25 TV Characters Who Never Won an Emmy But Should Have

With all the Monday morning quarterbacking after the announcement of the Emmy nominations these days, it is almost as great an honor to be considered the biggest snub as it is to take home a statue. Though our obsession with overlooked performances has blossomed thanks to the Internet, Emmy snubs are nothing new. Don't get too heartbroken for Tatiana Maslany and Nick Offerman—some of the greatest television performances of all time never earned Emmy gold. Some of television's legendary leads never got to walk up to the podium (though, in some cases, their shows ran for over a decade). Several of your favorite television spouses were forced to watch their onscreen significant other win several awards as they watched from the seats.

Since the first Emmy statues were given out in 1949, overlooking genius has been a grand tradition of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and these are the most egregious errors in their storied history of snubbery. Here are 25 TV Characters Who Never Won An Emmy But Should Have.

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Played by: Bryan Cranston
Years played: 2000-2006

Things have worked out just fine for Bryan Cranston, but that doesn't mean he wasn't done dirty by the Academy for this one. Go back and watch Malcom in the Middle sometime—you won't regret it. There was a fresh quirkiness bordering on absurdity that you just didn't see on most network comedies in the early 2000s. Before Arrested Development premiered, Cranston not only had to share this category with actors from Everybody Loves Raymond and Will and Grace, he also lost to them. Though Cranston will certainly be best remembered as Walter White (and rightfully so), his performance as Hal was lovely, at once aloof and deeply self-aware as a man actually struggling to keep the ship of family afloat.

Also, he did this.

Played by: Katey Segal
Years played: 1987-1997

Married... With Children doesn't hold up as well today as some of the show's contemporaries. Cheers, Golden Girls, and Roseanne are the consensus picks for the best of the era, while Married... With Children is a broad, laugh-track heavy studio audience mugfest, in the style of Full House and Home Improvement. Despite this, Segal's performance as Peg Bundy remains a comedic achievement, one that met with the approval of critics and audiences alike. Not only did Segal never come home with a statue for her turn as Peg, she was never even nominated. Would it have been so bad if Candice Bergen had only won four Emmys for her portrayal of Murphy Brown? Considering Fran Drescher (The Nanny), Patricia Richardson (Home Improvement), and Cybil Shepard (Cybil) all received nods during Married... With Children's run, we're pretty sure they could have spared a nomination for Mrs. Bundy.

Played by: Desi Arnaz
Years played: 1951-1957

Obviously Ricky wan't the most memorable character on the show, but considering the lasting impact of Lucy and Ricky's dynamic, it's hard to believe that Arnaz never got a statue for his work on Lucille Ball's I Love Lucy. During the run of the show, Ball was nominated every season and returned home with hardware twice. The two other series regulars, William Frawley and Vivian Vance, were awarded with several nomination a piece. Arnaz never received a nomination in the show's six-season run. He took the slight graciously, saying, "It's OK. When the Emmys have a category for best bongo player and I'm not nominated, then I'll get mad!" That's a boss talking, folks.

Played by: Patrick Stewart
Years played: 1987-1998

The Emmys's distate for sci-fi is well documented. Deserving shows like The X-Files, The Twilight Zone, and Battlestar Galactica have fallen victim to the Academy's dismissal of the futuristic. This genre bias received one of its greatest tests with Star Trek: The Next Generation. Even though the visual effects in TNG feel dated by today's standards, the authoritative power of Stewart's performance as Jen-Luc Picard is like a granite statue; it holds up. The guy is a Royal Shakespeare Company vet who will be doing Beckett in New York this fall. Of course he kicked ass whenever he had the chance to monologue off into the vast emptiness of space. The fact that he wasn't even nominated in an era when castmembers of L.A. Law and Law & Order were getting regular nods is one of the most egregious mistakes in Emmys history.

Played By: Bob Newhart
Years Played: 1982-1990

Newhart is best remembered in pop culture at large for the show's surprising twist finale and for giving us the joke "My brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl." In its prime, Newhart was a certified hit, known for its sharp writing and dynamic cast of comic characters.

