Golden Globes forever tarnished

I've liked Ted Cox's writings for years, I first came across his prose in the 1990s in the Chicago Reader, where he still covers local sports.

I've always thought the Golden Globe awards were a stupendous farce, and Cox agrees, calling the sadly annual event "Hollywood's 'dirty little secret.'"

From the Daily Herald:

First things first: The Globes are a sham. Administered by about 100 largely anonymous members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, many with dubious credentials and referred to as "bottom feeders" by industry insiders, the Globes are at best trendy and at worst openly corrupt.

But the Globes are a popular party for both actors and fans, and even a blind hog can dig up a truffle now and then, as with the Globes naming Cate Blanchett best supporting actress Sunday for her inspired, spot-on imitation of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There."

More to the point, NBC pays the HFPA a reported $6 million annually for the TV rights to the award ceremony, and can make back more than twice that in ad revenue. What's more, Hollywood loves the publicity leading up to the Academy Awards, and viewers find it irresistible, so the party goes on.

When NBC's cable subsidiary Trio did a documentary on the Globes called "Hollywood's Dirty Little Secret," NBC soon after cut Trio TV production and banished it to the Internet. Coincidence?

Cox's charges are not without merit. Talentless Pia Zadora won a Gold Golden Globe for "Best New Star of the Year" in 1982. But "won" two worst awards from the Razzies group that same year.

Zadora technically was not a "new" performer. Connoisseurs of bad movies know that Pia appeared in the 1964 film Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.