Times TV and media critic Eric Deggans is out in Los Angeles this week for the critics' winter press tour. He decided to drop in on the Golden Globes awards hoopla Sunday night and gave us this view from the press box via his Feed blog and his Twitter page. Much like John Madden calling a football game, he tells it like he saw it. (And trust us, there's lots more on his blog, so be sure to hit that on your lunch hour today.)
THE PRESHOW SHOW: About a half- hour before the show starts, the Hilton's lobby is a madhouse, and the celebrities are so thick you can't swing a stick without poking one. Retired NBC anchor Tom Brokaw chats 2 feet away from ex-SNL cast member Kevin Nealon (who let HIM in here?) while Stephen Moyer (HBO's True Blood) trades quips with a reporter from People magazine. Big media outlets such as People, The Insider, TV Guide and Entertainment Tonight have built huge sets along the red carpet, pulling celebs onto their stages to grill them about their chances of winning — even if they aren't nominated for anything, who checks facts anymore? — and who they're wearing.
Via Twitter during the show …
… Ricky Gervais takes the words out of my mouth, laying the smackdown on over-talking movie stars from the stage: "How rude are you lot?"
… Are Ralph Fiennes and Sting competing over the Golden Globe for Hunky Brit Who Has Lost His Looks the Most?
… Dark Knight director Chris Nolan offers an amazing quote on Heath Ledger: "After Heath passed, you saw a hole ripped in the future of cinema."
… Backstage, Tom Hanks delivers a passionate rebuke of (the) anti-gay marriage amendment. Says its passage is tribute to … power of TV ads.
… Weirdest shoutout: Alec Baldwin thanks his daughter Ireland. Yeah, the one he called a pig in that profanity-laced voice mail message.
… A tribute to Steven Spielberg at the Globes means one thing to this TV critic. Time to grab a soda.
… Best (Kate) Winslet line? "You have no idea how much I'm not wrapping up!" Or "Oh God, who's the other one?" (when thanking fellow nominees).
Quotes from The Feed:
"If you ever start to feel too good about yourself, they have this thing called the Internet. Where you can find lots of people who really don't like you. ...They can suck it."
• Tina Fey, slamming specific posters at L.A. Times site theenvelope.com while accepting the award for best actress, TV comedy.
"I had a speech worked out which worked really well in the bathroom."
• Tom Wilkinson, winner best supporting actor TV, talking backstage on why he seemed so flustered during his acceptance speech.
"That way, instead of getting drunk with Mickey Rourke, I could be doing cocaine with Mickey Rourke."
• Presenter Seth Rogen on why he wished he could have presented at the Golden Globes 20 years ago.
BABY LOVE: The night before the Globes, I hit a swagfest at the Century City Plaza Hotel called the Boom Boom Room Children's Gifting Wonderland. The event allows dozens of manufacturers of kiddie products to "gift" their products to a roster of big-time celebrity parents, in exchange for an enthusiastic quote or a picture of said celebrity holding up the product. Sighted in the crowd: actor Chris Noth — best-known perhaps as love interest Mr. Big in the Sex and the City film and TV series — rooting through a display of handmade hats and mittens before walking into a room filled with baby carriages and car seats. Before him, Santa Clause star Tim Allen, actress Anne Heche and Heroes co-star Ali Landry had walked the hallways, assistants or relatives trailing behind, bearing huge bags filled with free swag handed out by the eager participants in this particular shrine to celebrity worship.
BARRED BY A CODE: Expecting to breeze into the press room in the Beverly Hills Hilton, where the ceremonies are being held later that day, my bubble is burst right off the bat. Even though I'm given a cool-looking plastic card with way-terrible picture of myself (let's see how cool YOU look after a rushed trip to a credentials office after a 5 1/2-hour flight and trip through L.A. traffic), I can't actually GET inside the working press area. The scanner reading my badge has come up snake eyes. It took 40 minutes of running back and forth to get things corrected.
HE'S WITH TIKI: I walk through security the last time behind retired NFL star and aspiring NBC anchor Tiki Barber, who assured me his twin Ronde would likely keep playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers "as long as they work out some of that offense stuff."
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