Emmy FYC: The cast of "Small Axe"

by Cláudio Alves

As Christopher James mentioned in his overview of the Limited Series Emmy race, much of the discourse surrounding Small Axe has focused on categorization. Is it TV or cinema? To be perfectly blunt, I don't care. Indeed, it's been pretty disheartening to see how so much energy was spent debating this matter instead of simply appreciating the work. To me, the five Small Axe films are a miracle of audiovisual expression and historical narrative, perchance Steve McQueen's most important masterpiece. When it came time to write these Emmy FYCs, I jumped at the chance of singing the anthology's praise. Honestly, the only problem was singling out just one element to promote.

While I could just as happily have written about Shabier Kirchner's luminous cinematography or the sensuous textures of Jacqueline Durran's costumes, I've decided to focus on the actors…

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Emmys Watch: The Embarrassment of Riches in Outstanding Limited Series

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. Today, we’re looking at Outstanding Limited Series.

Will recent hit "Mare of Easttown" be able to dethrone Emmy favorite "The Queen's Gambit?"

By Christopher James

The Outstanding Limited Series category is perhaps the most competitive category of the year. Shows like The Queen’s Gambit, Mare of Easttown and WandaVision commanded the most (virtual) water cooler chatter of the past year. Even with all this abundance of quality, only five shows can make the cut, compared to eight nominees in the series categories. Prestige TV, streaming sensations and genre favorites all combine in the limited series category. This isn’t the first time that Limited Series has been more competitive than the ongoing series categories. The past decade has seen a modern renaissance of the form, with American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, Big Little Lies and When They See Us as recent examples of incredible and incredibly popular TV. Big stars have also been swayed to this form, primarily because of the rich stories told combined with the less stringent time commitment. This year is no different.

Read on to see what shows are in contention this year... 

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Emmy Watch: Outstanding TV Movie

by Juan Carlos Ojano

In a year when most categories saw the number of their submissions drop, the Outstanding TV Movie category stands out as one of the few that actually had an increase in submissions (41 submissions from last year’s 28). On the flipside, this year saw even less high-profile contenders, adding to the growing indifference towards this category. Perhaps last year’s winner Bad Education set a high bar in how a “TV movie” can be received critically, faring well even in traditional film awards. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to blur what is considered a film and television, with streaming services now arbitrarily pushing some for Oscars and some for Emmys.

This year, let’s take a look at the field of contenders that we have (per platform)...

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FYC: A conversation about "Mare of Easttown" and the great Kate Winslet

As an FYC for all things Mare of Easttown, Eric and Nathaniel got together for a conversation about what a rich viewing experience the HBO miniseries was. 

ERIC BLUME: Nathaniel, now that Mare of Easttown has wrapped, I'm sure viewers will want to talk about it, least of all because it features Kate Winslet giving one of the greatest performances of her life.  But more on that later.  First, let's talk about overall impressions of the show.  While it certainly has its flaws, one of the things I loved about it the most was its capture of small details in the lives of the characters and the setting.  I spent the first 18 years of my life in Pennsylvania, and the show captures so many of the nuances of PA life.  I loved how everyone was a cousin (cousins are a thing in PA); how people just walked into the front door of the homes of their friends; how everyone has a nickname (Lori is mostly called "Lor"). 

The production design was incredible. Every home, exterior and interior, looks like the house a middle-class Pennsylvania person lives in.  Jean Smart's afghan alone should win that team an Emmy...

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Emmy FYC: "For All Mankind" for Drama Series

by Lynn Lee

If you’re old enough to remember the Challenger explosion – my earliest memory of watching a national disaster on TV – you may, like me, see it as the de facto end of the Space Age.  Not that NASA abandoned its mission or that space ever completely lost its grip on the public imagination.  One need only look to the Mars Rovers and the recent advances made by SpaceX and Blue Origin for evidence to the contrary.  But even the most exciting breakthroughs no longer command the universal attention that the Apollo missions or, yes, the Challenger debacle did back in their day.  There’s also a growing sense that space travel has become the province of the ultrarich, and that as a species we should– taking a page out of Gil Scott-Heron – maybe think about fixing our problems here on Earth before laying claim to other worlds.

For those who hold onto the ideal of outer space as a gauntlet for human progress, there’s a tendency to look back wistfully at the golden age of space exploration, notwithstanding the more uncomfortable facts underlying the myth...

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