"Golden Globes:" Appraisal (The TV Zone)

Giants lost.

But "Mad Men" won.

I'll get over it - the Giants, that is.

Don't mind me...if I sulk.

But here's the thing. Last night, the Golden Globes. An important awards show? (Perhaps on some galaxy.) But what is, or should be, especially good about this awards ceremony, is the television show that wraps around all its sodden, soupy, sappy silliness mixed in with the serious and interesting. So...

The Bottom Line: As awards shows go, this one went fine - not too hot, and not too cold, but somewhere in that mild, midpoint temperature range. That's good because the Globes will not - and maybe should not - be remembered by next week; there's something terrifically ephemeral about this ceremony, and the TV program probably shouldn't attempt to pretend that history is unfolding, and that the moment of bestowal should be consecrated for all time. As recently as five years ago, this affair was treated as serio-comedy - the place where you could get drunk! Watch Jack slur! See the stars make fun of themselves (not so hard to do, on occasion)! And...then something happened. Maybe they closed the bar early, but the Golden Globes became "important" - an Oscar bellwether, and an award that didn't deserve to be mothballed along with your People's Choice, but set alongside the Oscar (at a far remove, but at least on the same mantlepiece.) This type of self-importance can lead to a disaster on-screen - but not last night. Just smartly paced, and properly contextualized. A good awards show for a once frivolous, and still somewhat frivolous award... (Can you really buy these things, as rumor has long held? I wonder...I wonder...)

Best Television Series - Drama

Dexter (SHOWTIME)
House (FOX)
Heel and Toe Films, Shore Z Productions and Bad Hat Harry Productions in association with Universal Media Studios
In Treatment (HBO)
Sheleg, Closest To The Hole Productions and Leverage in association with HBO Entertainment
Mad Men (AMC)Lionsgate
True Blood (HBO) Your Face Goes Here Productions in association with HBO Entertainment

* And the Globe goes to..."Mad Men." Again, "Men" wins and in this field, there is no competition. But the words of Matthew Weiner, in his rambler of thank you, were intriguing, specifically this - "my friends at Lionsgate and AMC." What friends? No specific names? Not worth mentioning? One could construe this as a slightly cool embrace, and not surprising given their on-going contract standoff.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama

Sally Field – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Mariska Hargitay – Law & Order
January Jones – Mad Men (AMC)
Anna Paquin – True Blood (HBO)
Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer (TNT)

* And the Globe goes to...Anna Paquin. The Globe people are lost souls sometimes. Do they even watch TV? Do they know ANYTHING? In some ways, though, this year's category was seriously off-center anyway. No Glenn Close here? That alone means no one here even watches TV. I woulda given it to Jones - not a great season, but a pretty good one.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama

Gabriel Byrne – In Treatment (HBO)
Michael C. Hall – Dexter (SHOWTIME)
Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)
Hugh Laurie – House (FOX)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers – The Tudors (SHOWTIME)

* And the Globe goes to...Gabriel Byrne. Not here, eh, Mister Byrne? Did you have something more important to attend to? (Or are you a Giants fan?) Of course this is a misfire. Byrne? Nothing wrong with him - just in the company of better performances. All of them...I think it mighta been interesting if Meyers got the nod.

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

30 Rock (NBC)
Universal Media Studios in association with Broadway Video and Little Stranger Inc.
Californication (SHOWTIME)
Showtime Presents in association with Aggressive Mediocrity, and Then…, Twilight Time Films
Entourage (HBO)
Leverage and Closest to the Hole Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
The Office (NBC)
Deedle Dee Productions/Reveille/NBC Universal Television Studio; NBC
Weeds (SHOWTIME)
Showtime/Lionsgate Television/Tilted Productions, Inc.; SHOWTIME

* And the Globe goes to..."Rock." Bravo. Etcetera. Excuse me if I don't see TOO excited by this, but "Rock" (and Tina) are now on the "can't lose" circuit. Is "Office" markedly weaker than "Rock?" I don't think so. "Californication?" Miles weaker. "Entourage?" A very good season. But "Rock" is the one, and may be, should be, the lock for best Emmy/comedy in September too. Ho. Hum.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

Christina Applegate – Samantha Who? (ABC)
America Ferrera – Ugly Betty (ABC)
Tina Fey – 30 Rock (NBC)
Debra Messing – The Starter Wife (USA)
Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds (SHOWTIME)

* And the Globe goes to...Tina Fey. Well, of course. This coulda, maybe, possibly gone some other way, but it woulda been...strange. So ensconced is Tina in the "best anything" category that her roll continues, undiminished.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock (NBC)
Steve Carell – The Office (NBC)
Kevin Connolly – Entourage (HBO)
David Duchovny – Californication (SHOWTIME)
Tony Shalhoub – Monk (USA)

* And the Globe goes to...Baldwin. Deja vu all over again, Emmys. One of the strongest TV categories. I think any of these guys coulda won - Duchovny maybe not - without provoking a massive audience belch.

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television

A Raisin In The Sun (ABC)
Sony Pictures Television, Storyline Entertainment, and Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment
Bernard And Doris (HBO)
Trigger Street Independent Productions in association with Little Bird and Chicago Films and HBO Films
Cranford (PBS)
A Co-Production of BBC and WGBH Boston.
John Adams (HBO)
Playtone in association with HBO Films
Recount (HBO)
Spring Creek/Mirage Productions in association with Trigger Street Productions, Everyman Pictures and HBO Films

* And the Globe goes to..."John Adams." Of course. Easy call. No argument. But "Adams" was so big and brawny, it seems kind of a mismatch to pit it against slighter fair.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Judi Dench – Cranford (PBS)
Catherine Keener – An American Crime
Laura Linney – John Adams (HBO)
Shirley MacLaine – Coco Chanel
Susan Sarandon – Bernard And Doris (HBO)

* And the Globe goes to Linney. Another safe choice. Keener would have been the interesting choice here, Dench the popular one, MacLaine the inscrutable (or romantic). Sarandon? Poor "B & D" has had a long night.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Ralph Fiennes – Bernard And Doris (HBO)
Paul Giamatti – John Adams (HBO)
Kevin Spacey – Recount (HBO)
Kiefer Sutherland – 24 (FOX)
Tom Wilkinson – Recount (HBO)

* And the Globe goes to...Giamatti. Absolutely, positively deserved. He is so far and away the leader in this field that the mismatch is just about nearly absurd. Fienne's Bernard got zero buzz on the critical circuit, while "Recount" was doggerel. We know about season six of "24" already...

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Eileen Atkins – Cranford (PBS)
Laura Dern – Recount (HBO)
Melissa George – In Treatment (HBO)
Rachel Griffiths – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Dianne Wiest – In Treatment (HBO)

* And the Globe goes to...Laura Dern. Really, REALLY? "Recount" was such a numbing doctrinaire viewing experience that I can't quite get beyond that. Maybe Dern was fine - just don't remember - but I think Wiest shouda gotten this.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Denis Leary – Recount (HBO)
Jeremy Piven – Entourage (HBO)
Blair Underwood – In Treatment (HBO)
Tom Wilkinson – John Adams (HBO)

* And the Globe goes to...Tom Wilkinson. His first win...ever? Is that possible? He won the first TV prize of the night. This is hardly a surprise - a brilliant actor, performance, etc. Certainly the fave in this category. It's just so peculiar to see Piven or Harris mixed in here. Why? Beats me.

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