We're struggling for the term for the opposite of trainwreck...or when something is so complete and perfect a trainwreck that it becomes brilliant. Well, that's what the Gervais-helmed has the potential to be.

It takes real character for a show which owes its acclaim to a booze-fueled multi-decade run of awkward and embarrassing moments to double down on its off the rails strengths and book a host famed for creating legendary awkward and embarrassing moments. The combination of Gervais' bizarre out-of-sync with humanity style and a line of drunken award winners, could create the most brilliantly uncomfortable show of all time.

Certainly, this choice will widen the gap between the Globes and Oscars; as Oscar attempts to return to old timey glamour (and stodginess) the Globes will more become the free-wheeling, cantankerous, spontaneous alternative. There's definitely a market for both, but in this media environment, we know which side of the canyon we'd want to be on.

Much of the country did manage to witness the offending digit-extension (above), however. That in turn elicited 18 separate complaints to the FCC from outraged Americans—citizens not all that different from you or us, save for their distaste for Aronosfky's obscene (but artistically assured) hand gesture. From the LAT:

"We received 18 complaints about the Golden Globes telecast," FCC spokeswoman Edie Herman wrote in an e-mail to The Times, "and the commission is reviewing the matter."

An NBC spokeswoman confirmed that it aired the Aronofsky gesture on the live telecast. "On the West Coast, it went to black for two seconds," the spokeswoman e-mailed. "Beyond that, we have no further comment."

We're in a very different climate from the post-NippleGate days, when the FCC could strike terror in the hearts of network-heads by affixing ludicrous penalty sums to exposed parts (somewhere in the vicinity of $250k per mammilla) of Janet Jackson's anatomy. Of course, that would be overturned four years later, and it's going to take something a lot worse than a middle finger to shock more than 18 Americans these days—especially when the airwaves have run amok with vulgarities like Rosie Live! and Cloris Leachman's malfunctioning nethers.

• Breaking: FCC reviewing NBC's Golden Globes telecast [LAT]

Often the only thing that saves an awards show from being a total bore (aside from the fashion) is the prospect that a celebrity will deliver a charming and/or emotional acceptance speech that will be added to the annual clip reel of the most memorable moments. From the opening gasps of Winslet's acceptance speech for her second Golden Globe on Sunday night, it was clear it was such a speech (video below). But, while it seems many American critics found Winslet's speech endearingly flustered, the British were mortified.

Winslet apologizied to the other nominees (and dared to forget Angelina Jolie's name), but according to The Independent, it's not her fellow actresses who need an apology. "Never mind sorry to Anne, Meryl, Kristin and oh God, who's the other one," says the review. "It's us, her loyal British fans, to whom she should apologise. We expect less of you, Kate, much less."

Reviews of the Golden Globes from the British press attacked Winslet for everything from playing up British stereotypes to possibly being inebriated. The review in The Independent said the speech would "make a corpse wince with embarrassment" and that it was unexpected of an actress, "whose irreproachably middle-class upbringing in Reading has always seemed to imbue her with a rather sensible outlook on life." According to The Guardian, the speech "raises the occasional wave of nausea, swiftly followed by a rush of hands to eyes in order to block out the spectacle." The reviewer said of Winslet's urging herself out loud to "gather," "It would be interesting to know if anyone has ever said this outside the Mitford family, since 1932." And The Times critique asked if her second emotional trip to the podium could have been the result of her "down[ing] some bubbly between her two awards."

With The Telegraph reporting that bookmakers say Winslet is an "absolute certainty" to win at least one Oscar following her Golden Globes success, should Winslet start penning her Academy Awards speech now, lest she make a career-ruining speech and further anger the Brits? Angelina Jolie may have come back from announcing during her 2000 Best Supporting Actress Awards speech, "I'm so in love with my brother right now!" However, while he was leaping around the stage after his 1996 win for Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr. probably didn't imagine he'd end up in Snow Dogs.

