Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series represents excellence in the category of limited series that are two or more episodes, with a total running time of at least 150 minutes.

Criteria
The program must tell a complete, non-recurring story, and not have an ongoing storyline or main characters in subsequent seasons.

Background
The category began as the Outstanding Drama/Comedy – Limited Episodes in 1973. Prior to that year, limited series and miniseries were entered in the same category as continuing series for Outstanding Series – Drama. According to a 1972 newspaper article in the Los Angeles Times, this change might be due to the then recent entry of a number of British produced limited series that were competing with American produced continuing series in the same pre-existing category. The category was renamed Outstanding Limited Series in 1974, and later Outstanding Miniseries in 1986.

In 1991, the Outstanding Miniseries category was merged with Outstanding TV Movie, then called Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special, to form Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special and Miniseries, and the number of nominees increased from five to six. For that year, two miniseries had competed with four "made-for-television movies". The decision was reversed in 1992. In 2011, due to a low number of eligible miniseries in recent years, the categories were again merged as Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie, before reverting in 2014, following an influx in limited series following the critically and commercial popularity of the FX anthology series American Horror Story. A year later, the name of the awards category was changed to Outstanding Limited Series, and the rules were made to distinguish that category from that of a movie by having the work have at least two episodes, and from that of a regular series by having no more than five episodes. The 2015 rule change allowed more short-seasoned cable TV programs to compete, while prior rules had forced the same programs to compete in the same category with full seasons network programs.

What has been unique about this award in recent years (and even so today) is that there is almost always at least one nominee originating from Great Britain. For example, the 2005 winner was The Lost Prince, which happened to be that year's British entry. The 2006 winner, Elizabeth I, was also a British miniseries, although it was a co-production with American television network HBO. Likewise, the 2019 winner, Chernobyl, was a co-production of British and American companies (in this case, Sky UK and HBO).

Programs with multiple wins

 * 3 wins
 * Prime Suspect


 * 2 wins
 * American Crime Story

Producers with multiple awards

 * 6 awards
 * Tom Hanks


 * 5 awards
 * Gary Goetzman


 * 4 awards
 * Rebecca Eaton
 * Steven Shareshian


 * 3 awards
 * Stan Margulies
 * Steven Spielberg
 * Tony To


 * 2 awards
 * Scott Alexander
 * Erik Bork
 * David Coatsworth
 * Brad Falchuk
 * Sally Head
 * Nina Jacobson
 * Larry Karaszewski
 * Paul Marcus
 * Ryan Murphy
 * Chad Oakes
 * Brad Simpson
 * George Stevens Jr.
 * Chip Vucelich
 * David L. Wolper
 * Alexis Martin Woodall
 * Graham Yost

Programs with multiple nominations
Totals include continuing series, but not sequels as is the case with Cranford and Return to Cranford, Roots and Roots: The Next Generations, and others.


 * 5 nominations
 * Prime Suspect


 * 4 nominations
 * American Horror Story
 * Fargo


 * 3 nominations
 * Horatio Hornblower


 * 2 nominations
 * The Adams Chronicles
 * American Crime
 * American Crime Story
 * Columbo
 * Genius
 * Luther
 * McCloud

Producers with multiple nominations

 * 12 nominations
 * Rebecca Eaton


 * 8 nominations
 * Robert Halmi Sr.


 * 7 nominations
 * Stan Margulies
 * Ryan Murphy
 * Alexis Martin Woodall


 * 6 nominations
 * Brad Falchuk
 * Delia Fine
 * Tom Hanks
 * Frank Konigsberg


 * 5 nominations
 * Gary Goetzman
 * Suzanne de Passe
 * Chip Vucelich
 * Joan Wilson
 * David L. Wolper


 * 4 nominations
 * Andrew Benson
 * Bradley Buecker
 * Joyce Eliason
 * Suzanne Girard
 * Dante Di Loreto
 * Dyson Lovell
 * Tim Minear
 * Chad Oakes
 * Steven Spielberg
 * Peter Sussman
 * Jac Venza


