Unlike its sister categories, Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series, the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series has just five slots to fill. That means a competitive race that always leaves some worthy programs on the outside looking in. The good news for potential contenders is that “The White Lotus” has graduated to Drama Series, and the category is the most wide-open it’s been in years.
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The most watched contender of the field is Netflix’s smash “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” which wasn’t a critical hit but earned a number of year-end guild nominations, including a PGA Award nomination. Apple TV+‘s “Black Bird” and FX‘s “Fleishman in Trouble” received more critical love, and each found some guild love here and there over the past few months. Showtime‘s “George & Tammy” arrived in December and already saw star Jessica Chastain win a super competitive SAG Award field.
Netflix’s smart decision to properly submit “Beef” into this category makes it a likely nominee as opposed to the Comedy Series field which is much more competitive.
Prime Video has a number of potential contenders for the final slot, including “Daisy Jones and The Six,” “The English,” “Swarm,” and “Dead Ringers.” HBO will hope the currently unseen “White House Plumbers” or HBO Max original “Love and Death” keep their four-year streak in the category alive. FX has “The Patient,” while Hulu is hoping “Welcome to Chippendales” is remembered fondly enough to make the cut. Can AMC remind Television Academy members of the critic’s favorite “This Is Going to Hurt”? Could NatGeo‘s Anne Frank drama “A Small Light” surprise? Ponder.
Here’s a look at the contenders and pretenders as of April 12.
Likely
“Beef”
“Black Bird”
“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”
“George and Tammy”
Almost There
“Daisy Jones and the Six”
“The English”
“Fleishman in Trouble”
“Love and Death”
“The Patient”
“Swarm”
“This Is Going to Hurt”
“Welcome to Chippendales”
“White House Plumbers”*
Longshots
“A Small Light”
“Dead Ringers”*
“Great Expectations”
“Irma Vep”
“Tiny Beautiful Things”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities”
“Obi-Wan Kenobi”
*This program has not been screened at publication.