‘Black Mirror’ Ruled the Emmys, but This Year’s Eligible Anthology Series Will Struggle to Crash the Party
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It’s appropriate that Netflix dropped the sixth season of “Black Mirror” on June 15, the same day that Emmy voting began. The series isn’t eligible for this year’s awards, of course, but it has been a dominant force at the Emmys for years, even sparking a rule change that affects a number of other anthology programs this year.
And because of that rule change, it’s going to be a lot harder for any of those other programs — which include “Documentary Now!” and “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” — to be nominated for Emmys this year.
First, a little background. “Black Mirror,” created by Charlie Brooker and first airing in 2011, was inspired by the classic 1950s and ’60s series “The Twlight Zone,” in which Rod Serling used each episode to tell a different story — usually creepy or scary, usually with a twist, always with a moral. Back then, anthology series were a mainstay on television, and they were usually lumped into the main drama series category, where they usually won. “The Twlight Zone” never did, but other anthologies like “Playhouse 90,” “The United States Steel Hour,” “Producers Showcase” and “Hallmark Hall of Fame” all took home Emmys.
Over the years, though, anthology series became less common — and by the time of “Black Mirror,” the Television Academy wasn’t really sure what to do with them. So the Academy allowed anthologies to enter single episodes in the Outstanding Television Movie category, where “Black Mirror” cleaned up. It won for its “San Junipero” episode in 2017, for “USS Callister” in 2018 and for “Bandersnatch” in 2019, along with five other wins in other categories.
Then the Academy changed its mind and moved anthology series into the Outstanding Limited Series category, which was renamed Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series in 2021. With limited series typically an extremely competitive category and anthology series a rare breed, no anthology has landed a nomination in the category since then.
We won’t know if “Black Mirror” breaks the losing streak until next year — but in the meantime, a handful of anthology series are on the Emmy ballot where they’ll be going up against “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” “Beef,” “Black Bird,” “A Small Light,” “Daisy Jones & the Six,” “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” “Tiny Beautiful Things,” “Love & Death,” “Dead Ringers,” “George and Tammy” and much more.
Do the anthologies have much chance to pull a “Black Mirror” and end up in the Top 5? It won’t be easy, even for the series that has been nominated in different categories multiple times and the one that should land a few below-the-line noms.
Here’s the rundown of the anthology series that are among the 61 qualifying programs in the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series category.
“Accused” (Fox)
Michael Chiklis, Abigail Breslin, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Jason Ritter and Keith Carradine are among the stars of this 15-episode series created by “24” and “Homeland” veteran Howard Gordon. Each episode explores a different crime story with a new cast in a new city, with the stories told from the perspective of the defendants in trials. Directors include Marlee Matlin, Billy Porter and Chiklis.
“American Horror Stories” (FX on Hulu)
The lesser-known sibling to Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story” series, “American Horror Stories” is, as its title suggests, an anthology series that tells a new story each episode rather than each season. The cast, which changes week to week, has included Gabourey Sidibe, Max Greenfield, Bella Thorne, Judith Light, Quvenzhane Wallis and Alicia Silverstone. The second season includes witches, necrophilia, zombies and a smart doorbell camera that can see ghosts.
“Documentary Now!” (IFC)
The anthology series with the best shot at an Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series nomination is the fourth year of Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and and Rhys Thomas’ long-running comedy series in which each episode is a parody of a different documentary. This season’s cast includes Cate Blanchett, Alexander Skarsgard and “Succession” stars Harriet Walter and Nicholas Braun and features takeoffs of “The September Issue,” “When We Were Kings” and “My Octopus Teacher.” The first three seasons of the series were all nominated for Emmys in the now-defunct Outstanding Variety Sketch Series category.
“Extrapolations” (Apple TV+)
“The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Contagion” writer Scott Z. Burns is one of the creators behind this Apple TV+ series, and the cast includes Meryl Streep, Murray Bartlett, Daveed Diggs, Edward Norton, Marion Cotillard and Diane Lane. The stories change week to week, but they all deal with the effects of climate change — and with actors like Diggs, Kit Harington and Tahar Rahim appearing in multiple episodes, the series is part anthology, part straight limited series.
“Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” (Netflix)
While “Documentary Now!” may be likelier to receive a program nomination, “Cabinet of Curiosities” is apt to be nominated for Creative Arts Emmys, particularly in the design categories. With del Toro writing some of the stories and recruiting a group of directors that includes Ana Lily Amirpour, Catherine Hardwicke and Jennifer Kent, this stylish creepshow trots out a new and wonderfully stylish horror story with each episode.
“Little America” (Apple TV+)
Sian Heder (“CODA”) and Deepa Mehta (“Water”) were among the directors in the first season of this anthology series, in which each episode tells a different immigrant’s story. For the second season, which premiered in December, Mehta returned to direct an episode cowritten by Heder. The series was developed in part by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon.
