After months of direct confrontation in a bitter Hollywood strike, the Screen Actors Guild and Netflix are offering each other a two-hour olive branch: The 30th SAG Awards are streaming on the platform tonight for the first time ever.
Many hopes hang from either side of that branch. SAG is betting that Netflix can give its awards show, traditionally viewed as a predictive precursor to the Oscars, a much wider audience than it reached in previous years. Netflix is determined to prove that it can broadcast a live event as successfully as any television network.
Of course, it’s the biggest stars that will be the draw on Saturday, including a rare public appearance by Barbra Streisand, who will receive SAG’s Life Achievement Award. She’s showing up because, as she recently told The Times’ Glenn Whipp, she liked the fact that “so many actors marched and worked very hard to get what they campaigned for,” and also because “they told me in advance that I got the award! No trauma or drama.”
Follow along throughout the night as Mary McNamara, Meredith Blake and Josh Rottenberg report on the proceedings live. Here’s hoping that the “no drama” rule doesn’t extend to the show.