Winslet's first win for Best Supporting Actress for The Reader:

Winslet's second win for Best Actress for Revolutionary Road

Brian Viner: Get A Grip, Kate. You're Embarrassing Us [The Independent]
Winslet Joins The Cast Of Hollywood Howlers [The Times]
Gather! How To Accept An Award The Kate Winslet Way [The Guardian]
Kate Winslet Favourite To Follow Golden Globes With Oscar Win [The Telegraph]

We pass O'Neil's spineless self-defense on to you without comment — except of course for the requisite disclaimer that he does not speak on our behalf. And that we hope contrite Los Angeles Times representatives will soon arrive at our doors to apologize for O'Neil's continued, unchecked awards-season terrorism. No camera necessary.

• Tina Fey Accepts Our Apology [The Envelope]

1. Is this Kate Winslet's year, like, for real this time? To the extent we all love to hate the Globes and downplay their implications in the awards-season sweepstakes, the Best Actress winners are reliable-enough indicators of the competition in that Oscar category. Without a Helen Mirren or Reese Witherspoon tear-assing ahead of the pack, we get home-stretch sprints like last year's Julie Christie/Marion Cotillard race — revived this year as Winslet vs. Happy-Go-Lucky's Sally Hawkins. The latter actress has a Globe, Miramax and virtually the entire critical establishment at her back; Winslet has her own Globe, Scott Rudin, and gales of sentimental support at hers — not an unfavorable scenario, except she's only 33, and her movie is deplorable. Despite seven previous losses, the Academy doesn't owe her anything, and it will require a little more convincing than last night's showing to honor Winslet before it's ready. For now, it's still Hawkins's Oscar to lose.

2. Was Sunday night the beginning of the end for Sean Penn? Some observers have noted the HFPA's general distaste for Penn, a 2003 no-show when he won for Mystic River and an absentee loser last night to Mickey Rourke. But narcolepsy-inducing Globes politics aside, it's worth returning to the pre-Milk days, when Rourke was literally everywhere that mattered — Venice, Toronto, New York — stockpiling buzz, and Focus Features, for whatever reason, trickled Penn out with unusual deliberation. Milk's showing at last week's Critics Choice Awards implied Rourke may have peaked too soon, but Rourke's Globe allowed him a riveting onstage moment that the Academy will likely want to one-up.

3. Moreover, will Rourke dress any better to collect his Best Actor statuette next month? We're just saying, if only because that ridiculous wallet chain won't make it through the metal detector.

4. Does Paramount have any 11th-hour tricks up its sleeve for Benjamin Button? Slumdog Millionaire's Globes sweep doesn't portend Oscar supremacy, especially not in the continuing sting of 2007's indie-friendly awardscast backlash. Danny Boyle is all but assured Best Director, but Paramount has a suitcase full of campaign cash holding the Best Picture window open. But how much? Button slipped at the box office this week, but it's still a probable $120 million-grosser by Oscars night, and alongside The Dark Knight, it's the Academy's only hope of studio bone-throwing in a year when someone, anyone is needed to counteract the minimajors. Let the fourth-quarter comeback begin.

5. Wasn't it great to see Harvey Weinstein smile? A Best Picture for Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Winslet's supporting prize for The Reader took us back to the good old pre-suicide-threat/million-dollar-bet-losing days. He'll be at the Oscars with at least Winslet and Penelope Cruz and maybe a couple screenplay nods for their respective films. Baby steps, Harvey, baby steps. 2009 is all yours — we can feel it.

11:02: And we're out! Where's the Bollywood dance number? The least the Globes could do is have a poop-covered Christine Lahti emerge from the bathroom to claim Tom Cruise's autograph!

10:59: And the winner of Best Motion Picture Drama is Slumdog MillionZZZZ. The only thing unpredictable about the win is how bedazzled the producing team's tuxedos are.

10:53: Rourke's plastic surgery-correcting plastic surgery has really settled nicely. Wait, our screen just blanked out as Rourke called Darren Aronofsky "one tough mother—" We'll just assume he did a near-fatal (yet triumphant!) Ram Jam.

