It was the third year in a row that ““MF” walked away with the guild’s top comedy series award, cementing its position as the one to beat against other laughers in the category that included “30 Rock,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Louie” and “Parks & Recreation.”

“We are very scared that people are sick of us,” showrunner Steve Levitan admitted to the audience, referring to the freshness of its recent wins at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards. Not to mention those five Emmy Awards from last fall.

When his show also took the statuette for episodic comedy, which recognizes specific episodes, all of the credited writers came up on stage and spit out a one-liner indicative of their talent, including Elaine Ko, who spoofed Asian-American stereotypes by saying, “I’m bad at math, I don’t play an instrument, and I’m not Jeremy Lin.”

The WGA West ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium—a simultaneous one was held by WGA, East at the B.B. King Blues Club in New York, was filled with such laughs — due in no small part to its hosts, “Community’s” Joel McHale and this season’s TV comedy “it” girl, Zooey Deschanel. The star of “New Girl” started off the festivities by saying “Welcome to the nerd prom” and proceeding to make fun of male writers’ penchant for wardrobes filled with plaid shirts, admonishing them to shield themselves from the harsh lights of the outside world.

The list of  West Coast presenters ranged from Tom Selleck to Amy Poehler, Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis, Bryan Cranston and Vince Gilligan, Patton Oswalt and Lisa Kudrow as the Guild awarded a series of honors in other television categories, new media, video games, documentary and feature films.

AMC’s “Breaking Bad” gained proof that it is stronger than ever, taking home two trophies, one for drama series and one for episodic drama, tying with up-and- comer “Homeland,” which is already stacking up a cache of awards from its freshman season on Showtime.

With Poehler, who had appeared on “SNL” the night before, pushing for her former show in the tough competition for the comedy/variety (including talk) prize, it was Colbert that was in the cards. Stephen’s writing staff bested the scribes at “Conan,” “Jon Benjamin Has a Van, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” “Saturday Night Live” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Since no one from “The Colbert Report” was in the audience, Poehler temporarily claimed the winged statue.

In the animation category, “The Simpsons” scored four of the six nominations (episodes from “Futurama” and “Ben 10: Ultimate Alien were the others) and funny enough, Bart and company scored the prize in an episode entitled “Homer the Father” by Joel H. Cohen.

In the long form original category, only two contenders duked it out, “Five” on Lifetime, and “Cinema Verite” on HBO, which took home theWGA. In long form adapted, again only two candidates and both aired on HBO: “Mildred Pierce” and “Too Big to Fail,” a dramatization of the financial crisis starring William Hurt that bested its rival in the eyes of WGA voters.

As usual during this untelevised kudofest, some of the best material came during the presentation and acceptance speeches of the honorary awards. “The Help” co-stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, both sitting pretty for the Academy Awards next weekend in their respective lead and supporting actress categories, presented screenwriter-director Tate Taylor with the Paul Selvin Award, which recognizes work that embodies the spirit of constitutional rights and civil liberties.

Taylor, a white man from Mississippi, has been maligned in some quarters for adapting Kathryn Stockwell’s novel about black maids working in Jackson,Mississippi during the 1960s, on the brink of the civil rights movement– as has Stockwell herself, because she is white.

In his acceptance speech, Taylor adroitly addressed those issues, after revealing that he was co-raised by a black woman and had been roommates with Spencer for years as they both tried to break into the entertainment industry, noting that they kept loaning each other the same $500 and would fight over the last bowl of chili in their apartment.

“I’ve become aware of a troubling irony,” Taylorsaid. “As ‘The Help’ began its rise, there are those that said two white people had no right to tell the story. Two white people in 2010 had no right to tell the story of people in 1963. But we came from a place of love as Southerners with respect and admiration for those women and millions like her the world over–who may be home with your children right now. People should have the right to tell any story they choose. If not, we all lose. We should strive for a place for people to tell the kind of stories they want without judgment.”

Judgment was exactly what David Fincher said drew him to Eric Roth, the recipient of the Laurel Award for Screen, which honors lifetime achievement in outstanding writing for motion pictures. Roth’s work ranges from “Forrest Gump,” “The Insider” and “Ali” to this year’s “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” to “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which Fincher directed.

