BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2023: Outstanding Writing of a Limited/Anthology Series

Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Limited/Anthology Series!

Past Awards in This Category: 2022   2021   2020

This year's nominees are...

TAFFY BRODESSER-AKNER, Fleishman is in Trouble "The Liver" (FX/Hulu)

LEE EISENBERG & IDIL IBRAHIM, Little America "Camel on a Stick" (Apple TV+)

JOEL FIELDS & JOE WEISBERG, The Patient (FX/Hulu)

DAVID E. KELLEY, Love & Death (HBO Max)

JOAN RATER & TONY PHELAN,  A Small Light "Pilot" (National Geographic)

MIKE WHITE, The White Lotus (HBO)

And the Winner Is...

TAFFY BRODESSER-AKNER

Fleishman is in Trouble "The Liver" (FX/Hulu)

Of all the shows I've watched in the past year, something about Fleishman is in Trouble and specifically, the finale, has really stuck with me. As the show pivoted from being about Jesse Eisenberg's character to a stand-out episode featuring Claire Danes, the finale pivoted again to Lizzy Caplan's character and ultimately made the show something different than what we thought it was. I'm convinced this show was specifically made for people between 30-50 as it had so much to say about life at those ages. As someone right in that range, I resonated so much with it. Taffy Brodesser-Akner's writing was a major reason for the show's success. It felt so big at times and so small at times and I mean that as a compliment. It had so much to say about life and was crafted in a really interesting way.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:

There were some strong contenders in this category with a mix of individual episodes and entire seasons. It was hard to not give this award to Mike White because he's such an interesting writer and his second season of The White Lotus was filled with memorable dialogue that can only come from the brain of Mike White. David E. Kelley has been a prolific writer for decades and made Love & Death better than your average true crime adaptation that has been all the rage in recent years. Joel Fields & Joe Weisberg wrote a very chilling limited series in The Patient that relied a lot on the dialogue between the two main characters. For individual episodes, Lee Eisenberg & Idil Ibrahim wrote a sweet and heartfelt episode of Little America and Tony Phelan & Joan Rater set the tone for A Small Light in a pilot that had a surprising amount of humor for a show about Anne Frank.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Writing of a Drama Series!