After taking a year off to polish its tarnished image, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is back on TV this year to stage the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards in front of a live audience. Whether the winners will truly be the best Hollywood has to offer or merely the beneficiaries of the most effective studio lobbying campaigns (as was often the case in the past), remains to be seen. Responding to criticisms of questionable ethics and lack of diversity, the organization has hired new leadership, added 21 journalists to its membership, barred voters from accepting gifts from studios, and opened its voting pool to more than 100 additional nonmember voters, including more diverse voices. That was good enough for NBC, which will broadcast the awards on its flagship network as well as its Peacock streaming platform on Tuesday, January 10.
Controversies aside, there’s no denying the impact the Golden Globes have on other races as the first big award show of the season. The Academy begins its Oscars nomination period on Jan. 12, just two days after the Golden Globes ceremony. With that in mind, we’re making our predictions for who will win, and who we think should win, in the Globes’ major film categories as well as the top TV races. If any of these end up being wrong, we’re going to blame it on the HFPA, which clearly still has some work to do to address its broken voting system...