Will Emmys favor relevant shows reflecting cries for social change?

The Hollywood Reporter

Since last year's big winners Game of Thrones and Fleabag aren't competing this year, "the Academy has the chance to salute some new players and even spotlight a few underappreciated series that feel especially relevant now," says Daniel Fienberg. "The protests of the past few weeks, sparked by the killing of George Floyd and the seemingly intractable pattern of police brutality that brought about his death, have marked a seismic cultural shift in the nation. Based on the suggested lists of books, articles, films and TV shows circulating online and on social media in the protests' wake to better understand this current chapter of history, there's clearly an appetite for consciousness-raising stories, especially as the novel coronavirus pandemic keeps many of us home and glued to our screens. At a time when no one can ignore the societal ills plaguing the country — one that coincides with a strange and fraught awards season — Emmy voters may well find more resonant shows that center on marginalized groups or dramatize various struggles for justice, including explorations of racial, wealth and gender inequities." Fienberg points out no category best reflects this moment like best limited series, the "fiercest category" this year, pitting Watchmen vs. Mrs. America. "Both miniseries are monumental achievements, and both explain — in greatly entertaining, genre-remaking fashion, with terrific performances to boot — America right now," says Fienberg. "Watchmen set a standard for intellectual superhero fare with its slyly funny, fiercely righteous alt-history and urgent resuscitation of the unjustly forgotten memory of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Retelling the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment's passage throughout the 1970s, Mrs. America chose a new protagonist in each episode to illustrate, Game of Thrones-style, how the infighting among feminist activists and legislators gave way to their defeat by an enemy they didn't see coming (Cate Blanchett's Phyllis Schlafly being the miniseries' White Walker). With Netflix pair Unbelievable and Unorthodox likely rounding out the category, this year's Emmy season offers an abundance of socially conscious contenders that also happen to represent some of the best that television had to offer."