“I found someone who hated more people in Hollywoodthan I did, and that was something to build on,” said Fincher, in a funny taped piece set on a soundstage.

For his turn, Roth read a lengthy email reply to Brad Pitt’s query about the importance of storytelling in film, starting out with, “Blondie, go back to what you do best—off-road motorcycling.”

Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick received the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television. They received it after kudos from a writer they mentored, Jason Katims, and a lengthy clip from the pilot of their first breakout hit, “thirtysomething” that brought back a lot of memories of that groundbreaking 1980s show.

“Midnight in Paris” got the WGA’s top honor for original screenplay for its writer (and director) Woody Allen, a win to which McHale reacted by saying, “I can’t believe he’s not here.” He wasn’t at the New York ceremony either, but recently made his West Coast presence known through a taped piece for the DGA Awards.

For the best adapted screenplay, Alexander Payne won the prize for “The Descendants,” which he also directed, with co-writers Jim Rash and Nat Faxon. Payne thanked novelist Kaui Hart Hemmings for her Hawaii-set book, saying they had a very good time in her world.

Meanwhile, McHale noted that his friend Rash wrote all the dialog for George Clooney’s wife, who….um, hello, was in a coma.

It was that kind of night.

(A complete list of winners can be found here: http://wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1517 )

Those questions and many others will be answered Sunday night at the Kodak Theater at the 84th annual Academy Awards. Unlike other Oscar contests, we here at the Atkin Report are not requiring you to pick the winners for a chance at a prize in our Something Sweet, Something Beautiful Sweepstakes.

Here’s what you can win:

The Grand Prize: A beautiful two-pound hat box filled with Terry’s Toffee, (www.terrystoffee.com)  the Chicago-based confection that has been a staple backstage and in the dressing rooms at the Oscars for eight years now, a delicious treat for nominees, presenters and performers.

First Prize: A gift of beauty from Leonor Greyl and Talika, two prestigious French brands that are being used to prep some of the nominees for their big night.

Second Prize: Half a pound of Terry’s special Academy Awards mix of delicious toffees, made from his grandmother McCall’s recipe.

Here’s how to enter in two easy steps: First, “Like” the Atkin Report on Facebook from the link on the right side of our homepage. Then, come back and leave a comment on one of our stories in our awards season section highlighted on the homepage. Leaving two comments on two different articles increases your chances to win, but there is a limit of two comments/entries per person.

The winners will be randomly chosen on Monday, February 27 and notified by e-mail to send their address for receipt of their prizes.

Happy Oscars, and good luck in  TAR’s Something Sweet, Something Beautiful Oscar Sweepstakes.

It’s been 13 years now since the LA-based company created its first Grammy gift bag. This time, giving new meaning to the term “like kids in a candy store,” the gift lounge for participants was themed to be a candyland oasis filled with goodies.

““We always look forward to introducing talent to an array of companies with great gifts to share, ranging from up-and-comers to tried-and-true brands celebrities love,” said Distinctive Assets founder Lash Fary.

During three days of rehearsals, invited talent was able to stop in at the lounge, presented by LASIO Professional Hair Care, and pick up thousands of dollars worth of goodies. Headlining this year’s gift bonanza was an assortment of luxurious hair products and treatments from LASIO which also treated all of the guests at the official after-party with signature gift sets. 

Among the other gift lounge vendors, ESP – Essential Safe Products provided a bevy of non-toxic, eco-friendly and reusable products to keep food and drink chemical free while on-the-go, perfect for going on tour.  Other gifts included New Era headwear/belts/accessories, Gibson Guitar’s Melody Maker electric guitar, Just Dance 3 (along with three other Ubisoft video games), gourmet chocolates from Emanuel Andrén, MTG’s Glalent Facial Mist and ReFa Platinum Electronic Roller, Belldini chic women’s apparel, Pepsi, Butterfly Twists foldable ballet flats, Rider Sandals, Simone I. Smith fashion forward fine jewelry, the hottest designer sunglasses from SOLSTICE Sunglass Boutique and Red Carpet Manicure’s fast-drying DIY gel manicure system. 

