BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2021: Outstanding Directing of a Comedy Series

Today's award is Directing of a Comedy Series!

Check out the nominees and winner from 2020!

This year's nominees are:

MJ DELANEY, Ted Lasso "The Hope That Kills You" (Apple TV+)

SUSANNA FOGEL, The Flight Attendant "In Case of Emergency" (HBO Max)

SILAS HOWARD, Everything's Gonna Be Okay "Gray Bird Grasshopper" (Freeform)

MAURICE MARABLE, Woke "Rhymes With Broke" (Hulu)

MANDY MOORE, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist "Zoey's Extraordinary Double Date" (NBC)

STACIE PASSON, Dickinson "I'm Nobody! Who Are You?" (Apple TV+)

VICTOR NELLI JR., Superstore "Essential" (NBC)

SAM ZVIBLEMAN, PEN15 "Play" (Hulu)

And the Winner Is...

SUSANNA FOGEL

The Flight Attendant "In Case of Emergency" (HBO Max)

The pilot episode of The Flight Attendant was gripping and that was due in large part to the direction that kept a lot of confusion going for both the audience and the main character. The choices Susanna Fogel made as director let us as viewers go on the journey with Cassie and try to piece the puzzle together. The Flight Attendant in general had a very distinctive filming style and approach and I think when that happens a lot of credit goes to the director of the pilot. So even though Fogel didn't direct all the episodes, some of the choices she made helped contribute to the "look" throughout the first season. It was an exhilarating hour and one of the best first episodes of the TV season.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:

There was a wide range of nominees here including some episodes that also received writing nods from me. That included the season finales of Ted Lasso and Dickinson, the season premiere of Superstore and the "Play" episode of PEN15. All of those episodes were great scripts and then their directors made the most of a good script to make them highlights of the season for their respective shows. The season premiere of Everything's Gonna Be Okay was a great COVID episode that really captured, through the direction, the boredom and monotony of the early days of lockdown. The pilot episode of Woke had some strong shots as it tackled a hot button issue while remaining a comedy. Finally, Mandy Moore (not the actress) had done a lot of choreography for Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist but her first directorial effort included a fantastic production number that took a lot of work as a choreographer and director.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Directing of a Drama Series!