10:52: "Mickey Rourke, Mickey Rourke! Whose wallet chain are you wearing?"

10:49: Every gay at this party is tangentially connected to someone on-screen. Someone's parents are friends with Nicole Kidman's mother! The boy we're dating is the second cousin of Joan from Mad Men! The dude in the kitchen personally applied the sequins to Best Actor winner Mickey Rourke's scarf! It never ends (much like this ceremony).

10:43: Rainn Wilson introduced himself self-effacingly as a "TV actor." Now. Mad Men wins TV Drama. Oooh, Elisabeth Moss is there! Can't wait for the inevitable Page Six story on her weepy backstage confrontation with former Speed-the-Plow costar Jeremy Piven.

10:38: Mark Wahlberg Talks (Shit About Gabriel Byrne) to Cameron Diaz! The Best Actress Globe goes to Kate Winslet. Now, when we make jokes about her pair of Golden Globes, we'll be forced to be more specific.

10:31: Sacha Baron Cohen is introduced as the star of Bruno, and we can barely believe the HFPA didn't use the Defamer-appended subtitle. The Comedy winner? Vicky Cristina Barcelona! Drew Barrymore approves. The Globe is accepted by, uh, a sparkly Donna Pescow?

10:30: Salma Hayek faces a cavalier crowd willing to natter on through her awards show patter. Talk in rapid, authoritative Spanish, Salma!

10:22 Colin Farrell wins a Globe for In Bruges! Free hummus and pita bread for everybody!

10:21: Sandra Bullock breaks her "Flemish" hymen on air, an act that earns the ceremony an abrupt MA rating.

10:15: Scalpings, Parte Tres: Emma Thompson has absconded with Glenn Close's Damages lace-front. Best Director? Danny Boyle, for Slumdog Millionaire.

10:14: Oh, these He's Just Not That Into You commercials! "He Myspaced me!" "Don't cyber-stalk him!" Can we have some Geocities jokes? God, isn't it a pain when you want to email your distant fiancee but AOL keeps giving you a busy modem signal?

10:04: At the podium now, Spielberg comments on the superfluous Golden Globe award redesign (kind of like those CG'd-to-death E.T. reissue clips that played during the montage).

10:02: Joan Crawford gets more face time in this Spielberg montage then either The Terminal or The Lost World.

9:57: Seriously? One more hour? The ceremony sacrifices its breakneck speed to give an honorary award to severely undervalued auteur Steven Spielberg.

9:47: David Duchovny and Jane Krakowski display uncomfortable sparks as Krakowski gives a Golden Globe to Tina Fey, who calls out internet commenters for their hatin'. We're sorry, Tina!

9:45: Kate Beckinsale (or Sally Hawkins? We're not sure!) is terrified of Sean Combs.

9:43: "When I used to listen to ABBA as a wee, hairy-chested eight-year-old," Pierce Brosnan overshares, "I had no idea I would one day star in a movie that desecrates those songs. Who knew that was even possible?"

9:36: Tracy Morgan starts a feud with Cate Blanchett while accepting 30 Rock's Best TV Comedy Golden Globe. He's in fine, big-breasted company.

9:32: A disheveled, mutton-chopped Paul Giamatti wins Best TV Actor for John Adams and calls out Tom Wilkinson as a Camel Lights pusher. He then goes back to his hunch-shouldered work sending the Russians into space.

9:30: Renée Zellweger, dressed in a funereal straitjacket, delivers the most pissed-off introduction to The Reader possible. Thanks a lot, Entertainment Weekly!

9:22: Ledger-hating presenter Amy Poehler hands an award to Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock, who displays his comedy prowess by telling a Rumer Willis non-joke that the confused audience decides they should probably laugh at anyway.

9:21: Simon Beaufoy wins Best Screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire! We weren't aware this award was given to first halves of screenplays.

9:19: The whittled-down Seth Rogen is in serious danger of resembling his stick figure stand-in on the Zack and Miri poster.

