The Peabody Awards to Honor James L. Brooks with the Inaugural Industry Icon Award at the 86^TH Annual Peabody Awards, May 31, in Beverly Hills

Athens, GA (April 1, 2026) – Three-time Academy Award-winner and 21-time Emmy Award-winner James L. Brooks will be honored with the Peabody Awards’ inaugural Industry Icon Award, as announced by the program’s Board of Jurors.  Brooks will be feted at the 86^th annual Peabody Awards ceremony, May 31, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Other honorees at this year’s ceremony include multi-award-winning actress, producer and podcast host Amy Poehler, being honored with the Career Achievement Award; director, producer, and screenwriter Sterlin Harjo with the Trailblazer Award; and historic programmer PBS Kids honored with the Institutional Award.

“James L. Brooks has shaped the way we understand television as both an art form and a cultural force.  His work blends humor, humanity, and sharp social insight in ways that have influenced generations of storytellers.  It’s an honor to recognize his extraordinary legacy with the inaugural Industry Icon Award,” said Jeffrey Jones, Executive Director of the Peabody Awards.

Brooks is receiving the first-time Industry Icon Award in recognition of his enduring impact and leadership in shaping the media landscape.  He has created a legacy that continues to guide the industry.  He is perhaps best known for co-creating iconic television series like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Taxi,” “The Simpsons” and ground-breaking “Room 222.”  He also developed two successful television spin-offs, the comedy “Rhoda” and the drama “Lou Grant.”  “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Lou Grant” and “The Simpsons” are all Peabody Award-winners.  His acclaimed work in film includes such iconic titles as “Terms of Endearment,” “Broadcast News” and “As Good as It Gets.”

In 1986, Brooks founded Gracie Films, with the first show produced being “The Tracey Ullman Show,” which received 29 Emmy nominations and 8 wins over the course of its run. During this time, Matt Groening created “The Simpsons,” developed by Brooks and Sam Simon.  The show has become a cultural phenomenon, winning numerous awards and running for over 38 years thus far.  Brooks co-produced and co-wrote “The Simpsons Movie” in 2007, further cementing the franchise’s legacy.

Brooks’ work stands alongside a long tradition of Peabody-recognized storytelling that has shaped television and media.  Past Peabody Award winners include some of the most beloved and groundbreaking series of all time, including “Hill Street Blues,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Wire,” “Veep,” The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Office” and “Succession,” and limited/mini-series including “Roots,” “Tales of the City,” “Chernobyl,” and “Dopesick.”  Children’s and youth honorees have included “ABC Afterschool Specials,” “Bluey” and “Doc McStuffins,” while landmark educational programs such as “Cosmos” and “NOVA” have also been honored.  Peabody began recognizing Interactive and Immersive Media in 2021, with organizations such as The New Yorker, The Washington Post and The New York Times receiving honors.  The Peabody Awards precedes The Emmy Awards as the longest running awards program to honor how television/broadcasting, and now digital and podcast programming, can have positive effects on society.

Nominees for the 2026 Peabody Awards will be announced on April 7 and April 9 with winners announced later that month.

As part of its ongoing work to spotlight stories that shape our culture, Peabody also produces the award-winning podcast “We Disrupt This Broadcast,” co-produced with the Center for Media & Social Impact at American University.  The series is distributed by public media organization PRX and available on-demand across all major podcast platforms.  For more information, please visit peabodyawards.com.

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ABOUT THE PEABODY AWARDS

The Peabody Awards is celebrating 86 years of honoring stories that defend public interest, encourage empathy and expand our understanding of the world.  Respected for its integrity and revered for its standards of excellence, the Peabody is an honor like no other for television, podcast/radio, and immersive and interactive media.  Chosen each year by a diverse Board of Jurors through unanimous vote, Peabody Awards are given in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service programming.  The annual Peabody winners are a collection of stories that powerfully reflect the pressing social issues and the vibrant emerging voices of our day.  From major productions to local journalism, the Peabody Awards shine a light on the Stories That Matter and are a testament to the power of art and reportage in the push for truth, social justice, and equity.  The Peabody Awards were founded in 1940 at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia and remain there today.  The Peabody Awards also produces the award-winning podcast “We Disrupt This Broadcast, available on all major podcast platforms.  For more information, visit peabodyawards.com to sign up for our newsletter.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Donkis

