Emmys 2019: Limited Series — Dream Nominees
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CHERNOBYL
WHY IT DESERVES A NOD: HBO's five-hour miniseries, dedicated to "all who suffered and sacrificed," managed to make a tragedy that is 33 years and 5,000 miles away seem in-the-moment resonant. By intimately visiting all manner of involved individuals, Chernobyl invited(/dared?) us to appreciate the desperate, and sometimes unwittingly suicidal, actions that were taken to keep the accident from being even worse. It was hella bleak at times, to be sure, but by finding the human element to something so huge, this mini found its narrative power.
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ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA
WHY IT DESERVES A NOD: Showtime's brutally effective miniseries about the infamous 2015 prison break offered a sobering, empathetic look at life behind bars — but its real power came from its top-notch performances. Paul Dano and Benicio Del Toro made a convincing pair of convicts, with Del Toro lending his career criminal a slickly menacing charm, and Patricia Arquette was flat-out stunning as the prickly prison employee who helped the pair escape as a way of escaping her own less-than-thrilling life.
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FOSSE/VERDON
WHY IT DESERVES A NOD: We're still on our feet applauding for FX's glitzy, gritty showbiz biopic that traced the decades of artistic and romantic collaboration between Broadway legends Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. The lavishly detailed recreations of Fosse's most famous productions were nirvana for theater nerds, and stars Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams were both incredible as Fosse and Verdon brought out the best in each other creatively... and the worst in each other personally.
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SHARP OBJECTS
WHY IT DESERVES A NOD: Like many of the series that populate this list, Sharp Objects was dark, and often difficult to watch. But the show wasn't a gratuitously grisly crime drama; rather, it was a complicated, devastating portrayal of the ways in which people — namely women — can hurt themselves and others when they're pushed to the breaking point. Thanks to a trio of knockout performances (from Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson and Eliza Scanlen), and haunting direction from Jean-Marc Vallée, our trip to Wind Gap is one we won't soon forget.
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THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
WHY IT DESERVES A NOD: Mike Flanagan's take on Shirley Jackson's horror novel was the best type of adaptation: It used the gothic tale as a jumping-off point for a fresh, (literally and figuratively) haunting story of a family forever defined by the terrifying events of a single summer. Hill House's casting was superb, its attention to detail relentless (those background ghosts still make us shiver) and its central message — that love can trump even the scariest of evils — uplifting. If Emmy nominators are looking for the full package, Hill House is it.
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WHEN THEY SEE US
WHY IT DESERVES A NOD: Numbers are important (Netflix claims When They See Us has been its most-watched series every day since its release), but so is impact, and the Ava DuVernay-helmed miniseries hit hard as it detailed the pursuit of justice — for a brutalized rape victim and for the five teenagers wrongfully accused of the crime. DuVernay's visionary writing and directing explored the personal feelings of each member of the so-called "Central Park Five" and how they relate to their families, their accusers and each other. Adding to the tragic tale's power, an outstanding cast delivered gut-punching performances that lingered well after the show's victorious conclusion.