9:12: Best Actress in a TV Drama or Miniseries winner Laura Linney should really be thanking HD rather than HBO. Them cheeks are luminous!

9:10: The scalpings continue: Shirley MacLaine has stolen Clay Aiken's hair.

9:07: Colin Farrell makes a family-friendly reference to his past, sex tape-enabling cocaine use before presenting an award to Waltz with Bashir director Ari Folman.

9:05: Tom Brokaw, sounding more like Barbara Walters every year.

8:57: Amy Poehler: Not that big a fan of Supporting Actor winner Heath Ledger!

8:55: Proud mother Demi Moore gives a shout-out to Miss Golden Globe, her daughter Rumer. Mother/daughter knee lifts at Dr. Lipshitz's this Tuesday!

8:54: Drew Barrymore has scalped Angie Dickinson. That is all.

8:50: Three degrees of Jake Gyllenhaal! One of this viewing party's gays (don't you have some at yours?) reveals that his husband tutored the on-screen Jake Gyllenhaal in math at age 17.

8:47: Sally: Rebecca Hall and Kate Beckinsale called. They want their face and dramatic brunette updo back.

8:45: Sally Hawkins wins Best Actress in a Comedy for Happy-Go-Lucky! It seems like an impressive achievement until you realize she was competing against Meryl Streep not for Doubt but for Mamma Mia.

8:44: Who was that text-messaging next to America Ferrera? We hope not Blake Lively!

8:41: Haha, Wall-E director Andrew Stanton is virtually out of his seat and at the podium before they actually announce that he's won the Animated Film award.

8:39: Ricky Gervais (drink in hand!) continues his awards show trek, despite being a noted Oscar-eschewer. Awards ceremonies, he's just not that into you. (Sorry, the pervasive commercials have finally demolished our defenses. Who wants to make an appletini date at the Arclight?).

8:35: Zachary Quinto just surged past Zac Efron in the night's Skinny Tie Sweepstakes. Gentlemen, it's not too late to rock a bolo! Anna Paquin wins the presented prize, for Best Profanity-Laden Reaction to Finding Out That Your Second Love Interest Can Lick His Own Balls.

8:33: Best Actor in a TV Drama goes to Gabriel Byrne over Michael C. Hall. How many sisters does a guy have to fuck for a Golden Globe in this town?

8:29: Eva Mendes (who's clearly been buying turquoise necklaces from Tuba City jewelry shop owner Whoopi Goldberg) brings out HFPA president Jorge Camara, who is introduced to weirdly specific Cuban music. All right then.

8:27: Don Cheadle gets the introduction he's worked his whole life for: "And now, the star of upcoming film Hotel for Dogs!"

8:15: A hearty, hale Jeremy Piven loses the supporting actor TV prize to Tom Wilkinson for John Adams. Golden Globe producers celebrate the moment by cutting to the 30 Rock table, where a blond to the right of Alec Baldwin chooses the perfect moment to solicit lip gloss from Tina Fey.

8:07: Is that hirsute mountain man Jason Priestly presenting Best Song? No, it's Sting, somehow! Miley Cyrus greets the announcement of her nomination with a Gaston-soliciting tongue extension before Bruce Springsteen is handed the prize.

8:03: "Mama's talking," complains ignored presenter Jennifer Lopez. She presents Best Supporting Actress in a Film to Kate Winslet, for The Reader. That sound you hear is Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein unfiring two assistants.

8:00: It's starting! As always, the Globes have chosen a terribly Zeitgeisty pop song to intro us in (in this case, from the Pussycat Dolls). Where are the revised, Globe-specific lyrics, though? Either go full-shame or go home, HFPA!

7:45: In Bruges costars Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell are being interviewed. "Who's the fat guy?" asks a friend. "Some eccentric gay billionaire who bought Colin Farrell?"

7:30: Nancy O'Dell and her minions have assembled some seemingly random celebrity pairs to interview during the pre-show: Sigourney Weaver and Beyonce! Aaron Eckhart and Rachel Griffiths! Sadly, O'Dell doesn't ask Griffiths how it feels to pass the sibling-fucking torch to her former Six Feet Under costar Michael C. Hall.

