No sweeps at the 2013 Golden Globes, but a few surprises

Co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler breathed new life into the Golden Globes, and the 70th Annual gala featured a few surprises—not the least of which was the introduction of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, who presented Best Picture nominee "Lincoln" and talked about the example of "steely resolve and compromise" that Lincoln set for today's leaders to follow. 

Earlier, Tony Mendez, the inspiration for "Argo" and the real intelligence agent responsible for the rescue of six American diplomatic personnel out of Iran during the hostage crisis, took the stage, and a surprised Ben Affleck accepted a Golden Globe for Best Director—a category for which he didn't even receive an Oscar nomination. Later, the whole "Argo" crew went onstage to hoist the Best Picture, Drama award. Affleck was noticeably taken aback by the announcement, clearly expecting another film to win, especially with the former President attending. 

"Silver Linings Playbook" grabbed Oscar nominations in all the big categories, suddenly making the Best Picture, Musical or Comedy category interesting—though in the end, "Les Misérables" won, as expected, while Hugh Jackman was named Best Actor, Musical or Comedy, for singing the lead in "Les Miz"—again, no great surprise.

As expected, Daniel Day-Lewis received the Best Actor, Drama award for his portrayal of "Lincoln," while Best Actress, Drama went to frontrunner Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty." Jennifer Lawrence ("Silver Linings Playbook") emerged on top in the crowded field of Best Actress, Musical or Comedy nominees. Meanwhile, Best Supporting Actor went to Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained") and Best Supporting Actress went to Anne Hathaway, both of them favorites. 

"Girls," "Homeland," and "Game Change" were the big winners in the television categories, earning Best in their categories and also individual awards for stars Claire Danes and Damian Lewis ("Homeland"), Julianne Moore and Ed Harris ("Game Change"), and Lena Dunham ("Girls"). Don Cheadle was a surprise winner in the Best Actor, Comedy or Musical category for "House of Lies." And nobody looked more suprised to win Best Screenplay than Quentin Tarantino, who seemed to savor his time onstage. "Brave" filmmakers also looked shocked to have beaten out two other Disney pictures—"Frankenweenie" and "Wreck-It Ralph"—for Best Animated Feature Film.

Another big moment in the evening came when Jodie Foster was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the tender age of 50. But as she told the audience in a remarkably confessional and impromptu acceptance speech, she's been in the public eye for 47 years—since she was three years old—and frankly, she could use some privacy. That didn't stop her from facing up to rumors and announcing that she "came out" long ago, then thanking her former partner, Cydney Bernard, for helping to co-parent their children. Foster also took the opportunity to announce that she was going to be closing this chapter on her life and opening a new one—not retiring, mind you, but just tackling different kinds of projects, and smaller projects than what she's been doing, maybe even in a different medium, she implied. "I am single," she announced to a somewhat stunned and quiet audience. Then she added, "Can I get a wolf whistle or something?" At one point she wiped away a tear, as did many in the audience when she said it was the last time they'd see her on this stage.

Jackman also got emotional when he accepted his award, thanking his wife for talking him out of quitting after a particularly bad day of rehearsals for "Les Misérables." And it was an emotional moment when "Les Misérables" won Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, and the various Hollywood types were joined onstage by the men who wrote the book for the original Broadway musical.

Fey and Poehler set a fun tone early and humor dominated the evening. "Only at the Golden Globes can the beautiful people of movies mingle with the rat-faced people of television," one of them remarked in the opening monologue, after which a cutaway shot showed Quentin Tarantino playfully reaching out to Sophia Vergara of "Modern Family." The cohosts, both SNL alums, were just as biting as former host Ricky Gervais in some of their remarks. Example? In talking about the torture controversy that "Zero Dark Thirty" sparked, one of them quipped about director Kathryn Bigelow, "When it comes to torture, I trust the person who was married to James Cameron for three years." 

Looking at Anne Hathaway and talking about her part in "Les Misérables," one of them joked, "I haven't seen someone so totally alone and abandoned since you were onstage with James Franco at the Oscars." And as the camera caught Tarantino, Poehler ad libbed, "Quentin Tarantino is the star of all my sexual nightmares."

The two co-hosts had a little fun with the process itself, inserting themselves as fake nominees in the audience—with Fey sporting some bad novelty-store teeth and smiling directly into the camera like any other expectant nominee.

That kind of life was welcome, because the Red Carpet produced no surprises at all. I'm not sure why E's Ryan Seacrest kept asking the guys on the Red Carpet who they were wearing. To the average guy, every tux looks pretty much alike, unless it has tails or the guy's wearing a necktie instead of a bow tie. Oh, and . . . who cares? 

The women were more interesting to watch, but even they were a fairly tame bunch at this year's Golden Globes Red Carpet. Lucy Liu had the most outrageous dress—a big floral print that honestly looked like drapes. But with no obvious trends, it was whatever. I mean whoever. Flashy and glittery were pretty common, with Jennifer Lopez showing the most skin and Kerry Washington showing up in a more demure dress that used nude panels to similar effect. But the questions? No matter what channel you watched, the interviewers were more like factory workers cranking out a cookie-cutter product.

