I'll admit that I didn't pay close attention to the Oscars telecast this year. I just wasn't that excited about the nominees, and there wasn't even much star-gazing to do — where was Jodie Foster, anyway?

So I didn't even see the montage of the hosts of Oscars past. And that means I didn't notice that Whoopi Goldberg was completely left out of said montage.

Whoopi wasn't the only one who slipped Oscar's mind — Steve Martin was also left out of the host montage, and Brad Renfro and Roy Scheider were not included in the "In Memoriam" segment.

There was some footage (in a different montage) of Whoopi's 1990 win for Best Supporting Actress for Ghost. But there wasn't a second of praise for her four hosting gigs (yes, four! 1993, 1995, 1998, 2001). The slight did not please the ladies of The View. Whoopi even got a little teary-eyed — here's the clip: … continue reading

Hey, did something happen in Hollywood last night? Oh, right; a bunch of people went home with shiny naked golden men. While some may quibble with a few of the winners, last night’s Oscars telecast was a night when Tinsel Town pretty much got things right. Sure, I would have loved for Juno to sneak in and steal No Country for Old Men’s Oscar for Best Picture. But that might have incurred the wrath of Anton Chigurh, and the last thing you want to do is to make a man with a Dorothy Hamill haircut and a compressed-air gun angry.

The evening was largely a classy affair, with lots of first-time winners, loads of heartfelt speeches and even a couple genuine surprises. So in the spirit of honoring excellence, here are a few awards of my own. May I have the envelope, please?

Best Straight Allies: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth

The filmmakers won for their short documentary Freeheld, about a lesbian couple’s fight to win survivorship benefits. (Look for more details in Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. this Friday.)

Best Upset I Didn’t Know I Wanted: Marion Cotillard

I thought I’d be mad at Marion for upsetting my personal favorite Julie Christie for Best Actress, but after hearing her exuberant, charming and sincere speech, I’ve fallen in love instead.

  … continue reading

It's an award-a-rific weekend. Along with the Oscars on Sunday, you can catch the BET Honors (tonight at 8/7c on, uh, BET) and the Independent Spirit Awards (Saturday at 5 p.m. EST on IFC). Both of them look considerably more interesting than There Will Be Boredom and No Country for Any Women.

Scheduled to appear on the BET Honors are Alicia Keys, Tyra Banks, Vivica A. Fox, Kerry Washington, Keyshia Cole and more. This picture of Kerry Washington and Zoe Saldana has nothing to do with the BET Honors, but it sure is pretty. (I found it on the website for the UNDP/UNEP Poverty and Environment Initiative. Activism is sexy!)

On Sunday before the Oscars, Barbara Walters talks to Miley Ray Cyrus, Vanessa Williams, Harrison Ford and the awesome-but-slightly-overexposed Ellen Page.

Sheesh, so much to watch — and my DVR is full, too. Gone are those lazy, book-reading days of the writers' strike!

This morning I came across two videos that make a mockery of things — but in completely different ways.

First, here's a promo clip for Tracey Ullman's new show, State of the Union. (Yeah, I should have posted this on President's Day, but I was too busy writing about illustrious historical figures, such as Beals, Holloman and Kirshner.)

How awesome is Ullman? Can't wait for this — it premieres March 30 on Showtime.

Next, Vanity Fair offers a fake "In Memoriam" Oscars montage that bids farewell to ... well, watch and see. … continue reading

I don't usually enjoy the Grammy Awards broadcast as a whole. It's the sort of thing DVRs were made for — you can fast-forward through all the country music and just watch your favorites. (Kidding. Well, I'm not, but I fully support your right to listen to country music. Just not if I'm ever a passenger in your car, OK?)

But this year, I've been looking forward to the Amy Winehouse–Feist smackdowns for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. They were even both scheduled to perform. Both of them!

Alas; as we all know, these have been trying times for Winehouse. She's actually gone to rehab (yes), and even though she's supposedly on the road back to health, the U.S. Embassy has denied her visa request. So unless she can find a way to sneak into the States (via a very large smuggler and a Winehouse-sized prophylactic, maybe?) she won't be at the Grammy Awards.

