Peabody Award-winning entertainment shows this time around include political drama (The Honorable Woman), incisive sketch comedy (Inside Amy Schumer, pictured) and a clever telenovela about a household with three generations of Latina women (Jane The Virgin).
Entertainment programs picked forthe 74th Peabody Awards at the University of Georgia came out this morning. News and radio winners come out on Monday, April 20, on the Peabody website, www.peabodyawards.com. Documentary, public service, education and children’s programming winners come out on Thursday, April 23.
Entertainment winners, as described by the Peabody announcement, are:
Winners will receive their awards on Sunday, May 31, at the first-ever nighttime, red-carpet Peabody ceremony. Peabody winner Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live and Portlandia) will host the gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Pivot TV will air a 90-minute Peabody special on June 21.
The Americans (FX), Fox Television Studios and FX Productions: "In this ingenious, addictive cliffhanger, Reagan-era Soviet spies – married with children and a seemingly endless supply of wigs -- operate out of a lovely 3BR home in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Between their nail-biter missions (and sometimes in the midst of them), the series contemplates duty, honor, parental responsibility, fidelity, both nationalistic and marital, and what it means to be an American."
Black Mirror (Channel 4), Zeppotron/Channel 4: "This cinematically arresting, brilliantly written series from England is an anthology of dark-side tales – dark as a black hole. If its narrative shocks don’t wreck your sleep pattern, its moral conundrums will."
Fargo (FX), MGM and FX Productions: "Fargo, the series, boasts the same snow-swept backdrop and dark, deadpan ambience as the Oscar-winning movie but tells a different, more complicated story. Its villain, Billy Bob Thornton’s mischievous, murderous, charismatic Lorne Malvo, is a character worthy of Norse mythology."
The Honorable Woman (Sundance TV), BBC Worldwide, Drama Republic, Eight Rooks Productions, Sundance Channel: "A visually rich, densely-plotted thriller set against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, it suggests complexities and age-old vendettas that often escape even the best documentaries, to say nothing of the evening news."
Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central), Jax Media LLC: "Schumer’s wholesome, disarming Brady Bunch looks belie and enhance a comic intelligence that’s smart, distinctively female and amiably profane, whether she’s applying it to sketch comedy, stand-up, or person-on-the-street interviews."
Jane the Virgin (The CW), Eye Productions Inc., CBS Television Studios Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Electus; RCTV; Poppy Productions: "Immaculately conceived, it’s a smart, self-aware telenovela that knows when and how to wink at itself. Its Latina lead, Gina Rodriguez, is incandescent."
The Knick (Cinemax), Cinemax Entertainment in association with Ambeg Productions, Anonymous Content and Extension 765: "Graphic, gripping, unapologetically grisly when it has to be, this lavish historical drama masterfully dissects surgical experimentation, doctors’ egos, race relations and socials mores in the New York City of 100 years ago. It gives new meaning to the term 'operating theater.' ”
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), HBO Entertainment in association with Sixteen String Jack Productions and Avalon Television: "A most worthy addition to the news-as-comedy genre, Last Week Tonight doesn’t just satirize the previous week’s news, it engages in fresh, feisty investigative reports that 'real' news programs would do well to emulate."
Rectify (Sundance TV), Gran Via Productions, Zip Works: "A powerful, subtle dramatic series about a death-row inmate freed after nearly two decades thanks to new DNA evidence, it ponders whether what’s been lost can ever be repaid, not just to him but to everyone he and his alleged crimes touched."
