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The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards

Posted by TIME.com Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 7:00 pm

50 Comments • Trackback (6) • Related Topics: Archive, awards show

Pierce Brosnan, Sandra Bullock, Gerard Butler, Sean Combs and Zac Efron presented NBC's telecast of "The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards," on Sunday, January 11, from 8:00 p.m. – 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) at The Beverly Hilton.

TIME's Kate Betts, Richard Corliss and James Poniewozik were here live, bringing you up-to-the-minute coverage on the star-studded event.

Here at TIME, we consider all our readers as stars. Although you missed out on the live coverage, right here is our own red carpet, laid out especially for you. So, be sure you are logged in to this blog to dazzle us with your thoughts on your favorite nominees (and winners). What were your predictions?

Note: All times listed below are Eastern Standard Time (EST):

11:04 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Jim, I'll be happy to answer that question in my Golden Globes wrapup story, appearing in a few hours on TIME.com. [PRODUCT PLACEMENT.] Till then, good night in sixty languages, everyone.

11:03 p.m. - James Poniewozik: MY FINAL WRAPUP

And this, folks, is why we love the Globes. It's brisk, it's fun, someone makes an obscene gesture and the whole thing ends pretty much on time. On the TV end, it was a very as-expected night, with the possible exception of the head-scratcher of Anna Paquin for True Blood. Good evening Kate, Richard, Hollywood: It's been a night.

11:02 p.m. - Kate Betts: Goodnight, Tom! Goodnight, Freida! Goodnight, Brad and Angelina! Goodnight, Richard and Jim!

11:01 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Question: does this enhance Slumdog Millionaire's chances for an Oscar nom? And in turn, does this decrease Oscar's chances to improve its ratings with nominees that the TV audience has actually seen?

11:00 p.m. - Kate Betts: I think they should end the GG's with a remake of the credits scene of Slumdog on the station platform: Everyone DANCE!

10:59 p.m. - Richard Corliss: By this time in the evening, the Best Drama prize for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE shouldn't be a surprise; it already won for script, director and music. Fox Searchlight can hope the publicity from tonight's show will give the movie the push into multiplex success that LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and JUNO received.

The last awards are too rushed, because the clock ticks to 11pm. Thanx, Kate Winslet's crying.

10:59 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Big cheers for Mickey Rourke, Best Actor for THE WRESTLER. Hollywood folks love a comeback story; they can congratulate themselves as well as the rehabbed star (even though no studio put up money for the film). Also very big mitts for Rourke's mention of his agent. He thanked everyone, including his dogs - everyone except Robert D. Siegel, who only WROTE THE DAMN MOVIE. If he wants to move up in the Hollywood pecking order, Siegel should open a kennel.

10:55 p.m. - Kate Betts: When a man thanks his dogs...

10:54 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Darren Aronofsky flips Mickey Rourke the bird on camera! Who would have thought Rourke would give an acceptance and someone else would make the obscene gesture?

10:52 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Mickey Rourke: Awwww. I've heard a million actors thank their agents at the podium; that was the first one that was actually touching.

10:45 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Matthew Weiner, still not having completed his contract negotiations to produce the third season of Mad Men, accepts the statue and thanks "my friends at Lionsgate and AMC." Now give me my damn money!

10:44 p.m. - Richard Corliss: MAD MEN for best TV series. (Also, between us, best anything in popular culture last year.) I second Poniewozik's proposal back when the show concluded its second season: make the 13-episode season LONGER.

10:44 p.m. - James Poniewozik: At the end, Winslet sounded like she had been spared execution. "Oh, GOD, thank you!!!"

10:40 p.m. - Richard Corliss: ate and Kate: a double Winslet for actress (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) and supporting actress (THE READER). Only actresses have to be prepared to day something AND to mime ecstatic surprise. Excellent instruction to self: 'Gather." Yet she was as over-the-top emotional in her speech as she's totally in-control on screen. Performers are funny people.

10:40 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Kate Winslet is joining of the league of those delightful British actresses who need to win awards just so you can hear them speak. "Anne, Kristin, Meryl--oh, God, who's the other one?" Take that, Ms. Pitt!

10:40 p.m. - Kate Betts: My new favorite expression: "OK, gather." I'm going to use that in meetings.