Aloft Strategic Communications

E-mail: mdonkis@aloftpr.com

Cell: 310-387-0220

Rebecca Taylor

Aloft Strategic Communications

E-mail: rtaylor@aloftpr.com

Cell: 310-447-4831

Amy Poehler is a hero for our times: optimistic but realistic, sunny with an edge of snark and sass, a community builder, a rare breed of celebrity who has built her reputation on being a decent person. Her podcast, Good Hang, has become a sensation because listeners come away from her interviews enriched and enlightened by her honesty, her reverence for art and process, and, most of all, her extraordinary ability to truly connect, honed from years of Yes, And-ing through improv. It is for these reasons that the Peabody jurors have chosen to honor her this year with a Career Achievement Award.

And no show better embodies Poehler’s spirit than her cult sleeper hit sitcom Parks and Recreation. The series follows Poehler’s character Leslie Knope, the deputy parks and recreation director in the small Indiana town of Pawnee, as she works her way through the government ranks, trying her best to serve her wacky constituents—always, crucially, with the help of her ragtag staff. Its optimistic ode to community was not a hit during its run on NBC from 2009-15, barely eking out its renewals each season, a story I tell in my new book Parks and Rec: The Underdog TV Show That Lit’rally Inspired a Vision for a Better America. But in the streaming era, viewers have flocked to its sunny glow, its vision of a simpler time when bridging partisan divides seemed more possible, as real-life politics have grown ever darker.

Now its memes are rampant, its made-up holiday of Galentine’s Day has become a real one, and its stars are everywhere: Nick Offerman, who played Leslie’s gruff, libertarian boss Ron Swanson, has made a career of portraying classically masculine characters, including his Emmy-winning turn as a survivalist unexpectedly caught in an epic queer love story on The Last of Us. Aubrey Plaza, who defined the disaffected millennial as office assistant April Ludgate, was nominated for an Emmy for her turn on the cultural phenomenon The White Lotus. Chris Pratt, once known as Parks and Rec’s doofy rocker Andy Dwyer, became an unexpectedly ubiquitous action star in blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World. Meanwhile, the show’s co-creator, Michael Schur, has become known for his unique brand of philosophical, optimistic comedy with follow-ups such as The Good Place and Man on the Inside. His Parks and Rec writing staff has populated the airwaves with their own unique creations, from Dan Goor’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Jen Statsky’s Peabody-winning Hacks.

It’s not just that Parks and Recreation’s alumni have been prolific, though. It’s also that Parks and Recreation has experienced a surprising surge in popularity as a comfort watch in divided times. It became one of the most streamed shows in the country during the pandemic and beyond, and parents have continued introducing their kids to it as a rare family watch.

This is heartening, given the lack of TV shows dealing with civic themes. A 2022 study by American University’s Center for Media and Social Impact showed that only one-third of TV episodes dealt with such themes, and most of those were brief or law-enforcement related—i.e. police actions. Elected officials appeared in just 11 percent of episodes and civil servants in 8 percent, while law enforcement showed up in 41 percent. White men dominated portrayals of officials, with only 32 percent of them being women. Parks and Rec is the exception to every one of these dire statistics.

But perhaps most crucially, it’s just a fun watch, the perfect way to counteract our tumultuous, hyper-partisan times. When Peabody recognized the series in 2011—a time when few others were honoring its brilliance—the citation acknowledged its ability “to make an important and rarely-noted point: With the right people and the right vision, government can work. More importantly, people of diverse opinion can come together to mutual benefit and the greater good.” This has only gotten more true with time.

Poehler is among the people who have watched the show during the pandemic while introducing it to their kids. It gave her a new perspective on why Parks and Recreation is so comforting, even, especially, to subsequent generations. “Young people really want to watch rupture-and-repair,” she told me in an interview for my book. “They want to see stuff get fixed, especially when the world feels so broken. That’s what Parks does. It keeps showing you: breaking it apart and bringing it back together. It gives you this warm feeling, and you want to go to that place and be with these people and hang out with them. And I did it, too. I just snuggled in and watched Parks like everyone else.”

