Members
Contact: Bob Hopkinson (310) 801-8563
Los Angeles – Television writer, producer, and multiple Primetime Emmy nominee Don Reo (Blossom, M*A*S*H*) has been named the recipient of the WGAW Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, presented to a Guild member who has “advanced the literature of television and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the television writer.” Reo will be honored at the WGAW’s 2026 Writers Guild Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 8, at JW Marriott L.A. LIVE Los Angeles and livestreamed from the WGAW’s YouTube Channel (@writersguildwest) and at awards.wga.org.
“I am touched and honored to receive this wonderful award,” said Reo. “It gives me hope for the future.” The 2026 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement will be presented by Mayim Bialik, who played the title character on Reo’s landmark sitcom Blossom.
“Don Reo is a living legend: a master of the written word and an inspirational thinker and creator,” said Bialik. “I am honored to be a part of the acknowledgment of his diverse, hilarious, and phenomenal career.”
Reo was born in Providence, RI in 1946 and launched his career writing jokes for touring standup comedians before becoming established as a TV writer in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. As a staff writer, Reo contributed to one of television’s most groundbreaking eras working on shows such as Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and M*A*S*H*. In the early ‘80s, Reo created and served as executive producer on the fantasy-adventure comedy Wizards and Warriors before writing landmark episodes of The Golden Girls and its spinoff series Empty Nest.
Inspired by J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Reo created the iconic '90s sitcom Blossom, one of the rare network primetime TV shows with a teenage girl as the central character. Blossom explored complex issues such as adolescence, depression, single fatherhood, and substance abuse recovery through the eyes of the show’s title character. During Blossom’s five-year run, Reo also co-created and served as showrunner for the workplace comedy The John Larroquette Show, which further explored themes of addiction and recovery. In the latter half of the ‘90s, Reo developed Pearl and served as showrunner on the Hollywood satire Action which The New York Times called “truly subversive and daring in its scabrous attitude.”
In the 2000s, Reo revisited family dynamics as co-creator and executive producer on the Damon Wayans sitcom My Wife & Kids, which earned Reo earned BET Comedy Awards nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. Reo and Wayans, who co-produced My Wife & Kids, teamed up with veteran writer and producer Ric Swartzlander to co-produce 2004’s Rodney following a blue-collar family man pursuing his dreams of being a country music star. From 2006-2009, Reo served as a writer and executive producer on Chris Rock’s autobiographical Everybody Hates Chris.
From 2003-2015, Reo served as an executive producer on Two and a Half Men, becoming co-showrunner in 2012 alongside Jim Patterson. During its 12-year run, Two and a Half Men was nominated for 46 Primetime Emmy Awards and won nine. Reo teamed up with Patterson again in 2016 to co-create and executive produce The Ranch, a multi-camera sitcom following a former pro football player's return to his family's Colorado ranch.
Reo will be presented with the 2026 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement by Mayim Bialik, who played the title character on Blossom.
Named after one of the most influential writers in entertainment history, the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement is the WGAW’s highest award for television writing. Past Television Laurel Award recipients include Vince Gilligan, Linda Bloodworth Thomason, Yvette Lee Bowser, Merrill Markoe, Jenji Kohan, Diane English, Aaron Sorkin, Steven Bochco, Susan Harris, Stephen J. Cannell, Shonda Rhimes, David Chase, Marta Kauffman & David Crane, Larry David, Garry Marshall, and Alison Cross.
For press photos of 2026 TV Laurel Award honoree Don Reo, click here.
The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, news (broadcast and digital), radio/audio, and promotional categories. The 2026 Writers Guild Awards (78th Annual) will be held on Sunday, March 8, 2026 and livestreamed from the WGAW YouTube channel. For more information about the 2026 Writers Guild Awards, please visit awards.wga.org or wgaeast.org/awards.
__
The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) are labor unions representing writers in motion pictures, television, cable, digital media, and broadcast news. The Guilds negotiate and administer contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of their members; conduct programs, seminars, and events on issues of interest to writers; and present writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America West, visit www.wga.org. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit www.wgaeast.org.
Please direct Los Angeles-based media inquiries regarding the 2025 Writers Guild Awards to Bob Hopkinson in the WGAW Communications Department at (310) 801-8563 or email: Bob Hopkinson.
Please direct New York-based media inquiries regarding the 2025 Writers Guild Awards to Jason Gordon in the WGAE Communications Department at (212) 767-7809 or email: Jason Gordon.
The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) are labor unions representing writers in motion pictures, television, cable, digital media, and broadcast news. The Guilds negotiate and administer contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of their members; conduct programs, seminars, and events on issues of interest to writers; and present writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America West, visit www.wga.org. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit www.wgaeast.org.