‘Everybody Hates Raymond’: Terrible TV that somehow won Emmy awards

The nominations for the 2019 Emmy Awards dropped yesterday, and as usual most of our faves were left off the ballot, with a lot of mediocre work rewarded instead. It’s something the Emmys does better than any other organization.

The Emmys are supposed to recognize outstanding work on the small screen, and sometimes they do. But often the prestigious TV awards ceremony goes horribly wrong, and not only nominates people who are far from outstanding, but gives them the damn win – sometimes multiple times for the same terrible performance. Here are nine less than outstanding TV performances that the Emmys have rewarded over the years.

Jon Cryer: Two and a Half Men

Lead Comedy Actor, 2012 & Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, 2009

Although we’re loathe to say anything bad about the dude who played Duckie in Pretty in Pink, we’re absolutely floored to remember that Cryer has been nominated for an Emmy countless times for his role in this bottom-of-the-barrell Chuck Lorre sitcom, and has even won twice. Cryer’s obnoxious performance in the role is about as funny as sharing a house with Charlie Sheen (Wall Street) and definitely not worthy of any merit.

Benedict Cumberbatch: Sherlock: His Last Vow

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, 2014

Look, we know you’re all hot and heavy for Cumberbatch and his strange otter face and private school British accent, but we’re so over it already. The bottom line is that he just isn’t as great an actor as people seem to mysteriously give him credit for.

Cumberbatch’s performance as Sherlock Holmes borders on cringeworthy, particularly in Sherlock: His Last Vow in which he chewed the scenery so heavily, he was pooping vintage books and quirky wallpaper for weeks.

Jaime Pressly: My Name is Earl

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, 2007

It’s an awful show and as underclass moronic redneck Joy, Pressly’s performance was borderline offensive. The actor’s only show of talent in the role is to throw on a generic Southern drawl, scream at stuff, grin at her boyfriend, and wear really tiny outfits while accidentally shooting a gun at anything and everything.

Patricia Heaton: Everybody Loves Raymond

Lead Comedy Actress, 2000 & 2001

Heaton was awarded the accolade two years in a row for her performance in the mysteriously beloved sitcom. While we understand the appeal of Heaton’s comedic charm and timing, her performance is peculiarly one-note – as highlighted by her very similar recent performance in The Middle where she basically plays the exact same character.

Ray Romano: Everybody Loves Raymond

Lead Comedy Actor, 2002

Not only is it an annoying performance, but it’s also utterly mediocre. Romano (The Big Sick) does little else with the role of “aloof straight white dude” than hundreds of other sitcom stars in near-identical roles have achieved over the years. Still, the Emmys gave him a big, shining round of applause for his efforts at the end of it all.

Jim Parsons: The Big Bang Theory

Lead Comedy Actor, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015

The sad thing about this one is that Parsons is genuinely a terrific actor – his performance in The Normal Heart was absolutely staggering, which makes his continued appearance in The Big Bang Theory all the more painful.

There’s an argument to be made regarding Parsons’s performance as neurotic scientist Sheldon Cooper, somehow turning an impossibly turgid script into something passable. But there’s also an argument to be made that we shouldn’t award such a waste of great talent – Parsons’s performance in the role hasn’t developed since day one, and neither has the dreadful script he’s had to work with.

Michael Emerson: Lost

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, 2009

We genuinely love Emerson, who has built a fantastic career out of playing unhinged creepos in a variety of films and TV shows including Saw, The Practice, and Person of Interest. As mysterious weirdo Ben Linus in Lost, Emerson’s performance was delightfully soapy, but it wasn’t award-worthy. If Emerson’s OTT performance in the role is deserving of such an award, we can think of about a million other wild trash TV performances also worthy of a shiny celebration.

Terry O’Quinn: Lost

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, 2007

John Locke was undoubtedly an interesting character, but he didn’t exactly have much depth to him – at the end of the day, Locke was just a wise old dude with a crumbling face who could grunt at stuff really well. O’Quinn did a fair job with the material, but is anyone still talking about how his performance is one of the best of all time? Unlikely. Hell, his performance wasn’t even the best in the whole show!

Katherine Heigl: Grey’s Anatomy

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, 2007

If you have some time to kill, by all means throw yourself down a Google rabbit hole of discovery by reading about the salacious controversy surrounding Heigl’s time at Grey’s Anatomy and her less than favorable comments about the show.

Somehow the actor, who has since become better known for starring in truly terrible romcoms, thought she was better than Shonda Rhimes’s everlasting medical drama. The truth is, she wasn’t and still isn’t – she might have won an Emmy for her role as Izzy, but her performance owed more to a sharp script and crazy plot twists than it did to her skillset as an actor.