BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2022: Outstanding Technical Design of a Comedy Series

Today's award is Outstanding Technical Design of a Comedy Series!

Check out past results from 2020 and 2021!

This year's nominees are...

BARRY (HBO)

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT (HBO Max)

THE GREAT (Hulu)

JULIA (HBO Max)

THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL (Amazon)

ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (Hulu)

SCHMIGADOON! (Apple TV+)

TED LASSO (Apple TV+)

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (FX)

And the Winner Is...

SCHMIGADOON!

Apple TV+

I found Schmigadoon! to be absolutely delightful from beginning to end. I'm a big fan of musicals and I appreciated the love letter to musicals of the 40s and 50s. I was also impressed with how much the visual style mimicked the movie musicals of that era. From the cheap looking yet very colorful scenery to the filming style to the costumes, everything was completely on point for the musicals it was parodying without being too on the noise or too close to one particular musical. On top of that, this show staged multiple huge production numbers each episode. I know that may be an unfair advantage for this show in this category, but it was an impressive feat nonetheless, especially when you consider all of this was filmed during some of the strictest days of the pandemic protocols. This was a show that had a very clear view of what it wanted to be and did it very well. I'm excited to see how it reinvents itself for a second season (called Schmicago) that will focus on 70s and 80s musicals.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:

We are well past the days of generic looking sitcoms defining comedy technical design with so many visually strong shows. That includes 2021 winner The Flight Attendant and 2020 winner The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Both came back with new seasons that continued to demonstrate the strengths in their visual storytelling and attention to detail. What We Do in the Shadows and The Great were both very extravagant in their production value with stunning costumes and sets. Only Murders in the Building was a very strong contender as it was a super stylish show that made its setting (the building) one of the characters in the show. Julia was a great period piece that captured a similar era as Maisel and did it well. Barry and Ted Lasso were more standard fare and set in the present but were still impressive visual shows with a very realized word for each show.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Guest Actor or Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series!