By Variety | Created at 2026-08-12 17:56:21 | Updated at 2026-08-12 21:56:14
4 hours ago
Get to know the voices behind some of television’s biggest shows of the last 12 months.
Doneen Arquines
“Top Chef” veteran Arquines oversaw the Carolinas-based Season 23, which was stuffed with clever challenges that tapped into local culture, history and cuisine — including a NASCAR-themed Quickfire Challenge. One of the most diverse — and low-key educational — shows on TV, the Bravo reality series earned four Primetime Emmy nominations, including top reality competition program and best host for Kristen Kish.
Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky
Three’s not a crowd but an Emmy-commanding trifecta when it comes to Aniello, Downs and Statsky of HBO Max’s “Hacks.” The creators and showrunners pitched the series with a five-season arc and were able to execute that original vision, ending the show in May with the most Emmy-nominated season of a comedy in history. (The show, about a washed-up comic whose career is jolted by a Millennial writer, snagged 24 nominations this year.) Now, Aniello, Downs (who also stars on the show and landed an acting nom) and Statsky are among the most sought-after creatives in television, and they’re already at work on their next project for HBO.
Quinta Brunson, Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker
“Abbott Elementary” has been a staple at the Emmys since its beloved first season, most recently earning seven nominations, including for outstanding comedy series. For its fifth season, the ABC-WBTV sitcom worked with the Philadelphia Phillies for an episode that took place at a ball game. Brunson continues to star as part of the ensemble while working with fellow showrunners Halpern and Schumacker, proving that there is still a space for more traditional models of network TV to thrive in the streaming age. Ahead of its sixth season, Brunson remains committed to acting and remaining in the writers’ room as opposed to directing episodes herself (for now).
Deborah Cahn
When it comes to political thrillers, Cahn knows a thing or two — having created Netflix’s “The Diplomat,” the critically acclaimed Keri Russell starrer that has been renewed for a fourth season. Her credits also include “The West Wing” (earning her a WGA award for episodic drama), “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Fosse/Verdon” (another WGA win, in adapted longform) and “Homeland,” which she executive produced in its final two seasons. “The Diplomat” has earned seven Emmy noms this year, including outstanding drama, lead actress and actor (Russell and Rufus Sewell) and a writing nod, for Cahn and Peter Ackerman.
Tom Campbell, Steven Corfe and Mandy Salangsang
Season 18 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” continues to set viewership records, with the latest becoming the highest-rated season ever. Myki Meeks was crowned as the winner, taking home a $200,000 grand prize. Between the flagship series and its after show, “Untucked,” the franchise landed 11 Emmy nominations, with RuPaul becoming the most-nominated reality host in history. Earlier this year, the “Drag Race” franchise expanded into movies with “Stop That Train,” starring former queens in leading roles.
Steven Conrad
Among Emmy nomination morning’s most welcome surprises was the broad and deep love for “DTF St. Louis,” which landed in the limited series field and also picked up nods for five of its actors, and writing and directing mentions for Conrad. “Patriot” creator Conrad, working with actor David Harbour, developed a modern noir based on a New Yorker story about infidelity in the suburbs; eventually, the pair decided to start over and come up with a fully fictional story. The result is a gem-like series that stands out among some of the network’s broader franchise fare.
Katie Dippold
Dippold is known for writing several episodes of “Parks and Recreation” and a gleefully macabre sense of humor that infused her work in the 2016 “Ghostbusters” reboot and 2023’s “Haunted Mansion” — and with “Widow’s Bay,” her first project as showrunner, she brought two sides of her sensibility together. “Widow’s Bay,” which earned 19 nominations for its freshman season, combines a Pawnee, Ind.-style sense of place, in which every character in the title small town feels fully realized, and a giddy eagerness to scare you. The enthusiasm it’s sparked among viewers makes for a genuine breakthrough moment for Apple TV.
Mickey Down and Konrad Kay
A prestige drama that’s been building accolades and audiences for three seasons, “Industry” saw its latest season explode into the zeitgeist. The HBO drama introduced new characters as the old ones reinvented themselves; viewers couldn’t get enough, rewarding the series with its best numbers yet: Season 4 debuted with a 20% audience increase over Season 3, retaining its best viewership numbers ever.