10:39 p.m. - Kate Betts: Told ya Winslet would win both, Corliss.

10:38 p.m. - Richard Corliss: That Who-Was-That introducing the SLUMDOG clip was Shakrukh Khan, one of the biggest stars in Bollywood, hence the world.

10:37 p.m. - Kate Betts: Freida Pinto is beautiful!

10:36 p.m. - Richard Corliss: The outlanders have been piling up awards: Sally Hawkins, Colin Farrell, A.R. Rahman and the other SLUMDOGgers, plus all those Aussies - which can't please the American-movie creme de la creme. (Don't they know they're the HOLLYWOOD Foreiogn Press Association, not the Hollywood FOREIGN Press Association?)

So the award for Woody Allen's VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA seems kind of American - except that Allen made the film in Spain because he can't get financing to shoot in the States.

For his jokes about Botox and Guy Ritchie, presenter Sacha Baron Cohen got the same groans as Ricky Gervais. It's like the Globes audience is the shocked family forced to listen to crazy Anne Hathaway in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED,

10:31 p.m. - Kate Betts: Weird. Somebody must have told him he had to read the teleprompter.

10:30 p.m. - James Poniewozik: No Globes acceptance for VCB from Mr. Allen? The world loves Woody, but he doesn't seem to love them back.

10:29 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Weirdly stand-uppy presenter bit from Sacha Baron Cohen.

10:24 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Commercial watch: Sign of the times--TV ads, including this Sprint one and an earlier Target spot, are now blatantly acknowledging that no one has money anymore.

10:21 p.m. - Kate Betts: Hmmm. She sounds like an interesting story.

10:20 p.m. - Kate Betts: Well, you definitely will not want to move to the suburbs!

10:19 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Colin Flippin-Freakin Farrell!? A perpetual star-of-the-future and bad boy manque, he somehow won for IN BRUGES. (Brendan Gleeson, his costar, shoulda took the prize, if they had to give it to this weird thriller-comedy.)

Farrell was as surprised as the rest of us. Referencing RECOUNT, he said: "They must have done the counting in Florida." The rest of his speech was your basic blarney, but fun nonetheless.

10:18 p.m. - Richard Corliss: She's the producer of SLUMDOG, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY and IN BRUGES.

10:17 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Love Sigourney Weaver's endorsement of Revolutionary Road: This movie will make you want a divorce!

10:15 p.m. - Kate Betts: Who is Tessa Ross, by the way? They keep thanking her.

10:13 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Danny Boyle takes Best Director (Movie) for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - good-o. It's the one indie or foreign film that COULD break into the movie mainstream. Yes, viewers, other people do make movies.

Emma Thompson presented the award in the company of, I believe, her son, Dustin Hoffman. Thompson is the second Brit (after Ricky Gervais) to shush the chatting crowd. This show does need a nanny, or a rendition questioner.

10:11 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Commercial watch: I'm rooting for He's Just Not That Into You, simply because I love the idea of a hit movie based on a book based on a line from a TV show.

10:11 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Spielberg is trying to fit into the C.B. De Mille mode. But that reduces his achievement to De Mille's canny mix of sensation and piety. At his best, Spielberg is way better.

Making it personal, Spielberg thanked De Mille for inspiring the boy Steven to get thrills wrecking model trains for his first home movie. That turned him toward a career in films and away from a life blowing up commercial transport vehicles.

Funny that it was barely a quarter-century ago that Spielberg was still the young punk, when his E.T. lost the 1983 Oscar to the drab GANDHI (De Mille history without the tits). Curiously, E.T. won the Golden Globe for best drama that year... so he does have a reason to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Asociation.

10:06 p.m. - Kate Betts: I like this mentoring point he is making.

10:05 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Spielberg's Lionel set anecdote: it's a brave man who will liken his filmmaking process to a trainwreck.

9:59 p.m. - James Poniewozik: The Spielberg achievement award is a nice bit of promotion, though, for United States of Tara (which he executive produces), which just aired a commercial in the previous break.

