Benjamonster's TV

Today's award is Outstanding Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... THE BEAR (FX/Hulu) THE DIPLOMAT (Netflix) ELSBETH (CBS) THE LOWDOWN (FX) THE PITT (HBO Max) PLURIBUS (Apple TV) TASK (HBO) And the Winner Is... THE PITT HBO Max It was a tall task to follow up a breakout freshman season that is pretty much universally loved. I don't know if The Pitt 's second season was quite as good as its first season but it was really wonderful and worthy of a second straight Outstanding Drama Series crown. The show showed that its format works even without a mass casualty event. The show zeroed in on some of its best characters with leveling up for Katherine LaNasa and Shawn Hatosy. And it still had the weekly cases and patients that make it such compelling TV. Yes, there were sometimes frustrating moments with Dr. Robby but I like that the show chose to not make...

We are at the big three awards! Today's award is for Outstanding Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... BEEF (Netflix) DEATH BY LIGHTNING (Netflix) DEVIL IN DISGUISE: JOHN WAYNE GACY (Peacock) HALF MAN (HBO) JURY DUTY PRESENTS: COMPANY RETREAT (Prime Video) LOVE STORY (FX) And the Winner Is... DEATH BY LIGHTNING Netflix This show was a true limited series - only four episodes! I consider myself a US History buff but I admit this is an era and a presidency that I know very little about. So I was really entertained by Death by Lightning , which put together beautiful technical details with compelling performances. Perhaps most impressively, the series never felt stodgy or like a museum piece. The show had a breakneck pace of storytelling while letting the performances breathe and the show felt very modern in its sensibility without ever lea...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category: 2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are...  KRISTEN BELL as Joanne Williams in Nobody Wants This (Netflix) QUINTA BRUNSON as Janine Teagues in Abbott Elementary (ABC) HANNAH EINBINDER as Ava Daniels in Hacks (HBO Max) ELLE FANNING as Margo Millet in Margo's Got Money Troubles (Apple TV) WENDI MCLENDON-COVEY as Joyce Henderson in St. Denis Medical (NBC) TAYLOR ORTEGA as Morgan in Big Mistakes (Netflix) JEAN SMART as Deborah Vance in Hacks (HBO Max) And the Winner Is... ELLE FANNING Margo's Got Money Troubles (Apple TV) It was hard to not give this award to one of the two Hacks ladies but this year's best Lead Actress performance came from the always reliable Elle Fanning in perhaps her best role yet. As Margo Millet, Elle Fanning had a lot of life to navigate. She was a new mother of a baby without a fat...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     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) MICHELLE PFEIFFER as Stacy Clyburn in The Madison (Paramount+) CARRIE PRESTON as Elsbeth Tascioni in Elsbeth (CBS) KERI RUSSELL as Ambassador Kate Wyler in The Diplomat (Netflix) RHEA SEEHORN as Carol Sturka in Pluribus (Apple TV) ZENDAYA as Rue Bennett in Euphoria (HBO) And the Winner Is... RHEA SEEHORN Pluribus (Apple TV) I still haven't watched Better Call Saul but I know that everyone who has sings the praises of Rhea Seehorn. I definitely got it watching Pluribus . If The Lowdown relies on Ethan Hawke's performance, Pluribus REALLY relies on Rhea Seehorn's performance. There are entire episodes where she's basically the only one on screen. On top of that, she...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... OLIVIA COOKE as Cherry Laine in The Girlfriend (Prime Video) CAREY MULLIGAN as Lindsay Crane-Martin in Beef (Netflix) SARAH PIDGEON as Carolyn Bessette in Love Story (FX) SARAH SNOOK as Marissa Irvine in All Her Fault  (Peacock) KERRY WASHINGTON as Eleanor in Imperfect Women (Apple TV) ROBIN WRIGHT as Laura Sanderson in The Girlfriend (Prime Video) And the Winner Is... SARAH PIDGEON Love Story (FX) I get some of the concerns with Love Story , especially the portrayal of certain figures like Daryl Hannah. But Sarah Pidgeon was an absolute star on this show. I enjoyed her in The Wilds and especially in Stereophonic on Broadway so she's been on my radar for awhile but she's the reason this show worked as well as it did. It would have been another ...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are...  ADAM BRODY as Noah Roklov in Nobody Wants This (Netflix) STEVE CARELL as Greg Russo in Rooster (HBO) COLMAN DOMINGO as Danny in The Four Seasons (Netflix) DAN LEVY as Nicky in Big Mistakes (Netflix) MATTHEW RHYS as Tom Loftis in Widow's Bay (Apple TV) SETH ROGEN as Will in Platonic (Apple TV) JASON SEGEL as Jimmy Laird in Shrinking (Apple TV) And the Winner Is... STEVE CARELL Rooster  (HBO) Steve Carell has won for Lead Actor in a Drama Series (for The Morning Show in 2020), Lead Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series (for The Patient in 2023) and now for Rooster this year. Watch out if he does a Drama in 2029! I wasn't completely enamored with Rooster but it's a show I wouldn't have liked at all if it wasn't for Carell. Carell has a mixed track record w...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... ETHAN HAWKE as Lee Raybon in The Lowdown (FX) TOM PELPHREY as Robbie Prendergrast in Task (HBO) MARK RUFFALO as Tom Brandis in Task (HBO) 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 (HBO Max) And the Winner Is... ETHAN HAWKE The Lowdown (FX) It's hard to not give this award to Noah Wyle for a second year in a row but Ethan Hawke completely captivated me in The Lowdown . It was an outrageous performance that was somehow grounded at the same time. Despite it being a new show, Hawke gave the character of Lee Raybon such a rich personality that I felt like I had been watching this character...

