BETTER THAN ‘US’
Brown should follow Cranston’s star path
IS it time for Sterling K. Brown to plan his exit from “This Is Us”?
The magnetic actor is unstoppable. In 2018 so far, his performance as Randall Pearson on the NBC tearjerker has won him a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild award and a third prize from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. He already has two Emmy Awards (for “This Is Us” and “The People
v. O.J. Simpson”). His emotional acceptance speeches have rallied audiences to applaud his triumph as an African-American breaking down boundaries.
The last actor on TV to rack up this many trophies in such quick succession was Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad.” And we know what happened to him. He went on to one victory after another: an Oscar nomination for “Trumbo,” a Tony award for “All the Way.”
Even though Brown, 41, has declared his loyalty to “This Is Us,” telling The Post in 2017, “I’ll ride it ’til the wheels fall off,” it can’t be long before he follows in Cranston’s star-making footsteps. While “Breaking Bad” maintained its edge over five seasons, winning several awards as Best Drama Series, Brown’s show has peaked creatively, with the actor receiving his best material in Season 1. As everyone has figured out by now, the big-hearted Brown is the best thing about “This Is Us,” but he’s also better than the show, which has allowed itself to devolve from sensitive family drama into a soap opera about a ghost. The specter of saintly dad Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) still haunted Tuesday’s season finale, which was about Kate Pearson’s (Chrissy Metz) wedding to Toby Damon (Chris Sullivan) after many terrible problems. Perhaps it was fortunate that Brown was relegated to the background with Randall playing wedding coordinator because the show’s reliance on flashbacks and obsession with death has become bizarre and boring. Small wonder then that Brown looked so revived in his role as a guest host on “Saturday Night
Live” last weekend. How many TV tears does one actor have to shed?
We realize we may be jumping the gun here. Television history is rife with actors who left their hit shows too soon, only to find they weren’t as hot as we thought they were. In 1994, David Caruso famously left “NYPD Blue” after one season and went through a tough time trying to branch out into movies and eventually taking the lead role in “CSI: Miami.” But that was during a different era, when it was much more difficult for actors to make the transition. By the time George Clooney left “ER” after five seasons (1994-99), the industry had become smarter about recognizing the star quality in so-called TV actors and his crossover was relatively painless.
Now, as Cranston has proven, there are very few boundaries left. Brown’s ascension comes at a time when Hollywood is hurting for the kind of eloquent leading man who can become the next Denzel Washington or the next Gary Oldman, to name two of this year’s Oscar nominees and one eventual winner. It’s time for Brown to join their ranks.