The Television Academy announced this morning that Netflix’s “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” would not qualify as a returning drama series, but instead be qualified as a limited series. According to the Television Academy this was petitioned by the show’s producers and was approved by the Academy’s industry panel in consideration for the 69th Emmy Awards.
According to the Emmys, “A 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, and does not have an on-going storyline and/or main characters in subsequent seasons.”
“Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” was released on Nov. 25, 2016 on Netflix and consisted of four 88 to 102-minute episodes. The original series ran from 2000 to 2007 on the WB and the CW and, besides its inaugural season, produced 22 episodes a year.
You may wonder, “Why would ‘Gilmore Girls’ want to be thrown into a limited series mix with major players such as ‘Big Little Lies,’ ‘The Night Of,’ ‘Feud: Bette and Joan,’ ‘American Crime,’ ‘Fargo’ and ‘Genius’ fighting for nominations across a ton of categories?” Granted, the chances of stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel earning acting nominations are remote, but “A Year in the Life” has a tiny chance of sneaking into the actual Outstanding Limited Series category. Sure, it would have to knock off a major player to do so, but its chances are better than if it qualified as a straight Drama Series.
Of course, in its previous incarnation “Gilmore Girls” may have been adored by critics, but it only earned one Emmy Award nomination in seven seasons. That was for Outstanding Makeup-Series in 2004 which it won. So, unless Netflix finds a way to work some Emmy magic (and don’t put it past them) this announcement may just end up being moot.