Golden Globes 2011 . . . Live Blogging

I'll be live blogging the Golden Globes tonight, rooting for all things Mad Men and Modern Family.

Please feel free to join in on the commentary and, if you're reading this AFTER the Globes have aired, I'd love for you to weigh in on the results.

I'm wondering how many times they'll have to bleep out Ricky Gervais' commentary . . .

UPDATE: Ricky Gervais had a glass of beer (or what is supposed to look like beer) waiting for him on the podium. Wonder if that'll be the standard for every person who arrives at the podium?

UPDATE: BRUTALLY going after The Tourist, Sheen, Cruise . . . Sex & the City 2 stars' ages. I'm waiting for them to throw tomatoes.

UPDATE: My son just asked, "Touched what?" I rolled my eyes.

UPDATE: A show of hands, who thinks that Gervais will NOT be asked back as host? (*hand raised*)

UPDATE: Christian Bale won for supporting actor in The Fighter. I was rooting for Jeremy Renner from The Town. But, to be honest, I haven't seen The Fighter.

UPDATE: Oooh, best actress in TV drama series . . . I wanted Margulies . . . but it's Katie Sagal for Sons of Anarchy . . . Can you say UP-set?! She was seated in Orange County, obviously she wasn't expected to win . . .  (Don't like how they cut her off! Better not be a trend for the evening.)

UPDATE: Best mini-series or TV movie. *yawn*

UPDATE: "He's a mean person," my daughter just said when Gervais appeared . . . Ashton Kutcher's dad?! Ouch!

Golden Globe Nominations: The Good, the Bad & the Odd

Meryl vs Meryl. Meryl Streep is legend for her superb, award winning dramatic acting chops. Now it appears as though she’s conquered the world of comedy as well. This morning’s announcement by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, that she’s competing for a Golden Globe best actress in a comedy film award against herself, just makes it official: Meryl is the greatest actress of all time. This year she was nominated for her portrayal of Julia Child in Julie & Julia, and for her dramatization of a divorced mom who has an affair with her ex (Alec Baldwin) in the yet-to-be-released It’s Complicated.

Love for the Families. HBO's Big Love got three nominations for its solid third season in the categories of best TV drama, best TV actor in a drama for Bill Paxton and best supporting TV actress for Chloe Sevigny. ABC's Modern Family – which just aired one of the funnniest Christmas episodes I’ve seen – got a nod with a best comedy show nomination. I hope it kicks some comedy behind at the Golden Globes.

Enough with the Boring, Spoiled Boys Already. Why is Entourage even in the best comedy series running this year? Why not Parks & Recreation instead? Entourage was wildly uneven and I found myself getting seriously bored on many occasions and feeling as though the adolescent boy/never grew up/has no responsibilities shtick was getting tiresome.

In Dire Need of Some Texas-Sized Love. Where was Friday Night Lights, trusty Coach Eric Taylor and Principal Tami Taylor in the mix here? This show gets no love, honestly, it’s like the Gilmore Girls of the awards set.

Baffling TV Comedy Actress Selections. Why on earth did Courteney Cox get nominated for the abomination that is Cougar Town? Certainly Amy Poehler from Parks & Recreation is loads funnier, in that wry, Bob Newhart kind of way in its much-improved second season. The Association could’ve also, instead, put Sofia Vergara from Modern Family into that slot, or even Patricia Heaton from The Middle.

And while I’m on the subject of comedy actresses, why is Edie Falco’s excellent Nurse Jackie depiction competing in the comedy category? I really like Showtime's Nurse Jackie but as a comedy? Dramedy maybe. Straight out comedy, no. Ditto for the United States of Tara, also from Showtime and whose lead actress, Toni Collette, is nominated in the comedy category.

HBO Crushes Other Networks. One stat that is likely horrifying the brass at the broadcast networks: HBO got 17 nominations, one less than the combined number of nominations of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. AMC – home of Mad Men which got three nominations for best drama, best actor (the exquisite Jon Hamm), best actress (January Jones) -- got as many nominations as did ABC.

Anything please/displease you about the slate of Golden Globe nominees (find the whole list here)?

Image credit: Adam Taylor/ABC.

Two Great Golden Globe Moments: Gervais and Fey

As promised, I've dug up the Ricky Gervais bit from the Golden Globes. Loved his snark. And the fact that he brought a glass of beer up there with him.



Then, there was the Divine Ms Fey givin' it back to the internet haters in her acceptance speech who, as is their wont, gave it right back to her on the Los Angeles Times web site where they've been hasslin' Fey. Ah, gotta love the internet (the trolls, notsomuch).

Mad Men Wins Golden Globe for Best TV Drama

Now if the folks at Lions Gate will just sign Matt Weiner, the guru of Mad Men, I'll feel better about season three of our favorite AMC drama.

It's a shame that Jon Hamm and January Jones didn't go home with statues as well, but you can't have everything.

Image credit: Reuters.

Live Blogging the Golden Globe Awards

After being canceled last year due to the writers' strike and replaced by a wretched press conference that was about as exciting as watching C-SPAN, the Golden Globes are back baby.

