What to look for tonight during the 2021 Golden Globe Awards with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

As the world continues to deal with the shutdown of businesses and schools because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entertainment industry adapts as necessary. While many movie theaters remain closed (or reopened at reduced capacity), awards shows go on, albeit in altered form.

The Golden Globe Awards, usually held in January, typically marks the start of the entertainment awards season that leads up to the Oscars (this year set for a two-months-later-than-usual April 25).

In addition to being delayed until this weekend (5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, on NBC), the 78th annual Globes telecast will keep hosts Tina Fey (“30 Rock”) and Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation”) physically distanced by a continent, with Fey hosting from New York and Poehler in Beverly Hills.

Five more things to look for in the Globes ceremony that honors both movies and TV/streaming:

It’s a Netflix world, we just live in it

The dominant streaming service goes into the Globes leading all film studios (22 movie nominations) and television distributors (20 TV nominations).

Studios and platforms bend over backward to court Globes voters — composed of approximately 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) — with “for your consideration” ads, screenings and panels. This year, Netflix hosted a series called “FYSee,” virtual conversations with filmmakers and actors, aimed at drumming up interest in — and potentially votes for — its entries. While networks and streamers courting votes is standard industry practice, the HFPA came under renewed scrutiny this week for allegations of self-dealing and ethical lapses, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

The movies to beat

Netflix’s “Mank,” director David Fincher’s biopic about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (“Citizen Kane”), is the Globes frontrunner with six nominations, just ahead of Netflix’s Aaron Sorkin-directed historical legal drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” about anti-Vietnam War protesters charged with the intention to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which has five nods.

Other top motion-picture nominees include “The Father,” “Nomadland,” “Promising Young Woman,” “Borat Subsequent Movie Film,” “One Night in Miami” and “Hamilton.”

TV shows with the most nominations

Netflix’s British royal drama “The Crown” is the leader with six nominations, followed by Pop TV’s comedy “Schitt’s Creek” with five, Netflix’s “Ozark” and HBO’s “The Undoing” with four nominations each.

Hulu’s “The Great” and Netflix’s “Ratched” each have three nominations. TV programs with two nominations each include Showtime’s “The Comey Rule,” Netflix’s “Emily in Paris,” “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Unorthodox,” HBO Max’s “The Flight Attendant,” Hulu’s “Normal People,” Amazon’s “Small Axe” and Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.”

Of local note

While Netflix is ahead in nominations, the Hollywood division of Seattle’s Amazon is in the race with the second most nominations in the film category, including “Borat” for best movie comedy.

On the TV side, Amazon ranked sixth of 13 distributors with one nomination for “Ramy,” a comedy-drama starring Ramy Youssef as a first-generation Muslim-Arab American on a spiritual journey in New Jersey, and two for “Small Axe,” director Steve McQueen’s five-film British anthology about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London from the 1960s to the 1980s.

An equally tenuous local tie: Michelle Pfeiffer was nominated for the film “French Exit,” based on the novel by Vancouver Island native Patrick deWitt, who at one point lived in Washington state.

The telecast

“Saturday Night Live” vets Fey and Poehler have hosted the Globes in the past, but this is the first bi-coastal telecast in the awards show’s history. Poehler will be stationed at the telecast’s usual location, The Beverly Hilton, while Fey’s portion emanates from New York’s Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center.

Although the Emmy Awards was produced almost entirely remotely with just a few celebrities present with host Jimmy Kimmel at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, Variety reports Globes presenters — including Awkwafina, Cynthia Erivo, Annie Mumolo, Joaquin Phoenix, Kristen Wiig and Renée Zellweger — have been asked to appear in-person under strict COVID-19 protocols. Nominees are expected to still appear remotely.

In addition to NBC’s telecast, E! will air a preshow special, at 3-5 p.m., hosted by Giuliana Rancic.