It’s hard to picture TV stars such as Steve Carell, Jon Hamm and Hugh Laurie as perennial bridesmaids. But that’s what they’ve been in recent years at Emmy time, as rival nominees hog the golden statuettes. Will any of the threesome shed his bridesmaid status this year? That question is on Emmy watchers’ minds as awards night draws near. (The big show airs Sunday at 8 p.m. EDT on Fox).
» Here’s Carell, nominated as outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his fifth and final year starring on “The Office” — and already snubbed four years running.
» Here’s Hamm, who has seen his series, “Mad Men,” reap best-drama Emmys all three of its seasons while best-actor nominee Hamm got shut out.
» And up against Hamm, here’s Hugh Laurie, a six-time nominee (and, up to now, annual washout) on the medical drama “House,” about to start its last season.
Handicappers think Hamm has a good shot this year for best actor in a drama. One hopeful sign: Bryan Cranston, the actor who has made Hamm a bridesmaid by winning for “Breaking Bad” the past three years, is out of action this year. “Breaking Bad” didn’t air in the qualifying period.
Besides Laurie, Hamm is facing Steve Buscemi (“Boardwalk Empire”), Michael C. Hall (“Dexter”), Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights”) and Timothy Olyphant (“Justified”) — none of them slouches. Still, you can’t overstate the effect of an Emmy nemesis such as Cranston — or his welcome absence.
“I think it’s finally Jon Hamm’s time to win,” says Tom O’Neil, editor of the award websites goldderby.com and theenvelope.com.
Short of peeking inside the sealed envelopes, O’Neil may have the sharpest insight of anyone as to who the winners will be. So consider his analysis:
First, “Mad Men” this year submitted a doozie of an episode to spotlight Hamm’s range as 1960s ad man Don Draper. Among Emmy’s actor categories, a jury considers just one sample episode per nominee, so it better be persuasive. (Angela Lansbury’s “Murder, She Wrote” role as a writer-detective always put her in the service of each episode’s crime-solving, while, in the process, denying her the sort of Emmy-worthy actorly scene she could have handled with ease.)
O’Neil thinks this year “Mad Men” got it right by submitting the episode called “The Suitcase.”
“It’s a big acting showcase for Hamm,” says O’Neil. “He gets every emotion: He cries; he’s drunk; he’s confessional; he’s humble; he’s boisterous and bawdy.”
By contrast, Laurie could continue to suffer from a problem endemic to his role on “House”: “He plays an unlikable character,” says O’Neil. “You don’t want to hug crusty, cranky Dr. House. I think that has backfired on Hugh Laurie.”
A similar problem may have plagued Steve Carell: Michael Scott, the paper company branch manager he played on “The Office,” is “creepy,” O’Neil sums up.
This year, Carell may have overcome that character deficit by submitting as his entry his farewell appearance on the series. That episode, O’Neil notes, “has a sense of history, and heart-tugging moments.”
Maybe so. But who can say if it’s enough to make a bridesmaid a winner?
