From Big Little Lies to Fargo to American Crime Story the Outstanding Limited Series category has consistently celebrated some of the best shows on TV at the Emmys. Five years ago, largely inspired by the work of Ryan Murphy, the Emmys even separated limited series and tv movies into their own program awards. Now in a year with 44 submissions, voters have more than enough anthologies and miniseries to choose from but surprisingly nothing is really sticking with voters. Critics haven’t rallied behind any specific show, audiences and fans aren’t throwing support towards anything specific, and no show really has the star power of a Jessica Lange or Nicole Kidman.
Usually, critics groups and ratings give at least some sense of consensus but this year they’ve shown just how wide-open the limited series race is shaping up to be. A quick ranking of Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes scores (as well as their user ratings) gave completely different lists with American Vandal being the only show to make an appearance on all four lists. Shows like Alias Grace and The Sinner are much more popular on Rotten Tomatoes while Howard’s End is more popular at Metacritic. Patrick Melrose was popular with critics but loathed by users. This only proves that at this point any limited series has a chance to walk away with the Emmy.
The Likely Contenders
The Outstanding Limited Series category wouldn’t be complete without some sort of Ryan Murphy project and 2018 is no exception. The highly anticipated second installment of American Crime Story premiered with The Assassination of Gianni Versace. The premiere was well-received by fans and critics but the overall reaction came across as muted compared to the phenomenon that was the first season. It will be interesting to see if Gianni Versace carries as much weight with voters as OJ Simpson did especially with plenty of award-worthy performances from Darren Criss, Edgar Ramirez, Penelope Cruz, and Judith Light.
Edgar Ramirez, The Assassination of Gianni Versace
In some ways, much like in the first season of Crime Story, the title character ended up playing second fiddle to far more brilliant suns. But its hard to imagine the series working as well as it did without Ramirez to anchor it. As he played an iconic fashion designer, struggling with his relationship, deal with being HIV positive, trying to find a way for his sister to find her muse, and slowly climb himself back to life all the while knowing that he would face a horrible demise, Ramirez managed to hit all the right notes as this man who was born too early and died too soon. It’s hard to imagine the rest of the leads won’t get nominated, but Ramirez earned it.
It’s been awhile. But with the Emmy Nominations being announced next week (July 12th) myself, Michael Schwartz and the returning Ryan C. Showers are back with our final Emmy Nomination Predictions for Next Best Series Episode 4. | 5 July 2018
Darren Criss barely looks like he’s aged a day since “Glee,” but the “Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” star is 31 years old — definitely not old, but not a whippersnapper either. But if he takes home the Emmy for Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actor, he’d be the second youngest to prevail in the category.
Criss wouldn’t come close to dethroning the youngest winner, Anthony Murphy, who was 17 when he won for “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” in 1973. It was Murphy’s first and only acting role; he’s now a painter. No one has won the category in their 20s. Eleven people have won in their 30s, including reigning champ Riz Ahmed(“The Night Of”), who was 34. Criss would bump down Peter Strauss (“The Jericho Mile”) and Powers Boothe (“Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones”), who were both 32 when they won in 1979 and 1980, respectively.
Not unlike the Oscars, the Emmys favor older actors, and one-off programs like miniseries and TV movies tend to attract or are written for veterans or established stars. Most limited series/TV movie actor champs are middle-aged or older.
Criss has been sitting pretty atop our predictions for his turn as Andrew Cunanan, who was 27 when he went on his cross-country murder spree, culminating with the killing of Gianni Versace. It’s a haunting, unnerving performance that’s a complete 180 from Blaine Anderson, but could age bias — not to mention the “Slap the Stud” syndrome — hurt him? In 2014, his fellow Ryan Murphy player Matt Bomer, then 36, was favored to win for his supporting turn in “The Normal Heart,” but was upset by Martin Freeman, then 42, for “Sherlock: His Last Vow.”
That same year, Freeman’s co-star Benedict Cumberbatch, then 38, won in lead. Cumberbatch is back in the hunt this year for “Patrick Melrose” and has risen to fourth in our predictions, with multiple Experts, Editors and Top 24 Users picking his performance as the title character, a suicidal drug addict, to triumph.
But maybe Ahmed’s victory last year — over the likes of Cumberbatch, Robert De Niro, Geoffrey Rush, Ewan McGregor and John Turturro — will usher in a new era of younger actors claiming Emmy gold. They’re no less deserving than older and/or bold-named stars. In fact, if all goes as predicted, Criss wouldn’t even be the youngest nominee in the category: Michael B. Jordan (“Fahrenheit 451”), currently in fifth place, is four days younger than him.
Contributors Zach Laws, Riley Chow and Amanda Spears debate the Emmy races for Best Limited Series, Movie, Movie/Limited Writing and Movie/Limited Directing. | 4 July 2018
Okay, it wasn’t at the level of People Vs. O.J. Simpson. But the second season of American Crime Story did have some of the more memorable performances of the year. And by operating in reverse chronology, we got to see a lot clearer what drove Andrew Cunanan to become the monster he was — something we never saw for O.J. Simpson. The series took on the issue of homosexuality in a far darker and more realistic way than we’ve come to expect from Ryan Murphy and company, and in its own way, it was as relevant as Simpson was in 2016. We still had a harder time looking at the title victim, but considering how closely we viewed all the other victims — including Cunanan himself — it was hardly lacking. The odds on favorite to win this year.
One of the most dominant and fascinating performances for the entire year, Criss did something that even the greatest television has rarely been able to do: put you in the mind of a psychopath. The reverse unfolding of the series showed us just how Andrew Cunanan went from a gay rent-boy to a serial killer. He never quite earned our sympathy — he was just too deranged a personality to accomplish that — but through Criss’ portrayal we saw that in many ways, Cunanan was as broken and damaged as the victims he killed. The fact that Criss managed to do all this while making us forget the memorable portrayal of Blaine in Murphy’s Glee demonstrated just how great a talent he is. Probably the front-runner for the Emmy.
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace” will be the latest Ryan Murphy show to dominate the acting races at the Emmys, according to Gold Derby’s predictions. FX’s anthology series is forecasted to top all other limited series/TV movies with four acting bids, for lead Darren Criss and supporting players Penelope Cruz, Judith Light and Edgar Ramirez. Not to outdone, two other limited series — Netflix’s “Godless” and Hulu’s “The Looming Tower” — are predicted to walk away with three acting noms apiece.
Gold Derby’s racetrack odds are derived from the predictions made by Expert journalists, website staff Editors, our Top Users who scored the best predicting previous events, and all site Users. The Emmy nominations will be unveiled July 12.
Here’s the breakdown of each limited series/TV movie that’s predicted to earn two or more acting nominations at the 2018 Emmys:
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace” – 4 acting predictions Movie/Mini Actor Darren Criss Movie/Mini Supporting Actress Penelope Cruz Movie/Mini Supporting Actress Judith Light Movie/Mini Supporting Actor Edgar Ramirez
Tuned In podcast: Post-Gazette online features editor Sharon Eberson, TV writer Rob Owen and media writer Maria Sciullo discuss possible Emmy nominations, “Glow” and “Younger.” | 3 July 2018
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