Matt and Ross Duffer
The Duffer brothers closed out their chapter with Netflix on the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things.” The pair are now under a four-year deal at Paramount, directing a feature set for 2028 release. They also got to embrace their love of the theatrical experience by bringing the “Stranger Things” finale to theaters on Dec. 31, marking the first time a Netflix series was exhibited theatrically. But that didn’t stop the fifth season from becoming Netflix’s biggest English-language TV debut ever. They also released a behind-the-scenes “Stranger Things” documentary earlier this year.
Julian Fellowes and Sonja Warfield
Besides making viewers care deeply about the loves and losses of 19th century billionaires, “The Gilded Age” also paints a vivid portrait of middle- and upper-class Black America that is sorely missing from TV and movies. The show’s finale delivered a ravishing look at Black and white high society. Fellowes and Warfield saw the latest season hit new viewership highs, with its Season 3 finale clearing five million viewers after three days. The series also earned eight Emmy nominations, including drama series, lead actress (Carrie Coon) and guest actress (Merritt Wever).
Dan Fogelman
There was no sophomore slump when it came to the second season of Fogelman’s “Paradise.” In fact, the finale of the riveting follow-up season reached 4.3 million viewers in its first three days of streaming, marking a 35% increase in viewership compared to the premiere. The Hulu series landed seven Emmy noms this year. Fogelman is also an executive producer on the streamer’s “Only Murders in the Building,” which earned five nods. And the producer is showing no sign of slowing down, currently working on the upcoming NFL family drama for Hulu, casting the likes of Mandy Moore, Christopher Meloni and Chloe Bennet.
Richard Gadd
In 2024, Gadd rocketed onto the scene with “Baby Reindeer” as creator, writer and star — and won three Emmys for that drama. He’s done it again this year with HBO’s “Half Man,” a horrifying exploration of toxic masculinity by way of a tumultuous relationship between two men over three decades. Gadd landed an Emmy nom for his supporting role and knows that the dark content of the show may have pushed people away — but stands by the strength of the storytelling and the powerful performances by Jamie Bell, as well as Stuart Campbell (who plays the young version of Gadd’s character) and Mitchell Robertson (as the young version of Bell’s).
Megan Gallagher
The Sarah Snook-led thriller about a mother’s worst nightmare coming true became Peacock’s biggest launch ever for an original series. Gallagher, who has previous credits on “Lazarus” and “Wolf,” worked closely with Emmy-nominated actors Snook and Dakota Fanning; “All Her Fault” earned seven nominations total. After the show’s breakout success on streaming, Gallagher inked an overall deal with Universal Global Television and a first-look pact with Carnival Films. Next up, she will adapt books “The Break-In” by Katherine Faulkner and “Such a Nice Girl” by Andrea Mara.
Faith Gaskins and Trish Gold
Executive producers Gaskins and Gold have a lot to celebrate after “Summer House” nabbed its first Emmy nomination in the unstructured reality category against staple shows. The Bravo series has run for 10 seasons and, after this most recent explosive season, saw its three-part reunion draw the largest audience in the show’s history. Production is currently underway for Season 11, and Bravo already debuted a spinoff series, “In the City,” starring Kyle Cooke, Amanda Batula and Danielle Olivera.
Brent Gauches
Gauches cut his reality teeth in the early 2000s working with some of the busiest production companies and networks at the time in that space: MTV, 3Ball Prods., 51 Minds and A. Smith & Co. among them. Early shows he worked on included “G’s to Gents,” “True Beauty,” “Jerseylicious,” “Secret Millionaire” and more. From there, he had a hand in major franchises like “Duck Dynasty,” “Growing Up Chrisley” and “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” For the last five years, he’s been an executive producer at Kinetic Content, keeping busy with shows including the company’s Netflix flagship, “Love Is Blind,” which consistently hits the Top 10 charts upon release.
R. Scott Gemmill
People may have heard of the sophomore slump, but not many are familiar with the opposite occurring. That’s the case for “The Pitt,” created and showrun by Gemmill. In the second season, the HBO Max medical drama landed 25 Emmy noms, up from last year’s 13. (In fact, this year saw 13 acting noms for the hit.) The Season 2 finale, one of five written by Gemmill in the season, hit a series high with nearly 10 million viewers in one weekend.
After devoting 14 years to “Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul” and a movie, Gilligan left the meth-addled, cartel-crazed world of Walter White and Saul Goodman behind. His next project, “Pluribus,” an original sci-fi series set in his familiar Albuquerque, N.M., sparked the first bidding war of his career before landing at Apple TV with a two-season order. The apocalyptic Rhea Seehorn starrer challenged audiences with slow, silent sequences and a protagonist who isn’t all that heroic. It paid off: “Pluribus” was Apple’s biggest drama series launch, and it earned a whopping 18 Emmy nominations.
