Bryan Cranston. Most overrated actor in TV?

[RichA]

Sure, he was good in "Breaking Bad" because he had great material, but despite him having been in something like 100 TV shows and movies, I do not remember him in any of them.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186505/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[moviePig]

On 5/22/2016 5:04 AM, RichA wrote:
> Sure, he was good in "Breaking Bad" because he had great material, but despite him having been in something like 100 TV shows and movies, I do not remember him in any of them.
>

I think he played the dad in a popular family-comedy series...

--

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[Obveeus]

On 5/22/2016 8:54 AM, moviePig wrote:
> On 5/22/2016 5:04 AM, RichA wrote:
>> Sure, he was good in "Breaking Bad" because he had great material, but
>> despite him having been in something like 100 TV shows and movies, I
>> do not remember him in any of them.
>>
>
> I think he played the dad in a popular family-comedy series...

As well as playing a dentist in one of the best sitcoms of all time and
a troublesome boss on another...so that makes 3 TV places I can recall
him from off the top of my head other than BREAKING BAD.

[Michael OConnor]

> As well as playing a dentist in one of the best sitcoms of all time and
> a troublesome boss on another...so that makes 3 TV places I can recall
> him from off the top of my head other than BREAKING BAD.

Bryan Cranston has become the new Leslie Nielsen. I mean that in the way that he first established himself as a mediocre though successful sitcom actor, then in his early 50's did a career 180 and became a very respected and successful dramatic actor, only Leslie Nielsen was the opposite in that he went from dramatic star to comedian in his early 50's. Nielsen's case was a little different in that he didn't change his acting style one bit when he went from drama to comedy. At some point, Bryan Cranston will win an Academy Award. I don't watch sitcoms, and he first came to my attention with Breaking Bad, but he is one of the finest actors of his generation and it's a shame he had to wait so long to became a big star.

[Adam H. Kerman]

You don't watch sitcoms, but you went out of your way to inform us that
Cranston "first established himself as a mediocre though successful
sitcom actor" without actually having seen the performance that you
claimed to dislike.

What an asshole you are.

[RichA]

Except he ISN'T one of the finest actors. There is nothing naturalistic about his performances.

[Ed Stasiak]

> RichA

>
> Sure, he was good in "Breaking Bad" because he had great material

I have yet to finish watching “Trumbo” but he seemed to be pretty good
in that and he was obviously great in “BB” and while I’ve only seen
scattered episodes of “Malcolm In The Middle”, he was also really
good in that.

[RichA]

I honestly don't think anyone was great (good, sure) in "Breaking Bad" except for the woman who played his wife. His partner Aaron Paul was one-note too. He's practically playing the same role again in "The Path."

[skate...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, May 22, 2016 at 3:04:21 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote:
> Sure, he was good in "Breaking Bad" because he had great material, but despite him having been in something like 100 TV shows and movies, I do not remember him in any of them.
>
> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186505/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I know this is an old post, but I can't believe it's basically the only place I've found that's critical of Cranston at all, just like I can't believe how overhyped his BB acting was. I came here because I just started watching Sneaky Pete on Amazon, and enjoy most of it, with the biggest exception being Cranston. You're right, there's nothing naturalistic in his style. In BB, the many times his character had to make up a lie on the spot, he played it like a Simpsons character, or Lovitz's Pathological Liar. And yeah, Aaron Paul was also one note. The writing made that series, not the acting.

[Rhino]

On 2016-05-22 9:03 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>
>
> On 5/22/2016 8:54 AM, moviePig wrote:
>> On 5/22/2016 5:04 AM, RichA wrote:
>>> Sure, he was good in "Breaking Bad" because he had great material, but
>>> despite him having been in something like 100 TV shows and movies, I
>>> do not remember him in any of them.
>>>
>>
>> I think he played the dad in a popular family-comedy series...

That was Malcolm in the Middle, which ran 8 or 9 seasons, give or take.

>
> As well as playing a dentist in one of the best sitcoms of all time and
> a troublesome boss on another...so that makes 3 TV places I can recall
> him from off the top of my head other than BREAKING BAD.
>

He also played Buzz Aldrin in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the
Moon. I believe I saw him in Malcolm in the Middle before I acquired
From the Earth to the Moon; I remember being surprised that he had done
drama.

--
Rhino

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[junebug]

Bryan Cranston recently did an HBO movie called "All The Way" where he portrayed President Lyndon Johnson. "All The Way With LBJ" was the campaign slogan. If you grew up in the '60s like me, you will be blown away by his performance. He didn't play LBJ, he WAS LBJ, it was that convincing. He was nominated for the performance but sadly didn't win the Emmy.

[phw...@gmail.com]

I have made an effort to like Cranston as an actor. It's difficult. He's a classic "ham". He overacts consistantly, which some people view as good acting. Someone noted his career as mediocre until he landed BB. I agree with this observation. Good writing and direction made him a star, not his acting skill. And someones noted his great portrayel of LBJ. I couldn't disagree more. He was so "over the top" I couldn't sit through it. Sorry, he is and always will be a HAM!

PW

[FPP]

On 7/9/17 7:43 AM, phw...@gmail.com wrote:
> I have made an effort to like Cranston as an actor. It's difficult. He's a classic "ham". He overacts consistantly, which some people view as good acting. Someone noted his career as mediocre until he landed BB. I agree with this observation. Good writing and direction made him a star, not his acting skill. And someones noted his great portrayel of LBJ. I couldn't disagree more. He was so "over the top" I couldn't sit through it. Sorry, he is and always will be a HAM!
>
> PW
>

He was in 62 episodes of Breaking Bad. They were written by many
different writers, and directed by many different directors.

