Emmy Nominations: House In, Laurie Out?

There is always one guarantee when it comes to the Emmy Awards – someone is going to be disappointed and more often that not, that someone is a fan. The disappointment starts as soon as the nominations are announced. Actors that you are sure have a shot at getting a nomination are left out in the cold. When the nominations were announced, there were many articles bemoaning the omission of Lauren Graham as Lead Actress in a comedy. While I love her acting as Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, I can’t say I was too surprised that she wasn’t nominated for an Emmy. Her biggest obstacle is that her show is on the WB (soon to be the CW) network. The Emmy voters don’t seem to recognize this network when looking for quality, no matter how much fans and critics advocate for Ms. Graham or the show, which has also never been nominated. Also, there were a few other factors that were not in her favor. The biggest factor being that the season finale, which Ms. Graham submitted in her category, was not very comedic. No, to me, the most surprising and unbelievable omission was actor Hugh Laurie as Lead Actor in a Drama.

Hugh Laurie plays Dr. House on the Fox series, House, MD. While he is brilliant as the drug addicted, rude, and sometimes just plain crazy doctor, his lack of an Emmy nomination would not be so astonishing if not for the fact that the show was nominated for Best Drama. It is almost always puzzling that a tv show or movie can be nominated as the best in its category and not receive any acting nominations. After all, characters are a major component to a story, and actors bring the story to life. However, it is especially galling in this case. While the rest of the cast is important to the quality of the show, it really all comes down to the character of House. Some shows are very much ensemble shows, where many actors are on the same tier of importance. House, on the other hand, is a show with a definite hierarchy of actors, with Hugh Laurie playing the definitive lead role. If the character of House doesn’t work, the show doesn’t work. You can’t watch the show and overlook the character or say that it’s good despite him. You may hate the character (and if you do, Laurie is doing a good job) but if you find yourself indifferent, you have to find the show indifferent. To say that House, the series, is worth an Emmy nomination and deny one to Hugh Laurie is a puzzle that even Dr. House cannot solve.