During Newhart's eight year run, the show received over two dozen Emmy nominations across various categories and never once took home a statue. Bob Newhart's drought extended well beyond just that show. He first lost an Emmy race in 1962 when The Bob Newhart Show was nominated for writing. He went on to lose bids for Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2004 and for Supporting Actor in A Movie or Mini-Series in 2009. This story has a happy, if belated, ending, however. Earlier this month, Newhart picked up his first Emmy for a guest turn on The Big Bang Theory, at the age of 84.

Played by: Martin Sheen
Years played: 1999-2006

The West Wing is the third most decorated program in Emmy history, behind The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Frasier. Sorkin and company took home 27 statues during the run of the series. Unfortunately, not one of them went to Martin Sheen. Sheen watched Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, John Spencer, Richard Schiff, Stockard Channing, and Alan Alda win during his six-year losing streak.

When Sheen was asked about his Emmy drought by TV Guide, he made everyone feel even worse for him. "It's so personal because everybody is pulling for you," he said, "You want so much to please everyone, but you can't count on it." Though Sheen never won for his work on the show, he's one of the first things you think of when looking back on The West Wing. Every time you revisit the pilot, you can't help but be struck by his first lines. Few actors could intone, "I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt worship no other god before me," and not sound like a total dick from that point forward. Sheen pulls it off, as he would the rest of the series, with equal parts confidence and earthy charm.

Played by: Edward James Olmos
Years played: 2004 - 2009

If we're talking Saturn awards, Battlestar was a juggernaut. Sadly, success at sci-fi award shows doesn't translate to the big leagues. Fans of Battlestar Galactica remember Olmos's performance fondly, and anyone who has seen the mini-series will forever have Adama's triumphant chorus of "So say we all!" tented up in their head. Traditionally, the leading actor Emmys are reserved for lawyers, lawmen and (more recently) high school teachers, so it might have been a wish to expect that the helmsman of a sci-fi show could walk to the podium. Regardless of how long the odds may have been, what we wouldn't have given for a rousing "So say we all" as Olmos thanked the Academy.

Played by: Agnes Moorehead
Years played: 1964-1972

You can have a great career without winning very much. Moorehead is best remembered as Endora on Bewitched, but she had a phenomenal career that began with Citizen Kane and ended with her lending her voice to the beloved animated version of Charlotte's Web. Along the way, Moorehead lost four Oscar races and was nominated for Endora six times. Moorehead's one Emmy win came for her work in The Wild Wild West, which you remember best for inspiring a pretty bad Will Smith movie about steampunk Kenneth Branagh.

Moorehead's Endora pulled off that rare feat of playing in a grand, heightened style while keeping the character firmly grounded in the same world as the rest of the cast. Her work on Bewitched is as beloved as any classic TV acting, even if she has always quick to distance herself from the role. She referred to the show as "hack" in a 1965 interview and in 1974 she told the New York Times, "I've been in movies and played theater coast to coast, so I was quite well known before Bewitched, and I don't particularly want to be identified as a witch."

Played by: Katey Segal
Years played: 2008-present

Does the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences have something against Katey Segal? Her presence in a (live-action) show seems to be Emmy poison. Neither Married... With Chldren nor Sons of Anarchy has an Emmy in the trophy case. The lone nomination ever to come Sons of Anarchy's way was for its theme music. It almost feels like the Academy was baiting them with that one.

Considering how highly rated Sons is, and that Segal has won a Golden Globe and been nominated for a TCA Award for her portrayal of the tough Gemma, it's hard to believe the Segal entered the show's sixth season last week without ever having been invited to the big dance.

Played by: Elisabeth Moss
Years played: 2007-present

Mad Men may go down in history as the most snubbed show in the history of the Emmys. It is well known that the show's leading man has been snubbed (we'll get there, don't worry), but the supporting cast has been continually overlooked as well. Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Jared Harris, and January Jones have all been nominated, only to remain on the sidelines.

