AFT Awards: Best Directing for a Comedy Series

This is the fifteenth category of the 5th Annual AFT Television Awards, my personal choices for the best in television this past season. For the directing and writing categories, I’ve included only honorable mentions rather than semi-finalists and finalists. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order.

Best Directing for a Comedy Series

Last year’s nominees: Chuck (Chuck Versus the Beard), Glee (Showmance), Modern Family (Pilot), The Office (Niagara), Parks and Recreation (The Practice Date)

Emmy nominees: How I Met Your Mother (Subway Wars), Modern Family (Halloween), Modern Family (Slow Down Your Neighbors), Modern Family (See You Next Fall), 30 Rock (Live Show)

Honorable mentions: The Big C (Happy Birthday Cancer), Episodes (Pilot), Glee (Duets), Glee (Silly Love Songs), Hung (Sing It Again Ray or Home Plate), Hung (The Middle East is Complicated), Modern Family (The Kiss), Modern Family (Halloween), Modern Family (Slow Down Your Neighbors), Modern Family (Caught in the Act), The Office (Search Committee), Parks and Recreation (Flu Season), Parks and Recreation (Fancy Party), Shameless (Pilot), 30 Rock (Double-Edged Sword)

The nominees:

The Office (Garage Sale)
The Office (Goodbye Michael)
Parks and Recreation (Harvest Festival)
Shameless (It’s Time to Kill the Turtle)

Michael bid the office adieu with two marvelously moving episodes in which he proposed and ultimately left Scranton. All of Leslie’s hard work came to fruition in a wonderfully crafted installment of “Parks and Recreation,” while “Shameless” gave Frank the chance to try being sober and see how his family members reacted.

The winner:

Parks and Recreation (The Fight) fleshed out all its characters in a magnificently-choreographed, snake-juice-fueled hilarious half hour.

Next up: Best Writing for a Comedy Series