BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2022: Outstanding Directing of a Drama Series

Today's award is Outstanding Directing of a Drama Series!

Check out past results from 2020 and 2021!

This year's nominees are...

ZENTA FUENTES, This is Us "Miguel" (NBC)

SAM LEVINSON, Euphoria (HBO)

ADAM MCKAY, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty "The Swan" (HBO)

KEN OLIN, This is Us "The Train" (NBC)

LORRAINE SCAFARIA, Succession "Too Much Birthday" (HBO)

DAISY VON SCHERLER MAYER, Yellowjackets "Doomcoming" (Showtime)

BEN STILLER, Severance "The We We Are" (Apple TV+)

And the Winner Is...

BEN STILLER

Severance "The We We Are" (Apple TV+)

Ben Stiller has dabbled in directing, most notably for the 2018 limited series Escape at Dannemora, which earned him an Emmy nomination. But he has outdone himself with his direction of six episodes of the first season of Severance including the very powerful season finale. Stiller helped set the tone of the show in the pilot of Severance with its stark and cold reality so he already deserves some credit for the feel of the show. But the final episode of the season was a heart-pounding thriller that had the intensity cranked up to a 10 for most of the episode. As each character (in different places) experienced an ever heightening level of intensity, Stiller brought the viewer right along on each journey with great choices of what to show and what not to show. Many people commented that such a thrilling hour hasn't been seen on TV in a long time and I'd have to agree. I give Stiller a lot of credit for that.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:

There are a lot of strong nominees in this category. The heartbreaking final montage of the "Miguel" episode of This is Us with director Zenta Fuentes might be my favorite sequence on TV in the past season. Then just a short time later, frequent This is Us director Ken Olin nailed the train motif for the penultimate episode. Adam McKay had his usual quirks on display in the premiere of Winning Time and some found it too much but I think it set the tone for the kind of show it wanted to be. Daisy Von Scherler Mayer expertly dealt with big moments in the "Doomcoming" episode of Yellowjackets. Lorraine Scafaria had to pull off directing an episode of Succession on a giant birthday party set and really immersed us in that party. Finally, Sam Levinson directed the entire season of Euphoria and even when the writing is a bit all over the place, the directorial choices are always interesting.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Directing of a Comedy Series!