2023 Emmy Predictions: The Limited Contenders for Limited or Anthology Series

Variety exclusively announced this week (through a lot of groan-worthy meat puns) that Netflix’s Beef would compete in the limited or anthology series race at the 2023 Emmy Awards.

Honestly, that shift made a lot of sense despite later confusion about the appropriateness of that move. More on that later. Beef, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, is an emotional thrill ride, a pitch-black comedy of bad manners that explores, among other things, all the frustrations and expectations placed on children of American immigrants and the adverse effects of those seemingly inescapable expectations. I’m not a huge fan of the final few episodes and the elaborately dark turns they take, but I cannot deny the brilliantly honest performances of Yeun and Wong. Critics loved the series with audiences very much liking (if perhaps not uniformly loving) what they saw based on Rotten Tomatoes ratings.

The big question to me was always whether or not Beef could compete in the perhaps unexpectedly competitive comedy race. A former multiple winner and past nominees already seem poised to fill most of the available eight slots. Ted Lasso. Abbott Elementary. Only Murders in the Building. What We Do In the Shadows. Barry. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Then, we have FX’s new “comedy” sensation The Bear (hugely beloved at the winter guild season). That leaves a single slot for Shrinking, Wednesday, Poker Face, and Beef among others. So Netflix wisely chose to remove Beef from the comedy conversation and submit it in the limited or anthology series race. The combination of less competition and a lack of an approved second season likely seemed irresistible to the streamer, looking for as many competitive Emmy races as possible.

But will it stick?

True, Netflix hasn’t ordered a second season yet, but series creator Lee Sung Jin certainly seems to want to continue the story of Ali Wong and Steven Yeun’s Amy and Danny. In a recent Rolling Stone article under the inconvenient subheading “This was not designed as a miniseries,” Jin explains his vision for the series. It does not appear to be the Asian American take on Ryan Murphy’s Feud (ie – different actors each season with their own Beef). Instead, he has a trajectory mapped out for Amy and Danny.

Even if Netflix doesn’t approve a second season prior to the 2023 Emmy Phase 1 voting window, would this statement be enough to disqualify the series from limited or anthology consideration? Will the Television Academy force Beef into the comedy series race? Personally, I hope not. Let the question of whether or not there will be a second season sit for a while.

The limited or anthology series race needs the fresh meat.

See? I can do bad Beef puns too!

Honestly, the limited or anthology series race should be dominated by AppleTV+’s masterful Hurricane Katrina series Five Days at Memorial. I’m already on record about the series and where it should land in the Emmy race. However, the winter awards season was not kind to the emotional and harrowing series which won only a single guild award for its visual effects. No nominations for directors John Ridley, Carlton Cuse, or Wendey Stanzler. No nominations for Ridley and Cuse’s carefully constructed scripts. No recognition for the outstanding ensemble led by Vera Farmiga and Cherry Jones. It’s as if the series literally didn’t exist. I’m an optimist, so I remain eternally hopeful the Television Academy will rectify these injustices. The series deserves more than a nomination. It deserves the win.

Instead, we’re looking at an Emmy limited or anthology series race dominated by the strangest assortment of contenders I’ve perhaps ever seen. Last year, nothing could beat The White Lotus. The year before, The Queen’s Gambit faced stiff competition from Mare of Easttown, I May Destroy You, The Underground Railroad, and WandaVision. That was a race… Or the year before when Chernobyl (another hugely impactful disaster limited series) justly triumphed against other very strong series such as Escape at Dannemora, Fosse/Verdon, Sharp Objects, and When They See Us. For years, Emmy watchers loudly proclaimed the limited or anthology series races the most compelling of the Emmys.

This year just doesn’t feel like it has that same flair.

Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer limited series quietly premiered last fall to wildly mixed reviews. Still, it became a massive hit for Netflix largely thanks to TikTok and an international viewer base fascinated by the Dahmer case which wasn’t as broadly publicized overseas as it was here. Even when it premiered, for all those who proclaimed Evan Peters the frontrunner, most deemed a series nomination a long shot. Now, Dahmer could be our frontrunner to win.

AppleTV+’s Black Bird probably felt like the better, sexier Emmy contender which likely diverted their campaign attention from Five Days. They’re probably not wrong. Critical and audience ratings were both through the roof, and co-star Paul Walter Hauser picked up two wins at the 2023 Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. That’s a strong pedigree on which to build an Emmy campaign. In addition, they have the legacy of the late, great Ray Liotta to honor and an omnipresent star in Taron Egerton who recently starred in the well received Tetris, also airing on…. yup… AppleTV+.

Amazon’s Daisy Jones and the Six didn’t initially feel like a contender. Reviews were middling at best when the limited series first premiered, and the wonderful 70s aura didn’t feel exactly “of the moment” or a particularly urgent series to which the Television Academy should pay attention. But attitudes can shift in funny ways when viewers get involved in a series. People seem to really love Daisy Jones. They also seem to really love the soundtrack, which Amazon recently gifted to critics and Emmy voters on super-hip vinyl. Don’t count this one out even if it doesn’t feel like a top-tier contender right now. If last-minute entries falter (as happens every year, which I’ll talk about in a second), then Daisy Jones could be in the race.

There are other limited or anthology series that have already premiered this Emmy season that could factor into the conversation. This Is Going To Hurt. Fleishman Is In Trouble. George & Tammy. Tiny Beautiful Things. Welcome to Chippendales. A Friend of the Family. Even American Horror Story could come back. But the last few slots are more likely to come from some upcoming high profile series. Granted, it’s always a dangerous game to play when television studios wait until the last minute to premiere their big guns. Just ask Amazon (The Underground Railroad‘s Emmy reception, while still nominated, was far more muted than expected) or FX (Under the Banner of Heaven) or even HBO (The Staircase anyone?). Shoving quality content into the end of the Emmy eligibility window is a tough challenge to hoist on the Television Academy. There’s a lot of content, and they simply can’t watch everything, least of all a multi-episode limited series that premieres mere weeks before voting begins.

That said, there are a handful of projects that may prove difficult to ignore. HBO looks strong with two contenders in Love & Death (starring Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons) and White House Plumbers from the brains behind HBO’s celebrated Veep. Amazon has the David Cronenberg reboot Dead Ringers starring near-certain Emmy nominee Rachel Weiss as twin gynecologists. Paramount+ is betting on the recent 80s-throwback love for Top Gun: Maverick with its reboot / retooling of its own 1987 film Fatal Attraction. And who knows? Maybe fascination with the great Hannah Waddingham will intrigue Emmy voters in her Tom Jones reimagining on PBS.

Stranger things have happened.

We’ll revisit the limited or anthology series race once all contenders have been widely seen. But until then, until the Television Academy says otherwise, it looks like the Beef move to limited or anthology series was… well done.

I can’t help myself.