BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2026: Outstanding Limited/Anthology Series

We are at the big three awards! Today's award is for Outstanding Limited/Anthology Series!

Past Awards in This Category: 2025   2024   2023   2022   2021   2020

This year's nominees are...












BEEF (Netflix)
DEATH BY LIGHTNING (Netflix)
DEVIL IN DISGUISE: JOHN WAYNE GACY (Peacock)
HALF MAN (HBO)
JURY DUTY PRESENTS: COMPANY RETREAT (Prime Video)
LOVE STORY (FX)

And the Winner Is...
DEATH BY LIGHTNING
Netflix
This show was a true limited series - only four episodes! I consider myself a US History buff but I admit this is an era and a presidency that I know very little about. So I was really entertained by Death by Lightning, which put together beautiful technical details with compelling performances. Perhaps most impressively, the series never felt stodgy or like a museum piece. The show had a breakneck pace of storytelling while letting the performances breathe and the show felt very modern in its sensibility without ever leaving the 1880s or straying from telling its story. I don't think this was hugely successful for Netflix which is too bad because this is exactly the type of limited series we should be getting.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:
In my seven years doing this blog, this may have been the weakest crop of Limited Series (a sign of what is en vogue for TV right now - more on-going series, less star-studded limited ones). But the rest of the nominees still had strengths worth mentioning. The second season of Beef started really strong and had a lot of great performances but it did peter out a bit, just like the first season did for me. Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy deserves credit for deciding to focus more on the victims than the killer. Love Story was flawed but endlessly entertaining and anchored by Sarah Pidgeon's incredible performance. Half Man was a dark, unsettling watch but compelling. The biggest threat to Death by Lightning was Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, which managed to make lightning strike for a second time with an incredible everyman at the center yet again.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Drama Series!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EPISODE GUIDES: That 70s Show Season Three

Image
THAT 70s SHOW: SEASON THREE 2000-2001 25 episodes Season 3 of  That 70s Show  graded out almost as strong as Season 2. Like every season, there are some duds but there are also some of my favorite episodes of the entire series. One thing this show does better than the previous season is they don't twiddle their thumbs as long with some of the major arcs of the series. On the other side, there are just a few episodes that feel completely like throwaway episodes. Still, this season is prime  That 70s Show. Starring Topher Grace as Eric Forman  (25 episodes) Mila Kunis as Jackie Burkhart  (25 episodes) Ashton Kutcher as Michael Kelso  (25 episodes) Danny Masterson as Steven Hyde  (25 episodes) Laura Prepon as Donna Pinciotti  (25 episodes) Wilmer Valderrama as Fez  (25 episodes) Debra Jo Rupp as Kitty Forman  (25 episodes) Kurtwood Smith as Red Forman  (25 episodes) Don Stark as Bob Pinciotti  (14 episodes) Tanya Roberts as Midge ...
Read more

TOP 10 TUESDAY: Top 10 Modern Family Characters

Image
This week for my Top 10 Tuesday, I am counting down the Top 10 characters from the Emmy winning hit Modern Family ! 10. FRANK DUNPHY It was inspired casting to bring the late, great Fred Willard on board as Phil Dunphy's father, Frank. Ty Burrell's dopiness as Phil really seemed like it could have been inspired by Willard's brand of comedy. Frank wasn't in a ton of episodes but he makes the list over some actual series regulars because he never stopped being funny and always elevated any scene he was in. It was one of Willard's final recurring roles and he was the most memorable of the many Modern Family characters who turned up once in awhile. 9. LUKE DUNPHY I struggled with what to do about Luke, Manny and Alex for this list. All three became so insufferable by the end of the series, I was left with a really bad taste in my mouth. But Luke ultimately made the list because he was the best as a young child and then the "least bad" among the three I mention...
Read more

TOP 10 TUESDAY: Top 10 Friday Night Lights Characters

Image
On Tuesdays, I do a Top 10 list. This season, I am doing Top 10 characters from various TV shows. My Top 10 this week, in honor of the beginning of football, is Top 10 Friday Night Lights Characters! Friday Night Lights has an incredibly deep ensemble so there are also several close calls and there could have been more. There won't be this many every week! Close Calls: Smash Williams, Becky Sproles, Luke Cafferty, Joe McCoy, Billy Riggins 10. JULIE TAYLOR This was a very tough list and I was very tempted to put several of the close calls on this list at #10 over Julie because I grew to not like Julie much as a character in the final season. But she is an essential member of the Taylor family and drives so many interesting stories in the first couple seasons. There was an inherent sweetness in the young love between Julie and Matt and her dynamics with her two parents felt very real and earned. 9. LORRAINE SARACEN Matt Saracen's sweet and forgetful grandmother is one of the best...
Read more