As Mad Men has matured, Peggy's emerged as the show's co-protagonist. It's become as much about her troubled ascent as Don's costly descent. Moss and creator Matt Weiner have turned what could have been a typical "woman in the workplace" narrative into a complex character exploration. We love Peggy Olson, but we don't pity her. We admire her, but there are also moments where we can't stand her, can't understand her. Among an incredibly talented cast, Peggy's evolution has been the most intriguing to watch, and all without smoldering glances or a mysterious past.

Played by: James Arness
Years played: 1955-1975

These days it would be a miracle if a show that wasn't animated or unscripted ran for two decades, but that's exactly what Gunsmoke did. James Arness remains one of the great ironmen of television for his portrayal of Marshall Matt Dillon on the long-running western. During his epic tenure, Arness garned only three nominations and never took home a statue.

Despite his empty mantle, Arness's legacy was certainly secure upon his death in 2011. TV Guide named Arness placed him in the upper half of its list of the 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time, and People ranked him as the sixth performer on a similar list.

Arness also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has been inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame. Arness's 40-some film roles and a dozen television projects kept him quite busy from the beginning of his career in 1947 until his last project in 1993, fittingly Gunsmoke V: One Man's Justice.

Played by: Andy Griffith
Years played: 1960-1968

Not only was the television legend never victorious in a bid for Emmy gold, the man whose name was in the legendary show's title was never even nominated. Griffith had to watch his partner in crime Don Knotts accept a record five statues for his role as Barney Fife. The only thing that stopped Knotts from winning more awards was his decision to leave the show for a feature film career. You might expect Knotts's success to stick in Griffith's craw a bit, as he was originally intended to be the comic relief on the show and Knotts the straight man. For his part, Griffith has been gracious about pop culture's love affair with Barney Fife, and the success of his longtime friend Knotts. He said in interviews after the show's run ended, "I knew that Don should be funny and I should play it straight."

Played by: Hugh Laurie
Years played: 2004-2012

Dr. Gregory House is the kind of role that used to be Emmy bait. With Keifer Sutherland and James Spader alternating Emmy wins in the early 2000s for their procedural-style roles, House looked like the heir apparent. James Gandolfini and Michael Chiklis had made inroads for premium cable with Emmy voters, but it looked like the broadcast channel were fighting back. We know now that they weren't.

In 1999, James Gandolfini was the only cable actor nominated in the drama category. In 2010, the last year Laurie was nominated for House, he was the only broadcast network actor in the category. Though Laurie's acting chops are top notch and his work on House is universally beloved, the Emmy tides had changed by the end of his run.

The broadcast networks may bounce back, but drama belongs to cable (and Netflix) for the time being. No broadcast actors have been nominated in the category since Laurie put down his cane. If the trend continues, Laurie may have been the last nominee in the category that wasn't on cable.

Played by: Jackie Gleason
Years played: 1951-1955 (The Jackie Gleason Show), 1955-1956 (The Honeymooners)

It strange to think that comedy legend Jackie Gleason never picked up an Emmy statue, despite being a five time nominee. Art Carney, the second male lead on the show, took home five Emmys for his performance on The Honeymooners. Carney tried to be humble about his success playing Ed Norton, particularly in front of the salty Gleason: Whenever Gleason came to visit, he hid his gold angels in a closet.

Word has it that you wouldn't dare mention Gleason's losses to him. Marilyn Gleason, Jackie's widow told Gold Derby, "You couldn't mention the Emmys to Jackie when he was alive. He'd get furious."

Played by: John Goodman
Years played: 1988-1997

It was seven straight nominations and seven straight loses for Mr. Roseanne. Roseanne might be considered among the best sitcoms of all time, but don't ask Goodman about it, 'cause he never won. Roseanne herself won only once, as was the writing.

Goodman's performance as Dan Connor provided a softer, more human spin on the typical working class sitcom dad. From day one, Goodman brought a humanity to the role that you didn't often see in sitcoms at that time. Even if he was being hit with a frying pan or talking to his son about masturbation, Goodman approached the role with vulnerable humanity.

