Last night, for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Hollywood finally got to gussy up and go on parade. With the writers' strike having reduced the Golden Globes to a press conference, and with next month's Oscar ceremony still a maybe, the natives took full advantage of their chance to preen on the red carpet and on the podium. Cleavage was shown and horns were tooted with pent-up gusto.
The strike by the Writers Guild of America got only a few mentions from the stage - shout-outs from award winners Tina Fey and Julie Christie, a nod from SAG President Alan Rosenberg, who introduced WGA President Patric Verrone - but it nonetheless defined the atmosphere. After three months not working, TV actors were reunited with their cast mates, and movie actors such as Javier Bardem of "No Country for Old Men" and Ruby Dee of "American Gangster" delivered their public thanks with freshly unbridled gratitude.
And, of course, there were strike beards - or maybe just beards - all over the audience, on Rainn Wilson, James Gandolfini, Adrian Grenier, and Eric Mabius.
The always fragile Daniel Day-Lewis seemed to unburden himself while accepting the best actor award for "There Will Be Blood," touchingly dedicating his statue to Heath Ledger for his inspiration. Day-Lewis recalled Ledger's performances, calling Ledger's final scene in "Brokeback Mountain" "as moving as anything I've ever seen."
Christie, accepting best actress for "Away From Her," gushed with gratitude for "the divine Sarah, Sarah Polley," who wrote and directed the movie. She also made a point of how the night served as a reminder of "how important unions are."
Josh Brolin spoke for the winning ensemble of "No Country for Old Men," savoring the opportunity to razz Bardem for his long list of recent wins from the Golden Globes and critics' organizations. He also found a way to allude to the strike, noting that "the studio system is backfiring awfully, and its fun for us actors!"
As a ceremony, the SAG awards were small-scaled, even cozier than the Golden Globes usually are. Airing on TBS and TNT, the two-hour show had no host, just an endless string of presenters presenting. Some were humorous - Mickey Rooney seemed to be accepting rather than presenting - but most were just functional. The ceremony never veered into the kooky and sometimes embarrassing excess that marks so many other award shows.
Most of the night was given over to handing out the TV prizes. All the TV drama awards went to actors from "The Sopranos," a parting kiss to the show that helped make cable TV a magnet for actors such as Glenn Close and Holly Hunter, who both lost the best actress award to Edie Falco.
Falco and James Gandolfini accepted their awards with bittersweet grace, aware that the night was their last hurrah. "I felt loved and protected and taken care of at all times," Falco said about her years on the series.
The ensemble comedy prize went to "The Office," whose cast crowded onto the stage and, through spokeswoman Jenna Fischer, dedicated their win to their crew. But the individual TV comedy statues went to "30 Rock" stars Alec Baldwin and a wonderfully gracious Tina Fey, who gave Baldwin all the credit for her win. A clip of her in a scene with Jerry Seinfeld only proved her modesty.
Ryan Seacrest was out sick last night, and he left E!'s red carpet in the mike-wielding hands of Giuliana Rancic and Debbie Matenopoulos. And they were both cheerful, as in really, really cheerful, as in cuckoo-for-Hollywood cheerful. They LOVED everyone, unless they absolutely HATED them for looking so GREAT. They looked down lovingly on tiny Eva Longoria Parker and they looked up in awe at Denis Leary's 17-year-old son, Jack, all 6-foot-5 of him.
Rancic focused on the fashion and weight questions - Teri Hatcher, by the way, is not pleased at all about magazine perfection, Kate Beckinsale doesn't work out, and Nicollette Sheridan runs with her dog - while Matenopoulos just brought on the crazy. With her ever-swinging body language, looking like Jodie Foster in the middle of a fierce sugar rush, she pulled up Ricky Gervais' jacket to reveal his behind. A serious note came when Rancic shared thoughts of Heath Ledger and frustration with the media buzzardry. "Everyone wants to make something of it that it's not," sayeth the E! anchor.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog/.
