Laurie's Missing Emmy an Embarrassment

OK. I’ve seen Breaking Bad and it’s good, but the fact that Hugh Laurie continues to come up empty in the best actor in a drama series category at the Emmy awards is getting to be pretty embarrassing.

I mean, Bryan Cranston has three more Emmys than Hugh Laurie and Jackie Gleason put together.

Laurie’s Gregory House would be a tour de force for an American actor. For a Brit who has to both inhabit another person and another accent and culture, it is phenomenal. No, he should not have gotten the award because he is a British actor playing an American, it just makes the portrayal that more amazing. He should get it because he’s just that good.

Golden Globes? He’s got two of them. SAG Awards? A couple more. TV Critics Association awards? Two of those as well. People’s Choice Awards? Three, count ‘em, three. He even has a Teen Choice Award, whatever that is. People love him, teens love him, critics, guilds worth of screen actors, accountants (I’m told [OK, Wikipedia], that Laurie is the highest paid dramatic actor in TV). So, what is it with the academy?

Mad Men took matters into its own hands. With an episode scheduled opposite the awards, the show guaranteed a win for best actor nominee Jon Hamm by writing him a Clio advertising award for a Glo Coast spot. Hamm lost to Cranston, too. AMC was quick to congratulate Matthew Weiner on his writing award with a spot in the show.

Maybe House can get a “most cynical doctor” award from the AMA next season.