He must be one lucky son-of-a-bitch if all those people made him look good!

--
"Do we really want to give nuclear weapons to somebody whose "signature
move" is firing things? " - J Whedon.

[trotsky]

On 7/9/2017 7:07 AM, FPP wrote:
> On 7/9/17 7:43 AM, phw...@gmail.com wrote:
>> I have made an effort to like Cranston as an actor. It's difficult.
>> He's a classic "ham". He overacts consistantly, which some people view
>> as good acting. Someone noted his career as mediocre until he landed
>> BB. I agree with this observation. Good writing and direction made
>> him a star, not his acting skill. And someones noted his great
>> portrayel of LBJ. I couldn't disagree more. He was so "over the top" I
>> couldn't sit through it. Sorry, he is and always will be a HAM!
>>
>> PW
>>
>
> He was in 62 episodes of Breaking Bad. They were written by many
> different writers, and directed by many different directors.
>
> He must be one lucky son-of-a-bitch if all those people made him look good!

I kept on waiting for Hugh Laurie to win an Emmy for House and every
year it went to Cranston. Now we know why!

[Ed Stasiak]

> FPP

>
> He was in 62 episodes of Breaking Bad.  They were written by many
> different writers, and directed by many different directors.
>
> He must be one lucky son-of-a-bitch if all those people made him look good!

Indeed, but while some actors are clearly more talented then others,
in the end I feel it comes down to what the writer wrote.

Even Laurence Olivier couldn’t make this scene work…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc0-wSQd-LQ

[shawn]

On Sun, 9 Jul 2017 06:13:17 -0700 (PDT), Ed Stasiak <esta...@att.net>
wrote:

Doesn't get any better when you see the longer scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxxj4I4_2Ek

[Michael OConnor]

> > He was in 62 episodes of Breaking Bad. They were written by many
> > different writers, and directed by many different directors.
> >
> > He must be one lucky son-of-a-bitch if all those people made him look good!
>
>
> I kept on waiting for Hugh Laurie to win an Emmy for House and every
> year it went to Cranston. Now we know why!

One of the great things about the writing on Breaking Bad is that it almost felt like all the scripts for the entire series had been written before the first episode was ever shot. Not once did I ever feel like the writers had written themselves into a corner, and had to come up with a weird contrived way to get them out of the predicament. I always felt the writers were one step ahead of me at all times. One example was the time when Walt and Jesse were trapped inside the RV at the junk yard with Hank outside, and I was wondering how they were going to get out of this one, the solution was not only brilliant, but made me laugh out loud. When Hank figured out what Jesse did to get out of it, his response was even funnier to watch. Also, they would foreshadow incidents that would happen a season or two in the future, like the planes colliding in the air above Albuquerque, with the snippets of the stuffed animal in the pool. It felt like they had the entire show mapped out from the start.

Cranston was a good choice to play White; he was Vince Gilligan's first choice to play the part, but AMC wanted John Cusack to play White, which I thought would have been awful. I don't think Cusack would have had that evil side to him. Gilligan worked with Cranston on an episode of the X Files he directed and had to fight to get him the role. Among contemporary actors, I think either James Spader or Jeff Goldblum would have been just as good in the role of White, maybe Lawrence Fishburne too if he had been cast as African American. Two other actors who would have been great as Walter White if the series had been made 15-20 years earlier would have been John Lithgow or Christopher Lloyd.

[Neill Massello]

Ed Stasiak <esta...@att.net> wrote:

> Even Laurence Olivier couldn't make this scene work…
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc0-wSQd-LQ

Ah, the exquisite subtlety of Ken Russell.

[trotsky]

Gilligan had written some of the best X-Files scripts, so I would expect
BB's writing to be at a very high level too.

[Your Name]

I've only ever seen him in a couple of "Malcolm in the Middle"
episodes, so don't really know how good or not he is.

There are plenty of over-rated actors though:
- glasses-on-glassess-off in "CSI: Miami"
- Quitopher Etchedinstone and Peter Crapaldi in revived "Doctor Who"
- Slyvester McPoirot in original "Doctor Who"
- Matt LeBlank in everything he's ever done
- Seven-of-Ugly in "Star Trek: Voyager"
- virtually every New Zealand "actor"
- David Hasshoff in everything except the original "Knight Rider"
- William Shatner in everything except the original "Star Trek"
- ...

Then of course there's the world record holder for being an awful
actor: Tom Cruise.

[alvey]

On Mon, 10 Jul 2017 09:00:27 +1200, Your Name wrote:


>
> There are plenty of over-rated actors though:

> - virtually every New Zealand "actor"

I assume that the exceptions are;
Crowe being terrific in Romper Stomper and Sam Neill being a solid pro.

Speaking of NZ... I've watched the first 10 minutes of S01E01 of 'NZ
Underbelly'. What a hoot! Or more apecifically, 'hooters'. Not one, but two
gratuitous scenes of bonking and boobs in those 10 minutes.

>
> Then of course there's the world record holder for being an awful
> actor: Tom Cruise.

Speaking of awful actors... A plug here for Bérénice Marlohe. Saw her in
the enjoyably atrocious 'Revolt'. IMDB tells me that she's been in some
other films & TV, most notably Skyfall. I can only assume they were all
non-speaking bit parts.



alvey
Unable to recall what 'action babes' wore prior to the invention of the
sports singlet.