Today's award is Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... JAMIE BELL as Niall in Half Man (HBO) MICHAEL CHERNUS as John Wayne Gacy in Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy (Peacock) RICHARD GADD as Ruben in Half Man (HBO) OSCAR ISAAC as Joshua Martin in Beef (Netflix) MATTHEW MACFADYEN as Charles Guiteau in Death by Lightning (Netflix) MICHAEL SHANNON as James Garfield in  Death by Lightning (Netflix) And the Winner Is... JAMIE BELL Half Man (HBO) Half Man was a real grim watch. It didn't work for me on all levels but the performances of the leads was very powerful. None more-so than Jamie Bell, who was such an interesting character. On first glance, he seems like the far more sympathetic character but as you get to know his character better, you see how flawed he is and how much he is to blame for the doo...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... JANELLE JAMES as Ava Coleman in Abbott Elementary (ABC) JUSTINE LUPE as Morgan Williams in Nobody Wants This (Netflix) CHRISTA MILLER as Liz Bishop in Shrinking (Apple TV) KATE O'FLYNN as Patricia Moyer in Widow's Bay (Apple TV) MICHELLE PFEIFFER as Shyanne in Margo's Got Money Troubles (Apple TV) MEGAN STALTER as Kayla Schaefer in Hacks (HBO Max) JESSICA WILLIAMS as Gaby Evans in Shrinking (Apple TV) And the Winner Is... JESSICA WILLIAMS Shrinking (Apple TV) Jessica Williams has been a huge boon to Shrinking since the beginning but she leveled up in the third season with her best season yet. She had some great comedic moments as always but also had the scene of the year with her monologue and rage towards Brett Goldstein's Louis. I could watch that scene ove...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... RYAN KIERA ARMSTRONG as Francis Raybon in The Lowdown (FX) FIONA DOURIF as Dr. Cassie McKay in The Pitt (HBO Max) ALLISON JANNEY as Grace Penn in The Diplomat (Netflix) EMILIA JONES as Maeve in Task (HBO) KATHERINE LANASA as Dana Evans in The Pitt (HBO Max) ALI LARTER as Angela Norris in Landman (Paramount+) KAROLINA WYDRA as Zosia in Pluribus (Apple TV) And the Winner Is... KATHERINE LANASA The Pitt (HBO Max) Katherine LaNasa returns to the winner's circle for a second year in a row after she turned in an even better second season. Fresh off her Emmy win, the show upped what was required of her in the second season to the point that she basically became a co-lead. She had all the hallmarks of the character from the first season but what really led to her havi...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... GRACE GUMMER as Caroline Kennedy in Love Story (FX) STEPHANIE HODGE as Helen Schaffer in Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat (Prime Video) KATE MARA as Nancy in Imperfect Women (Apple TV) EMILY PENDERGAST as Amy Patterson in Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat (Prime Video) CAILEE SPAENY as Ashley Miller in Beef (Netflix) YOUN YUH-JUNG as Chairwoman Park in Beef (Netflix) And the Winner Is... CAILEE SPAENY Beef (Netflix) I've seen Cailee Spaeny in a few things before, but she's never made much of an impression on me until Beef . She was an endlessly fascinating character on the show. At first glance, she seemed to have it all together but it was very quickly apparent that she did not and was pretty naive in important ways. Spaeny expertly play...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... CARMEN CHRISTOPHER as Rick Santana in English Teacher (FX) PAUL W. DOWNS as Jimmy LuSaque Jr. in Hacks (HBO Max) HARRISON FORD as Paul Rhoades in Shrinking (Apple TV) TED MCGINLEY as Derek Bishop in Shrinking (Apple TV) NICK OFFERMAN as Jinx Millet in Margo's Got Money Troubles (Apple TV) MICHAEL URIE as Brian Lorenzo in Shrinking (Apple TV) TYLER JAMES WILLIAMS as Gregory Eddie in Abbott Elementary (ABC) And the Winner Is... TED MCGINLEY Shrinking (Apple TV) If Jessica Williams is the Shrinking 's heart then Ted McGinley might be the show's secret weapon. In a role that continues to grow, McGinley has effectively shed his reputation as a show killer in the best role of his career. McGinley is great at bringing humor to the show - his episode where he was incre...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... PATRICK BALL as Dr. Frank Langdon in The Pitt (HBO Max) KEITH DAVID as Marty Brunner in The Lowdown (FX) SHAWN HATOSY as Dr. Jack Abbot in The Pitt (HBO Max) MICHAEL HITCHCOCK as Ray Moseley in The Lowdown (FX) GERRAN HOWELL as Dr. Dennis Whitaker in The Pitt (HBO Max) KYLE MACLACHLAN as Donald Washberg in The Lowdown (FX) EBON MOSS-BACHRACH as Richie Jerimovich in The Bear (FX/Hulu) And the Winner Is... SHAWN HATOSY The Pitt (HBO Max) After his very beloved guest appearances in the first season of The Pitt , Shawn Hatosy's Dr. Abbot appeared in a few more episodes of the second season to get upgraded to a Supporting Actor. In a season of The Pitt where Noah Wyle's Dr. Robby was in a downward spiral and all the day shift doctors were stressed to the max, Jack Ab...

