BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2021: Outstanding Drama Series

We've reached the final award - Outstanding Drama Series!

Check out the nominees and winner from 2020!

This year's nominees are:

BRIDGERTON (Netflix)

THE CROWN (Netflix)

FOR ALL MANKIND (Apple TV+)

THE HANDMAID'S TALE (Hulu)

P-VALLEY (Starz)

POSE (FX)

THIS IS US (NBC)

And the Winner Is...

THE CROWN

Netflix

I was a fan of the first season of The Crown but I found it slow at times. I ended up not watching the second season but picked back up with it during the pandemic. I thought the third season was good (it was nominated for six awards last year from me) but not great (no wins). The fourth season is when it put it all together and a lot of that is thanks to British history. The 1980s is when the British had the saga of Charles and Diana and the rule of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. Those events gave The Crown plenty of material and the series made the most of it with pitch perfect casting and compelling stories. Whereas other seasons of The Crown dragged sometimes, this one flew by. The series is not completely based in reality but it took true events and made them very compelling episodes. As always, the production design was impeccable too. But it mostly comes back to the performances. Just as Diana humanized the royal family, they all felt more human this year and less like museum pieces. Even with so many of them not returning for future seasons, I'm still excited to see the final two seasons of the series.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:

Despite several of last year's drama nominees not returning due to pandemic issues, there was still a strong set of dramas. Along with The Crown, other returning nominees were This is Us and Pose. This is Us had a rough start to the season with clunky attempts at incorporating the pandemic. But it improved as the season went on and had a very compelling run of episodes to close the season. It also does way more episodes than any other nominee, even in a pandemic year. The final season of Pose gave a fairy tale ending to a lot of the characters but it was very satisfying for a show that has always been hopeful and optimistic even while dealing with things like AIDS. The Handmaid's Tale had a strong fourth season with a story that finally moved forward in a very meaningful way while the second season of For All Mankind took a big leap forward with a much more focused story. Finally, there are two new shows on the list: Bridgerton and P-Valley. Bridgerton was soapy but the best kind of soap with impeccable production values and a very clever voice. But it was P-Valley that gave The Crown its biggest threat. The drama was about strippers on the surface but it was so much more than that and is a very rich character drama that's not getting enough respect.

Tomorrow: A recap of all the awards!