NBC, which has broadcast the Golden Globe Awards show annually since 1996, was slow to recognize the intensity of the highly charged atmosphere over race and diversity and the level of frustration that existed among producers and publicists who had chafed for years under the demands of the free-wheeling group of 86 foreign journalists who vote on the Golden Globes.
The Times’ report prompted much debate within NBC over its role and the future of the Golden Globes, according to interviews with several knowledgeable insiders.
“NBC should have been leading the charge to demand reform and improvement,” said Shawna Kidman, a communication professor at UC San Diego.
NBC’s stance was complicated by several factors, chief among them the eight-year, $500-million TV rights deal for the Golden Globe Awards that NBC signed in 2018, according to the knowledgeable insiders.
Instead, the TV network’s relationship is with Dick Clark Productions, which produces the annual awards show on behalf of the HFPA.
NBC executives and their lawyers quickly decided they didn’t want to come across as heavy-handed with longtime business partners, insiders said.
Early on, a decision was made for NBC to stay mum and work collaboratively behind the scenes.
Since then, NBC management has changed and a new group of executives — led by NBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Shell and a troika of TV lieutenants — is in charge.
28 broadcast turned into a T-shirt and Zoom affair rather than a boozy party in the star-studded ballroom of the Beverly Hilton — a spectacle that has long delighted TV viewers.
As expected, ratings plummeted more than 60% compared to the 2020 awards show.
Indeed, in 2010, NBC’s sitcom “30 Rock,” created by Fey, had a storyline that revolved around trying to bribe HFPA members.
There was no so-called “morals clause” in the contract that would enable NBC to bail before the agreement expires in 2026, according to two executives familiar with the agreement but not authorized to comment.
Meanwhile, NBC executives also were smarting over what they viewed as hypocrisy by publicists, studios and streaming services who had long tolerated and coddled the HFPA only to express outrage at the group’s practices.
“Everyone knew there were problems with this group but yet they supported it for years and years, because their relationships with the Golden Globes were mutually beneficial,” Kidman said.
except the platform that NBC gives to the Golden Globes,” Tchen said.
On Monday, NBC said it was abandoning the show for one year.
Aside from waning viewership of awards shows, another sore point is that programs that air on the broadcast networks — NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox — have been winning fewer awards.
Meg James is a corporate media reporter for the Los Angeles Times, covering the business of television and digital disruption in the entertainment industry.