A Grande way to get kids into Sondheim - just don't mention the running time

The truest thing ever said about the Golden Globes was by Tina Fey when she hosted the awards in 2019 and described the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of junket hacks, as operating out of the "back booth of a French McDonald's".

- Emma Brockes

Monday

The HFPA was disbanded in 2023 after allegations of racism, but 95 former members retained voting rights and on Monday, the show went on! And what a year it was for the second Penske Media Golden Globe Awards, featuring not only a commercial tie-in with the betting tool Polymarket ("integrated branding and realtime market insights designed to enhance audience engagement") but a new category for best podcast. Against stiff competition from Alex Cooper's Call her Daddy and the Mel Robbins Podcast, the award went to Amy Poehler's Good Hang, a show in which she yuks it up with friends to remind us how important Tina Fey was in their partnership.

In the TV awards, meanwhile, there was well-earned recognition for the actor and thought leader Stephen Graham for Adolescence, his Netflix show exploring the complexities of men's rights, and I was happy HBO's The Pitt won best drama, even though you still need a VPN to watch it in Britain. (I was also happy Michelle Williams won for Dying for Sex, a hugely underrated FX show that wasn't helped by its terrible title.) One thing that struck me as the camera swept over the audience during the comedian Nikki Glaser's affable opening monologue: is there any circumstance on earth that would make these people skip this thing entirely? The HFPA was a joke, the awards then and now are a joke, but short of some kind of Pompeii-like event reducing nominees on the red carpet to ash, we have to assume they'll keeping turning up in their finery. I know, I know; it's about the work.

Tuesday