Alright, Alright, Alright…

This time every year, the awards shows block off an entire evening on network television to tell me about all the shows I didn’t watch and all the movies I didn’t see in the previous year. There are a few programs that I recognize, and occasionally they seem to humor people like me with nominations for the shows that I enjoy. But usually it looks a bit odd like “one of these things is not like the other” (much like Matthew McConaughey’s acceptance speech verses everyone else’s).

Despite my seemingly lack of connection to most of what is found on television or in the theaters, these shows are rather entertaining. If anything for the reactions of the people who really didn’t expect any recognition. Not for what they say but for the shock on their face at the news and the slight horror of having to get up on stage and thank everyone without a script having been written beforehand. The Golden Globes this evening was a prime example.

Watching The Andy Samberg and Amy Poehler win awards this evening was worth watching. Both of these Saturday Night Live Alumni looked to be in genuine shock when their names were called and even Seth Meyers, who announced Samberg’s win, were filled with a childishness glee (in a good way) when the reality finally hit them. While we were all watching this unfold, Poehler getting a massage from and making out with Bono and Samberg high fiving Leonardo DiCaprio on his way to being mauled on stage by Meyers, the evening seems to take on a surreal quality for the two of them.

On the other side of the spectrum is the simple fact that as you watch the camera cut to different stars, you are faced with the aging, some gracefully and others not so much, of some of the many stars that you grew up watching on television or in the movies. It makes you wonder how much longer they are going to be performing. While some may seemingly go on forever you know that some others, no matter how much you enjoy their work, are probably going to be gone soon. While many were nominated this evening, Michael Douglas and Jon Voigt to name a couple of winners, it is an interesting dynamic to watch the transition to a new crop of actors in the prime of their careers, DiCaprio and Matt Damon seem to be the two that most accurately fit that description.

As you can see, even if the majority of your entertainment comes from life and nonfiction programs (or even those things we call books) you can still get a kick out of watching the Hollywood social experiments known as awards shows. And while this evening proved entertaining and even as a means of prediction for the other two majors, things will surely be a bit more interesting with the raised stakes that come with the Oscars and Emmys. Based on tonight, this should be interesting.