Emmys 2020: 'Watchmen' takes home win for Outstanding Limited Series, a fitting victory to its legacy
The 72nd Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series was awarded to HBO's 'Watchmen'. The award was presented by Anthony Anderson. Starring an ensemble cast of Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Andrew Howard among Bothers, HBO's 'Watchmen' was also a strong contender. Based on the 1986 DC Comics series 'Watchmen' created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the show earned a lot of praise from both critics and audiences.
But more importantly, it highlighted the often forgotten 1921 Tulsa race massacre. The competition in this category was a close one as some of the top creations from networks and streaming sites were pitted against one another.
Hulu's 'Little Fires Everywhere', which is based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Celeste Ng, was a top contender. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, both of whom were also executive producers, alongside Liz Tigelaar, Lauren Neustadter and Pilar Savone, the show is set in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio during the late 1990s, where the two actresses are mothers from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
FX's 'Mrs America', starring Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Elizabeth Banks, Kayli Carter, Ari Graynor, Melanie Lynskey, Margo Martindale, Tracey Ullman and Sarah Paulson was also in the race — it is one of its 10 nominations this season.
Created and co-written by Davhi Waller and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Amma Asante, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and Janicza Bravo, the series details the political movement to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and the backlash led by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly (played by Blanchett) in the 1970s. Ever since it first aired on-air, the show has earned itself praise from audiences and critics alike.
Netflix's 'Unorthodox' and 'Unbelievable' were also pitted against each other. 'Unorthodox' was inspired by Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography, 'Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots' earned eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations. 'Unbelievable', on the other hand, is a show about a series of rapes in Washington State and Colorado and was co-created by Susannah Grant, Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon and stars Toni Collette, Merritt Wever and Kaitlyn Dever.
The true-crime series is based on the 2015 news article 'An Unbelievable Story of Rape' written by T Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong and originally published by ProPublica and The Marshall Project.