange, questionable voting practices.

It was almost like if you show up at the Golden Globes, you're going to get a Golden Globe. Now they've tried to - and I think quite successfully - regain a little bit of credibility, respectability. They have their own accounting firm that supposedly oversees the results to make sure they're kosher. And yeah, it's it's own thing.

MARTIN: I'm going to watch. You've convinced me. Although, it didn't take much. Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

FEINBERG: My pleasure.

(SOUNDBITE OF AMBIENT JAZZ ENSEMBLE'S "ELEVEN DAYS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.