What a load of absolute … Globes

Channel hopping

ALL that glitters is, indeed, gold. The Golden Globes were on last week. Apart from the glamour, the main talking point of course was Ricky Gervais who has really seems to have endeared himself to the American production royalty.
The Brit funnyman was the host of the show and had the honour of being the first man to do the job live. Now, I am not Gervais fan. Yes, The Office is genius but, apart from that, I have not seen him do anything that I particularly enjoyed. In fact, the more I see of him, the more I think that he really is David Brent and that Ricky Gervais is the fictional character.
I think his stand-up is fairly trite and lacklustre. But, more than that, I have a profound dislike for him after he stole over two hours of my life by making The Invention of Lying – which I had to sit through – grimacing all the way.
I seem to be in the minority when it comes to Gervais, however, as most people, especially American A-listers, seem to quite enjoy him. And so on to his performance – well he got the digs in and that’s all we really wanted. He was a little more risqué than the average American host would be and he made a few jokes that treaded the line, so most of us were pleased.
Did we love him as a host? No, probably not, but I wouldn’t be overly aggrieved to see him do it again.
The ceremony itself was the usual fair with a few funny acceptance speeches and a few terrible ones. Mo’nique’s little conversation with God for her award for Precious was, of course, the worst. But let’s get down to the nitty gritty, here in the TV column business we watch the Globes for the television categories.
All the shows of interest were covered – Dexter, Mad Men, 30 Rock. Of course some of the nominations left a lot to be desired – True Blood anyone? I mean it is, in essence, lady porn and not really substantial enough to qualify for a best television series, drama nomination. However, I feel it was just making up the numbers.
I was, however, delighted to see Dexter continuing to get the recognition that it so richly deserves. It is a fantastic television series that deals with many complicated issues with true panache. After all we are talking serial killers here. The latest series was particularly good and it was very welcome to see such a great actor as John Lithgow being rewarded. His career has had some truly wonderful performances and he has often been overlooked.
Mad Men was the deserving winner of the drama award, even if it is sullied, ever so slightly, by the consideration of True Blood as competition. Like Dexter, Mad Men has defied the odds and continued to produce excellent series well after the first one. It is a showcase for how well drama can work on TV and should be a guiding light for all TV producers out there.
As for Glee winning a Globe, I am not so sure. But, since it technically covers both categories that it was nominated for – musical and comedy – you see how they snatched it. We are, of course, only beginning our glee-ful (I couldn’t resist) journey at this side of the world so it remains to be seen if the win was indeed a deserving one.
Commiserations must go out to Brendan Gleeson who was passed over for the best actor prize for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Into The Storm. Anyone who has read this column will know that I am convinced that his was the definitive Churchill performance but alas, he did not receive the recognition. The winner was Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance, an historical drama about a Lt Col in the US army escorting the body of a marine back to his hometown from the Iraq War that we will hopefully get to see on our screens soon.
Moving on from the Golden Globes to something much less glamorous – Stone Cold Sober.
This new programme which is being aired on RTÉ is about six lads from Carlow who have decided to go against their normal habits and give up alcohol for six-months. The object, it seems, is to show the world that you don’t need to have a drink to have a good time. Of course, you have to ask what kind of society has to make a programme about that in order to prove it but that is a debate that I will save for another time and another forum.
The lads decided to give up on going to the pub and whiling away the time in people’s houses until the wee hours and see what else life has to offer. Like most people, I enjoy a drink or two and most viewers could identify with the lads and their lifestyle. Also, I must admit that if I was told that drinking was not an option for me anymore that I wouldn’t be all that bothered.
I share this piece of information because I thought that this programme was going to be a load of rubbish and, to be honest, I was thinking that the lads involved would be monumental fools. Now, I am going to say that I was wrong and in fact I believe (rightly or wrongly) that in many ways the men featured show a good representation of the male population – not that I want to get back into the battle of the sexes programme – I’ll leave that to Miriam and Ray.
Not exactly fascinating, Stone Cold Sober is interesting from a sociological point-of-view as it offers the opportunity to hear men talk about their attitude to alcohol and the lifestyle that many people in their 20s/30s enjoy – or endure in some cases.
It is also interesting to see the way in which they go about filling the void that not drinking has created in their lives and just how much energy goes into it. I am not sure there is a whole series in this programme and it is likely that most people will dip in and out of it rather than sticking rigidly with it but it is interesting to look at how these men are dealing with the change and their motivations. It is also curious to see and hear the reactions of those that have not opted for the lifestyle change. Watch it on Monday nights at 10.25pm on RTÉ Two.