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BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2022: Outstanding Directing of a Comedy Series

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

Check out past results from 2020 and 2021!

This year's nominees are...

PAMELA ADLON, Better Things (FX)











CHERIEN DABIS, Only Murders in the Building "The Boy From 6B" (Hulu)











BILL HADER, Barry "Limonada" (HBO)











JUDY HILL, The Righteous Gemstones "I Will Tell of All Your Deeds" (HBO)













MELISSA KOSAR, Abbott Elementary "Desking" (ABC)













DECLAN LOWNEY, Ted Lasso "Carol of the Bells" (Apple TV+)











JENNIFER PHANG, The Flight Attendant "The Reykjavik Ice Sculpture is Lovely This Time of Year" (HBO Max)











AMY SHERMAN-PALLADINO, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel "How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?" (Amazon)











BARRY SONNENFIELD, Schmigadoon! (Apple TV+)












And the Winner Is...
BILL HADER
Barry "Limonada" (HBO)
Bill Hader is getting a ton of praise for his direction of Barry this season and for good reason. Much of the attention is on the sixth episode including an impressive chase scene. But my favorite episode of the season was "Limonada" and I think it had so many fun and interesting directorial choices through an episode that was a better mix of humor and intensity than some of the others, including the acclaimed sixth episode. Hader has an incredible eye for directorial choices. The extreme close-ups. The near "jump scares" at times. Striking the right tone between comedy and drama. This episode had all of it as it bounced from very intense discussions to something ridiculous like Henry Winkler being chased through a backyard by a pack of dogs. Barry is one of the most interesting shows on TV right now and the direction is a huge reason why.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:
There are several episodes, like "Limonada," that were nominated in this category that were also nominated in writing because they were the all-around best episodes of the season of their respective shows. That include the artistic beauty of the season finale of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel from director (and writer) Amy Sherman-Palladino as well as Melissa Kosar's many funny sight gags in the "Desking" episode of Abbott Elementary and the very festive Christmas episode of Ted Lasso directed by Declan Lowney. There were also two directors on this list who directed the entire season of their show. Pamela Adlon always made really interesting directorial choices for Better Things and that continued in the final season while Barry Sonnenfield helped to fully realize the fantastical world of Schmigadoon. Among the rest of the nominees, Jennifer Phang had a big task with a trip to Iceland and made it work on The Flight Attendant, Judy Hill directed one of the funniest sight gags of the season in the season finale of The Righteous Gemstones with a baby being born in a Port-A-Potty and Cherien Dabis directed an episode of Only Murders in the Building that had almost no dialogue

Tomorrow: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series!
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