A decade ago, the limited series was on its death-bed, as was its place at the Emmys.
To be fair, the “limited series” didn’t really exist. Way back in the ancient past of 2010, they were called “miniseries,” a name that primarily referred to three things: PBS prestige literary adaptations, broadcast multiparters reserved to air during sacred “sweeps” periods, and Tom Hanks-produced epics for HBO, all of which sounds like enough to support a genre.
It was not. At the 62nd Primetime Emmys, there were only two nominees in the outstanding miniseries category: HBO’s ambitious, bloody masterpiece The Pacific, which probably would have won even against a loaded field, and PBS’ Return to Cranford.
The TV Academy did what, at the time, made total sense: It folded the miniseries and…