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... ALEX BONIFER as Dougie Womack Jr. in Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat (Prime Video) STUART CAMPBELL as Young Ruben in Half Man (HBO) DAVID HARBOUR as Floyd Smernitch in DTF St. Louis (HBO) CHARLES MELTON as Austin Davis in Beef (Netflix) NICK OFFERMAN as Chester A. Arthur in Death by Lightning (Netflix) SHEA WHIGHAM as Roscoe Conkling in Death by Lightning (Netflix) And the Winner Is... NICK OFFERMAN Death By Lightning (Netflix) It's no surprise that Nick Offerman is a great actor. He can play comedy and drama equally well and I know we're going to get a great performance no matter the role or show. His portrayal of a pretty unknown president - Chester A. Arthur in Death by Lightning  - was nothing short of fantastic. On top of easily lo...

Today's award is Outstanding Directing of a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... LUCIA ANIELLO, Hacks "Hacks" (HBO Max) REBECCA ASHER, Shrinking "The Field" (Apple TV) ANDREW DEYOUNG, Widow's Bay "Your Baggage" (Apple TV) SAM DONOVAN, Widow's Bay "Beach Reads" (Apple TV) JOHN HOFFMAN, Only Murders in the Building "After You" (Hulu) JONATHAN KRISEL, English Teacher "Covid in America" (FX) DEARBHLA WALSH, Margo's Got Money Troubles "The Hungry Ghost" (Apple TV) And the Winner Is... ANDREW DEYOUNG Widow's Bay "Your Baggage" (Apple TV) Widow's Bay was the surprise hit of the spring and it worked best for me when it wasn't dabbling in the overarching lore of the series but instead doing a sort of "monster of the week." "Your Baggage" was a take off of Halloween , a movie I ju...

