Paul Drinkwater/NBCAnother year, another win for Mad Men...
Wait, what?! No wins?!
Before we write even more checks that reality can't cash, here are the five biggest "What?!" moments from the 68th Golden Globe Awards:
1. End of an Era: Don Draper was denied for the first time in his life when Boardwalk Empire stopped Mad Men's Best Television Series, Drama, winning streak at three, while also beating out broadcast fave The Good Wife, AMC's other most-talked-about show, The Walking Dead, and weird but wonderful Dexter. Sure, Boardwalk Empire is very entertaining, but up until now it's mostly been referred to as HBO's latest "close, but no cigar" offering to the Sopranos gods. Steve Buscemi, playing not just a leading man but a ladies man for the first time in his prolifically quirky career, won for Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama, for playing crime boss Nucky Thompson, as well.
2. Mother of Sons: Katey Sagal has been seething in silence for three seasons as Gemma Teller on FX's gritty Sons of Anarchy, but she and her fans are suffering no more after the incredibly multifaceted Sagal, who hasn't even been nominated for an Emmy yet for her great, complex performance, was named Best Actress in a Television Series, Drama.
3. Shellshocked: The Sundance Channel's Carlos—a three-part miniseries about the assassin and international terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal—sent HBO home without the win for Best Miniseries or Television Movie for the first time since 2000, when (gasp) Showtime snuck in a win. Claire Danes still won for Temple Grandin, Al Pacino won for You Don't Know Jack, and The Pacific won the Critics Choice Award Friday...but, sigh, it's not the same.
4. Paul Giahottie: Johnny Depp was hilarious in The Tourist (though he thought he was signing up for a thrilling tale of international intrigue) and the HFPA doubled down when it nominated Depp again for Alice in Wonderland. But no one does nebbish like Paul Giamatti, so he scored the Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, for the indie film Barney's Version, also beating out Casino Jack's Kevin Spacey and Love and Other Drugs' Jake Gyllenhaal (aka the stars of the criminal-lobbyist laugher and the Parkinson's disease hoot-and-a-half).
5. Is He Talking to Us?: Robert De Niro, while he's done his share of comedy over the years, both intentional (Meet the Parents, Analyze This) and unintentional (The Fan), isn't exactly known for being a talkative guy in real life. In fact, most civilians find him pretty intimidating. But tonight, in accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement, he combined the best of both worlds. The actors' actor was very funny, and we're pretty sure he was issuing mortal threats to everyone in the room at the same time. The Oscar winner jauntily name-dropped and cracked wise about everything from politics ("I'm sorry more members of the Foreign Press aren't with us tonight, but many of them were deported right before the show, along with most of the waiters, and Javier Bardem") to Megan Fox's hotness to being a family man ("All of these movies are like my children, except my children are more expensive and you can't remake them in 3-D to push up the grosses") Then he listed a bunch of his lesser-known titles, and while he joked about sending everyone copies of his least seen films...we think it best you not show your face at the Tribeca Film Festival this year unless you've pored over Marvin's Room and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Or Bobby D. will take you down to Chinatown.