Golden Global warming

I just spent an evening flipping back and forth between the Golden Globe Awards and the third and fourth episodes of 24, and boy, is my remote control thumb exhausted.

About 24: I'll merely observe that the season is off to a spectacular start. Jack Bauer is already in midseason form, and it's only 11 a.m.



About the Golden Globes: I managed to catch most of the significant moments. Here's what leapt out at me during the three-hour lovefest...

• Not a great night for the Sutherlands: Three nominations, no statues. Dad Donald was up for two awards (Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Made-for-TV Movie for Human Trafficking; Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series for Commander in Chief); son Kiefer was nominated for the fourth time (he won in 2002) for Best Actor in a Drama Series. You could almost sense Kiefer thinking, "Why aren't you people watching 24? You're killing my ratings!"
  
  
• Nice to see Geena Davis — an underrated actress — win for playing the first female POTUS in Commander in Chief. Man, she is one gigantic woman. (In a good way.)
  
  
• Nice also to see Hugh Laurie win for House, an excellent show I'm only recently catching up with in reruns. His acceptance gag — choosing three allegedly random names from a fistful of slips of paper crammed into his pants pocket, so he didn't have to thank everyone involved with the show — was priceless.
  
  
• More love for S. Epatha Merkerson, who already won an Emmy for her performance in Lackawanna Blues and now has a Golden Globe to match it. One of the least heralded talents in weekly television, getting some long-overdue recognition. You go, Lt. Van Buren.
  
  
• I didn't see Jonathan Rhys-Meyers play Elvis, but he must have been incredible to beat out superlative actors like Kenneth Branagh (brilliant as FDR in Warm Springs) and Ed Harris (brilliant also in Empire Falls).
  
  
• Since most of the nominated feature films aren't yet released on DVD, I haven't seen those, including Brokeback Mountain. But I did feel a flicker of vicarious vindication for Ang Lee, whose previous film, Hulk, was a ton better than most people (including most comics fans, which still leaves me scratching my head) acknowledged.
  
  
• I'm always pleased to see genuine acting talents like Felicity Huffman get respect, so good on her for winning — not for her role in Desperate Housewives — but for her starring turn in the film Transamerica. Although... as was the case when Hilary Swank won big some years back for Boys Don't Cry, a woman winning praise for playing a transgendered role is getting a sort of backhanded compliment. After all, it takes certain physical and facial characteristics to even be considered to portray a preoperative transsexual. No one's inviting, say, Nicole Kidman or Halle Berry to play those parts. I hope that realization doesn't detract from the joy Ms. Huffman deserves to feel for her victory.
  
  
• Then again, I find Felicity Huffman the most attractive woman on Desperate Housewives, so I'm not sure what that says about me. If anything.
  
  
• Seeing the ever-stylish Denzel Washington stride onto the stage to hand out the final award of the evening, I thought, in the immortal words of Johnny Bravo, "You're a good-lookin' sack o' man, brother."
  
  
• What's Up With That Dress? Award: Charlize Theron. Did someone just wrap her in black gauze and shove her out of the limo?
  
  
  
  
• What's Up With That Suit? Award: Harold Perrineau. You'll get our first call when we cast the remake of Superfly, Harold.
  
  
  
  
• What Time Is It? Award: Johnny Depp. Dude, did we wake you? Depp looked as though he just rolled out of bed and into the auditorium, without benefit of either a comb or coffee.
  
  
  
  
• Giving New Meaning to the Term "Golden Globes": Drew Barrymore. Enough said.