Awards Round-Up (Golden Globes, Critics Choice, etc.)

Don't you love awards season? There are plenty of golden statuettes to go around, whether you're talking movies, TV, pop stars, directors, writers, whatever.

Probably the biggest party among the recent shows were the Golden Globes, given out on Sunday. And that was a pretty awesome party all around. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were fabulous. Also funny and fresh and cool, but mostly fabulous.

So what happened? Jodie Foster got the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her contributions to cinema, offering an acceptance speech that some found infuriating, some found inspiring, and others found confusing. Oh well. She got her award and she looked great, so I guess we're clear on that much.

In more surprising news, Argo and director Ben Affleck upset the Lincoln applecart, with Affleck taking Best Director and the movie being named Best Drama. It was a good week for Affleck, who also won the Critics Choice Award for Best Director, with Argo named their Best Picture, too. Was it a little payback for Affleck's direction not even getting a nomination from the Academy? Who knows? But it was fun!

Lincoln's Daniel Day-Lewis won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, while Jessica Chastain took the Drama Best Actress honors for her role as a CIA agent on the trail of Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty. Those two also won with the Critics. Are they frontrunners for Oscar? Yeah, probably.

They were matched on the Golden Globes' Comedy/Musical side by Hugh Jackman, who won for playing brave and virtuous Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (which is certainly no comedy) and Jennifer Lawrence, half of of the off-kilter dancing duo in Silver Linings Playbook (which certainly is a comedy).

Aside from the overall Best Pic, which was Argo, the Critics Choice awards divide their favorite film choices into Comedies, Action Movies and Sci-Fi/Horror, and they singled out Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall and Looper. Jennifer Lawrence was their winner for both Action (The Hunger Games) and Comedy (Silver Linings Playbook), while Daniel Craig (Skyfall) and Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings) took honors among Action and Comedy actors. Science Fiction/Horror actors get no love at all.

Supporting actors honored by the HFPA were Anne Hathaway, who played Fantine in Les Miz, and Christoph Waltz, as the dentist/bounty hunter/magic wizard in Django, while the Critics went with Hathaway and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played the cult leader in The Master.

Along with the awards for Jackman and Hathaway, Les Misérables also took the Golden Globe as Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical). Oddly, the Foreign Press Association honored neither Les Miz nor Argo, not even Lincoln and Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner, for its screenplay. That award went to the always annoying Quentin Tarantino for Bloody Bloody Django Unchained. (The "Bloody Bloody" and the "always annoying" are my contributions and not part of anything to do with the Golden Globes.) And yes, Tarantino was also the Critics Choice for Best Original Screenplay, while Kushner got Best Adapted Screenplay to go with all those Tonys, the Emmy, the Olivier and the Pulitzer.

Other films taking home the hardware were Brave, named Best Animated Feature Film by the Hollywood Foreign Press -- the Critics chose Wreck-It Ralph -- and France's Amour, which won as Best Foreign Language Film from both the HFPA and the Critics.

On the TV side at the Golden Globes, Showtime's Homeland was the big winner, taking Best Drama, Best Actor for Damian Lewis, and Best Actress for Claire Danes. HBO's Girls won Best Comedy, with star/creator/writer/Ms. Everything Lena Dunham named Best Actress in a Comedy. Don Cheadle, the lead in the Showtime series House of Lies, won as Best Actor.

HBO's Game Change, all about Sarah Palin and her Vice Presidential run, emerged as the winner in the Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television category, with Julianne Moore, the one who played Ms. Palin herself, named Best Actress. Kevin Costner took Best Actor honors for Hatfields & McCoys, a mini-series that aired on the History Channel.

Best Supporting actors in All of Television were Downton Abbey's Grande Dame Maggie Smith and Game Change's Ed Harris, who played presidential aspirant John McCain.

And now the important stuff! Who looked the best?

