A Shining Example

If there was anything to be learned from the Golden Globe Awards Press Conference last night, it was just how dearly important the writers are. Without having any previously written content in front of them the hosts, "Access Hollywood's Billy Bush & Nancy O'Dell, were left to their own devices live in front of a national audience, it was a train wreck. Bush and O'Dell's solution to having no script was witty banter...fail! You can't blame Bush and O'Dell though, they were just doing their jobs. Unfortunately their jobs under normal circumstances only require looking pretty and reading what's on the prompter with proper diction, not improvise and form their own opinions. Their was nothing on the prompters last night other than a queue for the next award. Those guys were working without a net and it was a long way down.

Shows like "The Daily Show" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" can exist in this sort of writerless vacuum because they have lots of very smart people working on the show (outside of the writing staff), but even more because they are hosted by extremely intelligent comedic personalities. Stewart, O'Brien, Leno, etc. all started out as stand-up comedians. They created their own material and went out in front of live audiences and lived or died with their stuff. It's the comic mentality that allows these guys to go out without writers and create a show each night. Those guys are a rare breed. Most performers couldn't do that, they need material to work with and will create a character based on the words on the page. Apart from their own upcoming contract negotiations, I think this is the reason why so many SAG actors have taken up the WGA's fight. They understand their relationship with the writers.

The Golden Globes can certainly be considered a major casualty of this strike. Can the Oscars now survive without Bruce Vilanch and Co. or will they be next?

Even though last night showed us just how valuable writers can be, I don't think the WGA membership is giving each other congratulatory back slaps. They know as well as everyone else that there were no real "winners". NBC lost millions (though no one should cry for them), the nominees lost a chance to be recognized for their work, the public lost a chance to see the glitz and glamor they crave, and Hollywood lost a chance to let loose and have fun in a time a building tensions.

I can tell you who else wasn't a winner last night...me. I only managed to get 4.5 of my predictions correct. I realize now I was playing it safe with some of my picks (Washington and Hanks). I also realize that I shouldn't always believe the hype. Going in to last night, Juno was riding a wave of buzz and unexpected box office success. It didn't translate into gold last night.

Just out of curiosity, was there anything more obnoxious than the video of Nikki Blonski screaming her head off like a whacked out banshee when she heard herself get nominated? Sure, the story of her getting the role of Tracy in the newest version of Hairspray was nice, but enough is enough. It's time for her to move on the Lifetime movies and leave well enough alone.