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BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2025: Outstanding Writing of a Drama Series

Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Drama Series!

Past Awards in This Category: 2024   2023   2022   2021   2020

This year's nominees are...









YAHLIN CHANG, The Handmaid's Tale "Exodus" (Hulu)
NEIL DRUCKMANN & HAILEY GROSS & CRAIG MAZIN, The Last of Us "The Price" (HBO)
R. SCOTT GEMMILL, The Pitt "9:00 P.M." (Max)
ANNA OUYANG MOENCH, Severance "Woe's Hollow" (Apple TV+)
JOE SACHS, The Pitt "2:00 P.M." (Max)
CATHERINE SCHETINA, The Bear "Napkins" (FX/Hulu)
SARAH GERTRUDE SHAPIRO, Matlock "I Was That, Too" (CBS)

And the Winner Is...
CATHERINE SCHETINA
The Bear "Napkins" (FX/Hulu)
The third season of The Bear was a little messy but the "Napkins" episode was nearly as perfect as the "Forks" episode from the second season that won this award last year. The episode, which focused on Liza Colon-Zayas' Tina, told so much backstory for the character in one episode. The entire episode was beautifully written but the moment that really stands out was the scene with Jon Bernthal's Mikey. It was a fascinating discussion on life and ambition between two characters that was as real a conversation as you'll see on TV. There were entire episodes of The Bear not to mention other shows that are less interesting and insightful than those five minutes.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:
There was a wide range of types of nominees here. Two nominations came from The Pitt: One involved the honor walk for a character we followed for several episodes while the other was the end-of-shift finale. Both episodes, and all episodes of The Pitt, were so full of humanity amidst a busy ER shift. The show did an expert job at developing characters while staying within what could have been a limiting structure. The flashback episode of The Last of Us that focused on Joel and Ellie had some great character development and filling in some gas. The "Woe's Hollow" episode of Severance is on here in large part due to John Turturro's realization of what was going on. Finally, Matlock had a very tense and tight episode once Maddie's (Kathy Bates) secret started to come out.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Writing of a Comedy Series!
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