7:20: Forgive us for our late start, as we've been busy assembling a cone of silence that involves not visiting the front page of Yahoo, the IMDb, or Facebook, lest we stumble upon a spoiler crumb dropped by our more fortunate East Coast brethren. We couldn't bear it if we knew ahead of time just how that nail-biting Supporting Actor race would turn out (we've heard Heath Ledger is a dark horse!).

· Undettered by the economy, studios are meeting NBC's exorbitant $3 million-per-half-minute Super Bowl ad fees to unveil tentpole releases like Up, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and G.I. Joe. [Variety]
· If it did nothing else, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet contributed the Spaghetti Cat censor photo (featured here, along with our proposed alternates that never really caught on) to the world, and for that, it will be sorely missed. [Mediaweek]
· Acquitted of murder, Sopranos and A Bronx Tale star Lillo Brancato Jr. still got ten years for burglary. [Variety]
· After the disaster that was last year's strike-and-Billy Bush-afflicted Golden Globes, the International Hollywood Junket Whores Association's annual kudosfest is back in swinging form. Who cares about world misery and the economy: Bring on the swag and 20-foot-high chocolatefalls! [THR]

The semi-glorious hardware was unveiled today at a press conference hosted by Jorge Camara, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It's the statuette's first revision since 1945, trading the bowling-trophy marble base for a sleeker kitchen-counter granite and, for the first time ever, offering actual gold-plated resin Globes instead of the cheap plastic gewgaws that have lined the shelves of area pawn shops and been exchanged as white-elephant gifts for nigh on 65 years. And just because GG alumna Pia Zadora wants an upgrade today doesn't mean you shouldn't want yours this weekend, nominees. You've earned it.

• Meet the new and improved Golden Globe [The Envelope]

· There's no use crying over spilled Milk. Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic followed its early awards-season success with exactly one nomination for Best Actor candidate Sean Penn. This is more of a reflection of the HFPA's susceptibility to studio campaigns then any harbinger of future drought; if Focus Features can draw four nominations for its all-but-forgotten comedy In Bruges (not to mention two for Burn After Reading) while its plenty-lauded Milk goes virtually ignored, rest assured that both parties are satisfied with a deal negotiated somewhere along the line.

· The Dark Knight died so that others may live. As in: Had Revolutionary Road not drawn its four nominations for Picture, Director, Actor and Actress, then no fewer than two randomly selected Scott Rudin assistants would be toe-tagged right now with blunt phone-force trauma to the head.

· Alternatively, The Dark Knight died because Warner Bros. is saving its money for real awards. The studio's other prospective nominees Gran Torino and Sex and the City flailed as well. Coincidence, or ambivalence?

· Never mind the starfucking. Critical darlings and possible Oscar underdogs Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) and Melissa Leo (Frozen River) were shut out from the dramatic acting categories as well. Why? Because Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie look better in the ballroom. Again, this means little for the Oscars, where Leo (Melissa, not DiCaprio) is a presumptive fifth nominee and Jenkins will likely lose his spot anyway to Gran Torino's Clint Eastwood — another awards-season favorite overlooked here because the HFPA couldn't get away with leaving Sean Penn off the guest list. See also: Tom Cruise, nominee for Tropic Thunder.

· James Franco is a Best Actor candidate for Pineapple Express. Clearly a testament to how totally fucking high the HFPA members were when it came time for nominations. Too bad David Frost wasn't a pot dealer; then Michael Sheen, too, could have avoided his 100th awards snub of the season in the supporting category.

· We were right about the Weinsteins. It didn't look very good there for a while, but however relentlessly lobbied-for, their eight Globe nominations — four apiece for The Reader and Vicky Christina Barcelona — are resurgent enough for us.

