I’m barkin’ mad this morning, PopWatchers! Over the weekend, I caught up on a small backlog of Heroes episodes — in particular, Chapter 17 ("Company Man") — and was struck by the Emmy-worthiness of one performance in particular: the Bennet family’s prized pooch, Mr. Muggles. Yes, I realize Mr. Muggles is a Pomeranian, but even Heroes‘ producers know they’ve got the equivalent of a young De Niro on their hands. Take that scene where the Bennet residence goes up in flames, and the family huddles together for comfort and safety. Which cast member gets the loving closeup and the stirring (albeit concise) dialogue? Yes… Mr. Muggles! Didn’t his little "Arf!" cut to the heart of the Bennett family’s grief? Didn’t his dark, expressive eyes tell the tale of the American dream exploding in a radioactive blast? (Or is it, as one Heroes conspiracy theorist surmises, that Muggles is the most powerful, sinister hero of all?)
Now, however, it looks like Emmy is changing its rules to derail the inevitable Mr. Muggles Emmy train. Starting this year, nominees in major categories will be asked to submit a 250-word essay explaining their work to voters. Isn’t this counterintuitive to the entire process? Shouldn’t nominated thespians’ finest moments speak for themselves? My colleague Gary Susman suggests that perhaps Mr. Muggles can get a friend to write his essay, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, perhaps? "The Emmy is a fine award… for me to poop on!" Either that or he’ll just have to fill up a page with his delicate, evocative paw prints. Let’s not let this potential injustice go without protest. All together now (as you watch the Muggles tribute video)… slow clap. "Mug-gles! Mug-gles! Mug-gles!"
Comments (1-10) of 10 Add your comment
Who does the Emmy organization think it is? The Nobel Peace Prize committee. an essay, a fracking essay? Well, now I know who the egotists and narcissists are in hollywood by the emmy nominations they get, cause no self-respecting person is going to waste their time writing an essagy to get that piece of meaningless junk to put in back of their closets. Emmys are completely worthless awards, and they should start taking themselves less seriously just like everyone else out there.
Ugh..just another reason to not watch the Emmys. No one should have to campaign for an award; they either deserve it or they don’t. The Oscars are the same way, with studios taking out ads in papers to pimp their films to Academy voters. I hope they don’t wonder too much about why no one watches the Emmys.
/Go Lauren Graham. She’s deserved one for years.
What’s with this essay business? It should just be about the work…not about an actor’s ability to hire a good writer to write an essay for them. Essays: just one more reason the Emmys are obsolete and the Golden Globes are the new best in tv awards
Actually, this essay rule is a good idea. The reason why its been added is so that submitters can give a proper context to the episode they’ve submitted. This is intended to help a show like Lost which may confuse the casual viewer who is not familiar with all the backstories in the series. With this logic, it would seem to help Mr. Muggles. Michael, you can write the essay explaining to the Academy why Muggles’ “arf” says so much of the Bennet family’s plight.
I’d be more interested in Essays by people who DON’T get nominations. I, for one, would LOVE a good Essay by the great Lauren Graham addressed to the fogies at the TV Academy detailing her personal feelings on being both the critics and people’s choice for an Emmy and – with colorful use of profane syntax and diction – go off on them about what on Earth would cause them to overlook her fabulousness for seven YEARS. SEVEN YEARS. That’s what it will be when they announce later this year, when they once again fail to announce her name. In fact, I propose to the Academy that they should rename the award “Outstanding Performance By an Actress in a Comedy Series Whose Name Is NOT Lauren Graham”.
An essay, though. Honestly. “Uh, yeah, Academy…this performance was, like, supergreat because I was able to analyze, the like, inner turmoil, of a housewife shopping at a grocery store with a gun in her face. The conflict, or whatever, was deeply moving and I had to stretch really hard – harder than the lycra used to slim Jennifer Hudson down in her Oscar dress – to show that on the screen. Seriously, people, like, totally cried. So in the words of the great Dory the Fish, ‘Pick me, pick me!’.”
That’s weird…what’s to stop people from hiring writers to write their essays for them?
Wow…that video was AWESOME. I love Heroes. And Mr. Muggles gets more screen time than a lot of the other actors on that show.
WISHBONE totally deserved an Emmy. That show was awesome.
Actually, it might have gotten a Daytime Emmy. Either way, LOVED that show.
Ok, since it’s been hours and no one has taken the obvious Mohinder shot, I’ll be the one to do it:
Seriously, Mr. Muggles is MUCH more compelling than Mohinder (although Mohinder FINALLY did something cool in the last episode…before blowing it) and light years ahead of Sendhil Ramamurthy as far as acting ability.
Bah! Just another way for all the David Hyde Pierces of the world to get locks on categories because of their ten dollar words! I don’t like this at all. Does the best performance of the year not get picked because of a spelling error?
Here’s hoping Tony Shalub can’t write for $hit!