Ode to the 'A-Team'
The Only-in-Hollywood moment comes at the presentation of the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television for writers "who have advanced the literature of television," which this year is given to '80s action king Stephen J. Cannell.

I am treated to the august spectacle of 1500 tuxedoed writers solemnly watching the clip reel scroll off his credits, "The A-Team. Hunter. Riptide. Stingray. Hardcastle and McCormick. The Commish."

Cannell also takes the fashion award for the evening, accepting his prize in black velvet jacket, purple shirt and a straight tie, which appears to be studded with diamonds.

Is there a non-TV doctor in the house?
About two-thirds of the way through the night, just as the award for best dramatic series is about to be presented, a little scream comes from across the room and a dozen or so people leap to their feet.

The house lights are raised and we are told someone has collapsed. The show pauses for 20 minutes while paramedics arrive and help the woman, who is eventually able to get up and walk out, into an ambulance.

I later learn that the person requiring assistance was the mother of one of the "Grey's Anatomy" writers. She had flown in from Alabama for the show, and was overcome just as her daughter's award was about to be presented.

Once the fainting mother was removed, "Gray's Anatomy" won their category, the staff, under the circumstances, forgoing the comedic speech they had planned.

Mindy Kaling, writer/co-star of "The Office" who is seated one table away, says that observing the highs and lows of the "Anatomy" table, "was even more exciting than an episode of their show."

The thundering herd
After attending a series of these shows, it's almost starting to feel like a road show theatrical production, with the same people presenting and accepting over and over. Geena Davis, George Clooney and Paul Haggis are becoming like family after seeing so many of their speeches.

Only Larry McMurtry comments on the bizarre spectacle, saying he has now been to six shows in the past month and he is "trying to puzzle out what relation awards ceremonies have to civilization as I used to think I knew it."

He then dedicates his awards to the most important people in the room, "the young people who find the cars. Who go out after the show into a herd of black limos and somehow they find the right car."

Final thoughts
"The 40-year-old Virgin" co-star Seth Rogen, on hand to support writer/director Judd Apatow's bid for best original screenplay, offers up the night's most telling summation after his film loses out to "Crash."

"'40-year-old' was the only nominated movie I've seen, so I have no opinion of whether we lost deservedly or were cheated," Rogen says. "I'll have to take their word that 'Crash' must've been better. But free booze on a Saturday night…I can't complain."