I've spent the last hour-plus watching the insipid arrival shows (flipping back and forth between E! -- the network that is so exciting it requires punctuation -- and the TV Guide Channel).

Best moment I witnessed: Alec Baldwin hijacking the mike from Carson Daly and doing an Andy Rooney impersonation asking if anyone else found it irritating when they're asked irritating questions by E! reporters. My 10-year-old cheered when Miss Miley arrived with her Cyrus parents, when the Jonas trio and their ample hair set foot on the red carpet, as well as when she saw a slick-haired Zac Efron. (I must admit to laughing aloud when Carson tried to mug Bragelina with a mike on the red carpet and they blew him off.)

Once the Golden Globe show starts, I'll live blog my own Daly-esque commentary.

-- Best Supporting Actress, Drama, Film: Oh my God! What was presenter J. Lo. thinking with that dress? Was it a riff on her famous barely-there dress from years ago, the one Matt Lauer spoofed on the Today Show? ("Mama talkin'" J. Lo. told the overly chatty crowd. Maybe I should try that line at home and see if everyone shuts up.)

Kate Winslet won for supporting actress in The Reader. I adore her. Can't wait to see this film. She's so classy . . . We here in my house are taking bets on whether she drops the statue onto the floor while she tries to catch her breath . . . Good for her, she didn't drop the golden paper weight AND they didn't cut off her uninspiring speech.

-- Best Original Song, Motion Picture: What was up with Sting looking like a mountain man? . . . Bruce won for his original son for The Wrestler. My 7-year-old who's a Boss fan applauded. My 10-year-old daughter who worships Miley (up for her Bolt song) is irate.

-- Best Supporting Actor, TV: I'm hoping for Tom Wilkinson or Blair Underwood (In Treatment), the award went to Tom for John Adams, actually for playing Ben Franklin in John Adams not for playing Adams himself, a great HBO miniseries I highly recommend it.

-- Best Supporting Actress, TV: Loaded category here. I have many, many favorites. I can't decide who I want to win . . . the Golden Globe voters chose Laura Dern for HBO's Recount, a movie about the 2000 presidential election Florida gridlock.

-- Best Actor in TV, Drama: Jon Hamm . . . Jon Hamm. (Of Mad Men, don't you know . . . Though I wouldn't be crushed if Hugh Laurie of House won.) . . . Wow. Gabriel Byrne from HBO's In Treatment walked away with the award, symbolically, as he wasn't there in person. He WAS pretty solid and intriguing, definitely worthy, but I was rooting for Don Draper.

-- Best Actress in TV, Drama: I don't do vampire (otherwise known as Anna Paquin from True Blood who snagged this trophy). I wanted January Jones who killed this season in Mad Men as Betty Draper, to win. The Drapers better not go home empty-handed.

-- This presenter, Ricky Gervais cracks me up. He's so dry -- even though he showed up to the mike with a beer and drank it on stage -- I'm talkin' as dry comedically as Bob Newhart. He started off by chastizing the overly-chatty crowd for not shutting up: "Shh! How rude are you lot? Just because you're film stars. Shh! I'm not in charge. I'm not even nominated, which is kind of annoying . . . I'm like staff . . . Winslet, I told you, do a Holocaust movie and the awards come." (A reference to an episode of his HBO show Extras where his character had a conversation with Winslet about the propensity of Holocaust movies to be awards magnets.) I'm going to have to find this bit on YouTube and post it here later.

-- Best Animated Film: (Jonas fever from my gal; the boys are the presenters. Wonder what their voices will sound like in a few years . . .) Wall-E, winner. Unlike the rest of the world, I wasn't overwhelmed by this movie. My kids loved it though.

-- Best Actress, Film, Comedy/Musical: Could presenter Johnny Depp sound more bored (or stoned) by the way? Can you say Mamm. . . whaat? No Meryl? Who the heck is this chick, Sally Hawkins, from Happy-Go-Lucky? What IS Happy-Go-Lucky? Never heard of it. Nobody expected her to win, apparently, as she was seated in the theater's annex and took about 47 minutes to get to the stage . . . Emma Thompson was such a good sport for, even after losing in this category, cheering on the unknown actress. (Who were those people who were briefly on camera directly in front of the stage who were talking during the unknown actress' clipped, rambling speech chatting? Rude.)

-- Best Miniseries/TV Movie: I cannot speak highly enough of John Adams. Come to think of this, I need to watch it again. Note to self: Check "On Demand" or Netflix it.

-- Best Supporting Actor, Film: Heath Ledger for Dark Knight. This is so sad. The film's director, Chris Nolan was very respectful in his acceptance speech on Ledger's behalf.

-- NBC's Tom Brokaw announcing Frost/Nixon's best picture, drama, nomination. Hmm. Interesting choice. Grew up watching him. This is another film on my list.

-- Best Actress Miniseries/TV Movie: John Adams fevah. Laura Linney for her great performance as Abigail Adams.

