The Writers Guild Awards has released this year’s nominees for the best and most writerly shows on TV, and, like the rest of the world, TV writers are apparently in a transitional period between traditional cable and cord-cutting streaming services. Not quite as enamored with Netflix as they were last year, instead the Writers have been passing around HBO Go passwords, with the pay cable network leading in nearly every category. New series Silicon Valley and True Detective both received multiple nominations, as did returning favorite Game Of Thrones.
Mad Men and Louie also both received multiple nominations, but the standout this year was Amazon’s Transparent, the first Amazon series to be nominated for a Writers Guild award. The Jill Soloway dramedy received three nominations–Best Comedy, Best New Series, and an Episodic Comedy award for “The Wilderness”—the same number as Netflix’s combined total.
Broadcast drama, on the other hand, is apparently going out of style with only one series, The Good Wife, represented in the major series categories. The networks fared better in comedy, however, with one episode nomination for New Girl and two of Modern Family, because Modern Family has a certain standard of awards-season living to maintain. Jimmy Kimmel Live and Saturday Night Live also received nods in the Comedy/Variety category, although that will most likely go to the final season of The Colbert Report’s closing run. But Fox did sweep the animation category, with Bob’s Burgers taking the “we have to nominate something besides The Simpsons” spot occupied by Futurama last year.
Speaking from the cold, cavernous chamber lit only by the blue glow of laptop screens where TV scripts come from, the Writers said they’re sorry, but dialogue just seems wittier and episode structure more elegant when you—or somebody, anyway—has to pay for it.
DRAMA SERIES
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
House of Cards
Mad Men
True Detective
COMEDY SERIES
Louie
Orange Is the New Black
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Veep
NEW SERIES
The Affair
The Knick
Silicon Valley
Transparent
True Detective
EPISODIC DRAMA
“A Day’s Work” (Mad Men), Written by Jonathan Igla and Matthew Weiner
“Devil You Know” (Boardwalk Empire), Written by Howard Korder
“Donald the Normal” (Rectify), Written by Kate Powers & Ray McKinnon
“Friendless Child” (Boardwalk Empire), Written by Riccardo DiLoreto & Cristine Chambers and Howard Korder
“The Last Call” (The Good Wife), Written by Robert King & Michelle Kin
“The Lion and the Rose” (Game of Thrones), Written for Television by George R.R. Martin
EPISODIC COMEDY
“The Cold” (Modern Family), Written by Rick Wiener & Kenny Schwartz
“Landline” (New Girl), Written by Rob Rosell
“Low Self Esteem City” (Orange Is the New Black), Written by Nick Jones
“So Did the Fat Lady” (Louie), Written by Louis C.K.
“Three Dinners” (Modern Family), Written by Abraham Higginbotham & Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman
“The Wilderness” (Transparent), Written by Ethan Kuperberg
ANIMATION
“Bob and Deliver” (Bob’s Burgers), Written by Greg Thompson
“Brick Like Me” (The Simpsons), Written by Brian Kelley
“Covercraft” (The Simpsons), Written by Matt Selman
“Pay Pal” (The Simpsons), Written by David Steinberg
“Steal This Episode” (The Simpsons), Written by J. Stewart Burns
“Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl” (Bob’s Burgers), Written by Nora Smith
COMEDY / VARIETY
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Inside Amy Schumer
The Colbert Report
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Saturday Night Live
Real Time with Bill Maher