Filed at 10:50 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- ''The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards'' would be sure to
tower over last year's telecast, even without trying. And executive producer
Barry Adelman is trying.
''Last year was not a happy time to go through,'' Adelman said earlier this
week. ''But we're putting that behind us.''
A year ago, of course, the famously rollicking ceremony was caught up in the
strike by Hollywood writers, who vowed to picket if it aired.
The plug was pulled on Adelman's extravaganza just days before the big night.
What NBC aired instead was an hourlong laundry list of winners, read aloud by the
co-hosts of ''Access Hollywood.''
No stars! No glitz! No service to fans of the annual Globes gala. No wonder
just 5.8 million of them watched the bare-bones substitute, less than one-third
its audience in 2007.
That was then. The Globes will be revived for viewers Sunday at 8 p.m. EST,
with NBC airing the festivities live from the celebrity-packed ballroom of the
Beverly Hilton hotel.
''We're making this year bigger and better than ever,'' said Adelman, who
promised a measure of glamour in the show's design ''that should remind everyone
in the room why they got into this business in the first place.''
He noted that Meryl
Streep will contribute to the night's suspense. She's up for two awards: in
the musical or comedy actress category for ''Mamma Mia!'' and dramatic actress
for ''Doubt.''
Among Streep's rivals in the latter category is Kate
Winslet (''Revolutionary Road''), who is also nominated in the
supporting-actress category for ''The Reader.''
From the TV world, Tina
Fey should loom large. Several months after scoring Emmys for her comedy
creation, ''30 Rock,'' as well as for best actress in a comedy, Fey and her
series could take home Golden Globes in those categories.
Steven
Spielberg will receive the Cecil
B. DeMille Award for his outstanding contribution to the entertainment
field, ''and we're going to have a lot of people in the room who have worked
with him, which will make the night very special,'' Adelman said.
''Brad
Pitt and Angelina
Jolie will be there. Tom
Cruise will be there. It's really an embarrassment of riches!''
Scheduled presenters include the Jonas
Brothers, Hayden Panettiere, Martin
Scorsese, Simon
Baker, Drew
Barrymore, Sacha
Baron Cohen, Salma
Hayek, Jessica
Lange, Jennifer
Lopez, Amy
Poehler and Seth
Rogen, as well as Ricky
Gervais, who provided one of the few bright moments during last September's
dreary Emmycast.
And, virtually guaranteeing things don't get dreary or parched, an open bar
for the guests is part of the formula.
Presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Globes are unusual
for awarding achievements in both film and television. They also differ from the
more formal Oscar and Emmy ceremonies. Rather than originate from an auditorium,
the Globes have a dinner-party setting where the guests feel no pain.
Golden Globes moments include Jack
Nicholson waving his rear at the audience after winning for ''As Good as It
Gets'' and ''30 Rock'' winner Alec
Baldwin professing loose-lipped gratitude that his Golden Globe trophy
''isn't too heavy because I just had hernia surgery.''
At its best, the Globes telecast isn't as much like an awards show staged for
viewers as it is a posh Hollywood affair on which viewers get to eavesdrop.
''One of my rules has been to let the party happen,'' Adelman said. ''We
don't impose a lot of elements that get in the way of what viewers are there
for'' -- to see the stars, to see who wins, to hear what the winners have to
say.
And maybe join them in raising a glass.
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