Boo-hoos are resounding around the world today, since tonight's Golden Globes ceremony has been canceled due to the Writers Guild of America strike. The winners in all the movie and TV categories will only be announced at an hourlong press conference at 9 p.m. on Channel 7, and we will be denied all the fabulous excesses of the annual event. What kinds of Hollywood joys will we be missing?
SPAWN FAWNING: Every year, some star's poor child is anointed Mr. or Miss Golden Globes and paraded in front of the world. Last year, it was Lorraine Nicholson. This year, it was supposed to be Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.
FASHION SCHADENFREUDE: It felt extremely good not to be Lara Flynn Boyle in 2003, when she arrived looking like a ballerina from a cracked fairy tale. With her tutu and baggy bodice, she looked fantastically awful! Yay!
MORE FASHION SCHADENFREUDE: Every year there are fashion don'ts aplenty. But if you saw presenter Drew Barrymore in 2006, a braless wonder in a schleppy green dress, your mind was surely boggled. It was an unforgettable misfire that probably got her stylist fired.
NOT-SO-BACKSTAGE TENSIONS: Last year, the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" brought their cast feud to the Globes, as Isaiah Washington denied having called T.R. Knight a gay slur, and Katherine Heigl responded by saying, "I'm going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public." A few months later, Washington was pushed off the hit show.
EMOTIONAL DISPLACEMENT: A sobbing Ving Rhames walked the line between sweetness and creepiness in 1998, when he won a best-actor prize for "Don King: Only in America." Rather than accept the award, he insisted on calling competitor Jack Lemmon to the stage and presenting it to him.
SENIOR MOMENTS: In 2001, a disoriented Elizabeth Taylor couldn't understand that she had to read the nominees before announcing the best-drama winner, "Gladiator." Audiences around the world squirmed. It was the kind of real moment that rarely makes it to TV, even on reality TV.
BATHROOM HUMOR: In 1998, Christine Lahti was in the loo when her name was announced for best actress in "Chicago Hope." The incident has become an emblematic and promotional moment for the Globes, which serves alcohol and wants to seem looser than other awards shows. In 1999, Lahti jokingly presented an award with toilet paper on her shoe.
FCC BAITING: In 2003, accepting an award for the song "The Hands That Built America" from the movie "Gangs of New York," enthusiastic U2 lead singer Bono dropped the F-bomb. After a campaign by the Parents Television Council, the FCC determined that the remark violated its rules of indecency and profanity did not fine NBC.
FULL MOON FEVER: After accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1999, Jack Nicholson mooned the audience. That Jack. In 2003, accepting a Golden Globe for best actor for "About Schmidt," he admitted to having taken valium before the ceremony, but he nonetheless did not feel relaxed enough to bend over.
TOO MUCH INFORMATION: Last year, accepting a best actress trophy for "Lackawanna Blues," an elated S. Epatha Merkerson, then 53, announced, "I feel like I'm 16. And if I wasn't in the middle of a hot flash, I'd believe that." Thanks for sharing, S.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog/.