9:58 p.m. - James Poniewozik: @Richard: They should have had the Spielberg tribute animated by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

9:55 p.m. - Richard Corliss: This is the one part of the Globes where you can take a break. Not that I'd deny Steven Spielberg a Life Achievement Award, but these segments do go on and on. And Martin Scorsese, a worthy presenter, is too breathy in describing Spielberg's work. The wrong Martin is onstage: we need Martin Short doing his alterkocker Irving Caesar impression, gassing about the old days.

9:51 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Red check: I meant that Duchovny said Rahman's name SHOULD be pronounced as ROOMAN. I should send these blogs through the TIME Copydesk.

9:48 p.m. - James Poniewozik: And the Hollywood Foreign Press officially thanks Tina Fey for helping Barack Obama get elected.

Hilarious response to all her detractors on the Internet: "Babs in Lacrosse--you can suck it." Hey, that's my anonymous chatroom handle! Tina Fey spoke to me!

9:46 p.m. - Richard Corliss: A brilliant songwriter that few people in the U.S. have heard of (because he works for Bollywood) and the world's best-selling composer A.R. Rahman wins for Best score!!! Woo-hooo!!!!! Are my Johnnypockets showing? Sadly, his name was mispronounced as ROOMAN by the announcer; then David Duchovny came out to say Rahman's name had been mispronounced as ROOMAN. We're not in post-ethnic America yet.

9:46 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Notice I'm not doing all the usual grousing that critics do about awards shows. That's because at the Golden Globes, they simply go on TV for three hours a year and give out awards. No dance numbers, no funny stuff. Imagine that!

9:46 p.m. - Kate Betts: Weird question: why do they keep zooming in on Sally Field in the audience?

9:43 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Pierce Brosnan on Mamma Mia!: "...who in my opinion ends up with the right choice." Spoiler alert!

9:40 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Tracy Morgan's Obamania speech followed by Orencia commercial. Tagline: Yes, I can.

9:38 p.m. - James Poniewozik: After Tracy Morgan's acceptance speech, the reaction shot camera hustles to find... Jay-Z and Beyonce. "Welcome to post-racial America!" indeed.

9:37 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Tracy Morgan and Barack Obaama - I confuse those two All The Time. Only Morgan can get away with calling NBC honcho Jeff Zucker "boy."

9:35 p.m. - James Poniewozik: 30 Rock: First, I love this show. Love. OK? But if you look at the actual parameters of this award--those episodes that actually aired in 2008--The Office was the better show last year (30 Rock had a weak post-strike stretch in the spring and didn't return until the end of October). This was at least half an award for Sarah Palin.

But worth it for Tracy Morgan's acceptance speech. "Deal with it, Cate Blanchett!"

9:32 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Giamatti: another totally unsurprising, but unfortunately utterly defensible choice.

9:32 p.m. - Richard Corliss: @ dir of comm., Brooks Brothers: I'm a 38 Regular.

9:29 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Commercial watch: S. Epatha Merkerson telling us that Uni-Ball pens will protect you from identity theft. A pen. Now if only there were a pen that could have stopped Bernie Madoff.

9:29 p.m. - Richard Corliss: And I'm somewhere between Alec Baldwin and those contentastants obn BIGGEST LOSERS EVER.

9:28 p.m. - James Poniewozik: @ dir of comm., Brooks Brothers: I'm a 38 Regular.

9:25 p.m. - Kate Betts: Hey, Guys, someone's actually reading this! Just got an email from the dir. of comm. of Brooks Brothers saying he is watching while reading us. Amazing. Joel Stein told me nobody reads this stuff.

9:23 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Alec Baldwin was such a foregone conclusion, I kind wish I could say he didn't deserve too, but I can't. So congratulations, Alec--and nice image management with the I-love-you to your daughter.

9:23 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Nice no-big-deal-but-thanks-anyway speech from Alex Baldwin as Male Lead Comedy TV guy. Twin secrets to segueing gracefully from leading man to character actor: gain weight, gain perspective.

9:21 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Love that NBC is plugging Amy Poehler's we're-still-kinda-figuring-out-with-it-is sitcom already.

9:20 p.m. - Kate Betts: Tina Fey scored tickets too!

9:19 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Screenplay award to Simon Beaufoy for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Well earned (if it couldn't go to BENJAMON BUTTON). Presenter Seth Rogen, looking astoundingly presentable without his beard, says he wishes he were back in the Golden Globe 80s: "Then instead of getting drunk with Mickey Rourke tonight I'd be doing cocaine with Mickey Rourke tonight."