About the most interest came when Jon Hamm said that what kept him going all those years he was a waiter, bartender, and limo driver waiting to be discovered was that he was "young, and very very stupid, and with nothing else to do." Or when Nicole Kidman talked about how playing Princess Grace (for the upcoming 2014 film "Grace of Monaco") "reignited" her interest in fashion.

After that routine Red Carpet ("Be careful. Watch those steps on the way down.") the pressure was on co-hosts Fey and Poehler to liven things up, and they did just that at the 70th Golden Globe Awards, which were presented on Sunday, January 13, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. All in all it was a pretty balanced evening, actually, with no film or TV show dominating. "Game Change," "Homeland," and "Les Misérables" each won three awards—the most any film or TV managed—while "Argo," "Django Unchained," and "Girls" each received two. Here's a list of the nominees, with the winners in boldface:

MOVIES

Best Picture, Drama
"Argo"
"Django Unchained"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy
"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"
"Les Misérables"
"Moonrise Kindgom"
"Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"
"Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Director
Ben Affleck, "Argo"
Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
Quentin Tarantino, "Django Unchained"

Best Actor, Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
Richard Gere, "Arbitrage"
John Hawkes, "The Sessions"
Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"
Denzel Washington, "Flight"

Best Actress, Drama
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Marion Cotillard, "Rust and Bone"
Helen Mirren, "Hitchcock"
Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"
Rachel Weisz, "The Deep Blue Sea"

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
Jack Black, "Bernie"
Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Hugh Jackman, "Les Misérables"
Ewan McGregor, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"
Bill Murray, "Hyde Park on Hudson"

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy
Emily Blunt, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"
Judi Dench, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Maggie Smith, "Quartet"
Meryl Streep, "Hope Springs"

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, "Argo"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Django Unchained"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"
Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, "The Master"
Sally Field, "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
Nicole Kidman, "The Paperboy"

Best Screenplay
Mark Boal, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Tony Kushner, "Lincoln"
David O'Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Quentin Tarantino, "Django Unchained"
Chris Terrio, "Argo"

Best Original Score -  Motion Picture
Mychael Danna, "Life of Pi"
Alexandre Desplat, "Argo"
Dario Marianelli, "Anna Karenina"
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil, "Cloud Atlas"
John Williams, "Lincoln"

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
"For You," Monty Powell/Keith Urban, "Act of Valor"
"Not Running Anymore," Jon Bon Jovi, "Stand Up Guys"
"Safe & Sound," Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett, "The Hunger Games"
"Skyfall," Adele, Paul Epworth, "Skyfall"
"Suddenly," Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer, Alain Boublil, "Les Misérables"

Best Animated Feature Film
"Brave"
"Frankenweenie"
"Hotel Transylvania"
"Rise of the Guardians"
"Wreck-It Ralph"

Best Foreign Language Film
"Amour"
"A Royal Affair"
"The Intouchables"
"Kon-Tiki"
"Rust and Bone"

TELEVISION

Best Television Series, Drama
"Breaking Bad"
"Boardwalk Empire"
"Downton Abbey: Season 2"
"Homeland"
"The Newsroom"

Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical
"The Big Bang Theory"
"Episodes"
"Girls"
"Modern Family"
"Smash"

Best Miniseries or Television Movie
"Game Change"
"The Girl"
"Hatfields & McCoys"
"The Hour"
"Political Animals"

Best Actor, Drama
Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Jeff Daniels, "The Newsroom"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Damian Lewis, "Homeland"

Best Actress, Drama
Connie Briton, "Nashville"
Glenn Close, "Damages"
Claire Danes, "Homeland"
Michelle Dockery, "Downton Abbey"
Juliana Margulies, "The Good Wife"

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Don Cheadle, "House of Lies"
Louis C.K., "Louie"
Matt LeBlanc, "Episodes"
Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory"

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical
Zooey Deschanel, "New Girl"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep"
Lena Dunham, "Girls"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation"

Best Actor, Television Movie or Mini-Series
Kevin Costner, "Hatfields & McCoys"
Benedict Cumberbatch, "Sherlock"
Woody Harrelson, "Game Change"
Toby Jones, "The Girl"
Clive Owen, "Hemingway & Gellhorn"

Best Actress, Television Movie or Mini-Series:
Nicole Kidman, "Hemingway & Gellhorn"
Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story: Asylum"
Sienna Miller, "The Girl"
Julianne Moore, "Game Change"
Sigourney Weaver, "Political Animals"

Best Supporting Actor
Max Greenfield, "New Girl"
Ed Harris, "Game Change"
Danny Huston, "Magic City"
Mandy Patinkin, "Homeland"
Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"

Best Supporting Actress
Hayden Panettiere, "Nashville"
Archi Panjabi, "The Good Wife"
Sarah Paulson, "Game Change"
Maggie Smith, "Downtown Abbey"
Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"