A ‘Beef’ win for limited series would continue this Emmy semi-tradition

Ray Richmond
·3 min read
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The Primetime Emmys are not necessarily known for honoring projects featuring casts that are primarily minority/people of color. The TV academy has never, for instance, given the Best Drama Series trophy to such a show. The statuette for Best Comedy Series has been won by a series featuring a largely minority cast precisely once: “The Cosby Show” in 1985. But the category of top limited/anthology/miniseries has paid golden tribute to programs with mostly minority casts a handful of times before, helping give Netflix’s “Beef” with its predominantly Asian American lineup a genuine shot to take home the biggest prize.

“Beef” tied with “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” for the most nominations among all non-regular series programs with 13. It’s presently in the lead among Gold Derby voters in the limited series race with 16/5 combined odds. Its star Ali Wong is also in first place among limited lead actresses, while Steven Yeun is second to Evan Peters (“Dahmer”) among male acting leads. The series is also running first in writing and direction.

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But let’s go back to 1977, when “Roots” swept the Emmys, winning 10, including top limited series, with its largely African American cast. That was the first project of the multicultural genre to earn significant Emmy honors, with a cast headed by numerous people of color: John Amos, Louis Gossett Jr., Madge Sinclair, Ben Vereen, Georg Stanford Brown, Leslie Uggams, LeVar Burton and Maya Angelou.

Here are the other four:

Roots: The Next Generations (1979): It won for top limited series as well as for Marlon Brando in supporting. Its cast featured such people of color as Debbi Morgan, Dorian Harewood, Stan Shaw, Lynn Hamilton, Ruby Dee, Debbie Allen and Diahann Carroll.

Shogun (1980): It took home Emmys for limited series, costume design and graphic design/title sequences. Besides star Richard Chamberlain, the cast was headed by Asian performers Toshiro Mifune, Yoko Shimada, Furanki Sakai, Hideo Takamatsu,  Nobuo Kaneko and Seiji Miyaguchi.

SEEAli Wong (‘Beef’) catching up to Jessica Chastain (‘George and Tammy’) in Emmy predictions

Drug Wars: The Camarena Story (1990): It won just a single Emmy, but it was a big one: for top miniseries. Its largely Latino/Latinx and mixed race cast featured Elizabeth Pena, Miguel Ferrer, Benicio Del Toro, Tony Plana, Eddie Velez, Tomas Milian, Jorge Cervera Jr., Valentin de Vargas, Joaquin Martinez and Katherine Cortez.

The Corner (2000): The miniseries took home three Emmys – for Best Miniseries as well as for directing (Charles S. Dutton) and writing (David Simon and David Mills). Its primarily Black cast featured T.K. Carter, Khandi Alexander, Sean Nelson, Clarke Peters, Glenn Plummer, Toy Connor, Maria Bloom, Reg E. Cathey and Corey Parker Robinson.

The “Beef” cast includes Wong, Yeun, the Emmy-nominated Joseph Lee and Young Mazino, David Choe, Ashley Park, Patti Yasutake, Justin H. Min, Alyssa Gihee Kim, Andie Ju, Gina Lee, Jerry Hanjoo Kim and Eddie Shin.

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