‘Succession’ closes the deal and other big takeaways from the 2024 Golden Globe Awards

Beyond the practical aspect of the Golden Globes, which advanced “Oppenheimer” (especially) and “Poor Things” in their Oscar campaigns and began the “Succession” farewell tour, Sunday’s televised ceremony reinforced the notion that Hollywood has a hard time quitting those who lavish honors upon it.

Beyond the practical aspect of the Golden Globes, which advanced “Oppenheimer” (especially) and “Poor Things” in their Oscar campaigns and began the “Succession” farewell tour, Sunday’s televised ceremony reinforced the notion that Hollywood has a hard time quitting those who lavish honors upon it. Although this marked the 81st edition of the Globes, comparisons to previous ceremonies should come with an asterisk. That’s because of sweeping changes the Globes have undergone as an organization, phasing out the scandal-plagued Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. (HFPA) and establishing a revised and expanded voting group under new management, Dick Clark Productions. Granted, not everyone got the memo, with three of the winners thanking the HFPA, while Robert Downey Jr. made the most overt reference to the scandal from the recipients, thanking the Globes for cleaning up its act. That said, after staying away from the ceremony, which briefly left TV and shifted this year from NBC to CBS, Hollywood again turned out in force, with top talent filling the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The tone, however, felt somewhat subdued, despite a clear desire to buttress the Globes’ reputation as more of a party than stuffier, higher-stakes Academy Awards, with the voiceover announcer joking, “Censors will be standing by.” They weren’t needed, nor was there much in the way of political statements. The night got off to an awkward start from which it never entirely recovered, with host Jo Koy’s stand-up material falling flat, underscoring why comics and other talent haven’t been lining up to take on these gigs in the modern era. Despite the turmoil surrounding the Golden Globes, they structurally accomplished something that the Oscars have tried to do but couldn’t: Creating a category to include movies that achieved box-office success (more than $150 million worldwide), which have found nominations scarce in recent years.