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A coastal Japanese landscape at dawn, wooden torii gates in silhouette against fog

Shōgun's Emmy Sweep and the Future of the Limited Series

Fifteen months after Shōgun's historic Emmy sweep, and with a second season confirmed, it's worth asking what the show changed about prestige TV, and what it didn't.

Priya Nair·2 Dec·6 min

Eight horizontal bars of different lengths, one marked in red

Essays

Against the Eight-Episode Season

The eight-episode prestige-TV season has become the default format. It is also, for most shows, the wrong length. An essay on what the episode count is costing us.

Priya Nair·14 Oct·6 min

A sun-dappled Italian stone staircase leading down to a deserted coastal piazza

Ripley: The Slowness Was Always the Point

Steven Zaillian's eight-episode Netflix adaptation of Patricia Highsmith was the quiet prestige show of April 2024. A year later, its patience has only looked smarter.

Priya Nair·14 Aug·5 min

A single ribbon of film unspooling into a tight knot, in ink on cream paper.

Essays

The Limited Series Is Killing the Ongoing Series

The limited series is absorbing the specific talent, capital, and formal experimentation that used to sustain the multi-season drama. An essay on what the two forms do differently, and what we are losing.

Priya Nair·5 Aug·7 min