NBC announced on Monday that the network will not broadcast next year’s Golden Globe Awards ceremony, saying in a statement that it is choosing to forego the telecast while the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gives out the annual film and television prizes, does some housekeeping. The HFPA was subsumed in controversy this year, as reports about the makeup of the small group of entertainment journalists indicated that the group has zero Black members. 

That report worked in tandem with long-running complaints that the Globes are vulnerable to undue influence from studios and other interested parties, who allegedly lavish HFPA members with trips and gifts. In specific instances, the HFPA has returned those gifts and publicly condemned the practice while reasserting its standards and policies.

NBC, which has broadcast the Globes every year since 1993, says it hopes to air the 2023 ceremony should the HFPA meaningfully address its organizational problems. But given the historically low ratings for this year’s COVID-affected broadcast, it seems entirely possible that the Globes will never be a major component of awards season again. Which would mean, in some sense, vindicating the many people who have long railed against the Globes for being irrelevant and corrupt. But what could fill the space left by the Globes’ absence?

The trouble with getting rid of the Globes is that, despite its many institutional ills, the ceremony is usually the most fun one to watch in any given awards season. Film and TV stars mingle at a booze-soaked dinner as many prizes are handed out to famous actors throughout the evening. Previous to the pandemic, the Globes broadcast was closing the ratings gap between itself and the Oscars. The Globes are a great venue to road test an Oscar speech in a more casual setting, while media organizations like Vanity Fair rely on the parade of red-carpet fashion and occasional buzzworthy moments during the show (from host monologues to Oprah Winfrey speeches) to maintain interest during the long road to the Academy Awards. Losing the Globes could create a huge crater—or it could provide an opportunity for a “lesser” awards ceremony to step in and elevate its profile.

There are two obvious choices for what that replacement ceremony may be. The Screen Actors Guild Awards are currently broadcast by TNT and TBS, which are not affiliated with NBC. But if the Peacock network could woo the Globes (which are produced by Dick Clark Productions) away from cable, the SAGs could step in as an equally watchable and star-studded event. While the Guild has its own internal issues, the group is at least big and weighty enough to protect itself from the concentrated problems perhaps inherent to the HFPA. 

The other option would be the Critics Choice Awards, which currently air on the CW. The Critics Choice Association, made up of broadcast critics and some internet writers (including people employed at Vanity Fair), is less prestigious than the Screen Actors Guild, and the ceremony does not have anywhere near the brand recognition of the Globes. But maybe that makes the CCAs the perfect awards show to swell to glitzy proportions; it’s relatively raw clay to mold into a worthy successor to a once-cherished staple of the season. It would take some time to cultivate standing within that ecosystem, but a patient strategy could prove rewarding—so long as famous people agree to attend year after year.

Some potential viewers might roll their eyes, or even balk, at the presence of the word “critics” in the title of that ceremony; my profession is not the most beloved by the broader public. Though the HFPA is also ostensibly made up of journalists, the group’s job title was kept a little further away from the core branding of the Golden Globes. Perhaps a title overhaul would be required if the Critics Choice Awards were to assume the mantle of Globes successor, a problem likely not faced by the SAGs. 

Of course, the reality might be that nothing can adequately replace the Globes right away, and that we all may need to get used to there being one less star in the gradually dimming constellation of glamorous awards occasions that guides us toward spring. The true test of the awards season’s sustainability will come next year, when any ratings slumps can’t be blamed (we hope, at least) on the pandemic. If the Globes do go off the air forever—or are banished to a more obscure corner of the television universe—they may wind up being the canary signaling the eventual doom of the whole awards diamond mine. Despite that potentially dire outlook, though, I do hope that NBC is looking to breed or adopt another bird. Because next winter will be a whole lot bleaker with only the Super Bowl (and, I suppose, the Grammys) to cling to as we tumble into yet another new year.

— After Jen Shah’s Arrest, How Can We Keep Enjoying Real Housewives?
— Barry Jenkins on Bringing The Underground Railroad to TV
— How Swimming With Sharks Tried to Warn Us About Scott Rudin
— Quil Lemons’s 2021 Vanity Fair Oscar Portraits
— Andrew McCarthy on Pretty in Pink and the Brat Pack
— The 2021 Oscar Ceremony Was a Noble, Doomed Experiment
— Elliot Page Finally Feels “Able to Just Exist”
— From the Archive: The Unsinkable Jennifer Aniston

— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.