Press Tour Journal: Live blogging the Golden Globes

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- The Golden Globes are about to begin. Hooray?

I kid. I actually enjoy the Globes. Even though there is an element of "pay for play" among the nominees and wannabe nominees wooing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with trinkets, the Globes have a tendency, especially in their TV categories, to recognize the new and cutting edge eons before the Emmys.

As for the movies this year, well, I'm not sure I have seen many of the nominees. But I'm all over the TV categories.

Housekeeping note: You may wonder how I can see the Globes live on the West Soast, where the broadcast is tape delayed until prime-time (it's just 5 p.m. here as the telecast begins). NBC was kind enough to set up an East Coast feed in the Universal Hilton, home of the winter TCA press tour, for writers to see the show live (thanks, Peacock network!). So I'm in a room with 11 other ambitious TV critics (out of the 130-something here), who are also watching, laptops at the ready, for live blogging or review writing.

Someone just noticed presenter Jennifer Lopez is not wearing her wedding ring. Hmmm. Is she getting divorced again? (Hubby Mark Anthony spotted with her in the audience later in the telecast.)

Tough crowd: Everyone in the press room here laughed when Sting was introduced as a "singer and social activist." And what's up with Sting's Grizzly Adams beard?

Bruce Springsteen wins for song, beating out a Miley Cyrus song and one by Clint Eastwood. "This is the only time I know I'm gonna be in competition with Clint Eastwood," Springsteen said. "Felt pretty good, too."

There was a brief blackout during Simon Baker's introduction of Miss Golden Globe Rumer Willis, star of "Sorority Row," filmed in Pittsburgh late last year.

Although I would like to have seen Neil Patrick Harris win for supporting TV actor, Tom Wilkinson was certainly deserving for his role as Ben Franklin in "John Adams." The room speculates Wilkinson was drunk when giving his rather woozy acceptance speech. Maybe he was. They certainly serve alcohol at the Globes, which can make it such a fun affair, less stuffy than the Oscars.

There's also suprise that Jeremy Piven is at the Globes: "He's poisoned! He's dying" people here exclaimed.

Wish we got New York news. Just saw an 11 p.m. news promo for a story about "a woman dies after a sexcapade at a Park Avenue hotel." That may be better than the ridiculous news promos on Pittsburgh stations.

"Please welcome the star of 'The Spirit,' Eva Mendes," said the announcer, perhaps to Mendes' chagrin given how big a flop that movie was. 

C'mon, Jon Hamm, for "Mad Men"! Although Jonathan Rhys Meyers would be an OK winner, too. Gabriel Byrne wins. First comment here: "He better sound stuffy." Byrne ditched an HBO panel Friday due to the flu. What do you know? He's not at the Globes either. Guess he really was sick.

Anna Paquin wins for leading TV actress in "True Blood." Sort of a surprise -- Paquin's Sookie may be the show's lead but she's one of the least interesting characters -- but in keeping with the Globes' habit of recognizing the new.

Pittsburgh native Zach Quinto (pictured, right) presents an award with his "Star Trek" co-star, Chris Pine (pictured, left).

Ricky Gervais is awesome. He shushs the crowd, congratulates Kate Winslet ("I told you, do a holocaust movie, the awards come!"), makes light of serious work ("The trouble with holocaust films is there's never any gag reel on the DVDs") and complains about his movie, "Ghostworld," failing to get any nominations ("What a waste of a [Golden Globes award] campaign. That's the last time I have sex with 200 middle-aged journalists. It was horrible, really. Many of them don't speak English even. Europeans with wispy beards. The men were worse"). 

TV mini-series or movie: I'm sure "John Adams" or "Recount" will win (the Globes loves HBO) but I'd like to see PBS's "Cranford" get it.

Yep, it's "John Adams." Producer Tom Hanks encourages to read the book by Pittsburgh native David McCullough that was the basis for the film.

"Down here, the coverage would do fine," Hanks said to stars in the front row. "Coverage" is a Hollywood term for a summary or Cliff's Notes version of a script.

First standing ovation of the night goes to the late Heath Ledger's win for "The Dark Knight."

"All of us who worked with Heath on 'Dark Knight' accept this with an awful mixture of sadness but also incredible pride," "Dark Knight" director Chris Nolan said, accepting the award on Ledger's behalf. "He will be eternally missed but he will never be forgotten."

Colin Farrell, who has the sniffles, apparently references his former drug habit, saying, his congestion is "not the other thing it used to be."

