Gotham TV Awards Winners 2025
The Industry was invited to attend The Gotham TV Awards.
Thank you very much to the team at Gotham, Reggie Dvorin, and Colin Whitlow for inviting us. The ceremony was a celebration of the best shows of the year, honoring both newcomers and well-established showrunners.
All in all, Netflix took 5 awards. HBO/Max and Hulu took 3 each.
Summary of the night
It was great to reconnect with the director of Bridget Jones’ Diary 4, whom I interviewed last week, who introduced me (very enthusiastically) to Renée Zellweger. I also had a great chat with Jenny Slate (who’s excellent in FX’s Dying for Sex) about how to deal with annoying Brooklyn neighbors. Plus, I had a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of wearing outlandish hats with Amy Sherman-Palladino (creator: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).
Each presenter at the Gotham Awards was dripping with passion about the art form and passed on their wisdom to the crowd. When the creator of Squid Game, Hwang Dong-hyuk, took the stage to receive a Creator Tribute award, he shared:
“I want to thank everyone that said “no” to me in 2009. If anyone of you had said “yes,” there would be no Squid Game as you know it. Not being sarcastic. I learned a lot from your notes.”
I love the idea of letting disappointment alchemize and push you forward.
One of the most resonant speeches came at the end of the night from Netflix’s Adolescence, star Stephen Graham:
Graham stated:
“I’ve been #75 on a call sheet and with our show we wanted to rip the rule book up and throw it out the fucking window. It doesn’t matter if you’re #1 or #202, you are a fucking human being that is there to give your all.”
Massive applause as Graham concluded:
“So I think we should treat each other with the respect and the dignity that this job demands. We’re all misfits, we’re all little strangers from little weird places, but this is where we have the opportunity to show what we can do.”
Thank you so much to The Gotham. It was a fantastic evening, with the wildest moment being Sam Rockwell and Leslie Bibb screaming out Parker Posey's White Lotus catchphrases.
2025 Top Winner:
Best Breakthrough Limited Series
Adolescence (Netflix) cleaned up the evening with three awards:
Best Breakthrough Limited Series (creators: Stephen Graham, Jack Thorne)
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Limited Series (Stephen Graham)
Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Limited Series (Owen Cooper)
Synopsis:
When a 13-year-old is accused of the murder of a classmate, his family, therapist and the detective in charge are all left asking what really happened.
The supporting actor, the young Owen Cooper, thanked his parents for creating him.
2025 Winners
Best Breakthrough Drama Series
The Pitt (HBO Max)
Star: Noah Wyle
Creator: R. Scott Gemmill
Synopsis:
The daily lives of healthcare professionals in a Pittsburgh hospital as they juggle personal crises, workplace politics, and the emotional toll of treating critically ill patients, revealing the resilience required in their noble calling.
Breakthrough Comedy Series
The Studio (Apple TV+)
Star: Seth Rogen
Creators: Evan Goldberg, Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck, Frida Perez, Seth Rogen
Synopsis:
Follows a legacy Hollywood movie studio striving to survive in a world where it is increasingly difficult for art and business to live together.
Goldberg quipped:
“As a show financed by an upstart tech company out of Northern California, we always saw ourselves as this little engine that could. And when we were filming at the small unknown locales like Chateou Marmont and the Beverly Hilton, we talked about how we could only hope to be a show that people somehow discovered. And now it is official we’ve broken through.”
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Comedy Series
Julio Torres – Fantasmas (HBO Max)
Synopsis:
It follows the tale of when Julio Torres lost a golden oyster.
Torres made a great pivot halfway through the speech when he realized he’d won for acting and not as the show’s creator.
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Drama Series
Kathy Bates – Matlock (CBS)
Synopsis:
Follows Madeline Matlock as she rejoins the work force at a prestigious law firm, where she uses her wily tactics to win cases and expose wrongdoing.
Outstanding Original Film, Broadcast or Streaming
Pee-Wee as Himself (HBO | Max)
Dir: Matt Wolf
Prod: Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Synopsis:
A kaleidoscopic portrait told in two parts that traces the life of the imaginative artist.
Trailer.
Outstanding Performance in an Original Film
Aaron Pierre – Rebel Ridge (Netflix)
Synopsis:
A former Marine grapples his way through a web of small-town corruption when an attempt to post bail for his cousin escalates into a violent standoff with the local police chief.
Trailer.
Pierre wasn’t there, but director Jeremy Saulnier accepted on his behalf, calling him a true gentleman.
Most powerful full-circle moment at The Gotham? Sheryl Lee Ralph accepting the Sidney Poitier Icon Tribute from Poitier’s daughter. Ralph shared how Sidney, who cast her in her first role, A Piece of the Action, was “the man who saw me before the world did.”
Most NSFW moment? Brian Tyree Henry (star: Dope Thief) making the sign language interpreter sign some obscene things.
The event was amazing, and thank you to The Gotham for inviting The Industry.
Full list of winners here.