Against the Golden Globes

Plus: 'Station Eleven' and our favorite pop culture moments of 2021! [View this email online]( [Pop Culture Happy Hour]( by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when [Bruce Springsteen sold his catalog](. It was the week when we learned Jack McCoy [will be back yet again](. It was the week when a sort of funny pop-culture story became yet another [very sobering one](. Let's get to it. Opening Argument: Against the Golden Globes The Golden Globe nominations came out this week, and I stand by what I told Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered: Without the party, there's no need for them. They may go gentle into that good, drunken night. The utter weirdness of the Globes has been their subtext for many years, as have accusations -- boosted earlier this year by [reporting in the L.A. Times]( -- that they involved a lot of wink-wink trading of goodies for votes, along with other instances of self-dealing and all manner of disreputable practices. They've survived anyway, for many years, but the cycle of feeling trapped by them has been hard to break. It's never great when a publicist, as one did in the aforementioned reporting, both acknowledges your influence and calls it ... let's see, what exactly was the term ... "horrifying." The one thing that was hard to argue with was that the Globes could be fun. You know, goofy. Remember when Christine Lahti won for Chicago Hope and took a while to show up on stage, only to giggle that she had been in the bathroom when her name was called? That was the Globes. Emma Thompson [with her shoes in one hand and her drink in the other]( tossing the shoes over her shoulder to take the envelope she was supposed to open? That was the Globes, too. Of the ceremonies covering film and television, it was the one most likely to be surprising and goofy. (Was it the drinking? Oh, maybe.) The Globes were a function of publicity and they didn't mean anything and that's all true and fair, but for me, as a person covering culture, it was the party that sometimes made them actually fun to cover. Even when it was a terribly compromised set of awards, sometimes the HFPA put on a good TV show. Now, following all this scandal and controversy, [they're not going to be on TV](. Now, all that is left is the awards themselves. And while the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (which hands out the awards) has made additions to its ranks, in part to address diversity concerns, it's still a tiny little group with a wide range of credentials. It's kind of like ... well, imagine you're a person who hates turkey, but you go to Thanksgiving anyway, because you love your family and you love the traditions and you have a great time. So you choke down the turkey. And then one day, you get the news: No family party this year, no get-together -- but they'll still send you a slab of dry turkey. The awards are the dry turkey of the Golden Globes, if you get what I mean. It's a perfect moment to dump this entire weird enterprise for good. Awards, given thoughtfully and presented straightforwardly, are perfectly nice, I think -- they really do provide an opportunity to congratulate artists for great work. Do the Oscars, for instance, actually represent the best work? No, of course not. But do they often provide a moment to recognize something that was very, very good? They do! And there are lots and lots of awards if you want to pay attention to awards: not just the Critics' Choice Awards, which will be televised on the night the Globes would have been shown. But there are regional critics' groups across the country who give out awards that I can tell you from experience people do take seriously. ([I voted in these.]( There are guild awards -- those are the ones like the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors' Guild, the Producers' Guild, the Writers' Guild -- where people recognize the work of their peers. Those are always worth checking out. But let us now outgrow the Globes. If they're not offering up Emma Thompson's shoes, we don't need them anymore. --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- We Recommend: The death of writer bell hooks sent a shock through just about every circle of thinkers and writers I am part of; [start with this remembrance]( from Lisa B. Thompson and keep going. I have not been able to bring myself to watch the seemingly very uncomfortable new season of Real World: Homecoming, but I recommend keeping up [with the Decider coverage]( from noted Real-World-head Dave Holmes. My Ted Lasso friends might enjoy [this Claymation short]( the show put out for Christmas, featuring the cast in a little story about Ted losing his signature 'stache. What We Did This Week! [Station eleven image]( Ian Watson/HBO Max Stephen, Glen, Aisha and I [were all on hand]( to talk about It's A Wonderful Life. And it got a little spicy! Glen [sat with our pal]( (and Kate Bishop enthusiast) Mallory Yu to dive into Hawkeye. Aisha and Glen brought in [Sam Sanders and Amil Niazi]( to try to make sense of the strange Spotify Wrapped phenomenon. Glen, Aisha, Stephen and I all brought in a few of our [favorite pop-culture moments of 2021](. And Stephen and Glen (wow, big week for Glen!) [talked to Joelle Monique and Daisy Rosario]( about the movie that's on the tips of everyone's lips, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Not enough Glen yet? [He also reviewed]( the new TV adaptation of Station Eleven. I wrapped up a season of Succession recaps by looking at that [wild and crazy Season 3 finale](. And it's always worth checking out Stephen's year-end music lists, so [don't miss his 2021 picks]( over at NPR Music. What's Making Us Happy: Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: - What's making Joelle happy: [Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts]( by Rebecca Hall and illustrated by Hugo Martínez - What's making Daisy happy: [Be Steadwell’s music]( including song [“Heart of a Pessimist”]( - What's making Glen happy: Jackie Kashian’s new comedy album [“Stay-Kashian”]( - What's making Stephen happy: [Music of Yasmin Williams]( including song [“Juvenescence”]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Find a Station]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What do you think of today's email? 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