Her publicists had this to say:

Amy has been progressing well since entering a rehabilitation clinic two weeks ago and, although disappointed with the decision, has accepted the ruling and will be concentrating on her recovery.

Couldn't they do a satellite feed or something? She could even parody herself and sing "Rehab" from rehab. Might as well enjoy the irony.

[Update: Winehouse is indeed going to perform and accept awards via satellite. My tears dry on their own!]

I live in hope that we'll someday see a healthy, happy Winehouse with a sense of humor about herself and the industry, because I swear I caught a glimpse of that person when I saw her in concert over the summer. I mean, she's only 24 — she could have a long career if she manages to put the pieces back together. … continue reading

I didn't watch all of the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards broadcast last night. Actually, I forgot it was on. I guess I find it difficult to get excited about movies like There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men — which, as Jamie recently pointed out, might as well be called No Movie for Women at All.

But I think I caught the best moments anyway. First, Tina Fey won for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.

She was self-effacing and adorable as usual. Here's her acceptance speech, in which she calls herself the "hat rack" to Alec Baldwin's Fred Astaire: … continue reading

The nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning. The big question, though, is whether the Oscars broadcast will happen at all. It's slated for Feb. 24, which is, like, 5 minutes from now in writers' strike years. And the stakes are very high. As Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly puts it, "If putting the kibosh on the Globes put the hurt on NBC and made the world pay attention to the strike, imagine what stopping the 80th Annual Academy Awards would do?"

I hope they find a way for the show to go on. Meanwhile, here are the Best Picture nominees:

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

That's right, Juno! Woo hoo! I still haven't seen Atonement. I liked Michael Clayton well enough, but not more than Juno. And I won't be seeing those last two very male-oriented films. So, yay, Juno!

Several other AfterEllen.com favorites nabbed some nods. Here are the actress categories: … continue reading

The writers' strike certainly made an impact on the Golden Globe Awards this year. No glitz, no glamour, no stars, no oops-Christine-Lahti-is-in-the-bathroom moments. Shots of the red carpet were replaced by shots of those red-and-black WGA picket signs. But, as cohost (and pinhead) Billy Bush noted, the winners still deserved recognition, so some sort of show had to go on. Here are some highlights of last night's Golden Globes Winners Special on NBC. (Images are from the press conference rather than the broadcast, but you get the idea.)

MOVIES

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Actress, Drama: Julie Christie, Away From Her
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical: Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Best Actor, Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Best Picture, Comedy or Musical: Sweeney Todd
Best Picture, Drama: Atonement
Best Director: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

TELEVISION

Best Actress, Drama: Glenn Close, Damages
Best Actress, Comedy: Tina Fey, 30 Rock … continue reading

The Golden Globes have been canceled, but the the writers’ strike didn’t prevent the live broadcast of the Critics' Choice Awards from pressing on last night. But the strike it did have its effects. Many winners noted that they were speaking off the cuff because they wanted to respect the strike and did not write speeches.

Host D.L. Hughley’s commentary was incredibly awkward, and it seemed that all his jokes were about race. Probably the oddest comment of the night for me came when Hughley dubbed Brad Pitt an “honorary black person” for seemingly no reason. And several times Hughley told the crowd that they needed to lighten up and laugh once in a while.

Despite that, there were many bright spots during the evening. For one, it seemed that every two minutes Pitt and AfterEllen.com’s No. 2 hottie, Angelina Jolie, were on the screen, looking just as fabulous as ever.

Additionally, there were some fantastic female winners throughout the evening.

Nikki Blonsky, breakout star of Hairspray, won the award for Best Young Actress.

Blonsky shared the award for Best Acting Ensemble with the rest of the Hairspray cast, which includes Queen Latifah (AfterEllen.com Hot 100 No. 55), Amanda Bynes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Allison Janney, Brittany Snow and, of course, John Travolta in drag. … continue reading

Queen Latifah hosts the 34th annual People's Choice Awards tonight at 9/8c on CBS.

Ellen DeGeneres and Jodie Foster are among the nominees, as are lots of other AfterEllen.com favorites. Three categories are still open for voting.

Sure, it's no Golden Globes, but I'm already in take-what-I-can-get mode in these days of striking writers!