The producers of the 81st Academy Awards shared with us a different sort of Oscars ceremony this year. The usually prim-and-proper evening was a little “looser” on Sunday night than previous years. It was more fun.

The most exciting part of the evening wasn’t even finding out who won. In all the major acting awards, five previous winners of the award-unannounced to be presenting-welcomed the pledges to their league of extraordinary actors, almost secret society style-all that was missing were ceremonial robes and chanting.

Courtesy of Oscar

Slumdog Millionaire was, to be expected, the big winner of the night. It won best picture, best director (Danny Boyle), and a many, many other prizes. Some other winners included Sean Penn for best actor, Kate Winslet for best actress, Heath Ledger for best supporting actor.

In summary, the evening was truly a success because of several brilliant decisions from the producers. Hugh Jackman was wonderfully tolerable as the hosting the event, while bouncing back and forth between Broadway-style numbers and his fantastic command of the stage. The venue was intimate as well. The best picture nominees were all shown alongside past winners with a common theme. But most of all, it was great that no one got their speech cut off by that buzzkill orchestra.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in The Visitor (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon (Universal)
Sean Penn in Milk (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Josh Brolin in Milk (Focus Features)
Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt (Miramax)
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.)
Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
Angelina Jolie in Changeling (Universal)
Melissa Leo in Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics)
Meryl Streep in Doubt (Miramax)
Kate Winslet in The Reader (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in Doubt (Miramax)
Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in Doubt (Miramax)
Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Best director of the year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) David Fincher
Frost/Nixon (Universal) Ron Howard
Milk (Focus Features) Gus Van Sant
The Reader (The Weinstein Company) Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Danny Boyle

Best picture of the year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Tags: Award Shows, Oscars

The NBC line up has come under close scrutiny for its performances recently. NBC TV show schedule has 37 current shows which have created quite a stir amongst competing rival networks. Two widely acclaimed shows are the welcoming “Lipstick Jungle” and the infamous “30 Rock.” “Lipstick Jungle” stars three of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood. In “Lipstick Jungle” this sexy drama follows three powerful females who live life at the top of their game, making it through every upward and downward turn together. Nico (Kim Raver, “24″), editor-in-chief of a couture fashion magazine, has her mind set on becoming CEO. Movie executive Wendy (Brooke Shields, “Suddenly Susan”) balances career and family with style.

Courtesy of NBC

And the truly unique designer Victory (Lindsay Price, “Beverly Hills, 90210″) persists ambitiously while in search of “Mr. Right”. Armed with tremendous strengths and simple humor, these modern, pioneering New Yorkers support each other through the tears and triumphs that are involved in making it big while living in the Big Apple. Robert Buckley (”Fashion House”), Andrew McCarthy (”Joy Luck Club”), Paul Blackthorne (”Big Shots”) and David Noroña (”Frasier”) also star in this comedic charmer. Consequently, “30 Rock” is one of the most popular shows that NBC has to offer its viewers. In 2008, 30 Rock was nominated for an impressive record of 17 Emmy nominations.”30 Rock” has also been honored on several critics’ year-end Best of 2006 and 2007 lists. Entertainment Weekly has hailed it as “simply the best TV” and “the best comedy on TV this year”.

This award-winning comedy is spoken through the wit of Golden Globe winner Tina Fey (”Liz Lemon”) and features Tracy Morgan (”Tracy Jordan”) as the unpredictably dramatized star of Lemon’s hit variety show, “TGS with Tracy Jordan.” As a top network executive, Alec Baldwin (”Jack Donaghy”), throws chaos at Lemon to juggle major corporate interference as she has to deal with off-the-handle antics from Jordan, all while salvaging her individuality. Imperfectly completing the cast with their satire are Scott Adsit (”Pete Hornberger”) as the variety show’s producer; Jane Krakowski (”Jenna Maroney”) as the influential co-star of “TGS”; Judah Friedlander (”Frank”) as the writing staff’s sardonic slacker; Jack McBrayer (”Kenneth the Page”) as the eager and nonchalantly endearing NBC page; Keith Powell (”Toofer”) as the sophisticated, yet salty Harvard-alum writer and Katrina Bowden (”Cerie”) as Lemon’s young and frequently inept assistant.

“30 Rock” has welcomed many impressive guest stars throughout the seasons, including 2008 Emmy nominees Steve Buscemi, Will Arnett, Paul Reubens, Carrie Fisher, Edie Falco, Tim Conway, and Rip Torn. Other guest stars have included former Vice President Al Gore, Andy Richter, Nathan Lane, David Schwimmer, Jerry Seinfeld, Dean Winters, Molly Shannon, Meredith Vieira, Jason Sudeikis, Ghostface Killah, LL Cool J, Gladys Knight, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, John McEnroe, Paul Reubens, Maury Povich, Chris Parnell, Sean Hayes, and Will Forte as well as Elaine Stritch, who acquired a 2007 Emmy Award and a 2008 Emmy nomination for her performance. Both “Lipstick Jungle” and “30 Rock” command your attention and heart with laughter. Hopefully they will continue onward into the fall lineup shows next year to give us more surprises and even more amusement.

