No Surprises

Thinking about the Golden Globes winners, I couldn't get the chorus of Radiohead's "No Surprises" out of my head. Truly, there were no surprises for the informed observer. The big winners were THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (Picture, Drama; Director; Original Score; Original Song), LOST IN TRANSLATION (Picture, Musical or Comedy; Actor, Musical or Comedy; Screenplay), and MYSTIC RIVER (Actor, Drama; Supporting Actor). Diane Keaton and Charlize Theron, as I predicted, won the lead Actress categories, with Renee Zellweger capturing the Supporting Actress statuette.

It's easy for me to say that none of these were surprises since I made just one prediction. Take a look at David Poland's Oscar columns and Oscar City Centre at Movie City News and tell me the Globes didn't play out according to the script.

I watched bits and pieces of what appeared to be a rather dull show. Bill Murray's acceptance speech was funny and sort of indifferent, which probably won't win him any fans in the Academy. Then again, from what I've read, Sean Penn didn't attend. Why that should matter demonstrates how truly political the votes are. It isn't necessarily about rewarding the best.

It seemed like every time I changed the channel to the Globes someone from ANGELS IN AMERICA was winning a TV award. One of these days I'll actually watch some of the acclaimed HBO programming that gets awards by the truckload. Glad to see THE OFFICE win even if the BBC show and Ricky Gervais were the trendy picks for the HFPA to make.

In other Sunday night television viewing, the Travel Channel's WORLD POKER TOUR: HOLLYWOOD HOME GAME wasn't as entertaining as Bravo's CELEBRITY POKER. The best part of of CELEBRITY POKER was listening to the casual interaction between the players. The game was a lot looser and more enjoyable TV. The announcers for WORLD POKER TOUR dominated, covering up the celebrity chitchat with too serious commentary.

Last night's MYTHBUSTERS wasn't quite as good as other shows. The breakstep bridge myth forced the guys to put in a lot of effort for not very interesting results.