It was the 80th Golden Globe Awards, the 31st to be televised by NBC and the first to be broadcast since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association became embroiled in a string of image-damaging controversies. For the first time since 1962, the show took place on a tame Tuesday night instead of the usual weekend-closing Sunday evening booze-fest of years past. And it ran long.
Given how many prominent people in Hollywood have recoiled from the HFPA — “The Whale” star Brendan Fraser announced he would not attend the ceremony and he stuck to his word; Tom Cruise returned his three Golden Globes in 2021 — the big question going into the evening was how it would all play out.