I've never been able to watch an awards show from start to finish. There's too much self-congratulating, forced jokes, and boring speeches. So, last night was a test for me. I cozied up on my bed, placed a bowl of Oreos in front of me, settled my yellow legal pad on my leg, took a deep breath and turned the channel to NBC. What I saw surprised me. It wasn't bad at all. Ricky Gervais was hilarious with his self-deprecating, dry British humor and there were some amazing speeches that were totally worth the three hours I sat in front of my television set.
Ricky Gervais. Generally at the beginning of an awards show, the host picks out a handful of celebrities to make fun of and everyone gets a laugh at their expense (grateful it wasn't them, probably). But Gervais didn't make fun of just one of them; he made fun of them all. "Just looking at some of these faces, reminds me of the great work done this year by cosmetic surgeons." And of course, he commented on the ridiculous importance of actors, "It is an honor to be here, in a room full of, what I consider to be, the most important people on the planet: actors." There was also the obligatory ripping of NBC (who, let's face it, deserves it), "I'm not use to these viewing figures, let's face it, nor is NBC." And I have to mention the joke that made me both incredibly embarrassed, but also doubled over with laughter, when Gervais spoke of a recent reduction of his wee willie member. "I've had a penis reduction. Just got the one now. And it is very tiny. But so are my hands, so when I'm holding it, it looks pretty big. And let's face it, I am usually holding it."
But seriously folks, let's get down to business: the night's winners. On the TV side of things, it was a night of first time winners: Julianna Marguiles won for her freshman drama The Good Wife , Toni Collette (United States of Tara) beat out Tina Fey to get her first Golden Globe, Michael C. Hall, with his first appearance since announcing his cancer battle, won for Dexter and Chloe Sevigny won for Big Love. Award favorites John Lithgow and Alec Baldwin both won for their roles, also. Glee and Mad Men rounded off the television category with their wins for best drama and comedy series, respectively. I am so proud of the Hollywood Foreign Press for not going with the status quoi by recognizing a great unique new comedy, that isn't 30 Rock.
On the movie side (and for my money, the less important side), Avatar won for Best Picture and James Cameron for Best Director, a nice thanks-for- making-us-a-lot-of-money pat on the back. Meryl Streep beat herself for the Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical and Sandra Bullock won for Best Actress in a Drama. I wish the Golden Globes was any indication for who will win the Oscars, because I would love to see Sandra Bullock, queen of the romantic comedies, win a golden man. Moving along, Mo'nique won a Best Supporting Actress Globe for Precious and had one of the best speeches of the night (more later). There Motion Picture categories were numerous, so to get a list all the winners, just click here.
The Cecil B.Demille Award was given to Martin Scorsese and was presented to him by two of his muses: Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. De Niro described his relationship with Scorsese as an "old married couple...who no longer sleep together." He also went on to say that a Scorsese sex tape would be of him actually having sex with film. Yeah.
Speeches. Usually this is where I quickly change the channel, in fear of listening to an awkward/boring/self-deprecating speech. But, since I'm now a TV blogger, I figured why not? There were hits and misses, but overall they weren't bad. Mo'Nique started off the night, setting the bar high, with her very controlled and powerful tone. She began, "I'm in the midst of my dreams...I celebrate this award with everybody who's ever been touched. It's now time to tell. And it's okay." I couldn't have changed the channel if I wanted to. It's nice to see a first-time winner who is so humble and engaging.
Meryl Streep definitely earns an honorable mention for her humble, but somewhat tipsy speech. Before the winner was announced, Streep looked genuinely modest and embarrassed by both nominations. When she walked up to the microphone, the first words out of her mouth were, "I want to change my name to T-Bone...T-Bone Streep." Okay. She was obviously a bit nervous as she started to wring the award statue to death. But she pressed forward and concluded with a beautiful homage to a mother she clearly loved very much.
The night wasn't all about the glamour of an awards show, though. Keeping it all in prospective, the situation in Haiti wasn't far from the actors minds. They each wore ribbons to remind viewers of the devastation in Haiti. It's nice to see that even the "most important people on the planet" don't think they are.
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