Ray Richmond: Best Limited Series deserves more than five nominee slots, and it’s time to alter the category formula
Wherever I go, when I tell people that I work as an editor for Gold Derby, they never fail to bring up their latest binge-fest and how obsessed they were with it. “Ripley” occupied that space for several weeks, replaced by “Baby Reindeer,” then “Fellow Travelers.” Before that, I ran into a bunch of “Lessons in Chemistry” fans, and friends who were absolutely obsessed with “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.” “Fargo: Season 5” and “True Detective: Night Country” also had, and continue to have, legions of followers. And of course, “Shogun” consumed people for a good long while.
The point is that Best Limited Series has grown the past few years into the hottest and most prestigious Emmy category, and that’s especially true in 2024 with the depletion of the Best Drama Series and Best Comedy Series due to the 2023 strikes and the departure of shows like “Succession” and “Ted Lasso.” While “Shogun” smartly shifted to drama series and away from limited in order to have a better shot in a significantly weaker competitive environment, it possesses the soul of a miniseries – that is, a show that’s designed to draw eyeballs and attention from people who treat it as an event to be consumed and quickly savored rather than a long-term commitment to be swallowed a bite at a time (to take the food analogy entirely too far).
This year’s is arguably the best lineup of limited series options in history. Besides the above roster, there are also such quality productions as “Masters of the Air,” “The Sympathizer,” “The Regime,” “Griselda,” “All the Light We Cannot See,” “Under the Bridge,” “Mary and George,” “The Regime,” “We Were the Lucky Ones” and “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.” And there are others. But in terms of the Best Limited Series category itself, Emmy rules dictate that a mere handful qualify as nominees. It’s one reason why the term “limited” carries a double meaning here, because it’s limited to five slots due to the fact there are only 49 submissions this time. By contrast, Best Comedy Series and Best Drama Series each receive an automatic eight nominees no matter the number of submissions.
This, to my mind, is a flaw in the Television Academy rules that penalizes the most buzzworthy and creative category at the Emmys. Why not an automatic eight for limited, too? Given the current limitations, it’s inevitable that three worthy projects will be passed over. And that’s a shame – one that can be corrected in the future, but obviously not this time. Voting is underway, so it’s too late for that. But there’s always next year, and the year after.
It’s easy to see why limited series has grown so popular as a format. For one, it’s the perfect format for streaming, attracting new subs to services like Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+ and Peacock. And because it has a limited time frame rather than, say, a yearslong obligation, the projects are much more likely to attract big-name talent on both sides of the camera. Even Oscar winners like Robert Downey Jr. (“The Sympathizer”), Jodie Foster (“True Detective: Night Country”), Brie Larson (“Lessons in Chemistry”), Nicole Kidman (“Expats”) and Kate Winslet (“The Regime”), Julianne Moore (“Mary and George”) and Michael Douglas (“Franklin”) have gravitated to the form of late, as have Academy Award nominees including Austin Butler (“Master of the Air”), Lily Gladstone (“Under the Bridge”) and Annette Bening (“Apples Never Fall”).
The attraction of limited series to performers is obvious. They get a chance to really sink their teeth into a character and story in a much deeper way than they might on a shorter feature canvas. Too, there are so many fewer theatrical opportunities of late that the projects provide a way for actors to both stay sharp and gain valuable exposure while awaiting their next big screen gig.
This is not to at all diminish the honor of Best Drama Series. There are still several worthy contenders for that nomination list, led by “Shogun” but also including “The Crown,” “The Morning Show,” “The Gilded Age,” “Slow Horses,” “Fallout,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and “3 Body Problem,” among others. Nothing against any of those fine series, but let’s face it: it isn’t the same. The hype and glory (and big money) are embodied in a consistently more profound level in limited, and it’s time for the academy to get with the program.
My five picks for Best Limited Series mirror the top five combined odds for nomination: “Baby Reindeer,” “Fargo,” “Lessons in Chemistry,” “Ripley” and “True Detective: Night Country,” in that order. It’s a shame that deserving entries like “Fellow Travelers” and “Masters of the Air” and “Feud” are destined to get shut out.
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