Members of the Beach Boys, Foster the People, the E Street Band, the Band Perry, Chris Brown, Jane Seymour and Rihanna were among those who took home the gift-laden bags. Here’s what was inside: items from LumaSkinz, The Kandy Bar, Imanta Resorts, MyMusicRx, Groovin’ on Granola, VoKARE Fashion, Live In Fitness Enterprise (LIFE), JM Blowdry, ThermaRobe, Chocolatines Jewelry Box, Nozin, Onyx Moonshine, Herb Ritts: LA Style, DavidBartonGym, Sing To Your Baby, Music Connection, Circuit Works, Solstice Sunglasses, Hotel BPM by DJ Bijal, The Last Holiday: A Memoir by Gil Scott-Heron, People Yearbook, LumaSkinz, The Cancer Dancer, Physique 57, YooDara, Le PeTiT CiRqUe, LaBlast Fitness, VIP Goodies Skin & Body Gift Box, CLD Style House, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Celebrity Trainer Lalo Fuentes, Krystal Klear Water filtration systems, Day2Night Convertible Heels, Harman AKG 350 Headphones, Tatt Love and Dearfoams.   

As the 54^th Annual Grammy Awards progressed, various artists including Rihanna and Alicia Keys gave recognition to Whitney, before Jennifer Hudson sang a heartrending version ofHouston’s top smash hit, “I Will Always Love You.”

That it came midway through the three and a half hour program, culminating the “in memoriam” segment that honored other recently departed industry stalwarts like Amy Winehouse and Don Cornelius, disappointed some. To others, it seemed dignified and appropriate.

The resonance of Houston’s death and the official crowning of Adele as music’s favorite songstress with six trophies for the landmark “21” made this Grammy telecast the second watched in history, after the 1984 edition in which Michael Jackson was coronated for his epic “Thriller.”  

Although the 23-year-old Brit, who performed for the first time since having vocal cord surgery in the fall, didn’t mention Houston by name, she might do well to remember the lessons of the pop star’s life and stay away from further “rubbish relationships”– even as they inspire best-selling songs.

Katy Perry wasted no time mining her divorce from Russell Brand in a scathing new song she performed with lyrics that included “Your love was cheap” and its laser-clear message “There’s part of me you’ll never gonna ever take away from me.”

The performances, more than the trophies themselves are what makes the Grammys such a compelling watch. This year seemed to have more showstoppers and conversation-starters than any in recent memory, perhaps even going back to Eminem joining with Elton John a decade ago.

Take Chris Brown, jumping around like an acrobat while lip-synching, and given not one, but two chances to redeem himself after the disgrace of battering Rihanna three years ago—a move many thought entirely inappropriate, especially in light of Houston’s abuse at the hands of former husband Bobby Brown. Clearly, producers couldn’t renege, but it still begs the question: why Brown and not another worthy nominee like Rihanna?

Oh, that’s right, she technically did perform two songs, one solo and one with an ultra-boring and off key Chris Martin and Coldplay.

Several other genre and generation-mashing combos hit the right notes, some more successfully than others, like Maroon 5 and Foster the People doing a medley of Beach Boys tunes until the original group joined them on stage. A bit hard to believe it has been 50 years since they brought their seminal California surf, sun and sand sound to the world, or that Brian Wilson agreed to the performance, but exciting nonetheless to see and hear the band.

Collective breaths were held as Glen Campbell appeared and sang lead on his iconic “Rhinestone Cowboy” with the likes of Blake Shelton and The Band Perry prefacing his entrance and joining in. It was only when you heard him say “Where do I go now?” after the tune ended that the reality of his Alzheimer’s hit.

And then there was the Nicki Minaj exorcism fiasco. We’d say more, except we tuned out after two seconds and used the opportunity to check out what was happening on “Downton Abbey,” which also seems to have jumped the shark, albeit in a much more buttoned up manner.

Other favorite moments: Dave Grohl praising music not made by computers, talking about how the Foo Fighter’s Grammy-winning record was recorded in his garage, and Best New Artist, Bon Iver frontman/songwriter Justin Vernon thanking all the people who would never be up there accepting a Grammy.