· "Honestly, I had no clue that these things were today. I was in dead sleep. I heard voices on my answering machine. I thought 'That's weird, somebody is yelling in my answering machine at 5:30 in the morning.' . . . It's crazy!" – Kevin Connolly, actor, Entourage

Plausibility: On a scale of 1-10, where 1 implies maximum, publicist-crafted tomfoolery and 10 implies complete sincerity, this rates a 3. Connolly made the savvy choice to leave the supporting category for lead actor this season, so he can't be too awards-ignorant.

· "I was in bed sleeping and I got a phone call." – America Ferrera, actress, Ugly Betty

Plausibility: 5. Maybe because Ferrera is such an eternal lock for this category, she could be expected to be blasé about the announcements. Nevertheless, this earns one Blake Lively eye-roll.

· "When I got a phone call early this morning, my heart dropped because I thought my nanny was calling in sick!!! I am so thrilled! It is a joy to go to work everyday and this is the icing on the cake. Congratulations to Sally [Field]!" – Rachel Griffiths, supporting actress, Brothers and Sisters

Plausibility: 3. Griffiths is a former Golden Globe winner who was nominated for this role last year. It's one thing to trot out an excuse, but quite another to add three exclamation points.

· "I was dead asleep, and I didn't know why the phone was ringing." – Marisa Tomei, supporting actress, The Wrestler

Plausibility: 4. Kevin Connolly already used that one, Marisa.

· "I live in a complete fool's paradise. I didn't even know it was Golden Globes today. I was taken aback when someone rang me to tell me I was nominated." – David Hare, screenwriter, The Reader

Plausibility: 1. The Reader wouldn't even be rushed out right now if it weren't for two mornings: today, and January 22, when the Oscar nominations are announced. Could Hare could really have shut out all the text messages from Harvey Weinstein saying, "WHERE ARE U? NEED U FOR 'READER' SCREENING AT VAN NUYS RETIREMENT HOME. TELL RUDIN 2 GO 2 HELL"? If so, we'll take those sedatives.

• Reactions to Golden Globe noms [Variety]

• JGolden Globe nominees' reactions [THR]

• Golden Globe Reactions: Brooke Shields Congratulates 'Tremendous' Tom Cruise [People]

The good news: Slumptastic Revolutionary Road finally got some awards season recognition! The bad news: It came at Milk's expense. And in the TV categories, In Treatment's five nods surpassed Mad Men, 30 Rock and Entourage, each with three nominations. A full list of nominees follows the jump. We'll have a closer read through the nominees later this morning after we properly suit up for another journey into Awards Hell, but for now we ask: James Franco as Best Actor for Pineapple Express? And: Between the four nominations apiece for Vicky Cristina Barcelona and The Reader, how about those Weinsteins?

FILM CATEGORIES

BEST PICTURE: DRAMA
· The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
· Frost/Nixon
· The Reader
· Revolutionary Road
· Slumdog Millionaire

BEST PICTURE: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
· Burn After Reading
· Happy-go-lucky
· In Bruges
· Mamma Mia
· Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST DIRECTOR
· Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
· Stephen Daldry, The Reader
· David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
· Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
· Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTOR: DRAMA
· Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
· Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
· Sean Penn, Milk
· Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
· Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS: DRAMA
· Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
· Angelina Jolie, Changeling
· Meryl Streep, Doubt
· Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
· Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
· Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
· Sally Hawkins, Happy-go-lucky
· Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading
· Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia
· Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey

BEST ACTOR: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
· Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
· Colin Farrell, In Bruges
· James Franco, Pineapple Express
· Brendan Gleeseon, In Bruges
· Dustin Hoffman, Last Chance Harvey

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
· Amy Adams, Doubt
· Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barecelona
· Viola Davis, Doubt
· Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
· Kate Winslet, The Reader

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
· Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder
· Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
· Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess
· Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
· Heath Ledger,The Dark Knight

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
· The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
· Everlasting Moments (Sweden/Denmark)
· Gomorrah (Italy)
· I've Loved You So Long (France)
· Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
· Bolt
· Kung Fu Panda
· Wall-E

BEST SCREENPLAY
· Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
· David Hare, The Reader
· Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
· Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
· John Patrick Shanley, Doubt