9:19 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Seth Rogen actually just said that.

9:17 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Look, everyone, Ben Silverman scored tix to the Globes! He does still have pull at NBC!

9:15 p.m. - Kate Betts: Jim, I am truly impressed.

9:15 p.m. - Kate Betts: Now you are both being cruel.

9:13 p.m. - James Poniewozik: @Richard: They called them "Johnnypockets." And they were considered proof of witchcraft.

9:11 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Laura Linney wins for John Adams. There must be an ironic comment about the situation of actresses in Hollywood in the fact that the best way for an woman to win an award is to get old in a performance. If only I knew what it was...

9:11 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Laura Linney in JOHN ADAMS. "She's always good." But back in the 18th century, had dimples even been invented?

9:07 p.m. - Richard Corliss: WALTZ WITH BASHIR wins best foreign language film. It's an animated documentary about the guilt Jewish soldiers feel about an incursion against the Palestinians. Headline: Hollywood Foreign Press Association Protests Gaza Invasion, Gives Prize to Israeli Antiwar Film.

9:07 p.m. - James Poniewozik: I like the idea of having the voiceover tell the home audience what the (little known) foreign films are about. It's just too bad the announcer sounds like he's telling us what's coming up on the next exciting all-new episode of Knight Rider.

9:06 p.m. - Richard Corliss: No, we all love the Deppster. And the Dem-ster.

9:06 p.m. - James Poniewozik: And Demi and I bust each other's chops like this all the time.

9:04 p.m. - Kate Betts: I am not being cruel to Johnny Depp, Richard.

9:03 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Celebrity Apprentice commercial watch: "I have a worldwide Internet talk show." Isn't a talk-show in the Internet worldwide by definition?

9:02 p.m. - Richard Corliss: I'll just say what the readers are shouting at us: You guys are cruel!

9:01 p.m. - Kate Betts: What about Jeremy Piven looking like he was crying?

9:00 p.m. - James Poniewozik: And Demi, incidentally, seems to have a lot of, um, exercising-and-eating-right done.

8:59 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Heath Ledger wins the Heath Ledger Memorial Award for The Dark Knight. Very curious reaction shots. Was anybody curious to see how Will Arnett responded to the news, twice?

8:58 p.m. - Richard Corliss: "Heath Ledger couldn't be here tonight..." DARK KNIGHT director Chris Nolan gave the tribute, saying that Ledger's death was like "a hole ripped in the future of cinema." Appropriate and, like Ledger's life, all too short.

8:58 p.m. - Kate Betts: Mommy Dearest Award goes to Demi Moore for telling her poor daughter not to hunch on stage.

8:57 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Not surprising for John Adams, though I was kind of hoping to see Diddy take the stage for A Raisin in the Sun--melodramatic, yes, but the play was melodramatic, and it was really well done.

8:56 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Again, the HFPA picks the show with the top star as producer: Tom Hanks. TV reviewing is Jim's territory, but wasn't Hanks's main job on JOHN ADAMS to be a launderer and say: "We need more starch!"?

8:54 p.m. - Kate Betts: Puffy wants it bad.

8:52 p.m. - Kate Betts: I'm actually eating Wheat Thins.

8:50 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Commercial watch: if you watch the Golden Globes, you eat Ritz crackers and have arthritis.

8:48 p.m. - Richard Corliss: And Johnny Green isn't in the orchestra pit to bring up the music after 45 seconds.

8:47 p.m. - James Poniewozik: @Kate: Well, she was in a Mike Leigh movie. They like to improvise.

8:47 p.m. - Kate Betts: If you get choked up, does that buy you an extra ten minutes on stage?

8:46 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Sally Hawkins: Someday, when they cast Rehab: The Amy Winehouse Story...

8:44 p.m. - James Poniewozik: @kate: and, apparently, is still playing a pirate.

8:43 p.m. - Richard Corliss: For a second, during Johnny Depp's reading of the Actress in a Musical or Comedy category, the TV camera caught Meryl Streep's scowl as she applauded Sally Hawkins, then her queen-mum smile when her name was mentioned. Hawkins very teary in accepting the award, odd since she's been winning these for almost a year - since HAPPY-GO-LUCKY played in Berlin last February. Then a laugh when Emma Thompson pretty much offered to give the acceptance speech for Hawkins. But she had the key to a public thank-you: say "I love you" a dozen times.