Catty comment alert: Viewers here say Maggie Gyllenhaal is wearing drapes.

Laura Linney wins for HBO's "John Adams" for leading actress in a TV movie/miniseries. She's more deserving than co-star Paul Giamatti, who did not win. Good call. Although I would have been happy with Judi Dench for "Cranford," too.

"Ahhhgggghhhh" the room of critics exclaims in unison when the Globes camera captures NBC bosses Jeff Zucker and Ben Silverman, largely blamed for ruining the once No. 1 network.

Thank god Tony Shalhoub didn't win another award for "Monk." Alec Baldwin wins for "30 Rock." "I feel so old," Baldwin says. "I remember when I used to bring Rumer Willis a juice box on the set of a movie."

Giamatti wins for "John Adams." I liked him fine but a lot of critics did not. But it seems like anything HBO airs will win.

Couple alert: J. Lo. spotted in the audience with Mark Anthony.

"30 Rock" wins Globe for best TV comedy. It needs the most ratings help, so I'm happy with that. As long as "Entourage" didn't win, I'd be happy.

"Tina Fey and I had an agreement that if Barack Obama won, I would speak for the show from now on," said "30 Rock" star Tracy Morgan, accepting the trophy. "Welcome to post-racial America. I'm the face of post-racial America. Deal with it, Cate Blanchett."

Have separated husband and wife David Duchovny and Tea Leoni reconciled? He almost seemed to announce it as a presenter at the Globes, saying, "I just got a text from my wife, and she said my son is upset I lost because he wants me to come home happy."

Tina Fey wins for lead TV comedy actress and her acceptance speech as hilarious, as you'd expect: "I've always loved the Hollywood Foreign Press. As a kid, I had all the Hollywood Foreign Press action figures. Thank you, Will Arnett, for that joke. I want you to know I really know how very lucky I am to have the year that I've had this year. And 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. Babs in Lacrosse, you can suck it. CougarLetter, you can really suck it."

Ah, the lifetime achievement somesuch award that goes to Steven Spielberg. Time for a bathroom break.

I love Spielberg and he's saying very nice things, but this is where the show grinds to a halt. But the Globes are never as ho-hum boring as the Oscars can be thanks to the alcohol.

Spielberg sounds a note of caution that in these tough economic times studios should beware of abadoning niche movies for films with broad appeal. It's a worthy message and if anyone can be taken seriously on the topic, it's Spielberg.

Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are funny and weird as presenters. I'm liking their pairing.

Colin Farrell wins for movie comedy actor in "In Bruges" and volunteers to give a part of the globe-topped trophy to his co-star Brendan Gleeson: "I'll cut it when I get off stage and you can have a hemisphere."

I love Sacha Baron Cohen (AKA Borat) for mocking the big names, especially when they reacted poorly and showed no sense of humor (I'm thinking of you, frowning Sandra Bullock). Cohen said the recession is impacting Hollywood's biggest stars, noting, "Victoria Beckham hasn't eaten for three weeks. Charlie Sheen has been forced to have sex without paying for it. Even Madonna has had to get rid of one of her personal assistants. Our thoughts go out to you, Guy Ritchie."

Kate Winslet wins a second Globe, this time for "Revolutionary Road." Her first was for "The Reader."

"I'm so sorry, Anne, Meryl, Kristin, oh God, who's the other one? Angelina!" Winslet said, hyperventilating. "Gather. Is this really happening? I'm gonna try to do this. Thank you so much. ... Oh, please wrap it up, you have no idea. Ok, gather."

Wow, she thanks her agents and says she's been with them since she was 15. They do things differently in England. In America, a Hollywood actor would have dumped her agents after Titanic and gone with "bigger and better" representation.

Rainn Wilson introduces himself and Blake Lively, saying, "Hello, we're TV actors."

"Mad Men" wins Golden Globe for best TV drama. As it should.

"I'm truly, genuinely thrilled about this," says "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner, praising the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "They like new things and embraced the show immediately and this has been amazing." 

Mickey Rourke wins best film drama actor for "The Wrestler." The HFPA loves a comeback story, it seems.

The Parents Television Council is gonna get their collective panties in a wad: Darren Aronofsky flipped Rourke the bird. And then something Rourke said got bleeped.

"Slumdog Millionaire," which has been winning awards all night, takes home the best drama film trophy. Maybe I should see it. The director got bleeped for something he said in his acceptance speech.

That's it, show's over. Good night. Post your thoughts on the telecast below. To post, login (or register to login).