Cynopsis presents: The Primetime Emmy ^® Awards 2009
In the categories of Outstanding Lead Actor

08.19.09

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, August 19, 2009, and this is the fourth in a special five-part series on this year’s Emmy® Awards.  Each weekly installment will concentrate on one or two award categories with information about each of the nominees as provided by the nominee and/or the nominee’s representatives.  Each installment will also open with an editorial about the category, as written for Cynopsis by P.J. Bednarski.  As always with any special edition, we hope you find the information relevant, interesting and informative, and encourage your feedback.

THE ACTORS
by P.J. Bednarski

Television’s leading men aren’t always role models. The nominees for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series this year include an affable serial killer, a doctor with a horrible bedside manner, a womanizing ad executive living a secret life, a psychoanalyst with a lot of mental baggage of his own, and a narcissistic investigator who is running away from his tragic past as a bogus psychic. That’s a motley crew. But the winner could be a repeat of last year when Bryan Cranston won for his portrayal of a terminal cancer victim turned crystal meth cooker and pusher in AMC’s Breaking Bad.

Altogether, these are the Brothers Grimm–this year’s best actor nominees show the popularity of anti-heroes in primetime. The list hasn’t changed much from a year ago, substituting James Spader from Boston Legal for Simon Baker from the new CBS hit,  The Mentalist. The rest of the nominees: Michael C. Hall in Dexter, Hugh Laurie in House, Gabriel Byrne in In Treatment, Jon Hamm in Mad Men, and Cranston in Breaking Bad, benefit from roles without precedent on television.

Emmy® overlooks a substantial list of actors in more traditional drama series that have survived the test of Nielsen ratings. Commercial success doesn’t necessarily translate into Emmy® awards. For example, Mark Harmon’s father-figure character, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS has helped make that CBS series a powerhouse (even holding its own against American Idol), but that hasn’t meant much to the Emmy® crowd. Ditto for David Caruso’s Lt. Horatio Caine on CSI: Miami, whose staple sunglass flips are well known to viewers (and hilariously compiled on YouTube), but whose body of work hasn’t heated up Emmy® nominators.
 
The roster of nominees for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series is a mix of familiar names and a couple surprises.  In part that’s because Emmy® has expanded the list of potential nominees. This year’s picks in the category are the same as last year’s with two notable exceptions: Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory, and Jemaine Clement, from HBO’s Flight of the Conchords. The HBO series is also a surprise pick in the Outstanding Comedy Series competition. As for The Big Bang Theory, many critics, while happy for Parsons, wish the series had also been nominated in the Outstanding Comedy competition.

If recent history is a guide (and if 30 Rock’s 22 nominations create a bandwagon effect),  Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, the vain, lonely and ethics-challenged NBC executive will win the comedy actor award, as he did last year.  But this again could be the year for Tony Shalhoub, of USA’s Monk.  He’s won in 2003, 2005 and 2006, and been nominated every year the show has been on the schedule. With the show now in its final season, Emmy® voters may want to reward him now–or wait to decide next year.  With good competition including Clement, Parsons, Steve Carell from The Office and Charlie Sheen from Two and a Half Men, predicting the outstanding comedy actor demands serious thought, and may be the office pool tie breaker. 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM FX NETWORKS

AND THE NOMINEES ARE … OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES:

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Bryan Cranston as Walter White
Series: Breaking Bad
Network: AMC
Studio(s):  High Bridge, Gran Via Productions, Sony Pictures Television
Description:  Bryan Cranston earned a 2008 Primetime Emmy® for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of ‘Walter White,’ a mild mannered high school chemistry teacher turned drug lord, in AMC’s original drama “Breaking Bad.”  He was previously nominated for three Emmys and a Golden Globe® for his performance as “Hal” on FOX’s “Malcolm in the Middle.”  Other television credits include “Seinfeld,” “From the Earth to the Moon,” and “X-Files,” among others. His feature film credits include Little Miss Sunshine, Seeing Other People, and Saving Private Ryan. Cranston continues to pursue his love for theater with starring roles in “The God Of Hell,” “Chapter Two,” and “The Taming of the Shrew.” He is also a dedicated screenwriter and director. He wrote, directed and starred in the original romantic drama, Last Chance (a birthday gift for his wife) and directed episodes of “Malcolm” and an episode of “Breaking Bad.”

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan
Series: Dexter
Network: Showtime
Studio(s):  Showtime Presents in association with John Goldwyn Productions, The Colleton Company, Clyde Phillips Productions

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House
Series: House
Network: Fox
Studio(s): Universal Media Studios in association with Heel and Toe Films, Shore Z Productions and Bad Hat Harry Productions

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Gabriel Byrne as Paul
Series: In Treatment
Network: HBO
Studio(s):  Leverage, Closest To The Hole Productions and Sheleg in association with HBO Entertainment

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Jon Hamm as Don Draper
Series: Mad Men
Network: AMC
Studio(s):  Lionsgate Television
Description:  Jon Hamm plays protagonist ‘Donald Draper’ in the award-winning AMC original drama “Mad Men,” created by Matthew Weiner. Hamm won the 2008 Golden Globe® Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama, and has been nominated for an Emmy® for Lead Actor in a Drama Series and SAG® Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.  Hamm will next be seen starring opposite James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, and David Strathairn in the indie feature Howl, about poet Allen Ginsberg. He recently completed a three-episode arc on the comedy “30 Rock,” for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor, as well as a critically acclaimed hosting debut on “Saturday Night Live.”  Hamm’s recent film credits include the sci-fi remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, and the independent thriller The Boy in the Box, with Josh Lucas.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Simon Baker as Patrick Jane
Series: The Mentalist
Network: CBS
Studio(s):  Warner Bros. Television

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM THE ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES FOUNDATION

AND THE NOMINEES ARE … OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES:

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper
Series: The Big Bang Theory
Network: CBS
Studio(s):  Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Jemaine Clement as Jemaine
Series: Flight of the Conchords
Network: HBO
Studio(s):  Dakota Pictures and Comedy Arts in association with HBO Entertainment

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk
Series: Monk
Network: USA
Studio(s):  Universal Cable Productions in association with Mandeville Films and ABC Studios

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Steve Carell as Michael Scott
Series: The Office
Network: NBC
Studio(s):  Deedle-Dee Productions and Reveille LLC in association with Universal Media Studios

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy
Series: 30 Rock
Network: NBC
Studio(s):  Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Media Studios

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper
Series: Two and a Half Men
Network: CBS
Studio(s):  Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in associations with Warner Bros. Television

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM THE ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES FOUNDATION

Emmy® Fact:  Edward Asner is the only actor to have won an Emmy® for both Best Actor in a Comedy and Best Actor in a Drama for portraying the same character.  Furthermore, because he played the gruff (but lovable) Lou Grant for 14 seasons on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant so convincingly well, he was actually offered a job by a real newspaper. But only for a day!

Later — Cyn
08.19.09

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