8:43 p.m. - Kate Betts: Johnny Depp is TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL. Sorry, I am smitten.

8:41 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Wall*E wins. Earlier this evening, the Tuned In Jrs. demanded to know why Madagascar: Back 2 Africa was not nominated for a Golden Globe. I told them it was because it wasn't a message movie about the blood diamond trade.

8:39 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Second You Complete the Dirty Joke Contest of the night: What, precisely, is "The Jonas Brothers 3-D Experience"?

8:37 p.m. - Richard Corliss: All A material from Ricky Gervais. Especially the line about THE READER, which got a little gasp from the audience: "The trouble is with holocaust films, there's never any gag reel on the DVDs." Up there with Robert Klein's joke last week at the New York Film Critics Circle party, about the World Trade Center towers: "I never really liked them. But 9/11 was too much." Apparently the statute of limitations has expired on the 2001 terrorist attacks but not on the Third Reich.

8:37 p.m. - James Poniewozik: "We loved Ghost Town! Not enough, obviously." Ricky Gervais needs to host everything.

8:37 p.m. - Kate Betts: Ricky Gervais shushing everyone is so funny.

8:34 p.m. - Richard Corliss: And Lizzy Caplan wasn't even nominated. O, the ignominy.

8:33 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Re: Byrne--I know I just argued for Dianne Wiest in her category, but I'm not sure I'd have given it to him over Hamm. Still, I guess it's good to see one guy's not being given a permanent hammerlock on the category.

8:32 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Anna Paquin (Australian) corrals the all-important vampire bloc in L.A. All those blood-suckers must be thrilled.

8:32 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Anna Paquin? I just broke the W, T and F keys on my laptop.

8:31 p.m. - Kate Betts: Another Australian for ya, Jim!

8:30 p.m. - Kate Betts: Why can't Gabriel Byrne be there?

8:29 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Gabriel Byrne wins for IN TREATMENT, playing the only Irish shrink in America. A good choice. I'm MAD MEN's No. 1 fan, and I like Jon Hamm - but isn't he pretty much the Daniel J. Travanti of the 21st century?

8:29 p.m. - Kate Betts: Mad Men should win. Although I woudn't mind seeing J R-M on stage.

8:29 p.m. - James Poniewozik: How tiny is Zac Efron? He barely clears Hayden Panettiere.

8:25 p.m. - James Poniewozik: "Don Cheadle ... of Hotel for Dogs!" Yeah, I'll bet that'll be in the first line of his obituary.

8:21 p.m. - James Poniewozik: First Obama kiss-up acceptance of the night. Drink!

8:20 p.m. - Richard Corliss: For all the IN TREATMENT co-stars nominated in Supporting Actress TV Mini, it's a shame that there was no citation for the real best actress from that show: Mia Wasikowska. (Did I spell that right, Jim? And yes, she's also Australian.

So far, more thank yous to the late Sydney Pollack than to incoming prez Barack Obama. And God: still zero.

8:19 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Sorry to be harshing on all the Supporting winners, but Laura Dern's Katherine Harris was more an SNL skit than a role--no way it deserved to win over Dianne Wiest's dueling therapist on In Treatment.

8:16 p.m. - Richard Corliss: BTW, this year's Golden Globe Girl (always a celebrity offspring) is Rumer Willis, who's the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore - though to me she looks like a hybrid of Glenn Close and Jay Leno.

8:16 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Supporting actor in a mini, etc.--what an apples-vs.-oranges category. Nothing against Wilkinson, but his Franklin role was mostly noteworthy for repeating a bunch of Poor Richard's aphorisms--though he did pull off being caught in a tub with a couple of French courtesans nicely.

8:15 p.m. - James Poniewozik: I love the capsule descriptions of the roles during the reading of the awards.

8:12 p.m. - Kate Betts: The question is, who looks better -- I mean older -- Kate Winslet in The Reader of Cate Blanchett in Benjamin Button?

