Joe Weisberg Explained

Joe Weisberg
Birth Name:	Joseph Weisberg
Alma Mater:	Yale University
Television:	The Americans
Awards:	Primetime 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

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

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]

Filmography

Falling Skies

• "Silent Kill" (1.05)
• "Mutiny" (1.09)
• "Love and Other Acts of Courage" (2.05)

Damages

• "Next One's on Me, Blondie" (4.04)

The Americans

• "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

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

Bibliography

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

Accolades

Notes and References

1. News: The Dark Stuff, Distilled. Laura M.. Holson. The New York Times . March 29, 2013.
2. News: New York Times. March 29, 2013. April 2, 2016. The Dark Stuff, Distilled . Laura M.. Holson.
3. Web site: News . The Summit Sun . June 2010.
4. News: Toronto Star. The Americans debuts on FX Canada Jan. 30. The Canadian Press. Bill Brioux. January 30, 2013. February 15, 2013.
5. Web site: FX Greenlights Drama Pilot About 1980s KGB Spies Posing As U.S. Suburbanites. Deadline. Andreeva. Nellie. December 16, 2011. May 3, 2012.
6. Web site: Q&A: The CIA Officer Behind the New Spy Drama The Americans. Waxman. Olivia B.. January 30, 2013. Time Magazine. April 13, 2015.
7. Web site: The Believer Book Award 2007 finalists. The Believer'. March–April 2008. March 6, 2014.
8. News: Russia Upside Down. Kirkus Reviews. July 15, 2021. April 25, 2023.
9. Web site: Bloom. Nate. Jewish entertainers well-represented at Emmy Awards. Saint Louis Jewish Light. September 14, 2017. May 30, 2018. April 26, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190426092849/https://www.stljewishlight.com/features/article_2cfe1400-989e-11e7-90f4-5ff77ddf0656.html. dead.
10. Web site: Voyles . Blake . September 20, 2023 . 83rd Peabody Award Nominees . September 20, 2023.