[In Week One of Cultural Learnings’ 59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations Preview, we’re looking at possible contenders for the Supporting Actor awards in both comedy and drama. Today, we present our fifth set of candidates. For all candidates, Click Here]
Supporting Actor in a Comedy
John C. McGinley (Dr. Cox)
Scrubs
John C. McGinley really never gets a fair shake when Emmy time rolls around. Dr. Cox, the character he portrays on NBC’s Scrubs, is hilariously funny through most of the episodes, but he is at his best when the series demands dramatic material from him. When Dr. Cox just a few seasons ago lost three cancer patients due to an infection that he missed, he sunk into a deep depression from which he was unable to escape. When his best friend and brother-in-law passed away, he went through an entire episode imagining him to be there, leading him through his life and making up for mistakes along the way. These episodes were touching, emotionally powerful…but not comic. And, as a result, he has struggled in this category. Well, this season lacked such a poignant moment for the character, but I still believe that he is an unsung hero that should be considered for an Emmy nomination.
What Dr. Cox does so well is to basically serve as the sarcastic doctor, a mentor who has not yet become so jaded as to refuse to mentor others, and as someone who is always there to call J.D. girl’s names and let his opinion be known. I’ve written in the past about how I feel Scrubs hasn’t aged well (If I haven’t, I’ll have to do so when the show premieres in September), but I think that McGinley has magically overcome this problem. While other characters seem to spin in circles, McGinley seems to be able to navigate a fairly interesting path for his character even though his brand of humour can often be the most stereotypical.
That sense of humour, however, remains fresh. His long-winded rants about J.D. and others’ incompetence, his refusal to become part of the personal lives of the doctors around him, and his general sarcasm all make him funny and entertaining, while he remains able to humanize himself through his own life with two kids, an ex-wife who he hates and loves at the same time, and an inner heart of gold. McGinley never seems to get lost in the character, or lost in the other characters’ inability to mature over six seasons. McGinley, as the most consistent character in the show’s ensemble, deserves to be recognized more than its lead, who often sits back and watches as McGinley berates him with aplomb. And that, my friends, is why John C. McGinley deserves serious Emmy attention for his comic performance.
Episode Selection: “My House” (Airdate: January 4th, 2007)
Now, I don’t know if I would have selected this episode myself (It is somewhat lacking in some of Dr. Cox’s best qualities), but the premise behind the episode is one that could affect Emmy voters. Faced with two medical mysteries (Four if you count Carla and Eliot’s problems), Dr. Cox becomes the NBC equivalent of House. This quasi-crossover appeal should engage voters, and there are some strong moments for the character, but I think that the episode is just a bit too dull. Hugh Laurie’s performance of House is brilliantly comic within a dramatic setting. Here, McGinley is understated in a show that values absurdist comedy (Too often, to be honest). As a result, I think it won’t gain traction as a comic performance…but stranger things have happened. Via YouTube, here is his final diagnostic, House style.
YouTube – “My House”
Supporting Actor in a Drama
Zach Gilford (Matt Saracen)
Friday Night Lights
When I wrote a review of the Friday Night Lights pilot, I classified Matt Saracen as something akin to a contrived cliché in character form. Backup quarterback, never played a game in his life, throws footballs through a tire, takes care of his ailing grandmother, and in a moment of tragedy he is forced to step up and put the weight of an entire town on his shoulders. Within the context of the pilot, it was certainly a cliché series of events. However, what I did not realize at the time was that the show was also asking for a lot of weight to be placed on Zach Gilford’s shoulders, and much as his character led the Dillon Panthers to State so too did Gilford take this character and portray him as a real teenager, with real anxiety, and with real heart. And even in his understated fashion, without a single breakout scene to blow Emmy voters away, this young actor absolutely deserves to be considered this award season.
More than anything else, Gilford excels at playing a teenager. In an age where teenagers are 90% of the time played by actors who haven’t been in high school for at least five years (Gilford is 25), it is amazing to see someone finally reach a level to which they are able to play an insecure, uncertain, honest to goodness teenager without seeming juvenile. Gilford makes Matt’s teenage moments as realistic as possible, with just the right combination of nervous speech, glances, while also maintaining the maturity that Matt does indeed have. It would be very easy to play this young man, forced to grow up so quickly taking care of his ailing grandmother after his father went to Iraq, as someone worldly beyond his years. However, it always feels right.
And yet, Gilford manages to excel also at playing a high school quarterback, and playing a girl’s first boyfriend, and playing someone who is quick to accept advice about his own life, and yet also able to dish it out to those around him. Just as the Dillon Panthers were forced to rally behind a young quarterback with no experience in key situations, so too did Friday Night Lights rely on Zach Gilford. Sure, Kyle Chandler was always there for the glory, but this show could have been a half-rate O.C. knockoff if not for Gilford (And the rest of the ensemble around him) being able to pull off these teenage characters the town gathers behind each week. And that, understated or not, is a fantastic supporting performance worthy of recognition.
Episode Selection: “Nevermind” (Airdate: January 3rd, 2007)
While I will always prefer some of his more subtle moments with Julie and Coach Taylor, Gilford’s acting chops are best at display in this tour de force of emotions. Faced with his father’s return from Iraq, Matt falls apart on the football field and in his personal life. His frustration over his war-torn father is real, visceral, and yet youthful. He reacts as a teenager in love with his game, falling for his girlfriend, and finding that his already tough life only gets tougher when his stability disappears. Pulled from the game, struggling to pull himself together, he lashes out at his father with intensity and yet a real sense of something that isn’t teenage angst, but rather teenage frustration. Gilford balances it all with wisdom beyond even his real age, and with this submission tape the young actor should certainly be considered this Emmy season.
YouTube – “Nevermind”
Cultural Learnings 