Among the ladies, I liked Amy Poehler's fun faux-tuxedo, which fit her personality perfectly, I thought Claire Danes looked terrific in red, and I also liked Naomi Watts' garnet gown. But Lucy Liu (above) was amazing in a flowered Carolina Herrera gown that didn't look like anybody else's.

 Unlike Connie Britton and Isla Fisher, who looked like the same person. Same color, same hair... Which is which? Can you tell?

And now it's on to more awards and more gorgeous gowns, as we wind our way through SAG, BAFTA and Oscar season. It feels like it lasts forever, but it's really just two months. Okay, maybe three.

Critics Choose "Community," "Homeland" and "Sherlock" as Their Faves

The Broadcast Television Journalists Association (that would be your BTJA) gave out its second annual Critics Choice Awards for the television shows and performers its critic members enjoy the most last Monday night, June 18.

So who and what did the TV critics commend?

The Best Comedy Series award for "Community" showed that somebody appreciates creator Dan Harmon and his anarchic vision (even if that somebody isn't NBC, who recently gave Harmon his pink slip) and that the critics at the BTJA are willing to bypass Emmy darling "Modern Family" just this once. The other comedy series nominated (besides "Community" and "Modern Family") were "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS, "Parks and Recreation" on NBC, HBO's flashy new "Girls" series, and "New Girl," the Zooey Deschanel vehicle on Fox that is not as new as but more singular than "Girls." Out of those, I wouldn't quibble with any of "Community," "Modern Family" or "Parks and Rec," which are all on my Must Watch list.

And even though "Modern Family" didn't take home the Best Series award, it did take Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen as sweetly flaky Phil and Claire Dunphy.

"Homeland," the nerve-wracking Showtime series about a Manchurian Candidate/terrorist and the bipolar agent tracking him, won the Best Drama Series award over fellow nominees "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men," both on AMC, PBS's "Downton Abbey," HBO's "The Game of Thrones," and the lone major network contender, "The Good Wife" on CBS. That is a pretty impressive line-up of nominees, right there.

Claire Danes, the bipolar agent I mentioned up there, was named Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role on "Homeland."

PBS's new "Sherlock" nabbed the prize for Best Movie/Miniseries, as well as Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries for star Benedict Cumberbatch.

FX's secret agent cartoon "Archer" won Best Animated Series, Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations," the international food show on the Travel Network, was named Best Reality Series (non-competition category), while NBC's "The Voice," the singing contest with the oversize swivel chairs holding Cee-Lo Green, Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton as judges/mentors, won Best Reality Series -- Competition. NBC also picked up the award for Best Talk Show for "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," the fun and amusing show that outclasses its late-night partner, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on a nightly basis. And, no, Leno wasn't nominated. "Conan," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "The View" were.

Five shows set to premiere next fall were given the nod as Most Exciting New Series (apparently based on the premise and/or pilots) including "The Following," "The Mindy Project, "Nashville, "The Newsroom" and "Political Animals."

Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series went to Bryan Cranston and Giancarlo Esposito for AMC's "Breaking Bad," with "Mad Men," also on AMC, taking the Best Supporting Actress award for Christina Hendricks. Best Guest Performer in a Drama was Lucy Liu for "Southland" on TNT.

Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries was Julianne Moore, playing Sarah Palin in HBO's "Game Change," with Louis C. K. named Best Actor in a Comedy Series for "Louie" on FX,  and Zooey Deschanel (the "New Girl" herself) and Amy Poehler ("Parks and Recreation") tying for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. Paul Rudd took Best Guest Performer in a Comedy for his adorable and hilarious turn as a rich dimwit running against Amy Poehler's character for town council on "Parks and Rec."

Best Reality Show Host was also a tie, between Tom Bergeron of "Dancing with the Stars" and Cat Deeley of "So You Think You Can Dance." Maybe we should demand a dance-off?

You can click here to see all the winners and here if you'd like to expand your horizons to include all the nominees. It won't be too long till it's Emmy time (nominations announced on July 19) so if your fave did not prevail with the critics from the BTJA, never fear. More awards to come!