This year’s Golden Globe Awards took place on Sunday, February 28. In contrast to previous years, the event was held virtually, broadcasted by the NBC network at 5:00 PM Pacific Time, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The Golden Globe is an annual ceremony that recognizes and celebrates the best films, both produced in America and internationally, and American television. The winners are selected and awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Since 1944, the year of the first-ever Golden Globe Awards, the ceremonies have been held in January, commemorating the film and television productions made in the previous calendar year. However, this year’s Golden Globe was postponed almost two months after its expected date due to the pandemic’s effects on the world of cinematics and television in 2020.

The hosts of the 78th Golden Globe Awards ceremony were Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, both American actresses most commonly known for their roles on NBC’s Saturday Night Live series. Interestingly enough, this year was their fourth time co-hosting the awards show together. The 2021 ceremony was quite different for them, though, since the pair co-hosted from two separate sides of the country. While Tina Fey was located in The Rainbow Room in New York, Amy Poehler was over 2,000 miles away in The Beverly Hilton in California.

There were considerably fewer nominations for the numerous awards at this year’s event. This is mainly due to the significant negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on film and television content production for much of last year. That being said, awards were still won. 

In the film categories, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Nomadland, and Soul had each earned two awards. Best Motion Picture among musicals or comedy films was won by Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and Best Motion Picture among drama films was awarded to Nomadland.

In the television categories, the popular series The Crown won four awards, one of which is Best Television Series in the drama category. Not too far behind, Schitt’s Creek and The Queen’s Gambit had earned two awards each. Best Television Series in the musical and comedy category was won by Schitt’s Creek, and Best Miniseries or Television Film was awarded to The Queen’s Gambit.

The 2021 Golden Globe Awards only managed to attract 6.9 million viewers, meaning that only one-third of 2020’s Golden Globe audience had tuned in for the show this year. The pandemic undoubtedly causes this drastic decrease in viewership. However, it is still uncertain what this will mean for potential audiences of the other upcoming awards, such as the Grammys and Oscars.