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Joe Weisberg

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Joe Weisberg
Weisberg at the Peabody Awards 2019
Born
Joseph Weisberg

1965 or 1966 (age 58–59)
Alma materYale University
Occupations
  • Writer
  • producer
  • educator
  • CIA officer
TelevisionThe Americans
Relatives
AwardsPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Joseph Weisberg (born 1965/1966)[1] is an American television writer, producer, novelist, and school teacher.[2] Weisberg is best known as the creator and showrunner of the FX TV series The Americans and The Patient (co-created with Joel Fields).

Career

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A 1987 graduate of Yale University, Weisberg became a CIA officer three years after graduation,[2] and after a short career with the Agency, Weisberg taught at The Summit School, a private special education high school in Queens, New York City until 2010 when he went on to pursue a career in television. One of his final projects at Summit School was helping students found the school newspaper, The Summit Sun.[3]

Weisberg wrote episodes for TNT's alien invasion series Falling Skies and the DirecTV legal drama Damages. He then created The Americans, an FX series centering on two KGB sleeper agents, who pose as American citizens in Washington, D.C. during the 1980s.[2] The Americans was executive-produced by Weisberg and Justified creator Graham Yost.[4][5] In 2022, Weisberg co-created and showran the limited FX series The Patient.

Weisberg authored two novels: 10th Grade and An Ordinary Spy.[6] An Ordinary Spy was nominated for the Believer Book Award.[7]

Weisberg is also the author of the non-fiction book Russia Upside Down: An Exit Strategy for the Second Cold War, which was published in 2021.[8]

Personal life

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Weisberg grew up in a Jewish family in Chicago,[9] the son of civil rights attorney Bernard Weisberg and former Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Lois Weisberg.[2] He is the younger brother of Slate Group editor-in-chief Jacob Weisberg.[2]

In 2024, Weisberg and The Americans co-showrunner Joel Fields signed an open letter by more than 1,000 Jewish creatives and professionals denouncing Jonathan Glazer's acceptance speech for The Zone of Interest at the 96th Academy Awards, in which Glazer had criticized Israel's and actions during the Israel-Hamas war, as well as the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories.[10]

Filmography

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Falling Skies

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Damages

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  • "Next One's on Me, Blondie" (4.04)

The Americans

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  • "Pilot" (1.01)
  • "The Clock" (1.02)
  • "In Control" (co-written with Joel Fields) (1.04)
  • "Mutually Assured Destruction" (co-written with Joel Fields) (1.08)
  • "The Colonel" (co-written with Joel Fields) (1.13)
  • "Comrades" (co-written with Joel Fields) (2.01)
  • "Cardinal" (co-written with Joel Fields) (2.02)
  • "Operation Chronicle" (co-written with Joel Fields) (2.12)
  • "Echo" (co-written with Joel Fields) (2.13)
  • "EST Men" (co-written with Joel Fields) (3.01)
  • "Baggage" (co-written with Joel Fields) (3.02)
  • "Stingers" (co-written with Joel Fields) (3.10)
  • "March 8, 1983" (co-written with Joel Fields) (3.13)
  • "Glanders" (co-written with Joel Fields) (4.01)
  • "Pastor Tim" (co-written with Joel Fields) (4.02)
  • "Roy Rogers in Franconia" (co-written with Joel Fields) (4.12)
  • "Persona Non Grata" (co-written with Joel Fields) (4.13)
  • "Amber Waves" (co-written with Joel Fields) (5.01)
  • "Pests" (co-written with Joel Fields) (5.02)
  • "The World Council of Churches" (co-written with Joel Fields) (5.12)
  • "The Soviet Division" (co-written with Joel Fields) (5.13)
  • "Dead Hand" (co-written with Joel Fields) (6.01)
  • "Tchaikovsky" (co-written with Joel Fields) (6.02)
  • "Jennings, Elizabeth" (co-written with Joel Fields) (6.09)
  • "START" (co-written with Joel Fields) (6.10)

The Patient

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  • All 10 episodes (co-written with Joel Fields)

Bibliography

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  • 10th Grade. Random House. 2002. ISBN 978-0375505843.
  • An Ordinary Spy. Bloomsbury USA. 2008. ISBN 978-1596913769.
  • Russia Upside Down: An Exit Strategy for the Second Cold War. PublicAffairs. 2021. ISBN 978-1541768628.

Accolades

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Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2022 Peabody Awards Entertainment The Patient Nominated [11]

References

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  1. ^ Holson, Laura M. (March 29, 2013). "The Dark Stuff, Distilled". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b c d e Holson, Laura M. (March 29, 2013). "The Dark Stuff, Distilled". New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  3. ^ "News" (PDF). The Summit Sun. June 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  4. ^ Bill Brioux (January 30, 2013). "The Americans debuts on FX Canada Jan. 30". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  5. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (December 16, 2011). "FX Greenlights Drama Pilot About 1980s KGB Spies Posing As U.S. Suburbanites". Deadline. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  6. ^ Waxman, Olivia B. (January 30, 2013). "Q&A: The CIA Officer Behind the New Spy Drama The Americans". Time Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  7. ^ "The Believer Book Award 2007 finalists". The Believer'. March–April 2008. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  8. ^ "Russia Upside Down". Kirkus Reviews. July 15, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  9. ^ Bloom, Nate (September 14, 2017). "Jewish entertainers well-represented at Emmy Awards". Saint Louis Jewish Light. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  10. ^ Siegel, Tatiana (March 18, 2024). "Over 1,000 Jewish Creatives and Professionals Have Now Denounced Jonathan Glazer's 'Zone of Interest' Oscars Speech in Open Letter (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  11. ^ Voyles, Blake (September 20, 2023). "83rd Peabody Award Nominees". Retrieved September 20, 2023.
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