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
· Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
· Clint Eastwood, Changeling
· James Newton Howard, Defiance
· A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
· Hans Zimmer, Frost/Nixon

TELEVISION CATEGORIES

BEST DRAMATIC TV SERIES
· Dexter
· House M.D.
· In Treatment
· Mad Men
· True Blood

BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA
· Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
· Michael C. Hall, Dexter
· Jon Hamm,Mad Men
· Hugh Laurie, House M.D.
· Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors

BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA
· Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
· Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
· January Jones, Mad Men
· Anna Paquin, True Blood
· Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

BEST TV SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
· Californication
· Entourage
· The Office
· 30 Rock
· Weeds

BEST ACTOR, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
· Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
· Steve Carell, The Office
· Kevin Connolly, Entourage
· David Duchovny, Californication
· Tony Shalhoub, Monk

BEST ACTRESS, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
· Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
· America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
· Tina Fey, 30 Rock
· Debra Messing, The Starter Wife
· Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
· Cranford
· Bernard & Doris
· John Adams
· A Raisin in the Sun
· Recount

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
· Judi Dench, Cranford
· Laura Linney, John Adams
· Catherine Keener, An American Crime
· Shirley MacLaine, Coco Chanel
· Susan Sarandon, Bernard & Doris

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
· Ralph Fiennes, Bernard and Doris
· Paul Giammatti, John Adams
· Kevin Spacey, Recount
· Kiefer Sutherland, 24: Redemption
· Tom Wilkinson, Recount

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TV
· Eileen Atkins, Cranford
· Laura Dern, Recount
· Melissa George, In Treatment
· Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
· Dianne Wiest, In Treatment

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TV
· Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
· Denis Leary, Recount
· Jeremy Piven, Entourage
· Blair Underwood, In Treatment
· Tom Wilkinson, John Adams

Elsewhere at the NBC Universal party, expect jewels shipped in from sponsor Cartier and "lots of "metallics accented in black" — essentially recycling the elements that have been in storage since their canceled '08 fete, arrayed in a smaller space to help alleviate the isolation of lone network employees Jeff Zucker, Ben Silverman and an unidentified coat-check girl. Others yawned their own ambivalence about a looming work stoppage as well, asking the trade organ BizBash to kindly return with real strike news closer to the Jan. 11 awards ceremony:

Billy Butchkavitz, who produces and designs HBO's production-heavy fete said, "We're going forward as if nothing is going on. I kept asking [my clients] about it—and you never know with the Golden Globes people—but they're saying that nothing should affect [the party]."

In Style's party has a much earlier load-in—it begins shortly after New Year's Day—and the magazine had already installed subflooring before the 2008 party was scrapped. But its production team is overtly unconcerned. "We are going full-speed ahead on Globes production," said the magazine's event chief, Cyd Wilson. "If [SAG organizers] get the signatures [needed for a strike, the plans to walk out] wouldn't be completed in time for the Globes anyway."

We're not so sure about that; SAG has other tactics, too, and we wouldn't put it past the union's top-secret star chamber to send a succulent seared ahi tuna (and service for 10) to Wilson's crew some time soon when the party organizer goes missing, with the clipped lettering on hotel stationery reading, "Cyd Wilson plans with the fishes." We've seen much worse.

• As SAG Strike Looms, It's 'Full-Steam Ahead' for Golden Globes Party Organizers [BizBash]

UPDATE: Is Dick Clark pulling the levers? After the jump.

I'm told by sources that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and NBC are on the verge of taking legal action against the WGA for actions leading to the cancellation of this year's Golden Globes.

Really, could Jeff Zucker possibly be more of a putz? I say the WGA should countersue the NBC Universal midget for impersonating a mogul (and the HFPA for impersonating a legitimate news organization).

