BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2022: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series!

Check out past results from 2020 and 2021!

This year's nominees are...

PAMELA ADLON as Sam Fox in Better Things (FX)

RACHEL BROSNAHAN as Midge Maisel in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)

QUINTA BRUNSON as Jeanine Teagues in Abbott Elementary (ABC)

KALEY CUOCO as Cassie Bowden in The Flight Attendant (HBO Max)

HANNAH EINBINDER as Ava Daniels in Hacks (HBO Max)

ELLE FANNING as Catherine the Great in The Great (Hulu)

SARAH LANCASHIRE as Julia Child in Julia (HBO Max)

JEAN SMART as Deborah Vance in Hacks (HBO Max)

HELENE YORKE as Brooke Dubek in The Other Two (HBO Max)

And the Winner Is...

JEAN SMART

Hacks (HBO Max)

Last year, I narrowly chose Kaley Cuoco over Jean Smart for this award and my reasoning was I thought Cuoco was more integral to the success of The Flight Attendant whereas Hacks was a better show. This year, it tilted more considerably in Smart's favor after she turned in another pristine season on Hacks. It's true that she has good people around her (including fellow nominee Hannah Einbinder) but Smart is the heart and soul of the show. She can play funny, sarcastic, vulnerable, angry and all sorts of other emotions. Smart has been a strong actress for a very long time but this might be her best performance ever. I think there's a lot of Smart in the Deborah Vance character but she still makes Deborah a fully realized character who was even sharper and more biting and also more three dimensional in the second season. She'll be a deserving contender for as long as Hacks runs.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:

This is one of the strongest categories of all the awards. Two former winners, Kaley Cuoco and Rachel Brosnahan were in the mix. Cuoco continues to be far and away the strongest part of The Flight Attendant and that was even more apparent in a more uneven second season. Brosnahan didn't seem to have quite as much to do on the fourth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel but I think many take her expert performance for granted at this point. Smart's co-star Hannah Einbiner is a huge reason why Hacks works as well as it does and she has a great dynamic with Smart. Pamela Adlon was the heart and soul of Better Things for five seasons and ended on a strong note. Newcomer Quinta Brunson is a delightful center to Abbott Elementary as the next generation Leslie Knope while another newcomer to the category, Sarah Lancashire, delivered a very memorable performance as an iconic real-life figure. Elle Fanning was very funny in the second season of The Great as so much of that show works because of her and co-star Nicholas Hoult. Finally, Helene Yorke has incredibly funny deliveries with blink and you'll miss it lines on The Other Two.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Limited/Anthology Series!