Benjamonster's TV

I hope you enjoyed my month of awards! Here's a recap of all the awards, check below this post for each individual award post. This blog will take the month of August off and will resume with weekly newsletters on September 8. See you then!! Past Recaps:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 Outstanding Comedy Series: Shrinking (Apple TV+) Outstanding Drama Series:  The Pitt (Max) Outstanding Limited/Anthology Series: The White Lotus (HBO) Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Hannah Einbinder, Hacks (Max) Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kathy Bates, Matlock (CBS) Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series: Imogen Faith Reid, Good American Family (Hulu) Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Ted Danson, A Man on the Inside (Netflix) Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Noah Wyle, The Pitt (Max) Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series: Josh Andres Rivera, American Sports Story:...

It's time for the final award - Outstanding Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... ABBOTT ELEMENTARY (ABC) THE FOUR SEASONS (Netflix) HACKS (Max) A MAN ON THE INSIDE (Netflix) SHRINKING (Apple TV+) THE STUDIO (Apple TV+) WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (FX) And the Winner Is... SHRINKING Apple TV+ I was mixed on the first season of Shrinking but I absolutely fell in love with the show in its second season. The show is the best current example of a "hangout" comedy following in the footsteps of shows like Friends and New Girl . But it goes a lot deeper than those shows. The show tackles big life decisions and moments with just the right touch. Something I love about Shrinking is that it felt like in every episode, there were a couple characters going through some serious stuff but the rest of the characters were just there to mess around and have fun. The show always fo...

Today's award is Outstanding Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... THE BEAR (FX/Hulu) THE HANDMAID'S TALE (Hulu) LANDMAN (Paramount+) THE LAST OF US (HBO) MATLOCK (CBS) THE PITT (Max) SEVERANCE (Apple TV+) And the Winner Is... THE PITT Max I've always been sort of "meh" on medical dramas. I never watched ER , it was a little before my time and I never watched it after the fact. I have watched the first seasons of some network dramas and still use Chicago Med as a background show. So imagine my surprise when I completely fell in love with The Pitt . I can't remember getting this excited about the first season of an on-going drama in a long time and I just couldn't wait for Thursdays to spend an hour with this team of doctors and nurses. It managed to make medical dramas cool again and it also showed us how a broadcast-type drama can work in the streaming world. It's no...

