No red carpet. No fashion. No live audience. No broadcasting. No speeches. This was the saddening experience of the 2022 Golden Globes awards. While award shows are normally an exciting two hours on television each year, filled with fabulous dresses and both live and at-home audiences on the edges of their seats, this year, the show was not live-streamed. Fans merely sat on their couches and refreshed the Golden Globes website to see which of their favorite stars won. 

This year, of course, was a disappointing year. So many people adore watching celebrities prance down the red carpet in designer gowns and suits and wait to see who gets to take home the awards. There was no way to watch the show, leaving so many fans disappointed. “Now, after the critics’ ceremony was postponed amid the Omicron surge, the Globes will have Sunday night all to themselves for a big, splashy … audience-less, glorified PowerPoint presentation.” (Sarah Bahr, New York Times) 

This was another exciting event that COVID-19 had to ruin. The entertainment business already went through a tough few years in terms of filming and getting cast and crew members together, so throwing a cancelation of a huge awards show in the business’ face was very disappointing. None of the award recipients and nominees were even at the show; they were chilling and refreshing Twitter in their pajamas. COVID-19 has taken away so much from the world. Not even live-streaming a zoom award show, which was what they partially did for the 2021 Emmy Awards. 

Additionally, if they weren’t going to give their audience a show and force us to reboot the Golden 

Globes website five times a minute, they could have canceled the awards and sent out an email to all of the winners instead. Why did they ask audiences to sit at home and stalk social media?

Nonetheless, especially due to the hard work of the entertainment business in 2021, in terms of COVID-19 and the beautiful films produced, we, the stars, the directors, and the musicians, deserve the award show. They’ve worked so hard and they need appreciation.

This year, it was just bizarre. Without the fanfare, was it even a thing? Did anyone care? The awards were just a strange jumble of Twitter posts. “Tweets were so gleeful, brilliantly terrible that you had to wonder if they knew what they were doing. They were weirdly fixated on category, for starters– even, or especially, in instances where they got the category wrong.” (David Canfield, Vanity Fair). It seemed like no one cared about the show, it was just a warm-up to the awaited Oscars in March. Regardless, every person who worked on any of the projects nominated deserved the proper recognition. 

However, now the show is over, and the winners get to take home their Golden Globes. Here are some exciting winners from the 2022 Golden Globes!

Congratulations to the cast and crew of West Side Story for their Best Comedy or Musical picture award. West Side Story was a recreation of the 1961’s film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical. Sondheim was one of the pillars of Broadway and he sadly passed away in late November 2021.  Stephen Speilberg, the director, did Sondheim proud. Additional awards went to Rachel Zegler for best actress and Ariana DuBose for best-supporting actress. Congratulations to West Side Story! 

Congratulations to Andrew Garfield for his best actor in a musical or comedy award for his part in Tick…Tick…Boom! In this true story about the writer of hit Broadway musical “Rent”, Garfield takes all viewers through the emotional last ten years of Jonathan Larson’s life. Audiences were brought to tears by Garfield’s moving performance. He told the story of Jonathan Larson, trying to write music and shows during the HIV epidemic in New York City. 

He navigates the audience through heartbreak, loss, stress, and hopelessness. This is a beautiful musical film that will make you laugh and cry. Congratulations Andrew Garfield. 

Congratulations to Will Smith for his best actor in a motion picture for his moving part as Richard Williams in King Richard. Richard was determined to write his daughters, the famous Venus and Serena Williams, into history any way he could. “A towering turn from Will Smith, his best since Ali and one of the year’s great screen performances, defines nearly every frame of this film.” (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) Congratulations to Will Smith! 

Congratulations to Jason Sudekis for his second win of the Best Comedy Actor award two years in a row! Jason Sudekis, the star, and writer of the hit comedy series, Ted Lasso, delivered an all-too-real character for audiences to laugh and cry with. Ted Lasso is an American football coach, recruited to coach one of the top soccer teams in Great Britain. Lasso is a comedic, caring, positive, emotional, and genuine character that audiences can’t help but love. Other Ted Lasso cast members, Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein were nominated for their roles in Ted Lasso as well, Waddingham, for the best-supporting actress, and Goldstein for best-supporting actor. You’ll cry tears of joy and sadness while watching Ted Lasso. Congratulations to Jason Sudekis!

These four names are a few of the many talented actors and actresses taking home awards. However, who knew that they took them home? I genuinely missed the Golden Globe awards this year, but I am looking forward to an exciting Oscar season this March!