Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, the team behind "thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life," have been named recipients of the Writers Guild of America, West's 2012 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television, the WGAW said on Wednesday.
The award was established by the WGAW to honor lifetime achievement in television. Past winners include Steven Bochco, Stephen J. Cannell, David Chase and Larry David.
“Beginning in the 1980’s, Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz were among a small group of writers who revolutionized the television drama," said WGAW president Christopher Keyser in a statement announcing the award. " … So many writers of this generation were drawn to television because of what Marshall and Ed told us, in ['thirtysomething'] and then in show after show, it was possible to do – to write stories about real people, with honest and compelling emotional stakes, about what it feels like to be alive.”