Even in the spirit of the Everybody's Suing Everybody Day season, we pray the rumor isn't true. Still, one glance at the President and CEO's track record (we're reminded of the time a number of SNL writers scheduled to read a "Top Ten Demands of the Striking Writers" list on Letterman were fatally felled by a tumbling safe that Late Show producers to this day insist was not a scheduled bit) is enough to convince us of this: That an internal conference call with perfect NBC storm Ben Silverman probably lamented the death of their awards season crown jewel, eventually floating the possibility of "sapping the nerdiest, ugliest, meanest kids at Hollywood High for whatever's left over after their little uprising bleeds them bone dry," followed by dark, bellowing laughs heard from Burbank clear through to Universal City.

UPDATE: Nikki Finke updates her story by clarifying that it was "Dick Clark Productions and possibly even by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association" who mulled legal action, and then approached NBC to join them. NBC has now officially denied that they will be filing suit.

• Sources: NBC & Hollywood Foreign Press May Sue WGA Over No Golden Globes [deadlinehollywooddaily.com]

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· Julian Schnabel learned of his Best Director win at New York City airport baggage carousel, upon turning his cellphone on: "It was very glamorous. It was one of those existential moments. I was extremely happy." [USA Today]
· Like Ernest Borgnine's bash, Sweeney Todd producer Richard Zanuck made it a family affair, taking in the press conference from his son's home in Beverly Hills—which is nice, but not, like, seated next to Johnny Depp with lots of water glasses and fancy silverware nice: "I must say, it's a wonderful thing to be seated at a table and all the suspense of that. All that was nonexistent (tonight), but it doesn't take away from the honor." [Variety]
· "Glenn Close, best TV actress/drama for FX's Damages, was in a bar in New York's meatpacking district with the show's cast and crew. 'It's a wonderful way to watch — we were rooting for our team.'" She then mounted the counter at the Brass Monkey for a celebratory striptease patrons won't soon forget. [ABC News]
· Best Actor in TV Series, Musical or Comedy winner David Duchovny went to see a movie while the winners were announced: "I kinda didn't want to watch, it would just make me tense or nervous, so I went out to see a movie at four (o'clock) and I knew I wouldn't be home until it was announced. I knew if my phone was ringing when I walked into my hotel room that I would have won. And it was. Nobody calls a loser." And with that, this year's ceremony wiped the snot from its nose as it checked its phone in vain for any congratulatory messages. [AP]

· Having quietly completed two days of negotiations over the weekend, everyone in Hollywood will be watching the DGA and AMPTP for signs that they're about to announce a deal. (Especially members of the WGA, who are praying the directors don't reach an unfavorable agreement that makes their own contract-talk suffering any worse.) [THR]
· The Producers Guild nominates The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood for its feature film award, jilting both of last night's Globes winners, Atonement and Sweeney Todd.[Variety]

The ever-smiling Hollywood veteran said he was happy to be home instead of wrapped up in the "hullabaloo" of the ceremony, "because if I want a beer or I want a sandwich or whatever, I'm able to get up and go. These people have to sit there and wait until somebody tells them to go pee."

Tension grew as each category was announced. "This is like going into labor, for God sake," Tova said of the long wait.

Finally, the actor's category came up. Jim Broadbent was announced as the winner.

Tova and Nancy Borgnine booed, but Borgnine clapped.

"Hey, I already got one," he said. "I was nominated and I think that's wonderful. You don't have to win them all."

A win would have been good for the Hallmark Channel, he said, "but for me, I've got one. And I've got the big guy, too."

Borgnine's admirable magnanimity in the face of defeat would soon fade, however, as he further contemplated the indignity the HFPA visited upon him in delivering the upset win to Broadbent. Local news crews hoping to get some feel-good footage for their post-awards-show segments soon found themselves documenting an expletive-filled tirade in which the agitated nonagenarian, menacingly swinging around his previously won Oscar and Globe, invited "that Limey dandy" over to his house "settle this like men," pledging that the winner of a best-of-three-falls Indian-leg-wrestling would get to "keep all the goddamn trophies."

[Photo: AP]

• Strike Can't Stop Ernest Borgnine From Partying On Globes Night [Access Hollywood]