Written 5/26/17; 5/27/17; 5/28/17

-It's really scary how quickly time moves. On May 26, 2016, season four wasn't even done yet and I was scrambling trying to finish what I could. A year later, and I've done 116 episodes of the series. What the hell is going on here?

-I know I've mentioned this before, but what happened with season four was really disappointing. I felt like I wasn't pushing myself enough, I felt unsatisfied with what I had done. I knew there were a lot more stories to tell and I hadn't really felt accomplished with a season in a while. In terms of productivity, season five was the best season I have ever done. I did literally everything I set out to do. I started the season early with two episodes, came back a month later with two more. I did more than one Halloween episode for the first time, along with bringing back the Christmas and New Year's shows. The 100th episode came in November just like I planned, I was able to release episodes held over from the previous season. I did the most cover episodes in one season and I liked all three of them. And I had my first ever crossover. All of this was done by May 21. For the first time in a long time, I was able to do everything I wanted with the show. I couldn't have done it better.

-The quality of the show more or less stayed the same to me. I remember saying last year that the show was at a point where it just had to maintain consistency, and that ended up being the case here. For some reason, despite all the work I had to do early on, I felt really motivated to continue this time. Setting goals for myself really helped things move along quicker. This season, I was able to do more rewrites than ever before. I actually gave myself the time to do multiple drafts of an episode and take out things I didn't like, unlike previous seasons where a lot of what I came up with originally stayed in the episode. "KWWE," for example, was a way better episode due to rewriting it.

-I think this was the season where I wanted the kids to start acting more like actual kids. I became more conscious of that because with a lot of other shows, they write the kids really old and make them act just like teenagers/adults. I also do that from time to time, but I have to keep in mind that these are children at the end of the day. "The Greatest Party That Never Happened," for example, feels like something my friends and I would have went through when we were kids. You know, minus drowning alarm clocks in the sink. Part of the show's charm comes from the fact that these are kids seeing things like an adult sometimes would, and I want to continue to emphasize that aspect of the characters in season six.

-I'm going to try and cut back on the meta jokes. I think they're funny, but I don't want it to start becoming a crutch. I love fourth wall humor, but how many more reminders does someone need that these kids are on a TV show?

-I'm glad I was able to get "The Valentine's Dance" and "Dumb's the Word" done for season five. A lot of the time with these episodes, I would just toss the idea out whenever I couldn't finish it but this season really made me look at how much that doesn't benefit me. I tried giving scripts more of a second chance this time, and I feel like they turned out better than they would have in season four.

-The idea of taking main plots, turning them into subplots, and merging them with plots I had saved up wasn't something I tried to do. But it worked well with "Young Black Prepubescents" so trying it again with "Buster Plays the Field" made me realize how much this technique can help me out in the future. It really made the episodes more interesting to work on and I hope to continue using this technique next season.

-One thing I love doing with Thank You, Heavenly is making sure every main character gets screen time. It helps the show feel more like an ensemble and allows each character to shine. However, this season, I felt a little more comfortable with having certain characters dominate episodes. "Heterosexuality 101," "The Little Salesman That Couldn't," "The Greatest Party That Never Happened," all of these show that an episode can work well with only one or two characters. I might not make a habit of it, but it's interesting to do every now and again.

-The one major misstep this season that I can't even forgive myself for is the Super Bowl episode. It's not because I thought it sucked, but because it came on the latest possible day and I let time slip away from me. The whole situation felt like I was up to my old tricks and I knew that I should have done better than that.

-If I had to come up with a top five of the season list on the spot, I would go with "Raging Buster," "The Kids of iCarly Elementary v. RK & Jaylynn," "Super Bowl Story Box IV," "The Little Salesman That Couldn't," and "Jaylynn, Anja, and Halley." "The Greatest Party That Never Happened," "KWWE," and "The Blight Before Christmas" deserve an honorable mention. I think "Favor for a Favor for a Favor for a Favor" was the weakest one, with "The Tussauds-Seattle Experience," "Mort & Carl's Man Cave," and "Buster Plays the Field" somewhere in that lower class also. To me, the 2016 half of episodes was definitely stronger than the 2017 half.

-The weirdest episode I did all season was probably "Buster Plays the Field," mostly because of how low key and realistic it was. It was the kind of episode that any old sitcom would do, and it just had this really quiet tone to it unlike a lot of other episodes that have high energy and absurdity. So, it was so normal, it was strange. Ironic.

-In the season four retrospective, I mentioned "The Trouble with Feminists" briefly as just another idea I had that I wasn't crazy about. Interesting how things work out the way they do and I ended up committing to that story.

-I'm glad I was able to resolve the Jaylynn/Anja storyline in "Heterosexuality 101" and now I can focus on them just being two best friends who love each other, without the awkwardness of Jaylynn's crush still lingering.

-Well, I guess that's it. Not much else to add except thank you for tuning into season five of Thank You, Heavenly (for anyone who actually tuned in). At the end of the day, I'm really proud of myself for going the extra mile and doing everything I planned to. No one knows what the future holds, but hopefully, this season set the precedent for better things down the line. Good night and see you again on September 24! :)

Thank You, Heavenly Season 5

August 28, 2016 - May 21, 2017

In production from July 5, 2016 - May 21, 2017

29 episodes

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR GUEST STARS:

Dorien Wilson

Curtis Armstrong

Ephraim Ellis

Kira Kosarin

Frank Gehry

Rodger Bumpass

Alexandra Nechita

Michael Cole

Kevin Owens

Chris Jericho

William Daniels

Corey Burton

Russell Wilson

Ed Asner

Ron Howard

John Madden

Joe Buck

Troy Aikman

Erin Andrews

Chris Myers

Jeff Pescetto

Paul Ben-Victor

Rowan Blanchard

Sabrina Carpenter

Ben Savage

Danielle Fishel

August Maturo

Peyton Meyer

Amir Mitchell-Townes

Corey Fogelmanis

Cecilia Balagot