Howard Gordon
“The Beast in Me,” led by Gordon, earned nine Emmy nominations in the limited series categories. The award-winning showrunner, previously known for his work on “The X-Files,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Homeland,” directed Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys to Emmy nominations, with the thriller also being recognized for its writing, casting and costume design. Gordon was additionally nominated by the Producers Guild Awards for his work on the eight-episode Netflix series. He previously won multiple Emmys for his work on “Homeland” and scored a BAFTA nomination.
Conrad Green
When people talk about the magic of “Dancing With the Stars,” many are talking about what happened when Green returned in 2022 after eight years away from the show. In addition to finding the perfect cast (with casting head and icon Deena Katz), Green found a way to put the energy and excitement back into the BBC Studios-produced reality series for its 34th season. The last episode was the show’s highest-rated finale in a decade and earned 9.24 million total viewers; it also led to the show breaking back into the Emmys’ reality competition program category for the first time in 10 years.
Celeste Hughey
With “The ’Burbs,” Hughey brought the world of the original 1989 film, which starred Tom Hanks, back to life decades later, but with a new twist and a new cast. Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall star in the Peacock series as a couple who move into a suburban neighborhood, which seems slightly off, and explores themes of class and racism with a healthy dose of surrealism and dark comedy. Hughey previously worked as a producer on “Palm Royale” and a consulting producer on “No Good Deed,” in addition to writing on “Dead to Me” and “High Fidelity.”
Robert Hull
A veteran showrunner-writer-producer, Hull has lent his expertise to everything from “Gossip Girl” to “Quantum Leap.” His latest role as the creator and showrunner of Netflix’s “I Will Find You,” a Harlan Coben adaptation, showcases his mastery of characters and thrilling reveals. The series follows a grief-stricken father serving a life sentence for murdering his own son. Insistent on his innocence, he teams up with his sister-in-law to uncover what really happened. Netflix’s biggest series debut of 2026, it earned 24 million views in the first four days.
Brad Ingelsby
Adjacent to the hit series “Mare of Easttown,” “Task” dug into the choices people make, faith and family, propelled by showrunner Ingelsby’s deft hand with dialogue, location shooting and casting. A bona-fide hit for HBO, “Task” nabbed six Emmy noms and was renewed for a second season shortly after its October finale, continuing to follow Mark Ruffalo’s Tom Brandis as an FBI task-force leader. Plus, news later came that Season 2 will officially be a crossover, with Julianne Nicholson reprising her “Mare” role on “Task.”
David E. Kelley
At 70, Kelley continues to prove that age is nothing but a number. This year, he teamed up with wife Michelle Pfeiffer, casting her in Apple TV’s “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” alongside a stellar cast including Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman and Nicole Kidman. As creator, producer and showrunner, he also wrote five of the eight episodes of the adaptation based on Rufi Thorpe’s 2024 novel. “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” landed eight Emmy nominations and has already been renewed for a second season.
Courtney A. Kemp
Kemp is a TV legend for creating the “Power” universe of shows alongside 50 Cent. But under her overall deal with Netflix, she created a big hit this year with “Nemesis,” an L.A. cops vs. criminals drama with plenty of twists along the way. The series topped the streamer’s charts for five weeks and garnered more than 1.3 billion minutes watched in its first full week of streaming. A second “bigger and better” season is on the way.
Michael Patrick King
While Michael Patrick King has been a creative force behind hit series like “Sex and the City” and “2 Broke Girls,” it’s the satire “The Comeback” that he kept returning to over more than two decades. Co-creating the show in 2005 with Lisa Kudrow, who stars as Valerie Cherish, the pair announced that this year’s third season would be its final. King told Variety that he was surprised about the series’ place in pop culture: “We became kind of a satire of time and civilization moving forward in a weird way.”
Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan
Konner and Kaplan served as showrunners for Season 2 of Netflix’s hit comedy “Nobody Wants This,” which hit 8.6 million views in its first four days and landed two Emmy nods. The pair took over from sisters and co-creators Erin and Sara Foster, who remained as executive producers. Konner wrote one episode for the season, and Kaplan wrote two. The third season wrapped filming in May and is set for a fall 2026 release.
