You came, you saw, you voted and we are so proud to present the winners of the Twelfth Annual Feelies. While it’s clear you voted down ballot for a couple of shows, it also feels like you spread the love around – which is fitting because there was just so much damn good content over the 2024 – 2025 television season. Thank you again for your passion. Pat yourself on the back for having truly excellent taste. – Kim
Best Drama – The Pitt
Who could have guessed that the medical drama could still be refined this far into the 21st century? By incorporating a real-time structure, an ensemble of mostly unknowns, and a level of accuracy that has actual doctors and nurses raving, The Pitt proved that there’s still plenty of life in this tried and true genre. Led by might-as-well-be-a-real-doctor Noah Wyle, the HBO series (crucially released on a weekly basis, growing episode to episode on word of mouth) captures one long shift at a fictional Pittsburgh ER – the first for a handful of wide-eyed med students.
The Pitt does so many things right to be as enormously entertaining as it is, but I’d put the elasticity of its tone near the top of that list. Triumph, sorry, betrayal, despair, camaraderie…the show hits many of these touchpoints, often within the same episode. Running gags like Whittaker getting doused by a different bodily fluid every hour don’t feel at all out of place, even among storylines like two adult children at an impasse over the possibility of extending their ailing father’s life or a teenager losing brain activity from fentanyl poisoning.
And these characters! Instantly indelible, every last one of them. The Pitt trusts us to get to know them as they go about their day, without piling on heavy-handed exposition, and this gives the show an immediacy that lends itself surprisingly well to all the most fun parts of forging a new fandom. (Memes! Shipping! Fanfic! Edits!) Just knowing Season Two is well into production is keeping us going. Get us back to the Pitt, stat. – Sage
Best Comedy – Shrinking
Thank GOD you guys got on the Shrinking train for Season Two, because it felt like Sage and I were screaming into the void about it during Season One.
I’ve long theorized that the reason that the third season of Ted Lasso sucked so much (It did! We should all say it!) is because Bill Lawrence left his showrunning duties behind and took his very special blend of humor and heart over to Shrinking. While the first season was excellent, I feel like the show really found its stride in Season Two, leaning into the same absurd comedy and found family vibe that made Cougar Town a woefully underrated gem a decade ago while still tackling tough topics like grief, forgiveness, empty nest syndrome, elder parent care, impending parenthood, and Paul’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. It’s the kind of show where you are laughing hysterically one minute and bawling the next. We love comedies that can punch you in the gut on a semi-regular basis!
There is not a weak link among the cast and Season Two really showed that any and every combination of these characters is delightful. The core thesis of Shrinking is that no one should go through this life alone, that we all need community, and that it’s not just okay to ask the people around you for help, it’s a fucking essential element of our very existence. It’s truly the show we need right now, and I am so happy to call it a Feelie winner. – Kim
Best Leading Performance in a Female Role (Drama) – Kaitlin Olson, High Potential
For two solid decades, Kaitlin Olson has been playing the spectacularly unsavory Dee Reynolds to comic perfection on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And it’s no secret to say that she’s headed up a handful of pilots since coming to fame as part of The Gang. None of them have been as worthy of her talents as High Potential, a charming and clever new entry into the cozy crime canon.
And it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone else playing Morgan Gillory, a single mom with an IQ of 160 who gets hired as an unlikely police consultant. Because Morgan knows everything, notices everything, and isn’t afraid to show off those smarts, the part requires someone who also makes her accessible and gives her vulnerability. (Who among us wouldn’t jump at the chance to hang out with Sweet Dee, despite her being an objectively despicable person? That’s all Kaitlin!) She’s natural and warm with her family on the show, including her precocious kids and amicable ex-husband (an HOF fave, Taran Killam). She has killer chemistry with her obligatory no-nonsense partner Adam Karadec, played by fellow nominee Daniel Sunjata. And it goes without saying that she rocks Morgan’s leather miniskirts and neon eyeliner.
The key to a lasting network procedural isn’t just fun guest stars and interesting cases – we need to want to spend time (a lot of time!) with these people, and that’s 100 percent true of Kaitlin’s newly badged Morgan. Turns out, voters thought so too! – Sage
Best Leading Performance in a Female Role (Comedy) – Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
Jean Smart has (rightfully!) had many accolades thrown at her feet for her performance in Hacks, and it’s about time that her co-star Hannah Einbinder got her flowers too. Ava and Deborah are one of the great toxic, co-dependent love stories in modern fiction, and that wouldn’t be so without two powerhouse performances.