We are at the big three awards! Today's award is for Outstanding Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... ACCUSED (FOX) ADOLESCENCE (Netflix) AMERICAN SPORTS STORY: AARON HERNANDEZ (FX) DYING FOR SEX (FX/Hulu) GOOD AMERICAN FAMILY (Hulu) THE WHITE LOTUS (HBO) And the Winner Is... THE WHITE LOTUS HBO OK, so this was a tough call even though the series has won for its two previous seasons. The third season of The White Lotus was my least favorite of the series and yet, it was still my favorite from this list of nominees. There wasn't a show on this list I was close to as excited about watching on a weekly basis and even when it's not completely on its game, The White Lotus is still great TV. So even with my concerns, specifically with the pacing, let's talk about what did work: the impeccable and irresistible cast, the stunning cinematography, the willingness t...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... KRISTEN BELL as Joanne in Nobody Wants This (Netflix) HANNAH EINBINDER as Ava Daniels in Hacks (Max) BRIDGET EVERETT as Sam in Somebody Somewhere (HBO) TINA FEY as Kate in The Four Seasons (Netflix) NATASHA LYONNE as Charlie Cale in Poker Face (Peacock) EDI PATTERSON as Judy Gemstone in The Righteous Gemstones (HBO) JEAN SMART as Deborah Vance in Hacks (Max) And the Winner Is... HANNAH EINBINDER Hacks (Max) I never thought this day would come: where Hannah Einbinder would topple her legendary co-star Jean Smart for this award. But Season 4 was Hannah's year. Years of acting alongside Smart has turned Einbinder from a raw talent to a polished actress and she just had the better season this time around, which is no slight to Smart. Einbinder has really found her comic voice in her...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... KATHY BATES as Madeline Matlock in Matlock (CBS) AYO EDEBIRI as Sydney Adamu in The Bear (FX/Hulu) BRITT LOWER as Helly in Severance (Apple TV+) ELISABETH MOSS as June Osborne in The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu) CARRIE PRESTON as Elsbeth Tascioni in Elsbeth (CBS) BELLA RAMSEY as Ellie Williams in The Last of Us (HBO) KERI RUSSELL as Ambassador Kate Wyler in The Diplomat (Netflix) And the Winner Is... KATHY BATES Matlock (CBS) You know you're in good hands when Kathy Bates is the center of your show. Over a decade ago, she helped Harry's Law be a much better show than it ever deserved to be. She returned to Broadcast TV this past fall in Matlock, a show that would certainly appeal to boomers but also had its sights set on being a little something more. The show worked really well at tim...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... MEGHANN FAHY as Devon DeWitt in Sirens (Netflix) NICOLE KIDMAN as Greer Garrison Winbury in The Perfect Couple (Netflix) CRISTIN MILIOTI as Sofia Falcone in The Penguin (HBO) ELLEN POMPEO as Kristine Barnett in Good American Family (Hulu) IMOGEN FAITH REID as Natalia Grace in Good American Family (Hulu) MICHELLE WILLIAMS as Molly Kochan in Dying For Sex (FX/Hulu) And the Winner Is... IMOGEN FAITH REID Good American Family (Hulu) Good American Family was one of the first roles for Imogen Faith Reid and she proved more than up to the task with a fascinating portrayal of Natalia Grace. It takes a special person who can pull off someone who appears to be a troubled child or a diabolical adult depending on how one looks at the case. She only got stronger as the series went alon...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are...  MATT BERRY as Laszlo Cravensworth in What We Do in the Shadows (FX) ADAM BRODY as Noah Roklov in Nobody Wants This (Netflix) TED DANSON as Charles in A Man on the Inside (Netflix) KAYVAN NOVAK as Nandor in What We Do in the Shadows (FX) SETH ROGEN as Matt Remick in The Studio (Apple TV+) JASON SEGEL as Jimmy in Shrinking (Apple TV+) VINCE VAUGHN as Andrew Yancy in Bad Monkey (Apple TV+) And the Winner Is... TED DANSON A Man on the Inside (Netflix) Ted Danson won this award in my first year of doing these awards (2020) for The Good Place and he's back again on the podium for A Man on the Inside . Ted Danson is one of the closest things we have to an actively working TV legend. He has done it all but still manages to find interesting and different roles into his 70s and after ...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... JON HAMM as Andrew Cooper in Your Friends and Neighbors (Apple TV+) PEDRO PASCAL as Joel Miller in The Last of Us (HBO) ADAM SCOTT as Mark Scout in Severance (Apple TV+) RUFUS SEWELL as Hal Wyler in The Diplomat (Netflix) BILLY BOB THORNTON as Tommy Norris in Landman (Paramount+) JEREMY ALLEN WHITE as Carmy Berzatto in The Bear (FX/Hulu) NOAH WYLE as Dr. Michael Robinavitch in The Pitt (Max) And the Winner Is... NOAH WYLE The Pitt (Max) This was one of the easier awards to give out this year. Noah Wyle put the scrubs back on decades after ER and delivered a powerful performance as Dr. Robby on The Pitt . What I really loved about Wyle's portrayal was how vulnerable he was. We've seen many shows give lip service to personal struggles of characters who seem like they have it all...