Duchovny, Baldwin share thoughts on TV

LOS ANGELES - For some actors, winning an Emmy seems to be simple. For Ted Danson, it took eight seasons to win one for “Cheers.”

With the nominations for this year’s awards set to be announced on July 17, eight actors — all with major primetime TV series roles — gathered for a provocative discussion of the Emmys and their careers.

The lineup: Danson (FX’s “Damages”), Alec Baldwin (NBC’s “30 Rock”), David Duchovny (Showtime’s “Californication”), Mark Harmon (CBS’ “NCIS”), David Spade (CBS’ “Rules of Engagement”), Neil Patrick Harris (CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother”), Bryan Cranston (AMC’s “Breaking Bad”) and Rainn Wilson (NBC’s “The Office”).

The Hollywood Reporter: Only Ted has tasted Emmy victory. What was that like?

Ted Danson: The first time I won (in 1990), they had a cartoon present me the award. It was one of the Simpsons. And that was after I’d lost eight straight times. You change suits. You care. You don’t care. You write a speech. You don’t write a speech. Then there’s the phone call back home to the kids: “No, I didn’t win. But it’s OK, really. I had a great evening.”

THR: David, did you have a great evening when you were nominated for “Just Shoot Me” in 1999?

David Spade: I actually remember my Golden Globe loss that year more than my Emmy loss. I got beat by Gregory Peck. That prick! And he came out of nowhere!

David Duchovny: And as I recall, wasn’t he already dead at the time?

Spade: He died on the way to the podium. He said, like, “I can’t believe I won this award for my 90-second cameo.” And I’m like, “Me, too!”

THR: Actually, Ellen Burstyn was nominated two years ago for an 11-second cameo in the HBO movie “Mrs. Harris.”

Rainn Wilson: Yes, but she was great. Ten of those seconds were pure magic.

THR: Bryan and Ted, you both made major inroads with audiences in comedic roles, but now you’re thriving in drama series on cable. Was it a tough sell for you to make those changes?

Bryan Cranston: Not in my case. I mean, actors just love to act. The only thing I think we really concern ourselves with is not being pigeonholed in any one thing. We look for the well-rounded opportunity, and “Breaking Bad” was surely that. I’d once guested on David’s show “The X-Files” 10 years ago, when Vince Gilligan was a producer over there. Fortunately, he remembered me when he was putting together his new show. He was my champion to get this role from the beginning.

Danson: I’m sure my agent and my manager pursued it for me. But when you see writing like this show has, and a star like Glenn Close, and a network that takes chances like FX, I felt lucky landing the part. You always go for the good writing.

THR: David, you’re also on cable — do you feel a greater sense of creative freedom as actors working on cable shows?

Duchovny: Having the full flower of the English language tends to be good for comedy. It’s a treat as an actor to be able to actually speak in a role the way one speaks in life.

Cranston: It’s different for David because he’s on the premium channel. On AMC, they actually give us a limit of how many “s---s” or “f---s” we can use each week. You negotiate it. If we say “s--t” once in an hour, we might get two “f---s.”

Duchovny: At Showtime with “Californication,” we actually have more freedom than they do in a movie. You get an R rating with two “f---s.”

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Danson: The language thing is really kind of the tip of the iceberg. On cable, you get to explore things without having to worry about a common denominator. There’s no worry about advertisers objecting, or turning off a segment of your audience by the subject matter or point of view, or having to be concerned that your hero isn’t always being heroic. Bad people can do good things. Good people can do bad things. You get to show the shades of gray.

THR: Showtime’s motto is “No Limits,” right?

Duchovny: Yes, but we found the limit last year on our show when we were going to do an episode about a woman who ejaculates fiercely on four people. We actually shot it. But Showtime nixed it.

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