You, our Feelies voters, clearly agree! And what a season this was for Hannah and Ava. After blackmailing Deborah for the head writer job on late night, Ava has to then, you know, actually be the head writer of a fledgling show, all the while locked in a battle of wills with her number one enemy/mentor/boss. It’s a stalemate, it’s chaos, it’s exhilarating, it’s embarrassing – and you feel all of these things along with Ava, even (especially?) when she’s throwing a piece of branzino against a floor-to-ceiling window.
Hannah’s comic genius is in her ability to play out Ava’s humiliation, rage, and insecurity to the nth degree without the resulting meltdowns ever feeling too big or uncontrolled, and her ability to improvise is unparalleled. (The desperate crash out in the sex shop was a particular highlight of the season, along with the aforementioned writers room rampage.) But we care about Ava because of those subtler moments Hannah finds, where she locks into someone who’s ambitious but flailing, talented but selfish. The only relationship that really feeds her is the same one that’s draining her life force, and Hannah captures all the related conflicting emotions while generating multiple laugh-out-loud moments every episode. A true rising star, just like Ava. – Sage
Best Leading Performance in a Male Role (Drama) – Noah Wyle, The Pitt
If there’s one thing we love at Head Over Feels, it’s a 90s icon getting a second act. It’s not like Noah Wyle’s ever STOPPED working since he hung up his ER scrubs for good in 2009, but The Pitt represents a real return to the cultural zeitgeist and we couldn’t be happier about it. He ran away with this category and it’s easy to see why. The man was just born to play a doctor on television and he’s only gotten better with age.
Really, when you watch The Pitt, you never SEE Noah, you just see Dr. Michael Robinavitch. If you were to look up the phrase “world-weary” in a pop culture dictionary, you would find a picture of Dr. Robby. He’s incredibly empathetic when it comes to his patients but doesn’t lose his sense of professionalism. (Unless he’s pushed – those measles parents had it COMING.) He’s a teacher and a mentor whose mere presence commands respect. (A trait that Noah clearly possesses IRL – the way the rest of the cast speaks about him is something else.) He’s a thoroughly traumatized human being who still finds the will to come to work every day and save lives. He somehow manages to not jump off the roof even after he sees unspeakable horrors and he can still laugh with his coworkers over cheap beer in the park at the end of their shift. It’s such a deeply human performance and I am so excited to see what Noah has in store for us come Season Two. – Kim
Best Leading Performance in a Male Role (Comedy) – Seth Rogan, The Studio
This was definitely one of our most highly contested races this year, and despite a good fight from Shrinking’s Jason Segel, Seth Rogen eked it out in the end for his tremendous work on The Studio. Seth has made a career out of playing bumbling but well-intentioned idiots, but his portrayal of Matt Remick really takes it to the next level. (As it should – he created the show and the role after all, and you should always play to your strengths.)
Within the first ten minutes of the pilot I declared that Seth was going to win an Emmy and by the end of the season, I was even more convinced. Watching Matt fumble his way through trying to balance his artistic ambition with the studio’s bottom line is anxiety-inducing in the BEST way. From ruining Sarah Polley’s golden hour shot to his incessant need for validation at the Golden Globes to ultimately nailing The Kool-Aid Movie’s presentation at CinemaCon, it’s a tour-de-force performance and I am so glad that we are the first major awards body to honor it with a win. – Kim
Best Supporting Performance in a Female Role (Drama) – Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
You know we love it on this website when a stalwart working actor with oodles of experience gets a later-in-life breakout moment, so we’re thrilled to present this year’s Feelie for Supporting Actor in a Female Role, Drama to The Pitt’s Katherine LaNasa. Active in this business since 1990, she chain smoked into our hearts as Nurse Dana Evans, the tough love queen of the emergency department, and earned the first Emmy nomination of her career.
The performance she gives is as lived-in as a threadbare t-shirt; it feels like we’ve known Nurse Dana for as many years as Robby probably has. Warm, witty, and capable, she’s exactly who you want in your corner in a crisis, but she also has her limits, as Katherine so beautifully plays. The Pitt’s most experienced nurse can only grin and crack wise through a thankless job for so long, and she’s such a towering presence that it’s nothing short of heartbreaking when she finally crumbles. – Sage
Best Supporting Performance in a Female Role (Comedy) – Jessica Williams, Shrinking
I’ve never been a Daily Show watcher, so it has been an absolute joy to discover Jessica Williams’ talents on Shrinking. In a cast full of actors that have bigger résumés and more name recognition, she’s actually the ensemble’s secret weapon. She has chemistry with literally everyone (her rapport with Harrison Ford is especially wonderful) and her comic timing and line readings are always spot on.