Bill Lawrence
Lawrence has continued to be one of TV’s most reliable and consistent show creators, leading both “Shrinking” and “Rooster” to strong viewership figures on Apple TV and HBO Max, respectively. The college comedy “Rooster,” starring Steve Carell and Danielle Deadwyler, earned the title of biggest comedy series launch for an HBO debut season since 2009’s “Hung” and 1998’s “Sex and the City.” “Shrinking” continues to be an awards season staple, earning nine Emmy noms for its third season. Lawrence also brought back “Scrubs,” this time on Hulu.
Lee Sung Jin
With the acclaimed second season of “Beef,” Lee proved two important points. First, that he could differentiate full story arcs with the same tantalizing premise: people who really hate each other. Second, “The White Lotus” doesn’t own the doomed-rich-people-with-problems genre. For “Beef” Season 2, Lee refined his meditations on rage and demonstrated he could handle major star power with ease. That’s why Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Youn Yuh-jung all snagged Emmy noms this cycle (as does Lee, for writing and best drama). Here’s hoping for a third course.
Louisa Levy and Gina Fattore
Crown Levy and Fattore the queens of hockey romance. The pair co-showrun “Off Campus,” the Prime Video series that became the third-most watched debut on the streamer, topping “The Boys,” “Reacher” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” It’s also the No. 1 debut for Prime Video among female viewers age 18-34. The rom-com adaptation of Elle Kennedy’s novel reached 36 million viewers in its first 12 days, and boosted the careers of stars Ella Bright, Belmont Cameli, Stephen Kalyn and Mika Abdalla.
Patrick Macmanus
Under his overall deal with Universal Global TV, Macmanus created “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy” for Peacock, telling a true crime story without showing any murder or assault; instead, he focused on the victims’ families and the systemic failures that led to Gacy’s years-long crime spree. Macmanus is now working on the second installment, focused on the victims of Richard Ramirez; he also just obtained the rights to adapt Annie Jacobsen’s “Biological War: A Scenario.”
Bruce Miller
With “The Testaments,” Miller, previously the showrunner of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” proved there was life in Gilead yet. Based on Margaret Atwood’s 2019 sequel novel, this new series earned an Emmy nomination for lead Chase Infiniti, brought Elisabeth Moss back to the character of June in an electrifying cameo, and extended the life of one of Hulu’s signature hits without retreading old ground. Its story takes place in an entirely different corner of Atwood’s fictional theocracy — the world of relatively privileged teen girls only gradually experiencing a feminist awakening.
Ryan Murphy
Murphy’s productivity has kicked into overdrive since he returned to Disney; in the past TV season alone, he’s executive produced the horror drama “The Beauty,” the legal soap “All’s Fair” and the zeitgeist-grabbing “Love Story.” He also made a new season of Netflix’s “Monster,” about Ed Gein, too, which landed seven Emmy noms; FX got six nominations for “Love Story,” while Hulu touted “All’s Fair” as its biggest scripted series launch in three years. His 1980s-set adaptation “The Shards” recently bowed on Hulu. Next up is the 13th season of “American Horror Story,” bringing back some of that franchise’s most beloved characters.
Cian O’Clery
The longtime “Love on the Spectrum” showrunner and co-creator, O’Clery also serves as its writer, director, executive producer and casting director. Netflix renewed the series for a fifth season only two days after the release of season four, which ranks as one of the most-watched docs on the platform with 11.2 million total views. The latest season tied the show’s record for most Emmy nominations with five, including nods for directing and casting for O’Clery.
Meaghan Oppenheimer
Hulu’s “Tell Me Lies,” created by Oppenheimer, came to a dramatic end this year after three seasons of toxicity, and made quite a splash — especially on social media. Compared to the Season 2 debut, the social conversation was 220% higher after the third season debuted and the engagement on the show’s handles grew 580%. The premiere landed 5 million views globally in the first week, up 150% from the series’ debut in the same time window. As part of her deal with 20th, Oppenheimer is now developing the drama “Bastards” at Hulu, on which she will both write and executive produce.
