Thanks for nothing, WGA!

Normally at this time of year, I would be writing my "Most wonderful time of the year" post, but not this year! I have to write this instead:

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Open letter to the Writer's Guild of America:

So you flex your muscles at the expense the 2008 Golden Globes, but you spare the SAG awards on TNT ... are you proud of yourselves? You must be feeling very powerful that you can pick and choose which awards shows (and late night shows) to which you give your imprimatur.

No sense of irony that awards shows contain the most-poorly written, lame, and unfunny drivel of anything your TV writers produce this side of "Two and a Half Men"? Not even a hint? You think you're making a stand by depriving America of that Bruce Vilanch-written banter crap we have to sit through every year? These shows will only be improved by not having a script!

Well, your ploy has backfired with this wannabe writer! How dare you deprive me of my single greatest joy of the movie season! And you threaten to do the same with the Academy Awards?? I wouldn't want to be on that picket line in front of the Kodak theater -- up against hoardes of those lunatic fans who camp out just to sit in the bleachers--if you strong-arm the stars to boycott the Oscars!!

Unaffectionately yours,
foreignfilmguy

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On the bright side, the Globes had an off-year in its nominations (especially on the TV side), so this cancellation might lessen the Globes influence on Academy voters. [I mean, they snubbed "Into the Wild"!] It also opens the door for a more obscure awards show to gain some influence: namely, last night's "Critic's Choice Awards" on VH-1 !
(I had never heard of them, either).

It was a great show! Helped in large measure by the stars it attracted: inaugural Joel Seigel award recipient, Don Cheadle, who brought all his high-powered friends (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Casey Affleck). And host D.L. Hughely was actually funny --get him to write the Globe material!

But the critics did their best work in choosing the winners:
Best Song: "Falling Slowly", Once - yea!
Writer: Diablo Cody, Juno
Director(s): Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Foreign Film: The Diving Bell & the Butterfly
Supp. Actress: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Supp. Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
[who managed to get a shot in at Pres. Bush, the only political moment of the night!]
Actress: Julie Christie, Away From Her
Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Picture: No Country for Old Men

So thank you, Broadcast Film Critics, for allowing me to announce for another year:

"Let the Awards Season Begin!!"