The no-show must go on

HOLLYWOOD thrives on creating "you had to be there" envy.

---

FOR THE RECORD:
Golden Globes: An article in Monday's Calendar section about how the Golden Globe Awards played out at the Beverly Hilton said that the HBO series "Extra" won the award for best TV comedy series. The show's title is "Extras." —

---

Sunday night at the Golden Globe Awards announcement, you really didn't.

Strike-torn and starved of stars, the Globes were thrown, sort of. The nominees were left to feel their schadenfreude and/or exultation from some discreet location, skipping the formal dinner in a show of solidarity with their union brethren at the Writers Guild of America, which remains in a standoff with Hollywood producers.

Without Clooney and Clint, or Angelina and Meryl, it was left to the entertainment press to gather at the heavily fortified Beverly Hilton to hear the names of the winners -- if not see them in the flesh.

They called it a press conference and let TV personalities like "Entertainment Tonight's" Mary Hart play at being actual presenters, with actual jokes.

Some of the nominees, meanwhile, went about their lives as if it were just another Sunday. Others had viewing parties, a cluster -- for the movies "Atonement" and "La Vie en Rose" and the cable TV series "Mad Men" -- at the Chateau Marmont.

"We were on the balcony. I almost fell over. I never had this experience of feeling weak in the knees," said Jon Hamm, star of AMC's "Mad Men."

The show, about Madison Avenue advertising executives in early 1960s Manhattan, earned a Globe as best television drama series and one for Hamm as best actor in a drama series.

"It's perfect for our show. I have nothing to compare it -- it just feels great."

But Hamm, who said he was wearing jeans and a blazer, called his victory somewhat bittersweet. "This whole thing just makes me sad. I hope everyone can start acting like adults again and not like petulant fourth-graders. Everyone wants to get back to work."

David Duchovny, who scored best actor in a television musical or comedy series for his role as the creatively blocked novelist in the Showtime comedy "Californication," had gone out to see "The Bucket List" to avoid watching the announcement. But he knew he'd won when he saw a flashing message light when he returned to his hotel room in Vancouver, Canada, where he's filming a sequel to "The X Files."

"It sounds silly to say -- the nomination was really great, but I really wanted the show to win," said Duchovny, who got the news from his manager. HBO's "Extra" had won the comedy series award.