But it was living legend Paul McCartney who stole our hearts, not only with his new single “My Valentine,” but the boffo show ending with the electric guitars of Grohl, Bruce Springsteen and Joe Walsh jamming to a medley from the Beatles iconic1969 “Abbey Road.”

And then to see that McCartney and new wife Nancy Shevell made a stop at the people’s tribute to Whitney Houston outside the Beverly Hilton, and deflected any comments about him to her truly endeared the Beatle to us on this Valentine’s Day.

Although she died far too young, it was almost destined that Whitney Houston should take her permanent leave on the night of her mentor Clive Davis’ party, the eve of the 54th annual Grammy Awards – as they always call it, music’s biggest night. For although her heyday was 20 years ago, Houston left this world as one of music’s biggest stars.

Because of the timing, her name was on the lips of everyone in the industry, and although her passing would have been a huge news story at any time, as Amy Winehouse’s untimely death was last year, the white-hot light of fame focused by the Grammys’ star power illuminated her legacy to an even greater degree. That beautiful face, that even sweeter voice that could tremulously hold notes in several octaves and send shivers down your spine, Houstonwas in an orbit that few attain.

Grammy producers had to scramble to pay proper tribute to Houston during Sunday night’s show, but as recording academy president Neil Portnow said, “We’re musicians, we improvise.” And that they did, after host LL Cool J started things off with a prayer as the audience bowed their heads, the grief and shock still apparent.

As the show progressed, artists including Alicia Keys and Rihanna– among those that are part of her musical progeny– gave shout outs to Whitney, before Jennifer Hudson sang a heartrending version of Houston’s top smash hit, “I Will Always Love You.”

It’s fascinating to watch the scenes of “The Bodyguard” that she starred in with Kevin Costner, spawning one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time and going back to a time before Houston’s life became complicated by substance abuse.

The resonance of Houston’s death and the official crowning of Adele as music’s favorite songstress made this Grammy telecast the second watched in history, after the 1984 edition in which Michael Jackson was coronated for the epic “Thriller.”  Although the 23-year-old Brit, who performed for the first time since having vocal cord surgery in the fall didn’t mention Houston by name, she would do well to remember the lessons of her life and stay away from further “rubbish relationships”– even as they inspire best-selling songs.

It’s a great way to get in the spirit for two important occasions–Valentine’s Day and the Oscars–the fourth annual Valentine Romance Oscar Lounge and party held at West Hollywood’s acclaimed Café La Boheme.

The restaurant opened its Tuscan country villa doors and lovely patio to about 100 guests, including Oscar winner Michael Clarke Duncan.  “Such amazing gifts, delicious food, a wonderful ambiance and I’m running into so many of my friends,” he said.  “Yes, this is really an A-class event!” added another Oscar winner, Louis Gossett, Jr. Other celebrity guests included Joe Mantegna,  Karina Smirnoff, Antonio Sabato, Jr., Diedre Hall, Eric & Eliza Roberts, Judd Nelson, Kimberly Elise, Kevin Eubanks, Carla & Lou Ferrigno, William & Elizabeth Shatner and Brandi Glanville of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
The event was sponsored by couture designer Sanaz Afsar for SAFIR, and produced by Doris Bergman in association with Michelle Lee Faulkner, and indulged guests with an incredible array of fashion for him and her including bespoke tuxedoes and suits, the finest in skin care, stunning jewelry, fragrance, couture gowns, custom hats, lingerie, couture handbags, electronics, hand-rolled cigars, gourmet cuisine, delectable sweets and exotic spirits.    

In the spirit of giving back, guests brought new or slightly-worn clothing to donate to Operation Dress Up, a student-run California non-profit organization.