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... MARK DUPLASS as Michael Barnett in Good American Family (Hulu) COLIN FARRELL as Oswald Cobb in The Penguin (HBO) STEPHEN GRAHAM as Eddie Miller in Adolescence (Netflix) KEVIN KLINE as Stephen Brigstocke in Disclaimer (Apple TV+) COOPER KOCH as Erik Menendez in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (Netflix) JOSH ANDRES RIVERA as Aaron Hernandez in American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez (FX) And the Winner Is... JOSH ANDRES RIVERA American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez (FX) I thought that Amer ican Sports Story was more dismissed than it should have been by critics and viewers. Yes, it was Ryan Murphy, so it had his usual oddities. But it was actually a pretty compelling watch aided in large part by the strong lead performance by Josh Andres Rivera as Aaron Hernande...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... STEPHANIE BEATRIZ as Didi in A Man on the Inside (Netflix) MEREDITH HAGNER as Eve Stripling in Bad Monkey (Apple TV+) JANELLE JAMES as Ava Coleman in Abbott Elementary (ABC) JUSTINE LUPE as Morgan in Nobody Wants This (Netflix) MEGAN STALTER as Kayla in Hacks (Max) LISA ANN WALTER as Melissa Schemmenti in Abbott Elementary (ABC) JESSICA WILLIAMS as Gaby in Shrinking (Apple TV+) And the Winner Is... JANELLE JAMES Abbott Elementary (ABC) For the third time in four years, Janelle James takes home the Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series award. She is the modern day equivalent of Steve Carell's Michael Scott in my eyes: a boss who is not very good at her job on the surface but one who proves to actually be quite effective as the show gives her character more breadth and depth. Thi...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... LIZA COLON-ZAYAS as Tina Marrero in The Bear (FX/Hulu) TAYLOR DEARDEN as Dr. Melissa King in The Pitt (Max) ABBY ELLIOTT as Natalie Berzatto in The Bear (FX/Hulu) KATHERINE LANASA as Dana Evans in The Pitt (Max) ALI LARTER as Angela Norris in Landman (Paramount+) SKYE P. MARSHALL as Olympia Lawrence in Matlock (CBS) ISABELA MERCED as Dina in The Last of Us (HBO) And the Winner Is... KATHERINE LANASA The Pitt (Max) The entire ensemble of The Pitt is excellent, but there's one performer on this side of Noah Wyle who stood above the rest. As charge nurse Dana Evans, Katherine LaNasa was everything you'd want a charge nurse to be. She was fully in charge of the ER but also compassionate caring. My son was in the NICU for nearly three months when he was born and I'm sure anyone who h...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... CARRIE COON as Laurie Duffy in The White Lotus (HBO) PARKER POSEY as Victoria Ratliff in The White Lotus (HBO) NATASHA ROTHWELL as Belinda Lindsey in The White Lotus (HBO) JENNY SLATE as Nikki Boyer in Dying For Sex (FX/Hulu) JACKI WEAVER as Shelly Sterling in Clipped (FX/Hulu) AIMEE LOU WOOD as Chelsea in The White Lotus (HBO) And the Winner Is... PARKER POSEY The White Lotus (HBO) As soon as I heard Parker Posey was joining the third season of The White Lotus , I was excited. Pairing Posey's delivery with Mike White's writing felt like a match made in heaven. I wasn't totally sold at first but as the season continued, it proved to be everything I hoped it would be. Posey took up the mantle for the departed Jennifer Coolidge and provided a lot of the humor for ...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... PAUL W. DOWNS as Jimmy in Hacks (Max) HARRISON FORD as Paul in Shrinking (Apple TV+) WALTON GOGGINS as Baby Billy Freeman in The Righteous Gemstones (HBO) TED MCGINLEY as Derek in Shrinking (Apple TV+) MARK PROKSCH as Colin Robinson in What We Do in the Shadows (FX) MICHAEL URIE as Brian in Shrinking (Apple TV+) TYLER JAMES WILLIAMS as Gregory Eddie in Abbott Elementary (ABC) And the Winner Is... HARRISON FORD Shrinking (Apple TV+) For the first season of Shrinking , Harrison Ford was my only nomination from the show. This time around, the show got nine nominations for its second season and Ford gets the win. I heard TV critic Dan Feinberg question if this is perhaps a career best performance for the legendary actor and while my movie knowledge is limited so I haven't seen a lot,...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... PATRICK BALL as Dr. Frank Langdon in The Pitt (Max) GERRAN HOWELL as Dr. Dennis Whitaker in The Pitt (Max) GABRIEL LUNA as Tommy Miller in The Last of Us (HBO) EBON MOSS-BACHRACH as Richie Jerimovich in The Bear (FX/Hulu) TRAMELL TILLMAN as Seth Milchick in Severance (Apple TV+) JOHN TURTURRO as Irving Baliff in Severance (Apple TV+) BRADLEY WHITFORD as Joseph Lawrence in The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu) And the Winner Is... TRAMELL TILLMAN Severance (Apple TV+) I was very mixed on the second season of Severance but there's no denying that Tramell Tillman was definitely the best part of the season. While Tillman had some viral moments during the first season of Severance , he became a much more fully fledged character in the second season. As he took over the day to day operations of th...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... OWEN COOPER as Jamie Miller in Adolescence (Netflix) WALTON GOGGINS as Rick Hatchett in The White Lotus (HBO) JASON ISAACS as Timothy Ratliff in The White Lotus (HBO) ED O'NEILL as Donald Sterling in Clipped (FX/Hulu) PETER SARSGAARD as Tommy Molto in Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+) PATRICK SCHWARZENEGGER as Saxon Ratliff in The White Lotus (HBO) And the Winner Is... WALTON GOGGINS The White Lotus (HBO) Walton Goggins has been having quite a run in the last couple years that may have came to a head this spring as he finished up his hilarious run as Baby Billy on The Righteous Gemstones while also being a fascinating, and completely different, character on The White Lotus . Rick Hatchett was tough to be around sometimes. He was such a tortured soul who couldn't get o...