 * 3 nominations
 * Tim Bevan
 * Colin Callender
 * John Cameron
 * Marvin J. Chomsky
 * Kirk Ellis
 * George S. J. Faber
 * Preston Fischer
 * Michael Frislev
 * Ed Gernon
 * Brian Grazer
 * Noah Hawley
 * Richard Heus
 * Polly Hill
 * Dirk Hoogstra
 * Ron Howard
 * Glenn Jordan
 * Warren Littlefield
 * Neil Meron
 * Lorenzo Minoli
 * Nina Kostroff Noble
 * Alan Poul
 * Jonathan Powell
 * David W. Rintels
 * David A. Rosemont
 * John Ryan
 * Jennifer Salt
 * Larry Sanitsky
 * Jessica Sharzer
 * David Simon
 * Tony To
 * Kim Todd
 * Michael Wearing
 * Reese Witherspoon
 * Ethel Winant
 * Mark M. Wolper
 * James Wong
 * Craig Zadan


 * 2 nominations
 * Gerald W. Abrams
 * Andrew Adelson
 * Scott Alexander
 * Phillip Von Alvensleben
 * Susan Baerwald
 * Eric Bercovici
 * William Beaudine Jr.
 * Jay Benson
 * Kenneth Biller
 * Sue Birtwistle
 * Erik Bork
 * Richard Brams
 * Andrew Brown
 * Michele Buck
 * Francie Calfo
 * Mark Carliner
 * Robert W. Christiansen
 * Jack Clements
 * David Coatsworth
 * Fred Coe
 * Ethan Coen
 * Joel Coen
 * Francis Ford Coppola
 * Robert Costello
 * Suzanne Coston
 * Dan Curtis
 * Edward K. Dobbs
 * Nancy Dubuc
 * Howard Ellis
 * Laura Fattori
 * Gregg Fienberg
 * Bill Finnegan
 * Daryl Frank
 * Scott Frank
 * John Frankenheimer
 * Fred Fuchs
 * Phillippa Giles
 * Michael Gleason
 * Robert Greenblatt
 * Robert Halmi Jr.
 * Dean Hargrove
 * Andy Harries
 * Kate Harwood
 * John Hawkesworth
 * Sally Head
 * Julie Hébert
 * Keith Huff
 * Joseph Incaprera
 * Nina Jacobson
 * David Janollari
 * Barry Jenkins
 * James Cellan Jones


 * Larry Karaszewski
 * Virginia Kassel
 * Diana Kerew
 * Roland Kibbee
 * Ann Kindberg
 * Steven King
 * Glen A. Larson
 * Lindsay Law
 * Stacy A. Littlejohn
 * Jerry London
 * Michael Mann
 * Martin Manulis
 * Paul Marcus
 * Armistead Maupin
 * Michael J. McDonald
 * Ian McDougall
 * John McRae
 * Emilio Nunez
 * Charles Pattinson
 * Samuel Paul
 * David V. Picker
 * Noah Pink
 * Susan G. Pollock
 * Gigi Pritzker
 * Michael Prupas
 * Gerald Rafshoon
 * Lynn Raynor
 * Ken Riddington
 * John Ridley
 * Rick Rosenberg
 * Nathan Ross
 * Edgar J. Scherick
 * Ridley Scott
 * Tony Scott
 * Rachel Shane
 * Sam Sokolow
 * Diana Son
 * Carolyn Strauss
 * George Stevens Jr.
 * Joan Sullivan
 * Lori-Etta Taub
 * Kevin Tierney
 * Jean-Marc Vallée
 * Dan Wigutow
 * Robert M. Williams Jr.
 * Oprah Winfrey
 * Graham Yost
 * David W. Zucker

Total awards by network

 * HBO/HBO Max – 14
 * NBC – 10
 * PBS – 10
 * ABC – 5
 * FX – 3
 * Syndicated – 2
 * Netflix — 2
 * A&E – 1
 * AMC – 1
 * CBS – 1
 * Syfy – 1
 * TNT – 1