BENJAMONSTER AWARDS: Outstanding Writing of a Comedy Series

Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Comedy Series!

The nominees are:

JESS DWECK, Brooklyn Nine-Nine "Ding Dong" (NBC)

SOLOMON GEORGIO, Shrill "The Wedding" (Hulu)

MINDY KALING & LANG FISHER, Never Have I Ever "Pilot" (Netflix)

JESSI KLEIN, Dead to Me "Between You and Me" (Netflix)

STEVEN LEVITAN & CHRISTOPHER LLOYD & TEAM, Modern Family "Finale" (ABC)

DANIEL PALLADINO, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel "Marvelous Radio" (Amazon)

MICHAEL SCHUR, The Good Place "Whenever You're Ready" (NBC)

AMY SHERMAN-PALLADINO, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel "A Jewish Girl Walks Into the Apollo" (Amazon)

And the Winner Is...
MICHAEL SCHUR
The Good Place "Whenever You're Ready" (NBC)
I wasn't a huge fan of the final season of The Good Place which is why it didn't get nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. But I was a big fan of the series finale, which wrapped up the story beautifully. There are so many ways that a show with as complicated a mythology as The Good Place could have gone off the rails and could have had a disappointing finale. But in the end, they didn't go for big twists or turns. Instead, Michael Schur wrote an episode that reflected an awful lot on life with the interesting element of each character choosing when to "cease existing." There was a lot of humor mixed in but it was also very full of heart. The one hour episode had so many parallels and thought provoking lines to life. It's great that Schur got to end on his own terms and at the time he wanted to.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:
There were some wonderful writing nominees in this category including another series finale. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd and their whole team of writers penned a satisfying conclusion to Modern Family that paid tribute to the brilliant pilot from 11 years earlier. There was also a pilot in the mix with Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher's first episode of Never Have I Ever that gave the show a definitive voice from the start. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel continues to be one of the best written shows on TV and has two entries here. Daniel Palladino's frenetic "Marvelous Radio" and Amy Sherman-Palladino's satisfying season finale "A Jewish Girl Walks Into An Apollo." Dead to Me's "Just Between You and Me" had so many funny lines that exemplified the dark comedy nature of that show while Jess Dweck's "Ding Dong" episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine was uproarious with so many great lines for Captain Holt. Finally, Shrill took a step forward in season two with a really thought provoking episode examining family dynamics at a traditional Nigerian wedding.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Writing of a Drama Series!