The Snubs and Surprises of the Golden Globes: "Barbie" Underperforms, "Ted Lasso" and "May December" Shut Out

Various films and televisions didn't get the recognition many were expecting, especially Barbie and Ted Lasso.

The Golden Globes come back after severing ties with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and NBC (Michael Buckner/Penske Media)

The 81st Golden Globes took place on Sunday and awarded various television shows and films, including Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, and Poor Things.

The Globes are no longer overseen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) as it was replaced by a new racially and ethnically diverse voters, including 300 journalists from 76 countries. This new group selected this year’s nominees and winners. Now the Globes are owned and produced by Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge after it acquired HFPA’s assets, rights and properties.

This year, Globes were handed out for new categories relating to stand-up comedy and cinematic and box office achievement. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie won the award for Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. The category featured eight films that had box office gross of $150 million with $100 million coming from the U.S. domestic box office. 

Best Performance in Stand-up Comedy on Television featured six nominated comedians who gave traditional stand-up comedy sets of at least 30 minutes. Ricky Gervais took the award home for Ricky Gervais: Armageddon.

Leading up to the ceremony, many were confused why May December was submitted as a comedy. The film follows an actress who shadows a couple whose large age gap was heavily covered by tabloid news. The actors wondered the same thing throughout the night, though the focus shifted to whether the film would win anything. May December won none of the four awards it was nominated for.

Charles Melton, who has been winning awards throughout the award season for the film, didn’t win anything by the end of the night. Melton lost the Best Supporting Actor award to Oppenheimer star, Robert Downey Jr. 

Netflix’s Maestro, with four nominations, and A24’s Past Lives, with five nominations, both walked away with now awards at the end of the night.

Interestingly, Barbie had a similar fate when they walked away with only two awards — Cinematic and Box Office Achievement and Best Original Song. The film was nominated for nine awards, including Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. 

With television, Only Murders in the Building didn’t win a single award despite being nominated five times. Ted Lasso, making its first major televised awards show appearance, also failed to walk away with an award of their own. The Last of Us, which swept up eight awards from the Creative Arts Emmys, didn’t win a Globe.

The award ceremony typically recognizes new television shows, including those that debut after the end of the Emmy eligibility period. This year was different as it didn’t award any fall debuts, such as Lessons in Chemistry, Fargo or Fellow Travelers.

This year’s Globes were hosted by actor and comedian Jo Koy and streamed from the Beverly Hilton on both CBS and Paramount+.