Dramas seem to be fading or just missing this season, but limited series are going strong

It’s hard to imagine a more competitive category than this year’s Emmy race for limited or anthology series, with such acclaimed programs as “Fargo,” “Ripley,” “Lessons in Chemistry,” “Masters of the Air,” “True Detective: Night Country,” “The Sympathizer,” “Baby Reindeer,” “A Gentleman in Moscow” and “Mary & George,” among still many others, all battling for just five nomination slots. Sure, there were only 51 qualifying entries, compared to the 163 drama series, but this is one genre where quality soars over quantity. Even if the industry only begrudgingly keeps making them.

Even before the double strikes of 2023, the phenomenon of “peak TV” had begun to ebb. With less demand for product, networks and streamers have insisted they want to focus more on ongoing series rather than high-profile limited narratives. That may be financially prudent, but veteran television writer Liz Tigelaar, who’s behind such shows as “Little Fires Everywhere,” “Tiny Beautiful Things” and this year’s Hulu release “Under the Bridge,” knows that what networks say they are going to do isn’t always what they actually end up doing.

“When you ask buyers what they want, everybody says an ongoing drama. Nobody says a limited series. People say limited series aren’t profitable,” Tigelaar says. “But then what happens is [intellectual property becomes involved], and then you have talent that wants to attach and suddenly [executives] will feel differently about the format. And it’s kind of like, ‘OK, OK, we’ll do this one. But don’t send us another limited series.’ That has been my experience basically three times. And of course, the next thing I have in development is a limited series.”

And IP is often the key here. Superb IP attracts major talent whether it’s an original novel or a real-life story. And most of those narratives have a beginning, middle and end. Plus, when movie stars get involved, it’s even harder for buyers to say no.

“Movies being what they are [right now], more people are interested in television, and suddenly you have full-fledged movie stars who are willing to be in a series if it’s limited,” Tigelaar notes. “Just off the bat hearing it, people are like, ‘No, no, no.’ But then when you get into like, ‘Well, but here’s the idea, and here’s who could attach, and here’s how we could do it.’ And suddenly there’s a bidding war.”

Despite calls to cut back on these types of programs, Francesca Orsi, executive vice president and head of drama at HBO, isn’t shocked that this year’s category is so competitive or that the industry trade papers are still full of announcements related to the format.

“Television is a complex, difficult, challenging process. There is something inherently easier in terms of executing a one-season show and all that it takes on thematically, and having a beginning, middle and end to it, versus challenging an audience with a thematic center of a show that needs to exist, say, three, five, seven seasons, where it runs the risk of becoming sort of repetitive or redundant,” Orsi says. “In some ways, [limited] is an easier path than the rigor of an ongoing series, having to explore the essence of a show in different ways but always still being the thing that was bought right out of the gate.”

This year alone, HBO has “True Detective,” “The Sympathizer” and “The Regime” in the limited series mix. Perfect examples that, Orsi notes, illustrate how “a good story is just a good story, and you want to be a part of that. But again, there’s a seduction to limited series and certain properties that just have an inherently exciting, entertaining, complex story that we just can’t turn our backs to.”

Matt Bomer, left, with Jonathan Bailey. Bomer championed making “Fellow Travelers” a limited series.

(Ben Mark Holzberg / Showtime)

Ron Nyswaner has been a producer and writer on ongoing series such as “Ray Donovan” and “Homeland.” His latest project, “Fellow Travelers,” is a love story spanning four decades. In theory, it could have been ongoing. But one of its stars, Matt Bomer, who also executive produced, realized that wasn’t the smartest option.

“We had more than one bid for the show when we were out with the pitch,” Nyswaner says. “One of the bids was conditional on it being an ongoing series. The other two bids were happy with it being limited. We had that discussion among myself and the executive producers, and I think actually it was Matt who made the sharpest observation and said, ‘There’s something very powerful about getting to the end of the story in one season of television. To really see that journey in eight weeks, rather than seeing it drawn out over time. And he was absolutely right.”

There is also a practical reason why limited series work. “There is a power in the dramatic tension that comes with, ‘Is the end of the race within sight?’ There’s just a power to that,” Nyswaner adds.

Per Saari, who is partnered with Nicole Kidman in Blossom Films, has helped shepherd such limited series as “The Undoing,” “Big Little Lies” and, most recently, “Expats.” In his opinion, there is also a very obvious reason why there are so many. Certain actors are often intimidated by a multiseason contract that commits them to play one character for five or more years. At the same time, there’s an audience that is hungry for a more “cinematic experience” that can lend itself to the limited series format.

“I think people, audiences want to be challenged. They want to be provoked,” Saari says. “They want complex stories and complicated characters, and I think they are interested in having those stories unfold in the ways that filmmakers work. In all the ebbs and flows of the last decade — between strikes and COVID and other variables that have entered the equation — that appetite has gone unabated.”