Oscar host, producer, others honor black women in Hollywood

BEVERLY HILLS, California — Oscar host Chris Rock, producer Reginald Hudlin and film academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs took an afternoon off from Academy Awards preparations to celebrate black women in Hollywood.

Rock, Hudlin and Boone Isaacs were among the guests at Essence Magazine’s ninth annual awards luncheon Thursday at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Hudlin took the stage to present an award to legendary entertainer Debbie Allen.

The annual Essence event celebrates the achievements of black women in entertainment. Actress Tracee Ellis Ross and entertainment attorney Nina Shaw were also recognized.

Shonda Rhimes announced that Allen has agreed to serve as producing director of “Grey’s Anatomy” and called the writer-director-choreographer-performer “a force of nature.”

“Debbie blows through an environment and changes the landscape forever,” Rhimes said.

Ross, accompanied by her father and older sister, Rhonda, accepted the Fierce and Fearless award. She said she had been sick for the past week and worried she wouldn’t be able to attend the luncheon.

“I got dressed in the car,” she said. “I’m unclear if what I’m wearing is see-through. If it is, I’m sorry.”

Oprah Winfrey opened the program, which will air Saturday on OWN.

In a year when Hollywood’s lack of inclusion has overwhelmed the Oscar race, Winfrey said, “it’s a beautiful thing that we have the good sense to do this for ourselves.”

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Old TV favorites swept aside at Golden Globes as hackers, musicians rule

Hackers and musicians ruled at the Golden Globes on Sunday as old television favorites were cast aside for a slew of new shows and rising actors.

Amazon Studio's streaming show "Mozart in the Jungle," about the backstage lives of New York classical musicians, went home with the best TV comedy series and a best actor award for its star Gael Garcia Bernal.

On the drama side, the USA cable network series "Mr. Robot," about a bunch of hackers and anarchists, emerged the surprise winner, defeating Emmy-winning HBO medieval fantasy "Game of Thrones."

 "Mr. Robot" also brought a supporting actor prize for Christian Slater as Globe organizers, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, continued their tradition of recognizing new programming.

"I gotta thank the Hollywood Foreign Press. They just gave the best drama series award to a show called 'Mr. Robot' and that took a lot of courage," said the show's creator Sam Esmail.

As award-winning shows and their stars including political satire "Veep," ground-breaking transgender series "Transparent" and quirky black comedy "Fargo" sat on the sidelines, only Jon Hamm, star of advertising drama "Mad Men," was a repeat winner.

"Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for supporting our show all the way to the end," said Hamm, accepting his best drama actor award for his role as the moody womanizer Don Draper. "Thank you to Mr Weiner (the show's creator) who wrote this horrible person and picked me to play him."

Fox television's popular hip-hop industry saga "Empire" produced a best actress win for a jubilant Taraji P. Henson, who plays family matriarch Cookie Lyon.

"Who knew that playing an ex convict would take me all around the globe?!," Henson said of her character, who spent 17 years in jail for selling crack cocaine.

Newcomer Rachel Bloom, 28, beat veterans Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jamie Lee Curtis in her role as the "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" in the CW's new musical comedy series, which she also helped to create. An excited Bloom recalled that the show was turned by six other networks before landing at the CW.

Premium cable powerhouses Showtime and HBO, usually dominant in the TV awards, picked up just two statuettes. Maura Tierney was named supporting actress for playing a jilted wife in "The Affair" while Oscar Isaac won for playing an ambitious local councilman in mini-series "Show Me a Hero."

Pop star Lady Gaga, dressed old-style Hollywood in a form fitting black velvet gown, was a modest winner for her role as a vampire countess in the limited series "American Horror Story: Hotel."

"This is one of the greatest moments in my life," said an emotional Gaga. "I wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a singer but music worked out first."

Broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC won nothing on Sunday. —Reuters