For TV Nerds Who Care Too Much: Danul's Golden Globes Breakdown

Just finished watching my DVRed Golden Globes. :D

For an award that used to be prestigious, some of the nominees this year made me think I was tuning in to watch the illegitimate child of Emmy and Oscar. Thank God it didn't pan out like that...for the most part.

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Let me start by saying Ricky Gervais started out strong with his patented brand of barbed zingers at easy targets (The Tourist, Tom Cruise, etc), but as the night bore on, I could tell how uncomfortable he was up there. His jokes got more offensive and less funny. His closing comment, "And thank you God...for making me an atheist," was a step too far for me. It just felt wholly unneeded.

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The Social Network deserved every single award it got last night. Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Director all had decent contenders, but the Fincher/Sorkin brainchild was easily the pick of the litter. If you haven't seen this movie, SEE IT. And then talk about it on Facebook.

The only Best Actress award I was interested in was the one for Lead in a Motion Picture (Drama). Natalie Portman is a vision and was uhhhh-mazing in Black Swan. As someone who had been notorious for staying out of the tabloids, her recent slew of new films and personal events have obviously got her flustered, but she proved herself capable enough to charmingly stumble through an acceptance speech.

Burlesque's win for Best Original Song was a frickin' joke. In my opinion, "I See the Light" from Tangled was robbed. But this was a category full of headscratchers, anyway. I thought Tangled had it in the bag. But apparently the HFPA liked listening to Cher's guttural chortle of a voice.

Toy Story 3 as Best Animated Feature? YES.

Jim Parsons' win for Best Actor in a TV Comedy was made perfect by his humble speech and his costar Kaley Cuoco's incredibly adorable reaction. Honestly, I rewound my DVR, like, three times to watch her bounce with glee.

How's that for a segue?

We have arrived at the inevitable. The Glee discussion:

Glee is not a comedy. Yes, it started out as such, but it's devolved into a preachy drama with zingers laced in between angst and musical performances. So it's win for Best Comedy was incredibly silly, especially up against much more consistent shows like Modern Family (Seriously, HFPA?).

Jane Lynch has the same problem as her show. She excels at the comedy, but not at much else...which left me baffled when she won Best Actress in a TV Comedy. Her acceptance speech was nice though. She seems like a very genuine person...unlike Lea Michele, who seemed like an attention whore.

Chris Colfer...oh, Chris Colfer. This kiddo is fantastic at playing Kurt Hummel. He really is. But since his was the Best Supporting Actor in a TV Comedy, and since I have no doubt the scenes that got him the nomination were anything but funny, I cannot honestly say he deserved it. Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family (SERIOUSLY, HFPA?!) was the one the award should have gone to. And since Chris won, I can't help but think his career has probably peaked now. What other role is he going to get that he didn't get typecasted into?

His speech was great, though. I imagine if I ever won one of those, I would want my speech to be like his.

One more Glee thing: Everyone last night was talking about the show's inspirational attitude. Really? Am I watching the wrong show? Last I checked Glee was anything but inspirational. Everyone in the show is incredibly toxic toward one another, which makes the episodes where the kids are supposed to love being in Glee club (last season's finale, this season's sectionals) totally unbelievable. In particular, Santana, Quinn, and Kurt are all characters whose attitudes, motives, allegiances, and friendships change week-to-week based on what will best serve the weak plot holding the episode together.

This all said, I will still be watching it when it returns after the Super Bowl. I am only human, after all.

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Stray observations:

• Angelina and Brad seemed entirely uninterested in the whole thing. Why didn't they just leave, then? Or did they really think The Tourist had a chance?
• Melissa Leo is an actress I never seen before, but her acceptance speech was great. I may go see The Fighter just because of her.
• Oh, Robert Downey, Jr. He stole the show with his introduction of the Best Actress award. It helped that all the women went along with it, too. Why hasn't he hosted one of these things before?
• With all its problems, Glee truly does seem to have a cast who sticks together. They all were so completely happy for Chris that it almost melted this cold heart of mine.
• Olivia Wilde looked like heaven. I'm no fashion expert, but if she's not on everyone's "best dressed" list, there's no justice in the world. That girl is quickly becoming a favorite of mine...
• Ricky Gervais needs to NOT host another show. He's mean.
• Self-deprecation is apparently the best form of modesty, for many people went down that route. Robert DeNiro had the best line, though: "I'm glad you were able to judge my list of films before Little Fockers came out." Gotta love an actor who knows when his movie sucks.
• Megan Fox was allowed in? Hmm. Interesting.

On the whole, the 2011 Golden Globes came and went with decent results. Oscar nominations will be announced in coming week, and hopefully that voting body won't fall into the rut that the HFPA did. Anne Hathaway and James Franco will be hosting, so it should be a good show.

Sorry this wasn't a usual post, but I really wanted to jump on the GG bandwagon. I'm going to Kansas City this weekend for the ELCA Youth Ministry Extravaganza, so hopefully I'll come back having learned a thing or two worthy of sharing on here.

We'll see.

-Danul