5 slots isn’t enough: More limited series deserve a chance to compete with ‘Adolescence’

Four episodes, four takes, one 13-year-old discovery.

With the April premiere of Adolescence, Netflix is poised for a three-peat — for the third year in a row, the streamer has launched a limited series in the spring that has gone on to dominate the awards conversation.

Like Beef and Baby Reindeer before it, Adolescence has soared from debut to awards on unparalleled highs of widespread viewership (it’s now the #3 most watched Netflix series of all time) and critical acclaim (a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 99 percent).

The drama, which chronicles the investigation of a teenager who’s accused of murdering a classmate, immediately grabbed the No. 1 slot in Gold Derby’s predictions charts; as of this writing, stars Stephen Graham (who also cocreated and cowrote), Erin Doherty, and wunderkind teenager Owen Cooper (making his acting debut) are also at the top of their respective categories. The technical prowess of the series is also sure to gain voters’ attention — each of the four episodes was filmed in a single, continuous take, ensuring it will earn nominations for writing and directing.

The limited series race gets a lot tighter from there. Unlike comedy and drama series, which are guaranteed eight nominations per Emmy rules, the number of limited series nominations is, well, frustratingly limited. Per Television Academy rules, it’s determined by the number of submissions – anything less than 80 will mean just five potential nominations, as it has for the last several years.

It boggles the mind a bit, given industry trends. The limited series field is stacked with the usual A-list star power in front of and behind the camera drawn to the category for its shorter episode runs and greater creative freedom. Years past have seen the likes of Barry Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Nicole Kidman, and Kate Winslet gracing the small(er) screen. And this year is no exception: witness a slate that includes Cate Blanchett, Robert De Niro, Colin Farrell, Alfonso Cuarón, Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Jake Gyllenhaal, Javier Bardem.

So why not expand the playing field? Sigh.

For now, then the competition is tiiiiight for the remaining four slots. Emmys awards powerhouse Netflix has a pair of contenders in the race along with Adolescence: Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker’s dystopian drama, which has racked up nine Emmys and 16 nominations over the course of its seven season run. The current iteration features a follow-up to fan favorite “USS Callister” (which earned seven nominations and won four), along with Issa Rae, Rashida Jones, and Paul Giamatti in their own standout episodes.

And then there’s the monster hit Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which launched back in September. While it didn’t fare as well with critics (just 45 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), it did earn three Golden Globe nominations (for limited series and stars Cooper Koch and Javier Bardem) and is currently in the top five in Gold Derby’s charts.

FX, another Emmys mainstay, also has two strong contenders: Dying for Sex, starring Michelle Williams as a woman diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, who embarks on a journey of sexual self-discovery; and Say Nothing, based on the best-selling book by Patrick Radden Keefe about the political and personal fallout from the Troubles in Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. Both series are critically acclaimed — with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 98 percent and 94 percent respectively, and both feature strong central female performances — both Williams and Say Nothing’s Lola Petticrew are in the top 10 on Gold Derby’s predictions. Recency bias may well favor Dying for Sex, which debuted in April, while Say Nothing premiered last November.

Timing is indeed everything when it comes to awards; premiere too early, and you risk being forgotten; premiere too late, and you’ll get lost in the late May shuffle, too late to break through and get overburdened voters to tune in.

Several of the titles vying in this year’s race were already tested in the fall awards cycle, where eligibility was the calendar year 2024 — including the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the other guild awards — and most were bested by the continuing sweep Baby Reindeer, finishing out its awards run.

The series with the most momentum from the fall cycle that is still eligible – Baby Reindeer’s near-sweep aside — is HBO Max’s The Penguin, with Colin Farrell’s wins at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and the SAG Awards, along with a win for Milioti at the Critics Choice and a WGA win. (Worth noting, too, that Milioti also appears in Black Mirror’s “USS Callister” episode.) Those key wins, strong critical support (95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and passionate fandom has been enough to maintain momentum for the title into the Emmys cycle. 

And finally, there’s Apple TV+, which also has a pair of late fall limited series in contention: Presumed Innocent and Disclaimer. The Jake Gyllenhaal legal thriller based on the book by Scott Turow debuted last summer; Disclaimer, with Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, and Sacha Baron Cohen, as directed by Alfonso Cuaron, came out in October. Gyllenhaal was nominated for a Golden Globe and the series earned a WGA nod, while Disclaimer overcame mixed reviews to rack up four Critics Choice nominations (limited series, Blanchett, Kline and supporting actress Leila George), three Golden Globe nods (series, Blanchett, and Kline), two Screen Actors Guild nods (Blanchett and Kline), and a DGA nomination. That signals widespread industry support that should reap rewards come Emmy time.