Though John Goodman has been a steady presence on our TV screens for 25 years, he has won but a single Emmy. You'll never guess what finally landed him his statue. It wasn't his turn as Huey Long in Kingfish nor was it his supporting turn as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire: he was nominated and lost for both of those. Goodman wasn't even nominated for his stellar work on season one of Tremé. Goodman won his lone Emmy for a guest spot on the oft-mocked Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Chalk it up to the walk and talk.

Played by: Angela Lansbury
Years played: 1984-1996

There's no question as to Lansbury's royal status on the stage; you can't ignore her five Tony Awards (a tie for most all time). But when it comes to Emmys she's always been a bridesmaid, never the bride. Only Susan Lucci has lost as many Emmy races as Lansbury, who has been nominated 18 times. Unlike Lansbury, Lucci was nominated a 19th time and won. A dozen of Lansbury's nominations came for her portrayal of Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. Many feel that, while Lansbury's performance was masterful, Murder, She Wrote's plotting wasn't given to creating the heavy moments ideal for a submission episode. Smells like bullshit.

Played by: Lauren Graham
Years played: 2000-2007

With each passing year, Gilmore Girls love grows with every new GIF and meme the Internet nostalgia machine produces. But like so many works of genius, the dramedy went underappreciated in its own time. The lone Emmy that the gals of Star Hollow ever took home was for make-up (yes, it was for the "Festival of Living Art" episode, of course).

The challenges that faced Gilmore Girls when it came to taking home hardware were twofold: The show had a network problem and a genre problem. Believe it or not, the defunct WB was not exactly an awards powerhouse. Beyond that, was Gilmore Girls a comedy or a drama? Though the rapid-fire pop culture references would be at home in the most lively comedy, there were some heavy moments that were of a piece with weepy shows like Graham's current home, Parenthood. The show offered neither the raucous comic bits nor the melancholy monologuing often required for performers to take home Emmy gold.

Played By: Larry Hagman
Years Played: 1978-1991

Larry Hagman's J.R. Ewing is unquestionably one of the greatest villains in television history. It's hard to believe that the character that inspired the ratings-record-setting "Who Shot J.R." episode never received top Emmy honors. Though television has taken serious strides since Hagman hung up his cowboy hat, the slick charm of his performance stills impress today. From the pilot of Dallas on, Hagman creates a larger than life character with motives that are complex yet crystal clear.

He only received two Emmy bids in his 14 years playing J.R., but by that point he was used to Emmy snubs. Hagman was the leading man on I Dream of Jeanie as well, a performance that earned him a grand total of zero nominations.

Played by: Ian McShane
Years played: 2004-2006

Deadwood won a slew of Emmy's for technical excellence during the show's run. David Milch's cynical, literary western took home awards for art direction, costumes, make-up, hair, sound, and cinematography during its brief, three-season run. Never, however, did a cast member take home a statue. Despite boasting one of the strongest ensembles in television history, the only nomination the show's actors ever received came for McShane in 2005, though he went home empty-handed.

It struck us as strange at first that McShane was nominated as a lead actor, as Timothy Olyphant's Seth Bullock was clearly the show's protagonist. Then again, if we were HBO, we would have submitted McShane's scenery shredding Swearengen over Olyphant's Bullock any day of the week. Swearengen remains one of the best characters in all of television, an anti-hero who turned into something so much more.

Played by: Amy Poehler
Years played: 2009-present

Parks and Recreation has won zero Emmys so far. The ratings don't line up, but many critics feel that Parks and Recreation is the best comedy on network TV and in the running for the best on television. Rarely do you see an end of year "Best of" list that doesn't rank the show towards the top. At least Poehler can commiserate with her castmates: Nick Offerman still hasn't been nominated for Supporting Actor in a Comedy, thanks to the trio of Modern Family actors who keep him out of the running, and the rest of the cast has been similarly shut out.