Where to Watch: Peacock

THE PEABODY AWARDS TO HONOR AMY POEHLER WITH CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, STERLIN HARJO WITH TRAILBLAZER AWARD, AND PBS KIDS WITH INSTITUTIONAL AWARD AS AWARDS PROGRAM GEARS UP FOR MAY 31 CEREMONY HONORING STORIES THAT MATTER

CHRIS BANNON AND AYMAR JEAN “AJ” ESCOFFERY JOIN THE PEABODY AWARDS’ BOARD OF JURORS, KUDZI CHIKUMBU JOINS THE INTERACTIVE BOARD OF JURORS, CURRENT JUROR MICHAEL ISIP UPPED TO 2026 BOARD CHAIR

Athens, GA (March 18, 2026) – The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors announced today that multi-award-winning actress and podcast host Amy Poehler will be honored with the Peabody Career Achievement Award; award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter Sterlin Harjo will be honored with the Peabody Trailblazer Award; and historic programmer PBS KIDS will be honored with the Peabody Institutional Award. Poehler, Harjo, and PBS KIDS will be celebrated at the 86th annual Peabody Awards ceremony on May 31, 2026 in Beverly Hills. Additionally, industry leaders Chris Bannon, Former Head of Podcasts at Condé Nast and Aymar Jean Escoffery, Professor of Communication Studies, Northwestern University, have joined the Board of Jurors of the Peabody Awards, juror Michael Isip, President & CEO, KQED is the 2026 Board Chair, and Kudzi Chikumbu, Vice President of Creator Partnerships at Tubi, joins the Interactive Board of Jurors.

“These honorees represent the very best of storytelling in media and the profound impact it can have on culture,” said Jeffrey Jones, Executive Director of the Peabody Awards. “Amy Poehler has built a remarkable career bringing intelligence, humor, and fearless creativity to work that continues to shape comedy and inspire audiences. Sterlin Harjo has expanded the possibilities of television with work that is both deeply personal and culturally groundbreaking, with overdue stories and voices Americans have long ignored. And for decades, PBS KIDS has set the gold standard for educational children’s media, creating thoughtful, enriching stories that continue to shape how young audiences learn, grow, and understand the world. We’re proud to recognize each of them for their lasting impact on the media landscape.”

The Career Achievement Award recognizes an individual whose exceptional body of work and creative contributions have made a significant impact on media and culture. Previous recipients include Andrea Mitchell, Mel Brooks, and Sam Pollard.

Amy Poehler is one of Hollywood’s most versatile and sought-after talents, with credits that include actress, writer, director, executive producer, New York Times bestselling author, host, and founder of Paper Kite Productions. She is currently in production on an all-new comedy series, “Dig,” for Peacock, reuniting with “Parks and Recreation” co-creator Mike Schur. Poehler will star in, co-write, and co-produce the series, which centers on a group of women at an archaeological dig in Greece who uncover a buried secret. Last year, she launched her chart-topping video podcast, “Good Hang with Amy Poehler,” in partnership with Spotify’s The Ringer and the audio division of Paper Kite Productions. The podcast won the inaugural Best Podcast award at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards.

Among her extensive body of work, she is a nine-time Emmy nominee and Golden Globe winner for NBC’s hit comedy series “Parks and Recreation,” in which she starred and served as a writer and producer. She had an iconic eight-season run on “Saturday Night Live,” which earned her three Emmy nominations, including being the first SNL star nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She went on to win an Emmy in 2016 for co-hosting the show with Fey. In 2024, she reprised her role of “Joy,” the leading emotion in Disney’s critically acclaimed sequel “Inside Out 2,” which became the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Through Paper Kite Productions, Poehler has produced a multitude of projects within the cultural zeitgeist including the hit Comedy Central series “Broad City; Netflix’s Wine Country,” which marked her feature directorial debut; Amazon’s Emmy-winning documentary “Lucy & Desi,” her documentary directorial debut; Netflix’s Emmy-nominated series “Russian Doll;” Amazon’s “Harlem;” Adult Swim’s “Three Busy Debras;” Peacock’s unscripted series “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” and “Baking It;” NBC’s “Making It;” FOX’s animated series “Duncanville;” Roku’s First Time Female Director; and Netflix’s “Moxie,” which she directed and starred in. On the audio front, Paper Kite also produced the scripted series “Say More with Dr? Sheila,” featuring Amy as the titular character, “The Chris Chatman Do-Over,” and “Women Talkin’ ‘Bout Murder.”