Today's award is Outstanding Directing of a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... MACON BLAIR, The Lowdown "This Land?" (FX) BRADLEY BUECKER, 9-1-1 "Hearts and Flowers" (ABC) VINCE GILLIGAN, Pluribus "We Is Us" (Apple TV) STERLIN HARJO, The Lowdown "The Sensitive Kind" (FX) GORDON SMITH, Pluribus "Got Milk" (Apple TV) JOHN WELLS, The Pitt "9:00 P.M." (HBO Max) SALLI RICHARDSON WHITFIELD, Task "Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Rightdoing, There is a River" (HBO) And the Winner Is... VINCE GILLIGAN Pluribus "We Is Us" (Apple TV) The first episode of Pluribus was very different from the rest of the series so that might be a knock against it if it wasn't incredibly compelling. The episode took some hallmarks of the apocalyptic event tropes but made it much eerier and more compelling than something like a zombie or...

Today's award is Outstanding Directing of a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... ALEXANDRA BRODSKI, Half Man "Episode 2" (HBO) ANTHONY HEMINGWAY, Love Story "Search and Recovery" (FX) GILLIAN ROBESPIERRE, Love Story "The Wedding" (FX) MATT ROSS, Death By Lightning JAKE SZYMANSKI, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat (Prime Video) LEE SUNG JIN, Beef "Oh the Comfort, the Inexpressable Comfort" (Netflix) And the Winner Is... JAKE SZYMANSKI Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat (Prime Video) There might not be a show I've been more impressed with in recent memory than Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat . First of all, it's impressive enough that they made it all work again with an equally or more compelling "hero." But to do it in a less-controlled environment where a lot more could go wrong really was something to behold. I credi...

Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Comedy Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... LUCIA ANIELLO & PAUL W. DOWNS & JEN STATSKY, Hacks "Hacks" (HBO Max) LANG FISHER, The Four Seasons "Maratona" (Netflix) BRETT GOLDSTEIN, Shrinking "Happiness Mission" (Apple TV) STEPHANIE KOENING, English Teacher "Grant's Dinner Party" (FX) CHAD MORTON, Abbott Elementary "Mall" (ABC) BEN SMITH & ELLA ROBINSON BROOKS, Only Murders in the Building "After You" (Hulu) SANAZ TOOSSI, Adults "Roast Chicken" (FX) And the Winner Is... BRETT GOLDSTEIN Shrinking "Happiness Mission" (Apple TV) I debated quite a bit on this award because the Shrinking episode "Happiness Mission" is far from the funniest script for a comedy category. But it did have my favorite scene in the entire TV season when Jessica Williams' Gaby to...

Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Drama Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... AYO EDEBIRI & LIONEL BOYCE, The Bear "Worms" (FX/Hulu) BRAD INGELSBY, Task (HBO) KRISTEN PIERRE-GEYFMAN & R. SCOTT GEMMELL, The Pitt "1:00 P.M." (HBO Max) OLIVIA PURNELL, The Lowdown "This Land?" (FX) CHRISTOPHER STORER, The Bear "Goodbye" (FX/Hulu) ALISON TATLOCK & GORDON SMITH, Pluribus "La Chica o El Mundo" (Apple TV) SCOTT TEEMS, The Lowdown "Dinosaur Memories" (FX) And the Winner Is... BRAD INGELSBY Task (HBO) It doesn't quite seem fair to pit the writer of an entire season against individual episodes but it's the rule I've gone with so Brad Ingelsby gets the award for his writing throughout the first season of  Task . I really appreciated how Task broke some usual conventions of its type of show. The main characters, played by ...

Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Limited/Anthology Series! Past Awards in This Category:  2025     2024     2023     2022     2021     2020 This year's nominees are... STEVEN CONRAD, DTF St. Louis (HBO) ISIS DAVIS & SMITA BHIDE, The Girlfriend "Episode 4" (Prime Video) RICHARD GADD, Half Man (HBO) MIKE MAKOWSKY, Death By Lightning (Netflix) KIM ROSENSTOCK, Love Story "Battery Park" (FX) LEE SUNG JIN AND ANNA OUYANG MOENCH & GREG HONG, Beef "The Increasing Flimsiness of Any Certainties About the Future" (Netflix) And the Winner Is... MIKE MAKOWSKY Death By Lightning (Netflix) One of my biggest gripes with Limited Series since I started doing these awards is how often they feel inflated. Even though I like longer seasons for on-going series like The Pitt , there have been way too many starry limited series that just don't have enough story to tell over eight or ten episodes but also can't detour in the way an ongoing ...