Played by: Steve Carell
Years played: 2005-2013

Six nominations yielded no wins for television's favorite least favorite boss. Though Carell's turn as Michael Scott will be remembered as one of the greatest comedic performances to ever appear on the small screen, he had the misfortune of working at the same time as some of the strongest comic actors in Emmy history. Carell's losses have come at the hands of first-ballot comedy hall of famers Tony Shalhoub, Ricky Gervais, Alec Baldwin, and Jim Parsons. His fellow also-rans included Louis C.K., Larry David, and Lee Pace. If The Office had premiered just a year earlier, Carell would have faced a field of slightly less stiff competition, including Eric McCormack (Will and Grace) and Ray Ramano (Everybody Loves Raymond), and might have some statuary to go with Dunder Mifflin stationary.

Played by: Jason Alexander
Years played: 1990-1998

Working with a talented cast can be a blessing and curse. Alexander lost out on the Comedic Supporting Actor statue seven times. While he was bested once by Rip Torn and twice by David Hyde Pierce, Alexander was beaten three times by co-star Michael Richards. Jason Alexander also watched Julie Louis-Dreyfuss take home three statues for her portrayal of Elaine. Jerry Seinfeld never won for acting (and, really, nor should he have), but he did take home an Emmy for producing, leaving Alexander the only principle cast member lacking hardware.

Played by: Michael K. Williams
Years played: 2002-2008

By the time The Wire made its debut, the Academy had finally gotten comfortable with giving its big statues to pay cable. James Gandolfini and Edie Falco each came away with two awards a piece for The Sopranos. It's hard to believe that not one actor on The Wire was awarded an Emmy at any point in the show's history. The only Emmy nominations that The Wire ever received were for writing. The only major awards ever given to The Wire's actors were NAACP Image Awards. We see Stinger Bell (Idris Elba), Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), and Bunk (Wendall Pierce) as deserving nominees, but Omar remains the first in our criminal-loving hearts. The moral complexity of Omar's worldview combined with the smooth patter of his uniquely styled dialogue made him one of the most memorable characters in recent memory, in TV, movies, or anything else.

Played by: Connie Britton
Years played: 2006-2012

Hey, y'all! Even hostess with the most Tami Taylor would have trouble keeping calm in the face of this Emmy snub. Britton's portrayal of Mrs. Coach was a landmark performance that gave television an independent woman in a realistic marriage. And yet.

During her five seasons on FNL, Britton was only up for a statue twice and came away empty-handed both times. We're still bummed that her first loss was to Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer. Her next loss was to Juliana Margulies for The Good Wife, which we can live with a bit more comfortably. Britton's loss to Margulies was the same year that onscreen hubby Kyle Chandler came away with gold, which was at least some acknowledgment of the great work the two did together. The actress's Emmy drought has continued past her time in Dillon, Texas. Two years ago, her turn as Vivien Harmon in American Horror Story was passed over in favor of Julianne Moore's portrayal of Sarah Palin in Game Change.

Played by: Jon Hamm
Years played: 2007 - Present

You can't help but wonder what Emmy fate Jon Hamm would have had if Breaking Bad had come around a couple years later. Just as Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley's legacies are first defined by coinciding with His Airness, so too has Hamm's work on Mad Men been defined in relationship to Bryan Cranston. We doubt we need to spend anytime extolling the virtues of Hamm's famously smoldering, enigmatic performance, as we assume the vast majority of you are familiar. Instead, let's recount a couple other ways that the Emmy has rubbed salt in Hamm's leading man wound.

In 2011, a year in which Cranston was not nominated, Friday Night Lights came to an end. Kyle Chandler tugged the Academy's heartstrings as he reminded them that with clear eyes and a full heart (and without Bryan Cranston), he couldn't lose. The next year, when it looked like Hamm might have a shot, the fabulous first season of Homeland took the Emmys by storm, and Damien Lewis beat Cranston and Hamm.

Hamm has also been nominated as a guest actor on 30 Rock three times, only to lose in that category every time. Hamm's cohorts John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, Jared Harris, and a slew of guest actors have also been nominated for Emmys and have come up empty handed as well. Where is the love? When will it end? Likely during Mad Men's final season, when Walter White is gone.