Additional acting credits include “The House, Sisters,” “Wet Hot American Summer,” “They Came Together,” “Are You Here,” “Baby Mama,” “Blades of Glory,” and “Mean Girls.” She has lent her voice to several hit-animated features, including “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” “Monsters vs. Aliens,” “Horton Hears a Who!,” “Shrek the Third,” and Disney Pixar’s Oscar-winning animated film “Inside Out.”

Before starring on SNL, Poehler co-founded the famed sketch comedy troupe, the Upright Citizens Brigade. She currently splits time between Los Angeles and New York.

The Trailblazer Award recognizes visionaries whose innovative storytelling styles impact culture and effect social change. Previous recipients include Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Quinta Brunson, and inaugural winner Issa Rae.

Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Mvskoke) is a MacArthur Genius award-winner, writer, director, and showrunner from Holdenville, Oklahoma. Most recently, Sterlin created, wrote, directed and is the executive producer of “The Lowdown,” currently airing on FX and Hulu, starring Ethan Hawke. Previously, he was the showrunner, co-creator with Taika Waititi and director of “Reservation Dogs” for FX. The series ran for three seasons and received numerous awards including a Gotham Award, two Peabody Awards, two Independent Spirit Awards and honors from the Television Academy.

The Institutional Award recognizes institutions and organizations, as well as series and programs, for their enduring body of work and their lasting impact on the media landscape and the public imagination. Previous recipients include “Saturday Night Live,” “Fresh Air with Terry Gross” and “60 Minutes.”

PBS KIDS, the children’s educational media brand of the Public Broadcasting Service, serves young audiences across the United States through trusted and research-backed streaming and on-air content, award-winning games, and community-based initiatives. Since the launch of PBS KIDS as a dedicated programming block in 1999, the brand has become a central presence in public broadcasting, building on earlier children’s programming created by pioneers such as Fred Rogers and Jim Henson. Its programming for children ages two to eight includes series such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Carl the Collector, Wild Kratts, and Alma’s Way, alongside a wide range of educational games and resources for parents, caregivers, and teachers. A cornerstone of the PBS KIDS mission is to support children’s learning anytime, anywhere through its partnership with local PBS stations across the country to ensure this programming and interactive learning content is available for free to families everywhere.

The Peabody Board of Jurors is comprised of media industry professionals, as well as journalists, critics and scholars, appointed to six-year terms.  All programs that are nominated and win Peabody Awards must receive a unanimous vote by the Board of Jurors. Bannon and Escoffery have joined the Board of Jurors, Chikumbu has joined the Interactive Board of Jurors, and current juror Isip will serve as the new Board Chair of 2026.

Chris Bannon has worked in audio for more than 35 years, starting as an overnight jazz host and Program Director on WBRU-FM in Providence, RI. Bannon has led the development and production of everything from live radio comedy to breaking news and long-form documentaries. From 2021-25, he served as the first Head of Global Audio for Conde Nast Entertainment, creating new programming for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Bon Appetit, Wired, and Vogue, among other distinguished brands. From 2015-2020, he served as Chief Content Officer at podcast powerhouse Stitcher, where he launched a diverse set of audience favorites, including Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Office Ladies, The Dream, Heaven’s Gate, LeVar Burton Reads, Marvel’s Wolverine, Science Rules! with Bill Nye, Bitch Sesh, and Chris Gethard’s Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People. As Program Director and VP of Content at WNYC, the country’s largest public radio station, he led new show development and launched Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, and Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, among others. His productions have received 5 Peabody Awards, and a 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Audio for Season 3 of In the Dark. Bannon is a graduate of Brown University, where he served for nearly a decade on the board of WBRU, the university’s student-run media lab. He received an M.A. in English from the University of North Carolina, and has taught creative writing at Columbia University’s School of the Arts graduate writing program, as well as courses in podcasting at CUNY’s Newmark School of Journalism.

