Whoo-Hoo! Golden Globes Officially Returning To NBC On Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, After 2 Years Away.
“The Golden Globes are officially returning to NBC for the 80th edition of the awards ceremony.
The TV network announced on Tuesday that it is bringing the awards back to its airwaves on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023 — as The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reported back in August that it would — “as part of a one-year agreement, which allows the HFPA and [producer Dick Clark Productions] to explore new opportunities for domestic and global distribution across a variety of platforms in the future.”
In other words, it appears, after keeping the Globes off the air this year in the aftermath of a scathing Los Angeles Times exposé in February 2021 about the organization of journalists behind the Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, NBC’s association with the Globes will end after the 2023 ceremony, apparently the result of a renegotiation of a 2018 deal whereby NBC was contracted to pay the HFPA and DCP some $60 million per year to broadcast the ceremony through 2026.
The Globes have historically taken place on a Sunday in January, but the first Sunday in January 2023 is New Year’s Day; the second is Jan. 8, which is the last day of the NFL’s regular season, which poses a conflict with NBC Sunday Night Football; and the third is Jan. 15, on which the Critics Choice Awards have already staked their claim — hence the change to a Tuesday.
“We recognize the HFPA’s commitment to ongoing change and look forward to welcoming back the Golden Globes to NBC for its landmark 80th anniversary in January 2023,” Frances Berwick, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming’s chairman of entertainment networks, said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to announce the return of the Golden Globe Awards on NBC and to hosting the ‘Party of the Year’ for audiences around the world who have been waiting for its return,” added HFPA president Helen Hoehne. “It’s great to be back at the Beverly Hilton for the must-see celebration recognizing the best in film and television. The HFPA remains committed to important changes and supporting programs which prioritize diversity, inclusion, and transparency. See you on January 10!”
The statement also provided the following timetable for the 80th Golden Globes:
Monday, November 7, 2022: Deadline for Motion Picture and Television Submissions
Monday, December 12, 2022: Nominations Announced
Tuesday, January 10, 2023: Live Broadcast of the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards
The February 2021 Los Angeles Times reporting revealed that the HFPA at that time included zero Black people among its then 87 members and had engaged in unethical conduct and suspect financial practices. The resulting uproar led numerous Hollywood constituencies, including a large contingent of Hollywood publicists, to boycott the HFPA (Tom Cruise even returned the three Globes that he had been awarded), and prompted NBC, which had broadcast the Globes annually since 1996, to decline to air the ceremony in 2022, declaring in a statement, “We continue to believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform. However, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right.”
The HFPA quickly began passing major reforms — among them, banning members from accepting gifts and removing a cap on new member additions, which enabled it to add 21 new members, six of them Black — but roughly one-quarter of its own members voted against the changes, while a couple of others questioned the organization’s sincerity and resigned. Moreover, none of the incumbent members were weeded out of the organization by the implementation of what were advertised as stricter accreditation standards.
The HFPA also rubbed many the wrong way by forging ahead with a 2022 Globes ceremony; in the end, the Jan. 9 gathering wasn’t attended by any talent or broadcast in any way. And in March, Sunshine Sachs, the HFPA’s longtime PR firm, quit, following a diversity and inclusion adviser and crisis PR vet out the door.
More than a year and a half after the L.A. Times exposé, many in Hollywood still regard the HFPA as ethically shady. Eyebrows were raised when it came to light that investment firm Eldridge Industries’ acquisition of the HFPA in July would not only result in the organization converting into a for-profit entity (with a separate nonprofit entity for philanthropic efforts) but also that HFPA members will henceforth be paid an annual salary of $75,000, and that a large group of nonmember journalists will also be invited to cast Globes ballots (in order to increase the diversity of the voting pool) but will be paid nothing.
Nevertheless, more than a few people in town, including a faction of the coalition of publicists that led the charge against the HFPA in 2021, have softened their position and want to get back to business as usual. One reason, to be sure: The Globes telecast, which is usually the highest-rated awards show of the film awards season prior to the Oscars, financially boosts many of their Oscar-hopeful projects and people.
The Globes returning to network TV marks a major win — however controversial — for Eldridge Industries chief Todd Boehly, the sports and entertainment mogul who has served as interim CEO of the HFPA since October 2021. After buying the HFPA, he also assumed ownership of Dick Clark Productions, the longtime producer of the Globes, from MRC on Aug. 5. And Eldridge also has a financial stake in Cain International, which has an interest in the Beverly Hilton hotel, the venue that hosts the Globes, and in THR, which is owned by Penske Media.” – Hollywoodreporter.com
