The Face of Abasement

Reports of the transmogrified, charticle-ized, bite-sized, union-defied 2008 Golden Globes are streaming out high, hard and negative. Naturally NBC is being hammered for a number of reasons. Results trickled out faster and with less pomp via CNN. Show graphics were on the scale of a low-rent Ohio public access station. And a commercial-stacked program stifled even the vaguest momentum during what already amounted to shortened and deflated doses on non-drama. But the worst was saved for awards co-hosts Nancy O’Dell, she of the faux-olive complexion and unerring smile, and Billy Bush, he of the brutally uncomplicated cackle and insidiously peppy demeanor. Bush and O’Dell host NBC’s Access Hollywood and have done so for some time. Their years in the trenches of glistening glitz-reporting are showing major cracks. Post-award announcement banter was something beyond bad, often creeping into territory where Bush and O’Dell tried to appear both pithy and E!-centric. A mess. But most interesting, maybe the only morsel I took from the show other than the fact that apparently Atonement is back in the Oscar race (bah), was Bush’s withering disdain for O’Dell, and she of him. Maybe because they were given the chance to somewhat fly without a parachute on this telecast, let their improv flags fly, but anytime either host made some stab at insight (Bush’s praise of Ratatouille: “I took my kids!”) the other returned a faint eye-roll, or an abrupt “Well said,” unspoken daggers flying in every direction. After three or four subtly incisive swings, Bush and O’Dell’s insane hatred for each other was palpable, nigh visible. The impish Bush was both more gentle and more cutting in his disses. O’Dell was fiercer, perhaps feeling a bit more veteran and deserving than her counterpart. Thing is, the two must do this EVERY TIME THEY ARE ON CAMERA TOGETHER. Point being, I need to start watching Access Hollywood.