Emmys: Is Weirdness Good for Emmy Race? (Male Edition)
Over at the LA Times‘ “Gold Derby” blog, the title of the post says it all:
Could Steve Carell’s creepy role in ‘The Office‘ hurt his Emmy hopes?
The entry brings up some very good points. One is that three out of the five nominees’ submitted eps are from hour-long comedies, including Carell’s special double episode, “Goodbye, Toby“. In the past eight years, five of the winners submitted hour-long eps. Carell’s clearly trying to stack his deck, similar to the way Hugh Laurie just happens to have at least one ep each season on “House” tailor-made to reveal his crusty, broken heart. Unfortunately, that hasn’t won him any Emmy gold either. Yet.
The more interesting question is the one raised by the headline — is Michael Scott the character too weird to be loved by Emmy voters? I’m not a huge fan of the American version of “The Office” (please, spare the rotten tomatoes — I’m one of those Brit TV purists, at least in the comedy department.) But I did want to look at the characters whose lead actors brought home that Emmy gong.
2007: Ricky Gervais as Andy Millman in “Extras” — Hardly a straight comedy guy. Andy mostly was the funny-because-he’s-tragic guy as the extra who puts up with humiliation because he’s not top-billing. Not as dislikable as Michael Scott, but he was awfully mean to Maggie in the second series as he gained fame but lost himself.
2003, 2005-06: Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk in “Monk” — An OCD detective. Just that description screams weirdness — not about the condition itself, but in the way it creates unintentional humor for some.
2004: Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane in “Frasier”. Ever since that character was invented, it was played as the guy who never fits in anywhere quite properly. He went from being the nerd at the bar to being the nerd with the boisterous father and kooky entourage. Grammer came from much more of a straight sitcom than “The Office”, but he certainly didn’t win an Emmy on shtick.
2002: Ray Romano as Ray Barone in “Everybody Loves Raymond“. Well, maybe this one did. The darkest side of the character of Ray was his singular desire to blow off housework for a round of golf.
2001 Eric McCormack as Will Truman in “Will & Grace“. Another one of those actors who brings out a great and meaty plotline in one ep that’s designed to please Emmy voters. Many non-Hollywood types would try to say Will was a weirdo just because of his sexual preference. Many of them have also neither seen the show or have any resemblance to most Emmy voters’ lack of caring about such things. And really, couldn’t you almost see Michael Scott as a guest character on this show, doing something in the law office and completely not seeing the fact that Will was flaming, and his weird conversations with Jack? It writes itself, it does.
2000 Michael J. Fox as Mike Flaherty in “Spin City”. This was his “Goodbye, great comic gone too soon” year, so he should in some ways be not regarded in the same light. But the sheer drama and self-sacrifice he showed in his final eps cannot be overlooked.
What other names were nominated but hasn’t won an Emmy yet (at least in that category)? I see a lot of Matt LeBlanc from “Friends” (nothing kooky about him beyond his ability to eat food straight off the floor. Much Charlie Sheen. (Ditto.) Fellow 2008 nominee Alec Baldwin in “30 Rock”, who has a far more controversial personal life than character. Kevin James and John Ritter, straight from family ensemble comedies. And even though Ray Romano did win one, he was nominated a lot before getting it.
The main two cases of actors who played love-to-hate characters were Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth in “Arrested Development”. And I would daresay there are a lot of folks in Tinseltown who would agree that that’s a crying shame. But I do think the “weird guys” have the advantage of showing their heart at the exact time you thought they didn’t have one.
Straight sitcom guys win by playing the “ball and chain” stories over and over. But the strange guys in the offbeat show stay unpredictable, even in what they find funny. And that’s why I think Carell will end up winning. That and the inevitable “showing off the Emmy” trip to the “Colbert Report”, assuming that Colbert will, as usual, lose his category. There may be bloodshed, so it’s prime viewing.
(NBC Photo: Chris Haston)
2 Comments
Hopefully Steve/Michael will get the nod this year. Should be between him & Alec Baldwin. All the others are not even close.
Give American Office a fair chance. Nobody else is Ricky Gervais but I think the other US Office characters are far better than the UK version.
Oh, and by the way, Michael Bluth was the ONLY likeable character on AD. Not the funniest, but the only “normal” one. Man, I miss that show.
I have a feeling that all of Alec’s personal drama will either get the sympathy vote or will turn things the other direction. People are too polarized on that subject than to look past it at just the work.
I’ve given “The Office” US multiple chances. I really would love to love it, because it’s very much like “Office Space”. But I think it tries too hard sometimes. “The Office” UK was much closer to what an actual office is like.
As far as Michael Bluth, I think his ability to play the straight man amongst the weirdos was what brought him above the rest.