“Watchmen,” HBO’s uniquely timely program about mask-wearing and racial injustice, is our Experts’ pick to take home the trophy for Best Limited Series at the 2020 Emmys. The one-and-done series starring Regina King as a vigilante superhero is a loose adaptation of the 1980s comic book of the same name, which only lasted a single volume. But, not so fast. Even though a vast majority of our Emmyologists from major media outlets predict “Watchmen” to win (18 out of 29), there’s a slight problem in that two Experts don’t think it’ll be nominated at all. In fact, only one limited series has the support of every single Expert in terms of getting a nomination: FX’s “Mrs. America.” That helps boosts the political drama’s racetrack odds to 39/10, which is just a smidge below the leading 19/5 odds for HBO’s comic book series.
The 18 Experts who have “Watchmen” in their number-one positions to win the Best Limited Series Emmy are: Thelma Adams (Gold Derby), Jen Chaney (Vulture), Eric Deggans (NPR), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Chris Harnick (E!), Libby Hill (Indiewire), Matthew Jacobs (HuffPo), Kelly Lawler (USA Today), Ed Martin (Media Village), Wilson Morales (BlackFilm), Hanh Nguyen (Salon), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby), Jazz Tangcay (Variety), Kaitlin Thomas (TVGuide.com), Anne Thompson (Indiewire), Ben Travers (Indiewire), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and Susan Wloszczyna (Gold Derby). This would be HBO’s fourth victory in this category since limited series and TV movies were separated six years ago, joining “Olive Kitteridge” (2015), “Big Little Lies” (2017) and “Chernobyl” (2019).
As for “Mrs. America,” which tells the story of the 1970s movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, these six Experts predict a victory: Delaina Dixon (unaffiliated), Shawn Edwards (WDAF-TV Fox), Pete Hammond (Deadline Hollywood), Mary Murphy (Gold Derby), Robert Rorke (unaffiliated) and Matt Roush (TV Guide Magazine). A triumph for FX in Best Limited Series would be its fourth since the category separated from Best TV Movie, joining “Fargo” (2014), “The People v. O. J. Simpson” (2016) and “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” (2018).
The other five Emmy Experts are split between a trio of shows. Lynette Rice (Ent. Weekly) and Matt Webb Mitovich (TVLine) pick Netflix’s “Unbelievable,” Tim Gray (Variety) and Ken Tucker (Yahoo) choose HBO’s “I Know This Much Is True,” and Debbie Day (Rotten Tomatoes) goes out on a limb for Netflix’s “Unorthodox.”
Be sure to make your Emmy nominations predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before the nominees are announced on July 28. And join in the thrilling debate over the 2020 Emmy Awards taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our TV forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
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