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"Deal With It, Cate Blanchett!": "30 Rock," "John Adams," and "Mad Men" Among TV Winners at Golden Globes

Is it just me or was it positively inspirational to see 30 Rock rack up so many statuettes last night at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards?

The NBC comedy, which many predicted would be canceled as soon as it launched, racked up three awards including Best TV Comedy, Best Actress in TV Comedy (Tina Fey), and Best Actor in a TV Comedy (Alec Baldwin), all three of the categories in which it was nominated. Likewise, HBO's miniseries John Adams cliched all seven awards in all of its nominated categories (go Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti, and Tom Wikinson!) and Mad Men took home the top spot for TV Drama... even though series leads Jon Hamm and January Jones were cruelly overlooked for their superlative performances this season.

What did I think of the awards and what burning questions do I still have? Let's discuss.

I'm not quite sure why Jeff Zucker looked quite so displeased when 30 Rock took home the award for Best TV Comedy but the man could barely muster a smile for the comedy series' first Golden Globe best series win, despite the fact that it airs on NBC. I loved that Alec Baldwin had to whisper to Tracy Morgan to remember to thank Zucker but, having given a stink-eye like that, don't look for Zucker to get many more kudos from Fey and Company in the future.

Was it just me or was Morgan's acceptance speech for 30 Rock's win the very best acceptance speech of all time? Sure, my heart melted to see Kate Winslet win not just once but twice last night (after years of going home empty-handed) and Sally Hawkens' shocked I love you's were absolutely adorable, but Morgan brought down the house with his tongue-in-cheek (and stream-of-consciousness) speech.

"Tina Fey and I had an agreement that if Barack Obama won, I would speak for the show from now on," said Morgan. "Welcome to post-racial America. I’m the face of post-racial America. Deal with it, Cate Blanchett!"

Um, wow. I was rolling on the floor.

Second best acceptance speech then has got to go to 30 Rock producer/star/writer Tina Fey:



"If you ever start to feel too good about yourself, they have this thing called the Internet, and you can find a lot of people there who don’t like you. I’d like to address some of them now. BabsonLaCrosse, you can suck it. Dianefan, you can suck it. Cougar-Letter, you can really suck it, because you’ve been after me all year." (If she had worked in "by the hammer of Thor," she'd have clinched the best speech.)

Was anyone else shifting uncomfortably in their seats when Baldwin mentioned his daughter Ireland and how she makes him laugh at home?

I was really upset that Anna Paquin took home the award for Best Actress, TV Drama over the vastly overlooked January Jones. I was thrilled that the HFPA finally recognized that amazing talents of Jones, who along with the other women of Mad Men typically seem to be absent from the awards races... so what was up with Paquin's win for True Blood? Could things be shifting back in HBO's favor once again? (And, to my friends at HBO, congratulations on sweeping awards.)

Did anyone notice a man climbing over a wall during NBC's ludicrously awkward red carpet pre-show? What was up with that?

I keep forgetting that Kate Winslet is married to Sam Mendes... and not Leonardo DiCaprio.

Loved that Laura Dern thanked Recount writer Danny Strong (a.k.a. Jonathan from Buffy) during her acceptance speech and made a political statement ("I will cherish this as a reminder of the extraordinary, incredible outpouring of people who demanded their voice be heard in this last election so we can look forward to an amazing change in this country.") to boot.

How hysterical was Ricky Gervais last night as he poked fun at the Hollywood Foreign Press for not nominating him for Ghost Town and bemoaned the lack of gag reels on Holocaust films? If there's one person you can rely on to crack some off-color jokes and make everyone stop drinking and eating for two seconds to pay attention, it's Ricky. (Whereas I thought that Sasha Baron Cohen's jab at the breakdown of Madonna and Guy Ritchie's marriage went a little too far over the line.) And I thought that his way of getting everyone's attention was a hell of a lot more funny than Jennifer Lopez ("Mama's talking"). Genius.

All in all, another reminder of why the Globes are a boozy, unpredictable affair where anything can happen and a lively antidote to the more staid, predictable, and at times painfully slow Emmys and Oscars.

A full list of the winners of last night's 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards can be found here.

Comments

Thrilled about 30 Rock and Mad Men taking home the top TV prizes but I really, really wish that Jon Hamm and January Jones had been rewarded for their incredible work. I was shocked that Anna Paquin won over Jones or any of the other women in her category. I've enjoyed Paquin in other work but her character in True Blood is the equivalent of nails against a chalkboard.
Anonymous said…
Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, and Ricky Gervais definitely provided the most (intentional) laughs of the evening. Hearing Fey say "suck it" on the Golden Globe stage was probably my favorite moment of the evening.
Anonymous said…
Tracy Morgan should change his last name to Moron. Cate Blanchett is an Australian and has nothing to do with the point he was unsuccessfully trying to make. She was simply the first white woman to pop into his head, and I won't watch the show he is in again.
Anonymous said…
@anon You are a moron who clearly didn't get the joke at all. It's a good thing 30 ROCK is written for people with more intelligence than you.
ProgGrrl said…
Jace I completely agree with you about everything...but I cannot contain my glee for Anna Paquin and my favorite new show of this past fall TRUE BLOOD. It was fun to see them go for that, go for the new. HFPA seems to like doing that, especially with TV. And believe me, I *loved* January Jones this season. LOVED.
Anonymous said…
"Deal with it Cate Blanchett" was definitely my favorite line of the night.

I was happy with most of the wins - personally pleased. Especially happy with the surprising win for Vicky Christina Barcelona. I thought it would go to In Bruges, or HGL.

I am surprised I haven't heard more about Seth Rogen's ill-conceived comment about Mickey Rourke. No surprise there was no cutaway to the Mick.

But you know me - my absolute favorite moment of the night - "And the Golden Globe goes to...Bruce Springsteen!"
Anonymous said…
Tracy Morgan's speech had Jace "rolling on the floor"? Jace is easily amused. I kept waiting for the speech to get clever or uniquely funny (as the show is)....but without Fey writing it for him, Morgan is left to his own limited vocabulary,speaking, and writing skills. I am SO bored with the "we be comin' into our own now" rhetoric when the world has bent over backward for "their own" for 20+ years now...especially in the world of entertainment.
Anonymous said…
The world didn't bent over backwards for "their own" when they were stranded on rooftops and overpasses after Katrina. 'Member that?
Anonymous said…
Racist much, Anonymous? Wow. I think you're the only person anywhere that didn't think that was the greatest acceptance speech ever.
Anonymous said…
yes it made me laugh because it was unexpected and purporting to be outrageous but did i miss anything else in Tracy Morgan's "Cate Blanchett" line? Or was that it?
Anonymous said…
I also did not find Tracey Morgan's "deal with it Cate Blanchett!" funny at all. I thought the comment would have been humourous without adding Cate to it. That made it racist in my mind and hence offensive. Using a white Australian (who seems like a very nice person) to illustrate his joke about post racial America just was off colour to me. On the other hand I thought Sasha Baron Cohen's line about Madonna humourous (biting yes, but they are divorcing and therefore she is getting rid of him in a way)!!! I loved Ricky Gervais - he would be interesting choice for hosting the Oscars?!!

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