Gifts and services were provided by Art Lewin & Co. Custom Clothiers,  LYON Fine Jewelry, Michael Marcus Cosmetics, Nu-4-You Eye Make-up Fallout Protector, Lusciouss jewelry, Twisted Silver®, evening bags and accessories by Charlie Lapson,  exclusive chapeaus designed by Baron Hats, Single® by Galina Sobolev, eclectic and vintage-inspired accessories by Road Kill Boutique, colorful Tee’s & caps for men and women by SMYLE, sexy lingerie by Dulcenea, fabulous fragrance Insatiable Blu & Insatiable Pink by Azure Skye™, bath and shower treats by Spongeables® LLC, NICKEL Skin Care Line for men, ObeyYourBody® Decorin Age-control Day Cream SPF-15 Anti-Wrinkle Treatment, hair care by  BodyWealth & Ms. Jessy’s,  the ‘Holland Collection” by OPI, nail-art kits by  Nail Glam, iharmonix™ Qi-7 Extreme-Performance Mobile Earphones  and Zmix Metalix Premium Snap-On Phone Cover by  Qmadix, Pauline’s Pecan Brittle, Honest Tea, California Girl Chronicles, authored by Michelle Risley, Kusmi Tea, Hacienda de Chihuahua Sotol Plata Tequila, Blue Angel Ultra Premium Vodka, The Chocolate Traveler, Leon Cigars, Bootleg Chocolate and Café La Boheme’s cuisine created by 5-star executive chef, Christine Banta.

With :30 spots going for a pricey $3.5 million each, the majority of those that seemed to resonate most were for cars—Matthew Broderick reprising his iconic Ferris Bueller role for Honda, Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno shilling for Acura, an overweight dog running to get into a new Volkswagen Beetle, the Audi vampire party commercial—along with Super Bowl party-perfect snack foods and beverages, like Pepsi, Doritos and M&Ms. Then, defying easy categorization, except for possibly “hot, sexy, heavily tattooed athletic bodies sell,” there was David Beckham in his skivvies for fast fashion retailer H &M.

The 46^th edition of the NFL championship game also marked a digital milestone, with the gridiron play, halftime and more than one third of the commercials being “Shazamable.”

For those not familiar, Shazam is an audio/music recognition app for smart phones that made its name in the music industry before integrating its second screen experience into several television shows last year. It provided users with exclusive content and free songs for several awards telecasts, dramas and music competition programs—and it’s clearly making major inroads into the TV business with its Super Bowl foray.

The UK-based company offered its users chances to download videos, enter sweepstakes and donate to charity and says the spot that received the most interaction was for Best Buy, which conveniently featured its founders, Chris Barton and Avery Wang talking about innovations in mobile technology.

Movie ticketing site Fandango also experimented with a Super Bowl commercial for the first time.  For Universal Pictures’ upcoming action-adventure film “Battleship,” viewers saw a call to action that linked them to the company’s mobile app. There, they could sign up for alerts that will notify them when tickets are available at their local theaters and could enter a contest to win five years worth of free movie tickets.

As television moves from a passive, sit back on the couch experience to a more interactive one, trailers for upcoming films are the perfect opportunity to get bodies in paid seats.  

It just wouldn’t be a complete Super Bowl halftime show without some controversy, and sort of, but not really like Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” from eight years back, the one from XLVI happened in less than a blink of the eye.

During Madonna’s performance of her new single “Give Me All Your Luvin,” with guest stars Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., the latter pulled out a fourth-grade gesture, flipping off the massive audience, estimated at that point to be 116 million people, with her middle finger–for some unknown reason other than she could.

NBC and the NFL, which is solely responsible for the content of the halftime show, apologized, saying the gesture could not be obscured in time.  Apparently, if the FCC decides to fine NBC for indecency, the British rapper would be responsible for monetary damages for her finger wag. TMZ and other news organizations are reporting that she signed a contract with the NFL to indemnify it in the case of such a circumstance.

You may recall that CBS was hit with a $550,000 FCC fine afterJackson’s nipple exposure in a song and dance routine with Justin Timberlake– to this day a mystery of whether it was inadvertent or purposeful– but that the fine was eventually thrown out by a federal appeals court.

In the court of public opinion, we can use another finger to describe M.I.A.’s behavior: thumbs down. There are attention whores, and then there are people who squander a huge international platform on juvenile idiocy.

The ethereal Tilda Swinton, dressed in luminous white on a balmy night, brought her unique blend of sophistication and beauty to the opening of a new jewelry store on Rodeo Drive.

Swinton, starring in this season’s “We Have to Talk About Kevin,” is the face of the jeweler, Pomellato, and wore two of its signature chunky jeweled chains around her neck while greeting guests as the host of the event, which benefited LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Veuve Clicquot and tray-passed appetizers were free-flowing throughout the evening.

