Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama

The Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama is an award presented by the Writers Guild of America to the best written episodes of a dramatic television series. It has been presented annually since the 14th annual Writers Guild of America awards in 1962. The years denote when each episode first aired. Though, due to the eligibility period, some nominees could have aired in a different year. The current eligibility period is December 1 to November 30. The winners are highlighted in gold.

Winners and nominees

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Total awards

• NBC – 21
• ABC – 14
• CBS – 11
• AMC – 8
• HBO – 7
• Fox – 3
• Showtime – 2
• Syndicated – 1

Writers with multiple awards

3 awards

• Tom Fontana
• Vince Gilligan

2 awards

• Steven Bochco
• Henry Bromell
• Harlan Ellison
• Debra Frank
• Georgia Jeffries
• Robert Lewin
• David Milch
• Carl Sautter
• Michael Wagner
• Terence Winter

Programs with multiple awards

4 awards

• Hill Street Blues (NBC)

3 awards

• Better Call Saul (AMC)
• Breaking Bad (AMC)
• The Sopranos (HBO)
• Succession (HBO)

2 awards

• Cagney & Lacey (CBS)
• Homeland (Showtime)
• Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC)
• House (Fox)
• Judd, for the Defense (ABC)
• Lou Grant (CBS)
• Mad Men (AMC)
• Moonlighting (ABC)
• Naked City (ABC)

• thirtysomething (ABC)
• The West Wing (NBC)

Writers with multiple nominations

12 nominations

• Steven Bochco
• Tom Fontana

10 nominations

• David Milch

8 nominations

• David E. Kelley
• Jeffrey Lewis

6 nominations

• John Masius
• Thomas Schnauz
• Aaron Sorkin
• John Wells

5 nominations

• Stephen J. Cannell
• Robin Green
• Michelle King
• Robert King
• Matthew Weiner

4 nominations

• Mitchell Burgess
• Vince Gilligan
• Damon Lindelof
• Michael Wagner
• Terence Winter
• John Sacret Young

3 nominations

• David Chase
• Michael S. Chernuchin
• Terry Louise Fisher
• Carol Flint
• Mark Frost
• Channing Gibson
• Peter Gould
• Karen Hall
• Gennifer Hutchison
• Paul Redford
• David Simon
• Gordon Smith
• Anthony Yerkovich
• Ed Zuckerman

2 nominations

• Neal Baer
• Rene Balcer
• David Benioff
• Harve Bennett
• William Blinn
• Alan Brennert
• Jim Byrnes
• Rick Cleveland
• John T. Dugan
• John Dunkel
• Harlan Ellison
• Pat Fielder
• William M. Finkelstein
• Debra Frank
• Eboni Freeman
• Leonard Freeman
• Russel Friend
• Bruce Geller
• Michael Gleason
• Gary David Goldberg
• Mel Goldberg
• Walon Green
• Earl Hamner
• Georgia Jeffries

• Ernest Kinoy
• Howard Korder
• Richard Kramer
• Anthony Lawrence
• Joanna Lee
• Peter Lefcourt
• Garrett Lerner
• Robert Lewin
• David Lloyd
• Heather Marion
• George Mastras
• John McGreevey
• David Mills
• Peter Morgan
• Lawrence O'Donnell
• Ron Osborn
• Jeff Reno
• Mark Rodgers
• Carl Sautter
• April Smith
• D.B Weiss
• Dick Wolf
• Lydia Woodward
• James Yoshimura

Programs with multiple nominations

15 nominations

• Hill Street Blues (NBC)

14 nominations

• Breaking Bad (AMC)
• Lou Grant (CBS)

11 nominations

• Better Call Saul (AMC)
• The West Wing (NBC)

9 nominations

• Law & Order (NBC)
• The Sopranos (HBO)
• The Waltons (CBS)

8 nominations

• Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC)

7 nominations

• China Beach (ABC)
• Mad Men (AMC)
• St. Elsewhere (NBC)
• thirtysomething (ABC)

6 nominations

• Cagney & Lacey (CBS)
• L.A. Law (NBC)

5 nominations

• ER (NBC)
• Gunsmoke (CBS)
• Moonlighting (ABC)
• The Rockford Files (NBC)

4 nominations

• Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
• The Good Wife (CBS)
• Hawaii Five-O (CBS)
• House (Fox)
• Judd, for the Defense (ABC)
• Naked City (ABC)
• Succession (HBO)
• This Is Us (NBC)

3 nominations

• Ben Casey (ABC)
• Columbo (NBC)
• The Defenders (CBS)
• Dexter (Showtime)
• Game of Thrones (HBO)
• Homeland (Showtime)
• I'll Fly Away (NBC)
• Lost (ABC)
• Marcus Welby, M.D. (ABC)
• McCloud (NBC)
• The Mod Squad (ABC)
• Northern Exposure (CBS)
• NYPD Blue (ABC)
• Ozark (Netflix)
• Six Feet Under (HBO)
• Star Trek (NBC)

2 nominations

• Big Love (HBO)
• Bracken's World (NBC)
• Channing (ABC)
• The Crown (Netflix)
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
• The Fugitive (ABC)
• The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)
• The Leftovers (HBO)
• M*A*S*H (CBS)
• Picket Fences (CBS)
• Route 66 (CBS)
• Slattery's People (CBS)
• The OA (Netflix)
• The Streets of San Francisco (ABC)
• The Virginian (NBC)

Footnotes

References