Golden Globes show should be fun, if nothing else

Above: Gary Oldman stars in "Mank," the Netflix film that was nominated for six Golden Globe awards. (Photo: Netflix)

Pia Zadora is a name you might not remember. In 1982, she won a Golden Globe Award as Best New Star for the film “Butterfly.”

Two things about that: 1, “Butterfly” was universally panned by critics, one of whom wrote that the film was “a decrepit lust-in-the-dust melodrama with as much relevance and far less humor than ‘Tobacco Road.’ ”

And, 2, Zadora won two Golden Raspberry Awards – given out annually to the very worst of Hollywood productions – that same year: Worst Actress and Worst New Star.

So, which one to believe? Certainly not the Golden Globes.

For years now, awards shows have grown in popularity, both as a means to attract publicity for the projects being honored, and as a way to attract a viewing audience.

And the Golden Globes, which is a group consisting of 93 representatives from international media companies, has grown in popularity as much as any of them.

During the 2000 awards broadcast, some 18.3 million viewers tuned in. And no doubt the producers of Sunday’s show – which will be broadcast beginning at 4 p.m. Sunday on NBC – hope to attract more. Which might happen as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are cohosting.

If nothing else, the Globes do put on a fun show. Stars tend to be looser and, especially during the years that Ricky Gervais served as host, the show’s tone tended to be sharply satiric.

Netflix is the big challenger this year with 42 nominations overall, 22 as a motion picture distributor (Amazon is a distant second with seven), 20 as a television distributor (HBO is a distant second, again with just seven).

Two Netflix productions lead the categories: David Fincher’s “Mank” earned six nominations, including Best Motion Picture (Drama); the series “The Crown” also earned six nominations, including Best Television Series.

But look for Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” or Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” to challenge “Mank.”

And while both Fincher and Sorkin are nominated for Best Director, Zhao is part of history, she being one of three women Best Director nominees – the others being Regina King for “One Night in Miami” and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman.”

We shouldn’t necessarily take the word of a few voters from a random organization such as the Golden Globes as anything definitive.

But as those voters showed in the Best Director category, they do seem to appreciate that the world is changing. So, I’ll likely tune in.

Or maybe I’ll try to find a copy of “Butterfly” to watch.