In a Press Release today, it has been announced that this years Golden Globes have been canceled, and shall neither take place or be broadcast. The reasons for which are, undoubtedly, the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America strike, and the effects it has had on the Screen Actor’s Guild. Because the Writer’s refuse to show up, the SAG refuses to show up as well. They refuse to cross pickets, and they refuse to be involved.

Political victory or inane protest? That’s for you to decide. Here’s the statement:

“The Hollywood Foreign Press Association today announced that the recipients of Golden Globe Awards in 25 categories will be revealed during an hour-long HFPA press conference at The Beverly Hilton to be covered live by NBC News beginning at 6:00 pm PST on January 13. “The 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards” NBC telecast and champagne dinner in The Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom is officially cancelled.

“We are all very disappointed that our traditional awards ceremony will not take place this year and that millions of viewers worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite stars celebrating 2007’s outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television,” said Jorge Camara, President of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. “We take some comfort, however, in knowing that this year’s Golden Globe Award recipients will be announced on the date originally scheduled.””

I found that detailed statement at www.darkhorizons.com, but on IMDB the following statement has also been issued:

In the wake of the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have proposed scaling back their coverage of Sunday’s Golden Globe awards from a three-hour ceremony and dinner to a one-hour press conference announcing the winners. Fearful of WGA picketing, and a recent statement by the Screen Actors Guild that none of the 70+ acting nominees would attend the ceremony, the Globes made a mad scramble on Monday to come up with a contingency plan that would allow some kind of network television coverage (and thus save millions of dollars in advertisting revenue) without the fear of picketing or no-shows from high-profile celebrities. To insure that the show would go on in some way, NBC, Dick Clark Productions (which produces the Golden Globes show) and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have decided to cancel the traditional dinner and ceremony, and instead broadcast a press conference via NBC News (which is not affected by the WGA strike) to announce the winners, and bracket this one-hour special with a number of different news programs centering on the Globes.

So yeah, who knows what is going to happen! I hope they at least let us have the Oscars! After all the dreck that came into theaters this year, the few movies that NEED to be recognized have yet to be brought to a truly wide audience. I sure hope the WGA hurries up and finishes their battle. I’d like things to go back to normal, myself, with the pay increase for the writers if at all possible!