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Tags: 30 Rock, Golden Globes, NBC TV, Tina Fey

Prison Break Crew

The season was produced in association with Original Television and 20th Century Fox Television by Adelstein-Parouse Productions. A number of directors have contributed their credits in the series. Some prominent faces behind the scene who directed the plot were, Bobby Roth, an independent filmmaker and commercial television personality who has written, produced and directed the series ‘The Insiders’ for ABC; Kevin Hooks, a Golden Globe nominee and son of prominent actor Robert Hook along with Michael Switzer, a famous writer who has written series like Fame and Fame and fortune.

John Pasadena was the casting director for the series who is also known for movies such as The Dark Knight and The Net. Suzanna Makkos, who was an Executive for TV shows such as Malcolm in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show, worked as Network Executive for Prison Break.

In other credits, Dana Sharpness worked as studio executive, Robbie Greenberg worked as director of photography, and Etienne Des Lauriers edited the series with another editor Mark Helfrich.

In addition, Michael Phillips was the assistant director, while Betsy Heimann was costume designer for the series. Last but not least, Susan Kaufmann was the Costume Designer, David Obermeyer played vital role in sound mixing with his assistant Scott D Smith and Daniel Clancy was the Set Decorator for this ultimate series.

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Tags: Fox, Golden Globe, Prison Break

Prison Break, created by Paul Scheuring, is a serial nominated for a Golden Globe Award which premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company on August 29, 2005. The majority of the series was filmed on pretty sites and landscapes in and around Chicago city while the music of the serial was composed by well known composer Ramin Djawadi. 

Courtesy of Fox

Prison Break revolves around Lincoln Burrows who is in death row for a crime he never committed. His brother Michael decides then to let him off from this conviction to prove his brother innocent. To achieve the goal Michael puts himself behind the bars with other prisoners and his defense attorney and longtime friend Veronica Donovan extends her full cooperation from outside the jail. Now, Michael puts all of the archness, heroic acts, and luck blending with the aid of some of the prisons’ most degraded and dodgy offenders to achieve his endeavor.

If talking about leading cast and character of the series, Dominic Purcell [Lincoln Burrows] played the role of a convicted felon who is facing unjust conviction for a murder; Wentworth Miller [Michael Scofield] justified the role of Michael, Lincoln’s brother who is desperate to take his brother out of the bars; Robin Tunney [Veronica Donovan] is played the lead role of veronica, an attorney and childhood friend of both Lincoln and Michael; Marshall Allman [ L. J. Burrows] is the desperate son of Lincoln who is forced to hide here and there after his father’s death sentence and Peter Stormare [ John Abruzzi] who plays the role of Abruzzi, a Chicago Drug Mafia.

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Tags: Fox, Prison Break

The Golden Globes  is one of the more interesting award shows. The Grammy and Oscar shows have a blend of movie and music people, while the Emmy gathers all the TV talent.  The mixture of movie and tv actors shows the real value of small and large screen in one evening.  That’s why celebrity tv shows like E! red carpet show can share a moment  like The Dark Knight’s Aaron Eckhart asking Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria if she’s been drinking. From a TV perspecitve, it was also nice to see Miley Cyrus chat with Ryan Seacrest right after that  “Jonas kid” and see them not talk to each other. Hilarious to see father, Billy Ray talk to him though. Its possible he said “stay away from my daughter.”

With the awards show over, it’s time to view the list of major TV winners…

Best Drama - Mad Men. It’s the only award they won tonight, but it’s the important one. And yes, Matthew Weiner was there to accept the award on stage. The show has been off the air and out of our minds for months now so it’s great to see the cast all together again.

Best Musical or Comedy - 30 Rock

Best Actor Drama - Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment). Interesting choice considering the other nominees, including Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall, Hugh Laurie, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. And of course he was the only nominee not at the show.

Best Actress Drama - Anna Paquin (True Blood)

Best Actor Musical or Comedy - Alec Baldwin (30 Rock). Not a surprise at all, one of the best large and small screen actors.  

Best Actress Musical or Comedy - Tina Fey (30 Rock). Ah, this is good. They get all three of the awards (Best Comedy, Best Actor and Actress in a Comedy). Something tells me this show is going to be around for a while after all.

Best Supporting Actor - Tom Wilkinson (John Adams)

Best Supporting Actress - Laura Dern (Recount)

Best Miniseries/TV Movie - John Adams. Adams couldn’t be here tonight so the award was accepted by producer Tom Hanks.

Best Actor Miniseries/TV Movie - Paul Giamatti (John Adams).

Best Actress Miniseries/TV Movie - Laura Linney (John Adams). I think a lot of people were looking for one TV show or a movie to sort of sweep the awards, but I’m not sure how many people picked John Adams to be one of the major stories of the night.

Best Presenter - Ricky Gervais. Another win. 

Best Acceptance Speech(es): Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan. All the “shout outs” along with NBC’s Jeff Zucker.  Oh, don’t forget that since Barack Obama won the election, Tracy said he gets to speak for the show when they win an award instead of Tina!

Most Awkward Moment - Nancy O’Dell on the red carpet, asking Tiki Barber who he’d like to see win. When he said Heath Ledger, she said “that’s a very political answer.”

Best Facial Hair - Tony Shalhoub

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Tags: 2009 Golden Globe awards, 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, Golden Globes, NBC, Tina Fey