By Myrna Tobisoo, April 6, 2007
The 35 recipients of the 66th Annual Peabody Awards were announced by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The winners, chosen by the Peabody Board as the best in electronic media for 2006, were named in a ceremony in the Peabody Gallery on the University of Georgia Campus. The latest Peabody recipients reflect the ever- broadening definition of electronic media and the international scope of the competition.
The awards will be presented June 4 at a luncheon at the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The celebrated sportscaster Bob Costas, host of HBO's "Costas Now," will be the master of ceremonies.
The array of worthy documentaries was diverse and impressive. In PBS' "Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film," presented by "American Masters," Ric Burns demonstrated how Warhol's art, life and notoriety influenced the culture of his times. With amazing cinematography and a fittingly grand musical score, the BBC-National Geographic nature film "Galapagos: Born of
Fire" revealed new wonders on and around the islands that inspired Darwin. "Why We Fight," broadcast by CBC, one of a dozen international partners in the production, examined 60 years of American involvements abroad in the context of President Dwight Eisenhower's famous warning about the "military-industrial complex." "The Education of Ms. Grove," a special segment of "Dateline NBC," shadowed an idealistic, first-year young middle-school teacher in Atlanta as she learned some crucial lessons herself. No documentary was more original than "Braindamadj'd ... Take II," Canadian television producer Paul Nadler's boldly stylized account of his own remarkable recovery from a serious brain injury.
Entertainment series selected included NBC's "Friday Night Lights," a richly textured serial in which a football-obsessed, Texas town becomes a microcosm of America, and "Brotherhood," Showtime's riveting drama about two Irish-American brothers in Providence, R.I., and their morally comprised pursuits of the American dream. Peabodys also went to ABC's "Ugly Betty," a telenovela makeover that explores clashing concepts of beauty, class, race and footwear with intelligence, warmth and wit; NBC's "The Office," a British comedy of workplace manners that has been transferred with pitch-perfect brilliance to Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA; and "Scrubs," a unstintingly creative, sixth-season NBC comedy that never loses its respect for humanity despite a narrative style akin to Looney Tunes.
"Return of the King," an especially provocative installment of the prickly animated series "Boondocks," was the first program televised by Cartoon Network to win a Peabody
. The episode imagined a reawakened Martin Luther King's reaction to contemporary phenomena from gangsta rap to the war on terror. Three other basic cable channels televised Peabody-winning programs for the first time. Awards went to "Good Eats," a deliriously inventive series for Food Network in which Alton Brown educates viewers about food, science, history and culture. "Beyond Borders: Personal Stories from a Small Planet" is a series of short films was presented on the
Independent Film Channel. These films demonstrate that young people around the world had stories to tell and that, given equipment and a little training, could tell them powerfully. "For My Country? Latinos in the Military," an even-handed exploration of how Latinos have come to be disproportionately represented in the armed services, is the first Peabody to be presented to mun2, a Telemundo subsidiary aimed at younger viewers.
Also cited for excellence was the BBC, BBC America, Talkback production "Gideon's Daughter," a complex, delicately knitted study of a father-daughter relationship, grief, and the cult of celebrity, all against the backdrop of Princess Diana's death.
Cable network HBO received Peabody Awards for a varied range of productions. Spike Lee's elegiac documentary about New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, "When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts," was recognized by the Peabody board. So, too, was HBO Family's "The Music In Me," an irresistible showcase for superb young performers playing everything from classical cello to zydeco accordion. HBO Sports' "Billy Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer" explored the tennis great's impact on politics and culture as well as women's athletics. The cable channel also was recognized for "Elizabeth I," a richly detailed biographical movie in which Helen Mirren's performance was a royal splendor in itself; and
"Baghdad ER," a powerful documentary testifying to the extraordinary dedication of medical personnel confronting the overwhelming carnage of war.
Click here to view a full list of winners.
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