Only four more weeks til the Oscars! Which, if last night's Screen Actors Guild Awards showing by Slumdog Millionaire is any indication, means only 11 more months until your next viable Oscar race.

The Indian magic-realism-by-way-of-game-show-immortality yarn claimed only one prize Sunday night at the Shrine, but that Best Ensemble hardware was all it really needed to affirm its awards-season supremacy over Oscar also-rans Benjamin Button, Milk (for which Sean Penn nevertheless won Best Actor) and Frost/Nixon. Meryl Streep won Best Actress for Doubt, further entrenching her in a three-way Oscar-night race alongside Anne Hathaway and Kate Winslet — the latter of whose Reader performance netted Best Supporting Actress from guild voters. Heath Ledger was chosen Best Supporting Actor. Again.

More foregone conclusions populated the TV side: Mad Men for drama, 30 Rock for comedy and John Adams for movie, preceded by Ernest Borgnine's adorable presentation of Best Actress to Laura Linney for her stunning work as "Abigail James." Somebody get this man an Oscars presenting berth; we really do need all the nonagenarian surprises we can muster at this point.