Jessica embodies Gaby’s messiness in such a perfect way we don’t fault her for her self-destructive choices because we’ve all fucking been there. I really loved how the second season moved past those choices, with Gaby realizing that she deserved more than what Jimmy was capable of giving her. You can’t help but root for Gaby to get it together, and that’s all down to the energy Jessica brings to the role. – Kim
Best Supporting Performance in a Male Role (Drama) – James Marsden, Paradise
It was initially a real bummer learning that James Marsden played the president whose death in Episode One is the inciting incident of Paradise. Fortunately, Dan Fogelman never met a nonlinear story he didn’t like, so we still got plenty of President Cal Bradford in the thriller’s freshman outing, and presumably will continue to in Season Two.
Another of our consummate faves who’s never quite gotten his due, Marsden is the perfect choice to play a political nepo baby who’s revealed over the course of unfolding flashbacks to have been much more than the sum of his parts and his father’s ambition. With JFK looks and a distracted, party-boy edge about him, Cal initially fulfills our mental image of a handsome political puppet allowing himself to be led while he drinks his way through his administrations. And James is damn good at playing that aloofness, which is later revealed to be something more like resignation.
When we find out that Cal was actually kind of a hero, it’s thrilling. And it’s also deeply sad, because the point of return has already come and gone. Here’s hoping there’s even more to learn about him when the show (if not Cal, unfortunately) returns. – Sage
Best Supporting Performance in a Male Role (Comedy) – Harrison Ford, Shrinking
When we posted this year’s nominees, I tweeted that if Harrison Ford didn’t win a Feelie, that I would hunt every single one of you down like Indiana Jones hunting ancient relics. Well, let it never be said that bullying and intimidation doesn’t work because Harrison won this one in a landslide.
(I kid, I kid – he didn’t need my help or my threats. You guys were clearly nuts about Shrinking as it took home three of the four categories it was nominated in, and Jason Segel lost his race by a single vote.)
I think what impresses me most about Harrison’s performance is that it doesn’t HAVE to be as good as it is. The man is a fucking icon and he could very easily just show up on set and deliver one liners with his signature dry wit and we would be delighted by it. He doesn’t do that though – the man does the work! Sure, Paul is a prickly but lovable grump who is always ready with a zinger, but Harrison also lets us see his vulnerable side and allows us to go on the journey with him as he struggles to open up emotionally and come to terms with his Parkinson’s diagnosis. Dare I say that Harrison’s doing the best acting of his storied career in this part? I do. I do dare say it. – Kim
Best Limited or Anthology Series – Andor
Andor is all about the voice of the people, and you people certainly made yourselves heard with this one. The Cassian Andor prequel series won this category in a landslide.
The very best of grown-up Star Wars, Andor depicts the wave of fascism about to crest over the galaxy in an urgent and terrifyingly familiar way. Season Two lived up to the high standard set by Season One, expanding the reach of the Empire and the groundswell of Rebel support. Best believe that if you watch this show, you’re going to learn about the evils of middle management; the futility of “changing things from the inside”; and the brainwashing power of PR. But amid that frank realism, Andor still finds that hope that rebellions are built on. Never forget that this second and final season began with that scene where Cassian, now a seasoned soldier, tells a baby rebel that she’s “coming home to [her]self” by joining the cause. – Sage
Best Leading Performance in a Limited or Anthology Series – Colin Farrell, The Penguin
I already talked up the chameleon-like performance of Colin Farrell in The Penguin back in the nominee post, as well as welcomed Oz Cobb into the canon of great, complex anti-heroes with fucked-up family lives. So to celebrate his well-earned win, I will instead remind you that when Colin accepted the Golden Globe for his work early in the year, he gave a special shoutout by name to the craft services woman who fed coconut water to him through a straw between takes. A man of the people! – Sage
Best Supporting Performance in a Limited or Anthology Series – Carrie Coon, The White Lotus
At long last our Queen Carrie Coon has a Feeling Award. Give us a break – we didn’t watch The Leftovers as it was airing and she lost to Carrie Preston by the slimmest of margins last year. While we suspect that she will eventually take home a Feelie for her delicious performance as The Gilded Age’s HBIC Bertha Russell, it feels fitting that she wins her first one for playing a modern-day New Yorker whose life is a fucking mess.
