Gold Derby nuggets: Will Oscars imitate Golden Globes? | Karger: Could 'Gran Torino' get best picture nod? | Will 'Mad Men' creator Matt Weiner return for third season?

• In his latest weekly installment of Notes on a Season here at the Envelope, Pete Hammond wonders whether the Golden Globes have sealed the fate of the Oscars. As he writes, "Are the Globes predictive of where the Academy is heading or is this just a bump in the road for all contenders other than 'Slumdog Millionaire,' which is clearly the undisputed front-runner for the Oscars now as well? If it didn't have reason enough before, the Academy can feel comfortable in crowning 'the indie movie that could' even though Sunday's Globe results will have little effect on the outcome of the Oscar nominations as polls close at 5 p.m. Monday." NOTES ON A SEASON

• Dave Karger speculates on the distinct possibility that "Gran Torino" could end up in the final five for best picture at the Academy Awards. As Dave sees it, "Could Clint Eastwood do it again? In 2004, his directorial effort 'Million Dollar Baby' was an eleventh-hour entry in the awards race and ended up winning Best Picture and Best Director, among several other prizes. Two years later, his late addition of 'Letters From Iwo Jima' came from nowhere to earn a bunch of top-tier nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. And now, his fascinating drama 'Gran Torino' is indisputably the hot movie of the moment: It just raked in nearly $30 million in its first weekend of wide release, and it's the film that most Oscar voters discovered last, screening it just before ballots were due." ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

• Scott Feinberg gets his anonymous academy member "Deep Vote" to rat on which films he voted for in the best picture race: "Happy-Go-Lucky," "Gran Torino," "Slumdog Millionaire." Also, Scott dishes his own post-Globes analysis. FEINBERG FILES

• "Kate Winslet’s biggest competition for best actress is, strangely enough, Anne Hathaway," says Sasha Stone at AwardsDaily.com where she offers up an exhaustive analysis of the top Oscar races. "It really should be Meryl Streep but it seems like Hathaway has carved a strong groove in this race already." AWARDS DAILY

• While watching the Golden Globes, InContention.com's Guy Lodge spied an abundance of affection: "It seemed to me that, in almost every category, the HFPA members had voted with their collective hearts, singling out the performers and films that they themselves loved." IN CONTENTION

• Continuing on the subject of the Golden Globe Awards, Steven Zeitchik, who pens the Risky Biz blog at the Hollywood Reporter, thinks "the real lesson is the kinds of movies that have statues in front of them. There were a number of big prestige pictures this season that were built to win awards: 'Frost/Nixon.' 'Milk.' 'Doubt.' Sure, they're designed to make money. But find us a producer or exec on any of those movies who, in their most candid moments, doesn't also say they've been thinking with these films about taking their place on, or getting out a shout out from, the podium at a big awards show. Find someone who says that it's not a key metric of these movies' performance. Yet among these three pics none got a single statue Sunday." HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

• Kristin Dos Santos warns, "Before you 'Mad Men' fans pop open any more bubbly to celebrate the show's big win at the Golden Globes, you should know: The future of the AMC hit is in danger, according to the show's mastermind, Matt Weiner, who is not signed on to continue with the series." The intrepid reporter met up with Weiner at the InStyle Golden Globes afterparty where he told her, "I don't know anything about next season—I don't even know if it's happening." As Kristin writes, "Despite the stalemate, AMC president Charlie Collier announced at the TV Critics Assn. Press Tour last week that "Mad Men" will be coming back this summer for the third season — with or without Weiner." E ONLINE

• Mike Ausiello reports that one-time movie diva Faye Dunaway will be guesting on TV's "Grey's Anatomy" later this season. "Sources confirm to me exclusively that the Oscar winner (for 'Network'), who hasn't taken a small-screen gig since a 2006 episode of 'CSI,' has signed on for at least one episode of Grey's Anatomy to air in February. She'll play a renowned doc at the hospital who crosses paths with the Chief, Cristina and Owen." Dunaway won the guest actress in a drama series Emmy Awards back in 1994 for her turn as a murdering mistress on "Columbo." ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

• T.L. Stanley writes of the road to the Razzies as a newly minted member of this kudo dedicated to the worst of Hollywood. "It takes a special, gutter-dwelling brand of movie-making to get the folks at the Razzies to cry uncle. What made the grade the other night at a party to watch and debate the worst-of-the-worst from '08 ? Uwe Boll's 'Postal.' It was a wondrous thing to behold — people accustomed to suffering through all manner of horrifyingly bad movies couldn't take even one more snippet, much less the entire flick." Razzie nominations will be announced Jan. 21, the day before the Oscar nods, with the awardsfest the night before the Feb. 22 Oscarcast. GOLD RUSH

Photos: Warner Bros., AP