PGA Awards: Ryan Murphy can score 3rd win with ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’
Matthew Stewart
In 2017, following eight losses throughout the preceding decade, Ryan Murphy finally achieved his first competitive PGA Award win for producing the first iteration of “American Crime Story,” aka “The People v. O.J. Simpson.” Two years later, his work on the show’s second season – “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” – led to him becoming one of the inaugural honorees in the Best Limited Series PGA category (which was established to separate such programs from TV movies). Now, according to Gold Derby’s odds, he is heavily favored to triumph there again as the producer of Netflix’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”
70% of the Gold Derby users who have made predictions for this particular race are anticipating a “Monster” victory. Nearly all of the remaining top choice votes have been thrown toward “The Dropout,” with “Pam and Tommy,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and “Inventing Anna” all receiving relatively little support. Taking recent winners of this award into account, it stands to reason that “Monster” would benefit from Murphy’s involvement, as well as from being a Netflix series (like “The Queen’s Gambit,” 2021) and starring Evan Peters (like “Mare of Easttown,” 2022).
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Among the other “Monster” producers who would share in this potential win are several people who previously prevailed alongside Murphy for “American Crime Story.” This includes Alexis Martin Woodall, who worked on both of the FX show’s first two seasons, as well as “Versace” producers Lou Eyrich and Eric Kovtun. Others who were honored twice for “American Crime Story” but did not contribute to “Monster” are Scott Alexander, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Larry Karaszewski, Brad Simpson and Chip Vucelich.
“American Crime Story” was the third of four Murphy productions to contend in the PGA’s now-split Best Long-form Program category. It was preceded in this regard by the series “American Horror Story” (five seasons: “Murder House,” “Asylum,” “Coven,” “Freak Show” and “Hotel”) and the telefilm “The Normal Heart” and followed by the eight-episode drama “Feud: Bette and Joan.” Prior to this, Murphy competed for Best Drama Series as a producer of “Nip/Tuck” (2005) and received two Best Comedy Series nominations for “Glee” (2011-2012).
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Murphy’s PGA Awards resume also includes two honorary plaudits. He first shared in a 2015 Stanley Kramer Award win for “The Normal Heart,” which the organization deemed “a remarkable piece of filmmaking, and an essential chapter in our ongoing struggle with [the HIV/AIDS] epidemic.” Three years later, he was individually honored with the Norman Lear Award for lifetime achievement in television.
At this point in the current awards season, “Monster” has received two major acting prizes, with Peters picking up a Golden Globe for his lead performance and Niecy Nash-Betts collecting a supporting trophy at the Critics Choice Awards. The series lost on its own Golden Globe bid to “The White Lotus,” but is not faced with the same obstacle at the PGA Awards since the HBO program is classified as a drama there this year. Peters and Nash-Betts are also currently nominated for SAG Awards and, along with Murphy and the many other creatives who worked on their show, will be eligible for Emmys this summer.
The 34th annual PGA Awards will be handed out on Saturday, February 25 during a non-televised ceremony in Beverly Hills, California.
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