Everyone Watched the Golden Globes

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Today in show business news: NBC had a big hit last night, Showtime did pretty well too, and a deserving actress gets a big role.

Last night's Golden Globe awards were a boon for NBC, earning a 6.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, up almost 30 percent from last year. With 19.67 million people tuning in, the broadcast was the highest-rated Golden Globes since 2007. But wait, there's more: "Excluding sports, last night’s awards show was NBC’s highest-rated and most-watched show in the 8-11 p.m. slot since 2004." Wow. The highest-rated non-sports thing on NBC in nearly a decade. That's great news for the show, but, um, really terrible news for NBC. Or at least kinda depressing. Your most successful thing since the first George W. Bush administration is a Golden Globes broadcast? Yikes. I mean, good for them, always nice to hit a high, but sheesh. They really had some bad years there, didn't they? (Although, hm, I suppose that number could simply mean the highest-rated show that was on all the way from 8-11, like a special or something, not just anything that aired during those hours? It's unclear. Either way, though, TV ratings ain't what they used to be.) [Deadline]

Speaking of ratings records, Showtime enjoyed a healthy premiere night yesterday, with the ludicrous season three premiere of Shameless (there was a battle-bots plotline, William H. Macy put drugs up his butt, someone got killed, Emmy Rossum walked around in fake poop, and Harry Hamlin had gay sex with a teenager) earning 2 million viewers, up from last year's 1.6 million. Showtime's comedies, if you want to call them that, Californication and House of Lies also did well, pulling in 1.07 million and 1.19 million viewers respectively. Californication was up 41% from last year's premiere. So, well done Showtime! They were probably helped by the fact the HBO shows premiering last night, Girls and Enlightened, are some of the network's lower-rated. Had they been up against, say, Game of Thrones, I don't think they would have fared so well. Ah well, still reason to celebrate. Gross on, gross Showtime shows! [The Hollywood Reporter]

After years spent maybe-gonna-make-it-ing in the movie biz, former Boston Public actress Michelle Monaghan is headed back to television. But not the sad network realm of David E. Kelly. No, she's going to big, prestige HBO. She's just signed on to play the female lead in the Matthew McConaughey/Woody Harrelson police drama True Detective. That's the one that HBO greenlit instantly, sight unseen, when Harrelson and McConaughey brought it to them eight months ago. It's an eight-episode, one-off series, but it's still good work for Monaghan. She'll play "Maggie Hart, the wife of Martin Hart (Harrelson), a woman who makes a hard decision that has long-reaching and devastating consequences." Cary Fukunaga, who directed the wonderful Jane Eyre with Mis Wasiskowska, is directing all the episodes. We're happy about this. Monaghan has been underutilized in the world of film, relegated to wife roles in bigger movies and bigger roles in little-seen indies. Sure she's playing a wife here too, but it seems like the role will be a bit more complicated than "Please be home for the baby, Robert Downey Jr." All told, this is one of the more intriguing TV projects in the works, a very British-model miniseries kind of a thing that could be something special. Here's hoping, for Michelle Monaghan and for us. [Deadline]

South Park millionaires turned Book of Mormon millionaires Trey Parker and Matt Stone have officially opened their own studio/production company, called Important Studios. Valued at $300 million, the production hut will in theory allow for Parker and Stone to act with as much creative freedom as possible while they develop, among other things, a Book of Mormon movie. Which... OK, fine, if they have to make a movie out of it, can we make one suggestion? Instead of saying that they're going to go after Mormons but then chickening out and instead making fun of African poverty for two hours, could the movie maybe actually say something about the Mormon religion and culture? Because the musical is funny and all, what will all those jokes about how poor Africans are, and a few gentle Mormon jabs, but it doesn't really live up to its title. That's all. A simple suggestion. Fix that little thing and we'll wish you boys well in all your endeavors. Shouldn't be too hard, right? [Entertainment Weekly]

Here is a sad trailer for a sad thriller called The Call, which stars Academy Award winner Halle Berry as a 911 operator trying to stop a serial killer. The serial killer is trying to kill Abigail Breslin. Yeah. The movie looks to have been made for seven dollars, five of which probably went to Berry. Man does this lady need a new agent. Or at least needed Cloud Atlas to be a big hit. Ah well. On to the next one, I guess.

And here's a trailer for Beyoncé's upcoming HBO documentary about herself. It is called Life Is But a Dream and it is about how being a celebrity is hard. Again, it was directed by Beyoncé. So I'm sure it will be a completely unflinching, sober, and balanced look at her life and times. How could it be anything but?

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.