Tommy Lee Jones had the flu and didn’t show up to the Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium on Sunday night. He should have tanked up on Emergen-C and made the trip.
Jones won the male actor in a supporting role prize for his part as an abolitionist lawmaker in “Lincoln,” allowing the oft-terse actor to be even less loquacious. In a show with few notable stage moments, perhaps the most conspicuous speech was the one Jones didn’t give.
The absence made for an awkward moment near the top of the SAG Awards. Nor was it the only eyebrow-raiser of the TBS broadcast. In a show notorious for union-thumping and guild genuflection — “my brothers and sisters,” as Daniel Day-Lewis and others put it — several incidents seemed likely to elicit groans across America.
SAG 2013: Winners | Quotes | Photo Booth | Red carpet | Backstage | Best & Worst
Reading the voice-over for a Dick Van Dyke lifetime achievement prize, Alec Baldwin described the octogenarian’s volunteerism in soup kitchens in a speech that stopped just short of saying the "Mary Poppins" actor saved cats from tall treetops and cured terminal diseases with his hair. (Van Dyke, for his part, gave a speech that was short and classy, and free of the Jodie Foster riddles that marked her lifetime achievement speech at the Golden Globes two weeks ago.)
There seemed to be no shortage of teeth-gnashing from winners over the continuing success of “The Big Bang Theory,” with both “Modern Family” and “30 Rock” stars dropping snark about it. “Family’s” Jesse Tyler Ferguson had an under-his-breath jibe about "'Big Bang Ratings' — I mean 'Theory'" while Tina Fey addressed the viewing public in regard to her own show’s finale this Thursday against the popular nerd comedy with an unexpected plea to watch hers: “Just tape ‘The Big Bang Theory’ for once, for crying out loud,” she said.
In a show that indeed can play like an extended Jenna Maroney sketch — note the rampant use of the word "actor," pronounced act-OAR, natch — “30 Rock” creator Fey was a breath of fresh air, also noting that she’s known Amy Poehler since the “Parks & Recreation’ star was “pregnant with Lena Dunham.”
Male actor in a leading role winner Daniel Day-Lewis seemed to have the joke of the night when he noted that “it was an actor who murdered Abraham Lincoln” but then fell back down the earnestness hole when he talked about actors bringing the 16th president back to life. Day-Lewis did offer some unusual shout-outs — one to praise the not-nominated star of
Jones won the male actor in a supporting role prize for his part as an abolitionist lawmaker in “Lincoln,” allowing the oft-terse actor to be even less loquacious. In a show with few notable stage moments, perhaps the most conspicuous speech was the one Jones didn’t give.
The absence made for an awkward moment near the top of the SAG Awards. Nor was it the only eyebrow-raiser of the TBS broadcast. In a show notorious for union-thumping and guild genuflection — “my brothers and sisters,” as Daniel Day-Lewis and others put it — several incidents seemed likely to elicit groans across America.
SAG 2013: Winners | Quotes | Photo Booth | Red carpet | Backstage | Best & Worst
Reading the voice-over for a Dick Van Dyke lifetime achievement prize, Alec Baldwin described the octogenarian’s volunteerism in soup kitchens in a speech that stopped just short of saying the "Mary Poppins" actor saved cats from tall treetops and cured terminal diseases with his hair. (Van Dyke, for his part, gave a speech that was short and classy, and free of the Jodie Foster riddles that marked her lifetime achievement speech at the Golden Globes two weeks ago.)
There seemed to be no shortage of teeth-gnashing from winners over the continuing success of “The Big Bang Theory,” with both “Modern Family” and “30 Rock” stars dropping snark about it. “Family’s” Jesse Tyler Ferguson had an under-his-breath jibe about "'Big Bang Ratings' — I mean 'Theory'" while Tina Fey addressed the viewing public in regard to her own show’s finale this Thursday against the popular nerd comedy with an unexpected plea to watch hers: “Just tape ‘The Big Bang Theory’ for once, for crying out loud,” she said.
In a show that indeed can play like an extended Jenna Maroney sketch — note the rampant use of the word "actor," pronounced act-OAR, natch — “30 Rock” creator Fey was a breath of fresh air, also noting that she’s known Amy Poehler since the “Parks & Recreation’ star was “pregnant with Lena Dunham.”
Male actor in a leading role winner Daniel Day-Lewis seemed to have the joke of the night when he noted that “it was an actor who murdered Abraham Lincoln” but then fell back down the earnestness hole when he talked about actors bringing the 16th president back to life. Day-Lewis did offer some unusual shout-outs — one to praise the not-nominated star of