Emmy Analysis: A close race in Outstanding Writing for Limited Series or TV Movie

The Film Experience Team takes a look at the episode submissions for all the major Emmy categories.

by Cláudio Alves 

Unlike the Drama and Comedy writing categories at the Emmys, the Limited Series or TV Movie one can find entire seasons competing against solo episodes or single films. In the recent past, individual chapters of Sherlock and Black Mirror, classified as TV movies, won out against juggernaut series such as Fargo and Big Little Lies. This year, there are no such "movies" nominees. Indeed, despite six slots, only four series are recognized across the board. Wandavision is the nomination leader as well as the only show competing with single episodes instead of seasons. Indeed, with three nods, it thus becomes only the second limited series to score triple writing nods in the same year. The first one was American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson. That Ryan Murphy show won in 2016, despite the threat of vote splitting, and maybe the Disney+ program can do the same. Let's take a look at the nominees…

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Team Experience Emmy Reactions

Hope y'all aren't done talking about the Emmy nods yet. Abe, Cláudio, Juan Carlos, Chris and myself got together to share our reactions to Tuesday's Emmy nominations. From our disappointments about the snubs (sorry about Small Axe, Cláudio) to our individual joys (Carlos remains the world's biggest Handmaid's Tale fan) and our suggestions about how to improve the system (I explain why ranked ballots are the only way to go in the conversation).

Have a watch and share your own reactions, now that the dust has settled.

• Which snubs are still irritating you? 
• Which shows will you know be watching to see what the big deal is? 
• Who do you think will win the hot-hot-hot miniseries category?
• Who are you rooting for? 

Emmy Nominations Are Here!

By Abe Friedtanzer

Nominations for the 73rd Emmys have been announced, and while it was nice to see short clips of each of the program nominees, the gimmick of having father and daughter, Ron Cephas Jones and Jasmine Cephas Jones, announce together would have worked considerably better if they had been in the same place and not experiencing a delayed reaction to their joke setups. But let’s move on to the nominees, which are mostly good but sure to reveal painful snubs as we break it down by category. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that The Crown is the nominations leader with 24 bids, but it did tie with The Mandalorian, which added to its technical total with a few acting, directing, and writing bids.

It took me until I got into the details of the limited series/anthology categories to realize that Small Axe was almost entirely shut out, earning only a cinematography mention. I think that has more to do with its questionable TV format, though that didn’t stop Hamilton from gobbling up a horrifying seven acting slots. Another underperformer was Girls5eva, which managed exactly one nomination, for writing. It was also a sad day for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which didn’t score any of the major bids I and others thought it might. That presumed domination by a few series in the supporting categories absolutely happened, though there were a few positive and unexpected inclusions thrown in. Let’s take a closer look at the categories our Emmy team predicted (plus the guest races) and go from there...

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Emmy Watch: Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

By Nathaniel R

Whoopi Goldberg in "The Stand"

The Emmy nominations are just under two weeks away so soon we'll have actual shortlists to discuss rather than speculation. But let's wrap up the acting categories with a discussion of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series Or Movie. This category isn't quite as heavy on honoring a single show as the parallel supporting actor category tends to be -- we'll generally get two nominees from one series here (though last year Mrs America took up half the list). According to Emmy ballots there are 116 women in the running which means there will be 6 nominees which has become the standard for this category.

MOVIES
Though this category includes stand-alone movies made for television, and stage shows that were filmed,  there's generally little room in the nominee circle for performances that weren't in limited series. It's been three years since a live event muscled in here (Sara Bareilles in Jesus Christ Superstar: Live in Concert) and four years since an actress from a standalone telefilm was nominated (Michelle Pfeiffer in Wizard of Lies)...

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Emmys Watch: Will Anya Taylor-Joy win in the crowded Lead Actress in a Limited Series category?

Our team is breaking down the top contenders in all the major Emmy races and highlighting some of our favorites over the next few weeks. 

So far, Anya Taylor-Joy has won the Golden Globe, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award for "The Queen's Gambit." Is an Emmy next?By: Christopher James

The limited series field became the go-to place for stories about women this past year. Great performances from Oscar winning actresses go head to head with buzzy, zeitgeisty performances from rising stars. There’s no shortage of contenders, but a shortage of slots. Only five women will earn nominations when they are announced on July 13th. Perennial winner Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) will likely show up. Will she win though once up again Oscar winner Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown)? Could a critical favorite like Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You) or Thuso Mbedu (The Underground Railroad) surprise? Or will they end up as a shocking snub?

Read on to see who might be in contention this year...

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