The SAG Awards only match the Oscars in pretentiousness

The kindest things that can be said about the 13th SAG Awards, as a program by and for television, are that it was only two hours long and it helped ensure that NBC's low-rated comedy “30 Rock” earns a well-deserved renewal.

Several Golden Globes winners repeated Sunday nights as Actor winners, including America Ferrera (ABC's “Ugly Betty”), Hugh Laurie (Fox's “House”), Helen Mirren (“Elizabeth I” on HBO) and Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock.” The top comedy award went to the cast of “The Office,” while “Grey's Anatomy” won for drama.

In a telecast filled with gracious, funny and brief acceptance speeches, Baldwin's stood out because he thanked his mother. He even paused as he said, “I love you, Mom.”

But the prize went to Chandra Wilson, who walked away with the female actor award for her role as a loud, domineering nurse resident on “Grey's Anatomy.” She replicated the part on stage, with a little girlishness injected.

“First of all, it's about those 10 cast members sitting over there and the other one in rehab,” Wilson said. Her reference to Isiaih Washington drew knowing howls of laughter and applause from the audience, who were well aware of Washington's homophobic slur uttered after the Golden Globes. It touched off a furor that, judging by his absence, has still not died down. (He really is in "rehab," though judging from the descriptions I've read, it's a facility where the primary goal is to keep Washington from further indulging his appetite for shoe leather.)

Wilson also thanked the SAG “for taking me as I am,” pulling back a sleeve to reveal her not-skinny arm.

The SAG telecast was bedeviled by prompter glitches and some questionable production choices. One was the program's opening, which aped the red-carpet opening of the Oscars. It seemed audacious for a telecast that drew less than six million viewers last year to compare itself to the Academy Awards, which pulls in seven times the audience.

That was followed by several notable figures inside the ballroom giving little speeches about how truly fulfilling it was to be an actor. William Shatner, a popular though not exactly distinguished actor, led off, recalling a part he played at the age of six and then gravely telling the camera, “I'm William Shatner and I'm an actor.” At that, only a person with a heart of stone could not help but burst into laughter.

The awards were simulcast, in standard definition on TBS and in high definition on TNT, where you could get a sharper view of various actors' sweaty foreheads and various actresses' amply exposed cleavage.