If you’re not familiar, Pomellato, named after an elegant breed of horse, was founded in Milan in 1967 as a jewelry workshop with 15 employees.

The Pomellato style is readily recognized — a rounded, simple design, most often in gold, set with largecoloredstones like rubellite, aquamarine, iolite, madersky quartz, garnets and peridot. Some 80 new Pomellato designs are released every year, amounting to about 80,000 handmade in Milan pieces, while the best sellers of the previous years are included the so-called traditional collection.

Filling a niche between exclusive items made by famous jewelry houses and mass-market pieces, Pomellato aims for the pret-a-porter concept that exclusive jewels are created to be worn every day.

The Beverly Hills store, the company’s fourth in the US, is a two-story, 5,400-square-foot space designed by New York–based architect Raffaella Bortoluzzi and features gold upholstered walls, glass-and-mirror walls and limestone floors.

New York, Miami and Chicagoare the other American outposts of the brand. The designs have been available at Saks and Bergdorf Goodman.

No need to stick around for the rest of awards season for Swinton, who was nominated for “Kevin” by the Globes, BFCA and SAG and received numerous critics’ awards.

The actress won the Academy Award for “Michael Clayton” several years ago but was overlooked by Oscar voters this year. She told us she was heading back for Scotland the next day after her time in LA, where she leaves behind memories of a wonderful evening—and a massive poster of herself wearing Pomellato at the Rodeo Drive store.

Pomellato, 320 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills (310) 858-1300, www.pomellato.it

It was Michel Hazanavicius’ night at the DGA Awards. Yes, you better learn how to pronounce the French director’s six syllable name of Lithuanian origin already. More on that in a moment.

It would be an understatement to say that “The Kennedys” began as a very rough road for Jon Cassar and everyone else involved in the production of the mini-series about the presidency of JFK, starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

Dropped like a hot potato by the History Channel, the eight-hour series was quickly picked up by Stanley Hubbard’s Reelz Channel, and since it aired in April 2011, it has shaken off the initial controversy attached to it and become a huge awards magnet.

Perhaps the final vindication came when Cassar, well-known for his work on the vaunted “24,” won the Directors Guild Award Saturday night in Hollywood in the prestigious movies for television/mini-series category. Cassar had previously won the DGA in 2006 for directing “24.”

Patty Jenkins took the drama trophy for directing the pilot of AMC’s “The Killing” and Robert B. Weide scored the comedy prize for the legendary “Palestinian Chicken” episode of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Other television winners included Glenn Weiss for musical/variety, “65^th Annual Tony Awards,” Neil P. Degroot, reality program for “Biggest Loser,” and Amy Schatz, children’s programming for “A Child’s Garden of Poetry.”

William Ludel took the DGA for an endangered species, daytime serials, for “General Hospital” and Noam Murro won in the commercials category for among others, spots for Heineken, DirecTV and Volkswagen.

One of television’s most famous faces hosted the non-televised ceremony, with Kelsey Grammer taking over the duties long performed by legendary comedian Carl Reiner.

The show has a bit of a unique format among kudofests. Each of the feature film directors up for the top prize is lauded by a colleague or coworkers involved the project at hand, and bestowed with a golden medallion, giving currency to the throwaway line that “it’s an honor just to be nominated.”

It’s a crowd -leasing tactic as well, and a chance to lobby the picture further down the awards path to the Oscars.

Ben Kingsley, who plays director George Melies in “Hugo,” gave a moving introduction to the film’s director, Martin Scorsese, who then received a standing ovation, presumably, just for being Marty Scorsese.

Another George, Clooney, was the one to present “The Descendants” director Alexander Payne with his DGA medallion. Ever the gentleman, Clooney, who has been ubiquitous on the awards campaign trail with recognition for his lead role in that film, and for directing, producing, co-writing and acting in “The Ides of March” was careful not to overshadow Payne when it came to photo ops.

Kathy Bates, who plays Gertrude Stein in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris,” was tapped to do the honors for Allen, who is notorious for rarely showing up at Left Coast awards presentations. In a rare turn of events, he spoke to the crowd of industry peers in a previously taped bit explaining why–saying that his funny façade, the nebbishy, neurotic Jewish guy from New York, disappears once he has to mingle with people, because he really has nothing to say.

