Golden Globes: Argo Beats Out Lincoln

The taut political thriller "Homeland," the coming of age comedy "Girls" and "Game Change," the movie about Sarah Palin's rocky campaign for the vice presidency in 2008, were the big television winners in the Golden Globes.

The biggest losers? Commercial broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox - none of which aired those shows. One award for PBS saved broadcast television from a complete shutout.

Premium cable rivals HBO and Showtime battled for supremacy throughout Sunday night's telecast. In the end, HBO pulled out a 5-4 victory.

"It's the only place to have made a show like this," Lena Dunham said backstage after the series she created for HBO, "Girls," won two Globes. "Cable television is the only place where I'm going to get the kinds of stories I want to tell funded."

"Girls" was named best comedy and Dunham, who stars as Hannah Horvath in the series about young women in their 20s navigating young adulthood in New York City, was named best comic actress. With the exception of fellow HBO actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (star of "Veep"), the other nominees in the best actress category worked for broadcast networks: Golden Globe co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and Zooey Deschanel, star of Fox's "New Girl."

Dunham thanked her fellow nominees for helping her get through middle school, mono, a ruptured eardrum and "the acute anxiety that populates my entire life."

"This award is for everyone who felt like there wasn't a space for her," Dunham said. "This show has made a space for me."

Showtime's "Homeland" scored a sweep of the biggest drama awards, including best TV drama for the second year in a row. Co-stars Claire Danes, who plays CIA agent Carrie Mathison and Damian Lewis, who stars as Sgt. Nicholas Brody, both won top acting awards. Lewis emotionally dedicated his award to his late mother, while Danes paid to tribute to her baby son.

Alex Ganza, executive producer of "Homeland," recalled an arduous night of filming where star Claire Danes, eight months pregnant, had to do multiple takes being chased in a drainage pipe.

"We fairly killed ourselves trying to live up to the hype of that first season and this award tells that maybe, maybe, we didn't screw it up," he said.

Lewis said the last 18 months working on "Homeland" have been "an exciting, wonderful journey." He said that picking up "a piece of hardware like this is a great perk," holding up his Globe.

Danes said she was "very proud to be working in this medium in this moment in this company."

Showtime's fourth award went to Don Cheadle, named best comedy actor for his role as Marty Kaan, leader of a team of slippery management consultants in "House of Lies."

"Game Change" was named best TV movie or miniseries. Julianne Moore won as best actress in a miniseries or movie for her portrayal of Palin while Ed Harris - although he portrayed the man on the top of the ticket, presidential candidate John McCain - was the supporting actor winner.

Jay Roach, executive producer of the show, said Moore was brave to take on the role of a political polarizing figure in the film, which balances her appeal as a sudden national figure and the chaos backstage in the campaign.

"Now with you and Tina Fey, we have three of the most incredible impersonations of Sarah Palin," Roach said, "counting Sarah Palin."

Moore made it a point to thank Fey, Sunday's Golden Globes co-host known whose indelible Palin skits on "Saturday Night Live" enlivened the 2008 campaign, and newswoman Katie Couric, who had a contentious interview with Palin that year. She did not thank Palin. Harris did not attend the Golden Globes.

Makers of "Game Change" said they attempted to build a balanced portrait of Palin, and Moore said backstage Sunday that it was not a character assassination. Although Palin aides criticized the depiction, the former Alaska governor told ABC News that the film did not matter to her.

"One of the things I found in my research is that she's an incredibly devoted parent and cares very much about what she does," Moore said. "The conclusion I drew was she was simply unprepared for the vice presidency."

Kevin Costner won the Globe for best acting in a TV miniseries or movie for "Hatfields & McCoys." The History channel miniseries proved a big hit when it aired last spring. Costner, who won a Globe for directing "Dances With Wolves" in 1991, nostalgically recalled walking into the awards ceremony as a young actor.

Veteran actress Maggie Smith, who plays Violet Crawley, the Countess of Grantham in the PBS period piece "Downton Abbey," won as best supporting actress in a TV series.

Foster took the stage as this year's winner of the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, which had been announced previously. But her acceptance speech was anything but predictable as the veteran actress seized control of what is every year a noisy, boozy ballroom; the crowd of A-listers quickly quieted down as it became apparent that she had something serious and important to say.

The 50-year-old Oscar-winner for "The Silence of the Lambs" and "The Accused," who's been protective of her private life and reluctant to discuss her sexual orientation, was coy at first, suggesting she had a big announcement that would make her publicist nervous (the broadcast audio dropped out at this point, but for no apparent reason; nothing was said off-color). Then she stated: "I'm just going to put it out there, loud and proud ... I am, uh, single," pausing for dramatic effect before that last word. "I hope you're not disappointed that there won't be a big coming-out speech tonight. I already did my coming-out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age."

Foster joked that celebrities are now expected to reveal they're gay "with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime-time reality show. And you guys might be surprised, but I am not Honey Boo Boo Child. No. I'm sorry. That's just not me. It never was and it never will be. But please don't cry, because my reality show would be so boring."

She added defiantly: "If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler, if you'd had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you, too, might value privacy above all else."

Foster thanked Cydney Bernard, a production manager whom she identified as "my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life," her former partner of 20 years - a relationship she never hid and from which she has two sons.

She also made it sound as if she planned to retire from acting once and for all, something she'd toyed with previously.

"This feels like the end of one era and the beginning of something else. Scary and exciting, and now what?" Foster said. "I may never be up on this stage again, on any stage, for that matter."

But backstage afterward, she clarified for reporters: "I could never stop acting. You'd have to drag me behind a team of horses. I'd like to be directing tomorrow. I'm more into it than I have ever been."

As for why she chose this place and time to discuss her private life, Foster explained backstage: "The speech kind of speaks for itself. ... It's a big moment. I wanted to say what's most in my heart."

Her revelation, vague as it was, nonetheless set Twitter on fire with reactions. Some called her words moving and brave while others suggested that she should have done more to be a role model for lesbians.

Ricky Martin, who came out himself in 2010, tweeted: "Jody Foster On your terms. Its your time! Not before nor after. Its when it feels right."

And Amy Poehler, who co-hosted the Golden Globes with longtime friend and fellow comedian Tina Fey, cracked as she was signing off for the night: "We're going home with Jodie Foster!"

Cecil B. DeMille Award:
Jodie Foster