ABC's "Scandal," AMC's "Breaking Bad," and two notable Netflix series "Orange is the New Black" and "House of Cards" were among the winners announced today for the venerable Peabody Awards handed out through the University of Georgia.
The awards, in its 73rd annual incarnation, are not like most other awards because there are no categories, just merits of excellence. A prestigious panel of experts pick the winners. Winners range from news reports to scripted dramas to reality series to web-only broadcasts. Some of the victors were first announced on CBS Morning News today.
The awards ceremony will be held in New York City on May 19 and televised for the first time, using Pivot cable network as its home.
Here are some of the winners and descriptives from the panel on why they were chosen. Two Turner properties received awards: CNN and TCM.
- AMC's 'Breaking Bad" Through a stunning brand of visual storytelling and meticulous character development, we were able to explore the darkest chambers of a human heart in a way never before seen on TV. Over five seasons, Vince Gilligan made good on his promise to utterly transform Walter White from Mr. Chips into Scarface.
- FX's "The Brdige" A crime drama set in motion by a murder victim left literally on the border of West Texas and Northern Mexico, its rare, non-stereotypical depiction of two cultures rubbing against and informing each other is as fascinating as the mystery.
- BBC America's "Broadchurch" A peaceful, picturesque seaside town in England is rattled to its core by the murder of a young boy in this intricately crafted, emotionally rich, endlessly surprising mystery series.
- ABC's "Scandal" Loosely based on the exploits of a real Washington, D.C. "fixer," turbocharged by Kerry Washington's star turn, Scandal is part West Wing and part Dynasty, an exaggerated, outrageous, fun-house reflection of the real-life political shenanigans we've come to loathe and jeer.
- TCM's "The Story of Film" Turner Classics' monumental project combined 15 installments of Mark Cousins' gorgeously constructed and richly layered historical tour of world cinema, The Story of Film: An Odyssey, with full showings of 119 of the movies it covers.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
- Netflix's "House of Cards" By releasing an entire season of episodes at once, Netflix took binge viewing to a new level and obliterated the idea that a hit TV show needs a slot in prime time. We are able to follow Frank Underwood's political schemes at our own pace and immerse ourselves in the show's version of Washington, D.C., where desperation for power is the capital city's lifeblood.
- Netflix's "Orange is the New Black": Orange Is the New Black turns a notorious drive-in genre - women behind bars - into a complex, riveting character study rich in insights about femininity, race, power, and the politics, inside and outside prison walls, of mass incarceration.
- BBC America's 'Orphan Black" It's all about cloning, but Orphan Black is one of a kind - a super-charged, stylized sci-fi action serial that ponders identity, humanity, bioethics and genetic research when it occasionally stops for breath. Tatiana Mislany is a marvel in the title role.
- NPR's 'Morning Edition" Undercutting the term's political, pejorative meaning, Michelle Norris' website project and NPR series defines "race card" literally, inviting listeners to share six-word summations of their racial ideas and experiences that became the basis of compelling reports about race, pride, prejudice and identity.
- Sundance Channel's "The Returned" Thoughtfully conceptualized, exquisitely photographed and sensitively acted, this supernatural drama explores loss, grief, memory, guilt and our notions of afterlife as deceased residents of a picturesque mountain town in France seemingly return. It's elegant, it's zombie-free and it's still unnerving.
- Comedy Central's "Key & Peele" It's like Abbott and Costello Meet Richard Pryor when the duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele fearlessly apply their mischievous minds and satirical savvy to racially aware sketches both broad and incisive.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
- CNN's "Parts Unknown" featuring Anthony Bourdain: Whether Bourdain's tireless search for new taste experiences takes him to Myanmar or Detroit, he never fails to find great stories to go with the food.
- PBS's FRONTLINE: League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis Undeterred by the National Football League's defense, FRONTLINE's investigative team produced a solidly-sourced, high-impact documentary about the extent of brain damage among players, a story still reverberating throughout the world of sports.
- HBO's "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God." Harrowing and infuriating, Alex Gibney's investigative documentary focuses on one of the earliest and ugliest cases in the Roman Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal: a Milwaukee priest who abused more than 200 deaf children at a school he oversaw.
- HBO's "Life According to Sam" Sam Berns, a teenager bearing up to the ravages of a disease that causes accelerated aging with amazing grace, humor and thoughtfulness, is the subject of this great, informative, humane and humbling documentary.
- PBS's "Central Park Five": A tragic story, finally told in full, The Central Park Five reexamines not only the case of black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were railroaded and wrongly imprisoned for a rape but the climate of fear and the media frenzy that surrounded their trial.
- CBS This Morning's Charlie Rose's one one one with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
- WBZ-TV, WBZ NewsRadio, Boston Marathon bombing coverage.
- Hollow (www.hollowdocumentary.com) Experiential aurally and visually, the interactive website lets visitors immerse themselves in the lives of 30 residents of McDowell County, West Virginia, an economically stressed, shrinking American community both unique and emblematic.
- "This American Life" story about Harper High School. A trio of This American Life reporters embedded themselves for five month at Harper, a Chicago high school where gun violence was epidemic, and produced a pair of hour-long documentaries that were vivid, unblinking, poignant, and sometimes gut-wrenching.
- Tom Brokaw personal award. A personal Peabody is given to Tom Brokaw, the longtime reporter and anchor of NBC Nightly News. With his TV projects and celebrated books like The Greatest Generation, the anchor emeritus has only enhanced his reputation since he left the desk in 2004.
Jeffrey P. Jones, the new director of the Peabody Awards, said his goal is to make the Peabody's better known outside the industry. He said Pivot, which gears itself to millenials, will enable the awards show to gain more exposure among younger viewers. And he was able to get CBS News to make an exclusive teaser announcement this morning, another first for the show.
The university this year sifted through 1,100 submissions. Jones said 30 committees of students and faculty watch about 35 programs each and recommend a handful to the panel of 16, who are a mix of historians, journalists and TV industry people. (Panelists are on three-year terms, renewable once.)
Over 13 days of deliberations in three cities, the panel breaks down the semifinalists. Winners have to be unanimous. This year was unusually fruitful. The 46 winners is the most in the history of the awards, which focus exclusively on electronic media, including TV, radio and online.
The panel will also give awards to individuals of note. This year, Brokaw made the cut.
Jones is a scholar who has written books about satire and the intersection of entertainment and politics.
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