-- Let's hear it for da writahs! The folks whose imaginations create all this good stuff. Best Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire. I've gotta see why everyone is talking about this movie. I don't even know what it's about.

-- Best Actor TV, Comedy: Alec "He Who Hath Stolen the Mike From Carson Daly" Baldwin from 30 Rock. "I feel so old. I remember when I used to bring Rumer Willis a juice box on the set of a movie," Baldwin said, referring to the Golden presenter Gal (Demi & Bruce's eldest daughter). Well deserved.

-- Best Actor Miniseries/TV Movie: It's a John Adams sweep my friends. (Paul Giamatti was fabulous, in his wretched teeth, or lack thereof.) Read your history kids. Or just watch it on HBO.
-- Best TV Series, Comedy: 30 Rock: 'tis the Divine Miss Fey's year. She be rockin' the Golden Globes house in her deeply V-cut dress (wonder what the folks who wrote that piece on the glamorization of Fey think of it). She, however, passed the award statue to co-star Tracy Morgan who was very, very funny, challenging Cate Blanchett and proclaiming himself the new face of "post-racial America." (Wonder if her gesture was a nod toward the notion that she's in danger of being overexposed?)

-- Best Actress TV, Comedy: Teee-na. Teee-na. . . 30 Rock. "I really love the Hollywood Foreign Press. As a kid I had all the Hollywood Foreign Press action figures," she said. ". . . If you're ever feeling too good about yourself they have this thing called the Internet" where you can find people who don't like you. Goin' after the haters. Like it.

-- Best Director, Film: Tough category. But it's a Slumdog kinda night. That's three awards thus far.

-- Best Actor, Film, Comedy: Colin Farrell, In Bruges. "They must've done the counting in Florida, an absolute shock, really," Farrell said.

-- Best Film, Comedy/Musical: Vicky Christina Barcelona. Wow. Guess they don't like Abba or Meryl Streep this year at the Hollywood Foreign Press. I was highly expecting Meryl's band of dancers and singers to box step their way to the win.

-- Best Actress, Film, Drama: Brilliant! Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road. I love how authentically excited she was to win this award. "Oh please wrap up? You have no idea how much I am not wrapping up! Gather," Winslet said. (Note to self: Incorporate the phrase, "Gather" into my daily vocabulary when in a tight spot.) ". . . My God, thank you so much."

-- Best TV Series, Drama: Made my night. Mad Men. The Drapers did NOT go home empty-handed after all. The best (or tied for best with Lost) show on TV right now got more deserved props. The second season of Mad Men was just as good as the first. . . So this means, by my calculations, that 30 Rock -- for Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and best comedy series -- was the only big three network show to win anything. All other TV awards went to cable shows.

-- Best Actor, Film, Drama: Shocker of the night (at least to me) . . . next to the Happy-Go-Lucky winner. Mickey Rourke won for The Wrestler, he and his sparkly scarf. (I recently read a review of this film in Entertainment Weekly recently. They loved this.) Rourke hiked up his pants when he stepped behind the microphone but didn't remove his shades. Interesting.

-- Best Film, Drama: Okay, you folks from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. You've convinced me. I'll see Slumdog Millionaire, but I wanna see Winslet in Revolutionary Road first, then we'll talk.

Thoughts on the award winners? The broadcast? Please feel free to chime in below.

Image credit: Getty Images/Canada.com.

My Awards-Bait Movie Wish List: Films I Want to See Right Now

Around this time of year, I start getting movie lust. As all the awards' bait is released, I begin making lists of films I want to see, knowing that, I likely won't get the chance to see most of them.

Why? Because I don't get to go out as frequently as I'd like to with The Spouse as finding babysitting for three kids is oftentimes tough, particularly in the holiday season, plus it's expensive.

I wind up making lists in my head after the Golden Globe and Oscar award nominations are released and get all psyched about seeing the movies, but by the time they're finally released on DVD months later when it's springtime and I'm in the middle of my kids' crazy spring sports schedules, they feel dated and my excitement has waned.

However while working on a column about Golden Globe nominations last week, I decided that this year will be different. Before the Oscar awards ceremony, I'm hoping to see:



-- Revolutionary Road with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as a disillusioned couple in the 'burbs in the 1950s (seeming very Mad Men-ish if you go by the trailer).
-- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in a fantastical tail involving a man aging backwards.
-- The Reader with Winslet starring as a former Nazi guard who had an affair with a much younger man.
-- Nothing but the Truth with Kate Beckinsale who plays a journalist who's jailed for protecting her sources.
-- Doubt with Meryl Streep coping with a scandal in a Catholic school where her character's a nun and headmistress.
-- Frost/Nixon with Frank Langella, about the famous Nixon TV interviews.

After reading about the films, I've also grown interested in reading the books from which they were adapted such as Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I read The Reader by Bernhard Schlink many years ago after it became an Oprah book club selection. However those books are going to have to take their places behind some of the Mad Men-inspired books I've wanted to peruse, like Frank O'Hara's Meditations in an Emergency and The Best of Everything.

Any of the new movies coming out at the end of the year that you really want to see?