BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2024: Outstanding Directing of a Comedy Series

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

Past Awards in This Category: 2023 2022 2021 2020

This year's nominees are...

LUCIA ANIELLO, Hacks "One Day" (Max)

JESSICA BRUNETTO, Hacks "Join the Club" (Max)

PETE CHATMON, Ghosts "Halloween 3: The Guest Who Wouldn't Leave" (CBS)

KIMMY GATEWOOD, Girls5Eva (Netflix)

YANA GORSKAYA, What We Do in the Shadows "Urgent Care" (FX)

JODY HILL, The Righteous Gemstones "Wonders That Cannot Be Fathomed, Miracles That Cannot Be Counted" (HBO)

CLAIRE SCANLON, Abbott Elementary "Panel" (ABC)

And the Winner Is...

JODY HILL

The Righteous Gemstones "Wonders That Cannot Be Fathomed, Miracles That Cannot Be Counted" (HBO)

The Righteous Gemstones ended its third season with another banger of a season finale, just like the first and second season. This is a show with some really big moments and there were some great action sequences in this finale. The show and the direction always embraces the willingness to just go insanely big at times and Jody Hill's direction for the finale was sharp and paced well with a great eye towards how to to the aforementioned big scenes. The episode was also paced well which I think can sometimes be a problem with Gemstones episodes, but that was not the case here.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:

There were some strong directing turns in this category. Two episodes of Hacks were on the list. As mentioned in the writing nominees, the "One Day" episode of Hacks was a two-hander for Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder and the writing was strong but so was the directing with visual gags and many interesting choices. The "Join the Club" episode was a strong contender to win thanks in large part to some great pickleball scenes. Kimmy Gatewood directed the entire third season of Girls5Eva and knew the task of the quick cuts that were mostly used well. Pete Chatmon did a really fantastic job with the Ghosts Halloween episode where it was easy for the audience to track who was a ghost and who wasn't. The "Urgent Care" episode of What We Do in the Shadows had great visual gags. Finally, the "Panel" episode of Abbott Elementary was really well-paced.

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

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