8:11 p.m. - James Poniewozik: I can't comment on the song category, but Wall*E's closing credits sequence, over which the Peter Gabriel song played, was fantastic. Too bad there's not an award for that.

8:10 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Keep in mind that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association wants its stars not just at the tables but yup on stage, hence Bruce Springsteen's prize for Best Song. He said, "This is the only time I'm gonna be in competition withj Clint Eastwood" (also nominated for the GRAN TORINO song). More wit there than in the lyric.

8:10 p.m. - Kate Betts: I bet she will win both.

8:09 p.m. - James Poniewozik: When you're Bruce Springsteen, you can make a joke about beating Clint Eastwood, and laugh at your own joke.

8:09 p.m. - Kate Betts: Wow, Bruce looks great.

8:08 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Kate Winslet's award actually should have been called Best Female Leading Performance That We're Calling a Supporting Performance Because She's Up for Another Lead Golden Globe (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD).

8:08 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Miley Cyrus has a giant tongue.

8:06 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Winslet thanks two agents, plus her makeup artists and prostethetics experts "for making me look old." I could do that without makeup. Also thanked her husband and kids. Somewhere, God is asking, "What about me?"

8:06 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Has anyone ever thanked Hair & Makeup before? "Thank you for making me look so old."

8:03 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Life imitates Extras as Kate Winslet demonstrates that you DO, in fact, have to make a Holocaust movie to get the awards hardware.

7:59 p.m. - Kate Betts: I love the Glamastrator. That is genius, especially when they outline the shape of the dresses.

7:58 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Jay Manuel's "glamastrator" accidentally places a "1" in a red circle on J-Lo's breast; it looks like she's a Mac computer and her boob has one new e-mail.

7:57 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Sandra Bullock, presenting "Male in a Musical or Comedy, is asked who she things should win. "I should," she says. "I have a lot of male in me."

I'd like to make fun of the gorgeous young people on the red carpet, but they're all more articulate than the putative next junior Senator from New York.

7:53 p.m. - Kate Betts: Cameron Diaz forgot to have her hair done. And dyed. I like the roots look though. It is growing on me, so to speak.

7:52 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Marisa Tomei's dress = Pirate Rhoda.

7:51 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Jeremy Piven looking remarkably healthy; gets asked, and answers, a mercury-poisoning question straight-faced. Don't order the swordfish, Jeremy!

7:45 p.m. - Kate Betts: That is her punishment for yanking her dress up too much.

7:45 p.m. - James Poniewozik: ...and, naturally, I misspell Jane Krakowski's FIRST name. Sorry, those English names are impossible!

7:44 p.m. - Kate Betts: Penelope Cruz's dress=disappointing.

7:42 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Chryon on E! misspells Jan Krakowski's surname. My Slavic heart bleeds for you, Jane.

7:41 p.m. - Kate Betts: Brad and Angelina just totally dissed Ryan! Get 'em, Ryan!

7:39 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Mark Wahlberg showed up with ENTOURAGE star Jeremy Piven, looking all serious and silvery after a bout with mercury poison. Because of my last post, I won't make a joke about Piven. I'll just quote David Mamet's crack when Piven abruptly ankled the Broadway production of SPEED THE PLOW - that he was leaving the show to become a thermometer.

Steelers 35, Charges 17. Can't help myself - I'm a closet jock.

7:37 p.m. - Kate Betts: J. Lo is doing backless. Brave.

7:35 p.m. - James Poniewozik: First You Fill In the Dirty Joke Contest of the night: How, precisely, has Anne Hathaway "learned how to accept love" this year?

7:34 p.m. - Kate Betts: Anne Hathaway looking very smart in Armani.

7:34 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Anne Hathaway and Blake Lively collision!

7:33 p.m. - Kate Betts: Brad and Angelina in the house. Big necklace alert on Beyonce. Another trend.

7:31 p.m. - Kate Betts: Eva Mendes should just smile and not say too much. Let the necklace do all the work.

7:29 p.m. - Richard Corliss: Maggie G. just got the Heath Ledger question on another channel. Such a shame that Michelle Williams wasn't nominated. The spectacle of showbiz yakkers word-raping the stars - what do we call this? Journalism.

7:28 p.m. - James Poniewozik: ...and on NBC, Brooke orders Maggie Gyllenhaal to publicly mourn Heath Ledger on command yet again.

