Last night at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards - the Hollywood community came to party and a great deal of champagne flowed, laughter from the crowd was at a maximum, many stars rubbed elbows with bigger stars, old friends got caught up, old flames bumped into each other (Demi and Ashton to name one incident), Ricky Gervais controlling chaos while showing no mercy, and the movie and television community was rewarded for top flight work by the Hollywood Foreign Press.

Here is 10 things that were discovered from last night's shindig on NBC:

1) Ricky Gervais is the 21st Century awards host nobody should touch

I actually thought that was less of Ricky this year, and there could have been more of his razor-cutting wit.  NBC was torn up hard by The Office creator, and does wonder iof he was pounded down hard by the network during the show.  No denying that Gervais is at his best when he's allowed to just be who he is and spare nobody.  This is not the Oscars!  This is the party that needs Gervais, and vice versa.  No, not every line Gervais used worked but that is part of his charm.

2) Matt LeBlanc proves he may the strongest of the Friends

Look back on my post Friday and you'll see I called this win for LeBlanc.  His job to play himself was not easy at all - picture playing an inflated version of who you are while embracing all that was Joey on Friends with some of the real LeBlanc mixed with what the writers came up with.  This high wire act was done with an ease on the Showtime series Episodes that deserves your attention.  Check On Demand and you'll find out why he earned this award (and why I called this upset!)  Now it's time for Matthew Perry to get the right role to be here in the future.  Notice that Cougartown did not get nominated (sorry Courtney but you're better than that show!)  Kudos again to Matt (pictured holding his award).

3) Merly Streep is truly The Iron Lady of The Golden Globes

The Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama victory for Streep now gives her 8, making her the most successful film actor in Golden Globes history (her 27 nominations is also a record for the Globes).  Her resume includes 4 Best Actress Drama wins (Kramer vs. Kramer, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Sophie's Choice, and The Iron Lady), 2 Best Actress Comedy or Musical (The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia), a Supporting Actress win for Adaptation, and a Best Actress Mini-Series or TV Movie for Angels In America.  Streep's win further clouds what should be a great battle for the Oscar for Best Actress -  Viola Davis has won the Critic's Choice Award for The Help, and Michelle Williams won the Golden Globe for Best Actress Comedy or Musical for My Week With Marilyn.  Streep gives herself a leg up, but she has been here before and has not won the Oscar since 1983 (making her the sentimental choice).

4) Many surprise winners besides LeBlanc

Kelsey Grammer did not seem like the choice of the audience for Best Actor TV Drama, especially against a field that features past award winner Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire) and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), plus the buzz was with Damian Lewis for Homeland on Showtime.  Grammer plays a powerful Chicago mayor in Boss, showed some of the underbelly of the corrupt reputation the city's politics has, and the win for Kelsey proves just how good the actor truly is - showing there is more to him than Dr. Frasier Crane.

Claire Daines did win for Homeland with the Best Actress TV Drama award, but the surprise you may not know is that she has won 3 Golden Globes and has been nominated only 3 times (quite the perfect batting average).

Laura Dern proves HBO did  the right thing by not cancelling her series Enlightened with her upset win for Best Actress TV Comedy over past Globe winners Tina Fey and Laura Linney.

5) 2012 - The Year Of Clooney

The question now is will George Clooney win every Best Actor award there is to win for The Descendents.  Clooney was saluted by the film's creator Alexander Payne as he called his performance "the best of his career".  He's one step closer to proving that exact point!

6) Even the extremely famous can slip up

Maryl Steep forgot her glasses when she went up to accept her award, and dropped a "S" bomb that the censors caught, but managed to wing an acceptance speech with great poise after that little bobble.  Streep and Gervais tied for cursing moments in the show, but do you think Ricky slipped up with his "F-Bomb"?  Elizabeth McGovern had a fall when she was walking up with her cast mates to accept the Golden Globe for Best Mini Series or TV Movie (nobody helped her up, which is a bigger slip-up than her actual fall).

7) There is such a thing as Sophia Vergara overkill!

OK, so her moment accepting the Best TV Comedy for Modern Family with creator Steve Levitan was funny (the bi-lingual accepting speech with Levitan's translation was one of the best moments of the night), but her new Diet Pepsi played 6 or 7 times during the broadcast.  Vergara in small doses is all one can handle, and that got to the point in my head of Please Make It Stop!

8) "The Punisher" is God!

Harvey Weinstein had many of his projects win last night, and in Hollywood he is considered somewhat of a God (as many called him last night), but we also found out his alter ego is that of a Marvel comic superhero (who knew?)

9) Nobody seemed to forget their loved ones in their acceptance speeches

Claire Daines made a point to bringing her mother to this year's Globes in the hopes of winning.  She told the story when she first won for My So Called Life as a teenager, she forgot to thank her parents - not this time!  Dustin Hoffman had fun with this trend by thanking his wife even though he was only giving an award.

10) The Best Picture of the past year is .........

When this award season is all said and done, it will be a divided Hollywood when it comes to answering this question.  The Help was a Critics Choice winner, The Artist took Best Picture Comedy or Musical last night, and The Descendents surprised many with the Best Picture Drama Golden Globe.  Factor in Woody Allen's Best Screenplay win for Midnight In Paris, and Martin Scorsese winning Best Director for Hugo, there may not be one clear cut best film for Oscar voters this year.  The only thing that is a given is that these 5 films will be nominated.  Enjoy the battle as the Golden Globes is only a part of the award season.

Next Stop -- The Screen Actor's Guild Awards.

 

 

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