Ira Parker
A blockbuster “Game of Thrones” spinoff, “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” averaged around 13 million viewers per episode — but more important, Parker delivered something quite different for fans: a lighter, more human and humane take on the “GoT” universe that still incorporated canon lore. The rookie phenomenon earned eight Emmy noms, including drama series. Another bonus: each episode averaged about 35 minutes yet still packed in strong, powerful storytelling, something viewers were pleasantly surprised by.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone
“South Park,” which started out as a scrappy, paper-cut holiday video card that Parker and Stone created for a friend and then turned into a Comedy Central institution, remains strong as it approaches its 30th anniversary in 2027. The iconic animated series is still generating headlines and kudos for its no-holds-barred, fearless take on pop culture and politics; this year the TV Academy will induct the duo into its Hall of Fame, cementing its legacy. And last year, Parker and Stone sealed a staggering $1.5 billion deal with Paramount for the global streaming rights to the show.
Jeff Probst
For 25 years, “Survivor” has been a watercooler show. But Season 50 took that to an entirely new level. Led by host and showrunner Probst, the landmark season, “In the Hands of the Fans,” delivered its highest ratings in years for CBS. The season kicked off with nearly 6.2 million people watching the premiere; the finale (live in Los Angeles) became the most-watched finale since 2020. That viewership is up 32% from the previous season. The show landed five Emmy noms this year, including Probst for host and the show for reality competition.
Sam Rees-Jones, Rosie Franks and Mike Cotton
The team behind “The Traitors” continued to soar this year, bringing in some big names for the fourth season, including Donna Kelce, Kristen Kish and Lisa Rinna. With Alan Cumming as host once again, the Peacock series had a massive opening with 3.2 billion minutes viewed within less than a month. Overall, the format’s reach has also extended across six continents, and past TV, with a London-based live experience and a stage production confirmed for 2027. And this fall, an all-civilian version of “The Traitors” will be coming to NBC.
Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin
Known for their work on the short-form sketch show “I Think You Should Leave,” Robinson and Kanin proved they could work on a bigger canvas. “The Chair Company,” which earned surprise Emmy nominations for directing and writing, uses its eight episodes to tell a single, unified story of one man descending into something like madness as he uncovers a conspiracy. It’s the most substantial work of Robinson and Kanin’s careers, and is, at least for now, the culmination of their loopy vision.
If we’re playing on sheer volume, Sheridan’s showrunner power is the size of his resident Texas. With 11 shows in and around the “Yellowstone” story universe, the super-creator has spawned a profitable, urgent and delicious web of dramas. The series, including “The Madison” and “Dutton Ranch,” all attract A-listers and don’t alienate a polarized country of viewers. That’s why it was big news this year when NBCUniversal shocked the world by luring the Stetson-clad creative to its lot, away from his longtime home Paramount.
Ben Thursby-Palmer
For a low-key dating show, shaping episodes of “Love Island USA” is a very challenging job. With multiple episodes a week happening in near-live time recapping the romantic happenings of the villa, Thursby-Palmer and his team have to be able to conjure storylines and read the tea leaves about which couples will be most engaging to audiences — all while finding enough funny bits and workable b-roll to stitch together a well-shaped narrative. That vision is what has driven Season 8 of the series to be Peacock’s most-watched TV debut ever; it also earned a hosting nomination for Ariana Madix.
Although Tierney isn’t new to the business, it’s safe to say that this year was his biggest yet. In November, the “Letterkenny” creator launched “Heated Rivalry,” Crave’s adaptation of Rachel Reid’s romance novels, which aired on HBO Max. Sending the careers of stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie into the stratosphere, the show was massive for both the Canadian streaming service and Max and continued to grow each week. The show landed an average of more than 10 million viewers per episode; the December finale saw an increase of more than 300% compared to the premiere.
Jonathan Tropper
Tropper has traversed many genres, authoring the dark comedy book (and then the film screenplay) “This Is Where I Leave You” and co-creating the action series “Banshee.” With Apple TV’s “Your Friends & Neighbors,” he tried his hand at a show about middle-aged malaise disguised as a flashy, white-collar crime drama. The Jon Hamm-led show, which started production on its third season in May, is both aspirational and cynical: in this fictional New York suburb, the ultra-wealthy can’t seem to find what makes them happy. This year, the series earned an Emmy nod for drama.
Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot
Overseeing a show with a dizzying logline — Nicolas Cage plays a ‘30s private investigator who moonlights as Spider-Man — could have gone off the rails, but Uziel and Lightfoot kept things moving over eight dense episodes of Prime Video’s “Spider Noir.” Wrangling a sprawling cast and eye-popping visuals that look lush in either the black-and-white or color versions, the series was not only popular amongst the comic book crowd, but was nominated for a whopping 11 Emmy nominations. There are endless possibilities for future adventures — and perhaps some awards love could help encourage more.
