Award season categories for certain shows always spark contention. I’m looking at you, The Bear, which is apparently a comedy series. Ahh yes, the extremely funny show with the most anxiety-inducing holiday episode of all time. Disney+ is making us scratch our heads by submitting Agatha All Along for the upcoming award season right now, but not as a limited/anthology series, instead propping it up as a comedy.
So why would this be a big deal? Well, award show categories reveal insights because they use specific parameters to include shows under certain banners. Marvel Television Studios is submitting Agatha All Along as a comedy series to the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Emmys, according to Variety.
Other Disney+ shows competed under miniseries categories, including Echo and The Book of Boba Fett. It could be telling that Agatha All Along is not being marketed as one. The Television Academy’s 76th Emmy Awards Rules and Procedure guide goes over what makes a limited/anthology series.
“Limited Series is defined as a program with two (2) or more episodes with a total running time of at least 150 program minutes that tells a complete, non-recurring story. The story arc must be completely resolved within its season, with no on-going storyline and/or main characters in subsequent seasons. Subsequent seasons of a Limited Series must cover completely new ground, requiring no knowledge of the events of the previous season.
Anthology Series is defined as a program with two (2) or more episodes that tells complete, nonrecurring story in each “episode,” and does not have an on-going storyline and/or main characters in subsequent episodes; the program may be linked thematically across all episodes.”
Even though there has been no official renewal announcement from Disney or Marvel, the show’s decision to opt out of the limited series category suggests that Agatha’s story isn’t finished yet. The popular FX series Shogun officially announced another season to compete in the drama categories. It’s also possible that they proved to the Television Academy that the show is going past a season to compete.
The show will compete with critically acclaimed shows like ABC’s Abbott Elementary and FX’s The Bear (still not a comedy). It also positions leading actor Kathryn Hahn, who plays Agatha, to go against Quinta Brunson, Ayo Edebiri, and Jean Smart, who all won Golden Globes for “Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy.” If Hahn earns a Golden Globe nomination, it will be her first. It would also serve as a good precursor for the show’s run at the Emmys.