DGA president Taylor Hackford lauded the also absent David Fincher for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

It was “The Artist’s” freshly and French-ly talkative, charming co-starring duo, Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin who regaled the crowd with memories of making the silent film, directed by Michel Hazanavicius. They said that after multiple takes of the tap dance routine, he told them simply that it was “pretty good,” but to “smile more.”

After his win of the trophy, the trio had nothing but smiles on their faces, and after Dujardin’s surprise lead actor SAG win, presumably, will keep them through the Academy Awards.  

As for the pronunciation of Hazanavicius, we’re told you can go with ha-za-na-VEE-shus. There, that makes it a little easier.

The 9^th annual edition was held at the Fontainebleau Resort inMiami Beach during the 2012 NATPE Market & Conference, in a lively ceremony hosted by “Access Hollywood’s” Billy Bush, a self-described aspirant to one day achieving the award.

The four honorees represent a diverse slate of television talent: Matthew Weiner, creator and executive producer ofAMC’s award-winning drama “Mad Men”; Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) and executive producer of “American Idol”; Fernando Gaitán, vice president of production and content for Colombia’sRCNTV and creator of “Ugly Betty” (“Yo Soy Betty la fea”); and Dennis Swanson, President of Station Operations forFOX Television Stations Inc.

Lily Tartikoff always speaks eloquently, and recalled how Brandon knew Swanson, who was an early champion of her Revlon Run/Walk benefiting women’s cancer research.

It was Dick Ebersol, a recipient of the Tartikoff award last year, who introduced Swanson, noting that in his storied 40-year career, Swanson has worked at all four broadcast networks, discovered Oprah when he was a GM in Chicago, put Regis and Kathie Lee together at ABC and was instrumental in the resurgence of Monday Night Football.

Swanson thanked his wife of 50 years and reminisced about some of his fondest television moments, aside from telling Oprah to “just be herself.” One of those was making the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, which had previously been a tape delayed segment, into a live show.

Frot-Coutaz may not be a household name, but she is the center of the “American Idol” universe. FreemantleMedia CEO Tony Cohen recalled meeting the executive early on, and knowing she had what it took to run the North American division of the company – and handle the likes of Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller. He also joked that she’s been called a kitten and a shark, kind of cute, but then she bites.

Gaitán also came in for some good-natured ribbing by Guillermo Arriago, a director, producer and screenwriter. Picking up the animal theme, he compared the Colombian television titan to a tiger.

Gaitán stepped up to the stage with a woman, creating some momentary confusion. Was she the star of one of his new shows? She certainly wasn’t an Ugly Betty, quite the contrary. No, it turns out she was his translator, as he said he did not know how or like to speak English. The language barrier certainly did not prevent him from making a well-received speech citing the major influence American television had and continues to have on him as the VP of production and content for RCN TV.

When it came time for Matthew Weiner to be introduced, Lionsgate television president Kevin Beggs did the honors. “He has indelibly changed the TV world. He’s a consummate showman, a master craftsmen, a visionary who inspires people,” Beggs said. “’Mad Men’ will make its mark for generations to come.”

And with that pronouncement, a comical taped message of congratulations from his coworkers on the award-winning drama was rolled, many of them alluding to his notorious demand for secrecy about the scripts. “I have to sign a nondisclosure for my own show?,” remarked Lionsgate’s Jon Feltheimer in one of the bits.

Saving the best for last, Jon Hamm acknowledged Weiner’s plethora of awards, saying he could put all of them on his head, but it still wouldn’t be “this,” the actor pointing to his own handsome visage.

Weiner immediately commented that he couldn’t believe he was unaware that all of this was shot on his own set without his knowledge. He relayed his youthful experience with television, from when he was a bad student whose parents forbade him to watch it except on Friday and Saturday nights, but that he made up for it during his college years. Weiner said he idolized Tartikoff, especially his respect for the audience.

Weiner acknowledged the risk that Lionsgate and AMC took with “Men,” which has been a critical darling and a pop cultural force since it premiered five years ago.” I got to turn a hidden vice into a way of life,” he said. “I wanted people to be entertained.”