Should Have Won an Emmy But …

The Television Academy recently changed the title of my favorite watching category from Miniseries to Outstanding Limited Series.  The key word is “limited.” Too many series shows don’t know when to stop. “Happy Days” jumped the shark in season five but continued for seven more, all downhill. Here are three fine Limited Series shows that were nominated for an Emmy but lost to an inferior program.

“Mare of Easttown”

Did you know that the International Olympic Committee recognizes chess as a sport? And so “The Queen’s Gambit” deserves credit for joining “Friday Night Lights” as one of the few good TV shows about sports.

But it didn’t deserve the 2021 Emmy. That should have gone to “Mare of Easttown,” which is a crime thriller, a family drama, and most of all a character study starring Kate Winslet.

She plays Mare Sheehan, a detective in a depressed small town in Pennsylvania who is investigating the disappearance of a young girl and the murder of a young mother. There are many twists in the investigation, which leads to an unexpected and tragic conclusion.

Everything in this superb show works perfectly: the oppressive, violent setting, the writing, and the supporting cast, Jean Smart as Mare’s mother and Evan Peters as a county detective who is called in to support Mare.

But it is Winslet’s remarkable performance that powers the show. She has long been respected for choosing quality films over big commercial projects.  Her character here as a small-town cop is complicated by divorce, the loss of a son to suicide, and a custody battle over her grandson. A brighter spot is an affair with a writer she meets in a bar. But the role is decidedly unglamorous and profoundly moving.

View on HBO Max.

“The Night Of”

The 2017 Emmy went to “Big Little Lies,” a soapy megahit set in the opulent seaside town of Monterey, Calif., and elevated by Nicole Kidman’s performance. It should have gone to “The Night Of,” a tense and disturbing crime drama written by Richard Price and starring Riz Ahmed as a Pakistani-American cab driver accused of murdering a woman on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

This dark story moves from Rikers Island to the courtroom, where Ahmed’s lawyer is played by John Turturro, a scruffy loser with awful foot eczema. It could not be more different than “Big Little Lies,” but it’s a brilliant production that gets you thinking about the randomness of criminal justice. Kidman and Ahmed each won an Emmy for Outstanding Actress and Actor.

View on HBO Max.

“Empire Falls”

What a pity that the Academy did not give PBS a cash gift rather than handing them the 2005 Emmy for “The Lost Prince,” yet another costume drama about the royals. I had the good fortune to miss this expensive screensaver, which was called “a little boring” by the New York Times.

It should have gone to  “Empire Falls,” a moving adaptation of the wonderful Richard Russo novel about life in a small town in Maine. All you need to know about this show is the cast: Ed Harris, Helen Hunt, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Fred Schepisi. “Empire Falls” did win the Golden Globe award. It’s only three and a half hours, and you will love every minute. Stream on HBO Max, Hulu, rent on Amazon.