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Cynical Emmy rant: Jon Cryer... supporting actor?
by Joel Keller, posted Sep 21st 2009 10:32AM
I know people complained about this when the nominations came out, but for some reason, it just irked the hell out of me when Jon Cryer won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy.Not that I don't think Cryer deserved an Emmy. No, he does a great job as the uptight Alan Harper on Two and a Half Men. And, after all the failed shows and pilots, the man once known as Duckie deserves recognition for the fine actor his is... just not as a supporting actor.
I have no idea why the ATAS allows actors to submit themselves in supporting categories when they're clearly lead actors. But you and I and the wall behind me all know that Cryer is a co-lead on Men along with Charlie Sheen, who was nominated in the lead category. But he figured submitting into the supporting category gave him a better chance to win, and he was right.
But look at the rest of the nominees: Rainn Wilson, Neil Patrick Harris, Jack McBrayer, Kevin Dillon, and Tracy Morgan. All of them can make a more compelling case that they're in a supporting role than Cryer can. And all of them are the definition of a superior supporting player, making a huge impact with little screen time. Even Wilson and NPH, who are more a part of an ensemble than true supporting players, get less screen time than Cryer does. But by submitting himself as a supporting actor, Cryer basically didn't give any of his fellow nominees a chance.
NPH and his writers did a good job of playing off the fact that he lost by having the host mock-bitterly ask Cryer questions like "What did it feel like to win?" as Cryer did the winner's backstage press conference. But if they really had some guts, they would have asked him, "How is Charlie Sheen a lead actor but you're not?"
Oh, and a quick note to Jon: Lose the striped sweater-vest. It made you look like a middle-aged Harry Potter.
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