Today's award is Outstanding Directing of a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... PAUL W. DOWNS, Hacks "Mrs. Table" (Max) YANA GORSKAYA, What We Do in the Shadows "The Finale" (FX) DANNY MCBRIDE, The Righteous Gemstones "Prelude" (HBO) JAMES PONSOLDT, Shrinking "Last Drink" (Apple TV+) SETH ROGEN & EVAN GOLDBERG, The Studio (Apple TV+) MORGAN SACKETT, A Man on the Inside "From Russian Hill With Love" (Netflix) MARCOS SIEGA, Bad Monkey "The Floating-Human-Body-Parts Capital of America" (Apple TV+) And the Winner Is... DANNY MCBRIDE The Righteous Gemstones "Prelude" (HBO) For the second year in a row, the Directing Comedy award goes to The Righteous Gemstones . This time though, it was Danny McBride at the helm for the final season premiere that was unlike any other episode in the entire series. With none of the regular cast member...

Today's award is Outstanding Directing of a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... NEIL DRUCKMANN, The Last of Us "The Price" (HBO) AYO EDEBIRI, The Bear "Napkins" (FX/Hulu) GLENN FICARRA & JOHN REQUA, Paradise "The Day" (Hulu) AMANDA MARSALIS, The Pitt "6:00 P.M." (Max) ELISABETH MOSS, The Handmaid's Tale "Execution" (Hulu) MARK MYLOD, The Last of Us "Through the Valley" (HBO) BEN STILLER, Severance "Woe's Hollow" (Apple TV+) And the Winner Is... MARK MYLOD The Last of Us "Through the Valley" (HBO) The biggest episode of the year was a sweeping episode of The Last of Us that had a horrific plot matched with absolutely stunning visuals. It was clear no expense was spared to make this episode. While everyone talked about the death of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and that was an absolutely beautifully directed scene, this wh...

Today's award is Outstanding Directing of a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... PHILIP BARANTINI, Adolescence (Netflix) LIZ GARBUS, Good American Family "Too Hurty Without It" (Hulu) SHANNON MURPHY, Dying For Sex "It's Not That Serious" (FX/Hulu) HELEN SHAVER, The Penguin "Cent'Anni" (HBO) MICHAEL UPPENDAHL, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story "The Hurt Man" (Netflix) MIKE WHITE, The White Lotus (HBO) And the Winner Is... PHILIP BARANTINI Adolescence (Netflix) What could have been gimmicky (an entire series composed with episodes that are "oners") was a masterful, thrilling series in Adolescence . "Oners" have been overused a bit this season but no show did it as well as Adolescence . Not only did it have the usual challenges of filming an episode in one shot, but it also had some truly ambitious moments (driving fr...

Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... BRIAN JORDAN ALVAREZ, English Teacher "Kayla Syndrome" (FX) SASHA GARRON, Shrinking "Last Drink" (Apple TV+) NEIL GOLDMAN, Shrinking "The Drugs Don't Work" (Apple TV+) SAM JOHNSON & SARAH NAFTALIS & PAUL SIMMS, What We Do in the Shadows "The Finale" (FX) LISA KRON, Somebody Somewhere "Num Nums" (HBO) CAROLYN LIPKA, Hacks "Mrs. Table" (Max) SETH ROGEN & EVAN GOLDBERG, The Studio "The Note" (Apple TV+) And the Winner Is... CAROLYN LIPKA Hacks "Mrs. Table" (Max) For the second year in a row, Hacks takes the Comedy Writing award, though it is a different writer this time around. For the first half of the season, Hacks had Deborah and Ava in the midst of their biggest fight yet. The writers let it last longer than usual but we knew at...