Golden Globes Get Pat on Rear From Bochco

Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony received a big plug on Wednesday’s episode of CBS’ hospital drama, “City of Angels.” But apparently it’s not the kind of plug they appreciated.

Executives for the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which puts on the event that honors excellence in film and television, had no comment Thursday about the episode, which included scenes involving a Golden Globe statuette that had been inserted inside a male patient’s rectum. The man, along with his male companion, had come to Angels of Mercy hospital to have the statue removed.

“We’re here because UCLA [Medical Center] is a gossip mill,” says the companion.

The scene is played mostly for humor as Dr. Wesley Williams (Hill Harper) smothers a laugh when he examines an X-ray that shows the award inside the man.

Steven Bochco, “City of Angels” executive producer and one of its creators, joked to a group of television reporters last week that he had talked about using an Oscar in the scene.

“An Emmy was out of the question,” he quipped. “And if you look at the size of an Oscar’s base, that’s out of the question, too. So the Golden Globes won, sort of, by default.”

Meanwhile, the series, which premiered Sunday following the traditionally high-rated “60 Minutes” before settling into its regular 8 p.m. Wednesday time period, took an expected dive in viewership in its second outing; however, the decrease was steeper than the network would have liked. Ratings show that the series, which has attracted an avalanche of attention because it features a predominantly minority cast, dropped about 30% in households from Sunday.

The network said the series showed improvement in key demographics in the Wednesday 8 p.m slot, where “Cosby” and the canceled “Work With Me” were previously seen.