Honestly, I could have watched a whole season of just Carrie, Michelle Monaghan, and Leslie Bibb’s characters; their performances perfectly captured the ever-shifting dynamics of a female friend group from talking shit about the one who is not in the room at any given moment to the way their alliances shifted on the daily to the way they ended their trip closer than ever. (Well, that or they were just trauma bonded.) There was just something completely recognizable about Carrie’s depiction of Laurie though – we saw ourselves in her bitchiness, her rage, her sadness, and the way she fucking RAN with no thought for anyone else when there was an active shooter. (A sign of a true New Yorker!) She better get her long overdue Emmy come September. – Kim
Best Shipper Moment – Mark S. chooses Helly R., Severance
Maybe some saw it as a betrayal rather than a reckless, romantic gesture, but as far as I’m concerned, Mark S. doesn’t owe Mark Scout a god damn thing. Outie Mark created a receptacle for his grief-fractured personality without giving any thought to what that creation’s life might be like. Well, it turns out he’s willing to risk it all for his workplace romance, because that workplace is all he knows and Helly R. is the only person his consciousness has ever loved.
Ending this Severance season with an Innie/Outie standoff was genius, especially after it immersed us in Gemma’s hellish daily existence. Gemma innocent, free Gemma, etc, but our favorite brainwashed work spouses survived the intrusion of Helena Eagan, and for that, they deserve to run off together, hand-in-hand, into their uncertain future. – Sage
Best Right in the Feels Moment – Robby’s breakdown, The Pitt
Given how hard all of you went for The Pitt, it’s no surprise that Dr. Robby’s breakdown in the children’s ER left you all crying on the floor right there with him. I think it hits so hard because it doesn’t feel like acting – Noah Wyle brilliantly captures the way grief can suddenly crash over you like a tidal wave, destroying all your carefully constructed defenses in a split second. He truly makes Robby’s pain our pain and the performance is so fucking stunning that I get choked up just thinking about it. (Also shout out to Noah’s eye crinkles, which are really next level in this scene. God bless actors who have never put an ounce of filler or botox in their faces.) – Kim
Best YASSSSS!!!! Moment – “They’re lying to you,” Paradise
Paradise plays the audience like a fiddle, but most of the time, we’re having way too much fun to care. Take your winning YASSS moment, where Xavier arranges for an incendiary unsanctioned message to be projected over the entire town. Like Kim said in the nominees post, this reveal resulted in a synchronized scream for which we apologize to the rest of the LAX Marriott ground floor. Clearly, it worked on all of you too. – Sage
Best Warm Fuzzy – Thirteen meets Fifteen, Doctor Who
This one was no contest, given that our primary audience is Whovian. You guys really really loved Jodie Whittaker and Ncuti Gatwa sharing the screen in “The Reality War,” and Sage nailed why this scene landed so well in her recap, so I’m just gonna quote her, if that’s alright with you. – Kim
“The far and away highlight of this episode for me was the meeting of Thirteen and Fifteen. As a Tennant stan, I will never be against him popping up, but Fourteen’s brief adventures did rob us of a Jodie-into-Ncuti regeneration. It was SO good to see her, back in sparkly yet repressed Doctor form, and the warmth radiating from those two actors filled the space completely. We even got a Thasmin mention in the year 2025! In the sea of chaos that was the rest of the episode, this vignette was a reminder that fan service can be good, actually. And if the writing is there, “it would be nice” is a good enough reason for a scene to exist.”
Best WTF?! Moment – The Hikers’ arrival, Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets may never reach the dizzying heights of its first season again, but after an uneven second season, Season Three felt like a return to form. The season was entertaining even when the storytelling was messy and your votes proved that the show still has the capability to shock the hell out of the audience. “Thanksgiving (Canada)” was already a brutal episode that saw the long-awaited death of Coach Ben. (Fuck them kids.) It also showed how the team’s ritualistic slaughter and feast had evolved since Jackie and Javi’s barbecues. We’re talking REAL Lord of the Flies shit, complete with dancing around bonfires, primal screaming, and Ben’s head on a spike like we’re in fucking Westeros or something. That alone is a “What the fuck?!” moment. But then you mean to tell me that people found them and that these girls could have been rescued months before they actually were??? That there was a chance more of them could have made it home?? It’s a moment we never saw coming and that makes it a worthy winner. – Kim
Thank you again for voting! Keep consuming that content – the clock on next year’s Feelies has already started.
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