7:25 p.m. - Kate Betts: Kristin Scott Thomas, Jessica Lange, and Emma Thompson: these dames really know how to wrok the red carpet

7:27 p.m. - Kate Betts: Ryan Seacrest is good.

7:25 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Miley Cyrus visits Ryan Seacrest, and you're right, Kate, I'm not sure if she's going to make it into the awards without being brought down by the hem of that dress. It's like the Stations of the Cross with her tonight.

7:24 p.m. - Richard Corliss: NBC for the Jonas bros. first (scoop: they love their mom!), but E! got Molly Cyrus to whisper sweet nothings (literally sweet, literally nothing) into Ryan Seacrest's ear. Meanwhile dad Billy Ray Cyrus stood to the side, looking like a Palin relative.

7:23 p.m. - Kate Betts: Miley and her mom should switch dresses and hairstyles right now.

7:22 p.m. - James Poniewozik: The Golden Globes and the Emmys are the two nights per year when America learns that 95% of its TV stars are secretly Australian.

7:21 p.m. - Kate Betts: ooooohhh, here comes J. Lo!!!!

7:21 p.m. - Kate Betts: I am sticking with E!

7:20 p.m. - Kate Betts: David Duchovny says it's all about change and not about words.

7:19 p.m. - Kate Betts: Drew, take Jessica Lange's hairstylist's number while she's standing next to you! Please!

7:19 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Oooh, Elisabeth Moss looks sassy! Always bizarre, though, to see Mad Men cast members in the contemporary world.

7:19 p.m. - Richard Corliss: E! keeps me glued by filling its screen with more tech junk than an NFL playoff game. (Steelers 28, Chargers 10.) Along with the running crawl, saying things like Molly Cyrus still gets a monthly allowance from her dad, E! has the Glamastrator — essentially a chalk board on stars' dresses — and the GPS-like Startracker, “made possible by Sportvision,” which can pinpoint the location of any celebrity throughout the evening. It's like the electronic anklet Bernie Madoff should be accessorizing right now.

“It doesn't matter what people wear,” said Kevin Nealon, who will never be on E! again.

7:16 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Maggie Gyllenhaal, in not so many words, tells Ryan Seacrest she's tired of people asking how much she mourns Heath Ledger in the middle of a red-carpet gala. ("Everybody wants to talk about that.") Having seen the question asked of every other Dark Knight co-star to roll up the carpet so far, I kind of can't blame her.

7:16 p.m. - Kate Betts: Why is Eva Mendes talking about her home decor line from Macy's? Is this an advertising related plug?

7:15 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Tracy Morgan says you have to be able to cook collard greens to be his woman. I can make collard greens, Tracy! I can be your woman!

7:13 p.m. - James Poniewozik: @Kate: If you're channel-flipping, E! is giving proper love to the shoes; their "Glam Cam" gives everyone a slow pan up from heels to head. Even Rainn Wilson. Quite an inseam on him!

7:13 p.m. - Kate Betts: So far Eva Longoria is winning the fashion award. So far. Just saw a quick shot of Winslet who looks pretty chic too. I guess the big hair trend is the Eva Peron chignon.

7:12 p.m. - Kate Betts: Those interviews on NBC are killing me....zzzzzzz

7:06 p.m. - James Poniewozik: NBC's pre-Globes show is like a lukewarm bath in chamomile tea compared with the hopped-up show on E! right now. On NBC, Peter Gabriel (nominated for his song from Wall*E) is talking about Kofi Annan and looking more like Burl Ives than ever.

7:06 p.m. - Kate Betts: Miley is going to trip over that dress at some point tonight. She's already announced that the shoes aren't working for her.

7:04 p.m. - Kate Betts: Nancy O'Dell is definitely not rocking a "Recession Chic" look. Oh, wait, Miley Cyrus.

6:53 p.m. - James Poniewozik: Greetings, all. Am watching the festivities from glamorous Brooklyn where Tuned In Jr. was fascinated by a Twilight-related segment, on E!'s pre-pre-pre show, on what fashionable vampires are wearing this season. Lots of black, evidently.

Also, on E!, an indicator of the recession: the Velveeta commercial is in heavy rotation.