Dr. Aymar Jean “AJ” Escoffery is the Margaret Walker Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, Faculty Director of the MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises, and Faculty Associate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center.  He is the author of Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television, Reparative Media: Cultivating Stories and Platforms to Heal our Culture, and The Cookout: A Guide to AI: Ancestral Intelligence. He is the co-author of Media Reparations and Beyond the Screen: A Decade of Unfiltered Storytelling, which chronicles 10 years of his OTV project. His research & development has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, MacArthur Foundation, and Wallace Foundation, among others.  Dr. Escoffery has given lectures for and collaborated with the Sundance Institute, Vimeo, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Black Public Media, and more. He previously served on the Peabody Interactive & Immersive board, as well as juried television for Gotham Awards, and Tribeca Film Festival, among others. His work has been recognized by the MacArthur Foundation & Field Foundation (Leaders for a New Chicago, 2019), Variety (Top 50 Entertainment Instructor 2020 & 2021), Filmmaker (25 New Faces of Indie Film, 2018) NewCity (Film Leader 2017 & Film Hall of Fame 2020), Chicago magazine (New Power List, 2021) and Seed&Spark (Filmmaker to Watch 2018).

Dr. Escoffery co-founded OTV | Open Television, a platform for intersectional television. OTV programs have received recognition from the Television Academy (Emmy Awards), Webby Awards, Streamy Awards, Gotham Awards, among others. Its programming partners have included the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Sundance Institute, and the city of Chicago, along with numerous galleries, community organizations, and universities. Building on the success of OTV, he co-founded an incubator for intersectional film & television, with Stephanie Jeter and Lilly Wachowski (The Matrix, Sense8, Work in Progress).  He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kudzi Chikumbu is the Vice President of Creator Partnerships at Tubi where he works to build a bridge to Hollywood for content creators through content licensing, development and partnerships. As an experienced leader in digital storytelling, and entertainment, Kudzi has worked with and developed the careers of thousands of creators over his time in the creator economy. At heart, Kudzi is a creator advocate with a proven ability to bridge emerging talent and major platforms. His work has earned him accolades including Fortune’s 40 Under 40, The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Gen, Variety’s Hollywood’s New Leaders, and AdWeek’s Experiential Executive of the Year.

Born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa, Kudzi brings a global perspective to his work. He began his career as a consultant at Deloitte before earning his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, then went on to lead transformative creator initiatives at TikTok spanning partnerships, education, product marketing, and experiential activations. Today, Kudzi continues to champion the intersection of technology and entertainment—empowering creators to evolve from short-form content to premium storytelling. Whether mentoring talent or building new platforms, he brings clarity, warmth, and a bold point of view on the future of entertainment in a creator-led world.

Michael Isip is President & CEO of KQED, the San Francisco Bay Area’s PBS and NPR media resource. Isip has a quarter century of media experience and has played a critical role in KQED’s growth and transformation into a multimedia organization. He joined KQED in 2001 as a Television Executive Producer and has served in a number of senior roles, including Senior VP & Chief Content Officer and Executive VP & Chief Operating Officer. Prior to KQED, Isip led production at KVIE Public Television, Sacramento. He started his career at WLS-TV, Chicago. Isip is a senior fellow for the American Leadership Forum — Silicon Valley and serves on the boards of Public Radio Exchange, American Documentary Inc., Joint Venture Silicon Valley, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Isip has a B.A. from Cornell University and a J.D. from DePaul College of Law.

Past Peabody Award winners include some of the most beloved and groundbreaking series of all time, including “Hill Street Blues,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Wire,” “Veep,” “The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Office” and “Succession,” and limited/mini-series including “Roots,” “Tales of the City,” “Chernobyl,” and “Dopesick.”  Children’s and youth honorees have included “ABC Afterschool Specials,” “Bluey” and “Doc McStuffins,” while landmark educational programs such as “Cosmos” and “NOVA” have also been honored.  Peabody began recognizing Interactive and Immersive Media in 2021, with organizations such as The New Yorker, The Washington Post and The New York Times receiving honors.  The Peabody Awards precede The Emmy Awards as the longest-running awards program to honor how television/broadcasting, and now digital and podcast programming, can have positive effects on society.

Nominees for the 2026 Peabody Awards will be announced on April 7 and April 9 with winners announced later that month. The 2026 ceremony will take place May 31, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.  The award-winning Peabody podcast “We Disrupt This Broadcast,” co-produced and co-directed with The Center for Media & Social Impact, is distributed by public media organization PRX, and available on-demand across all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart and Overcast. For more information, please visit peabodyawards.com.

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ABOUT THE PEABODY AWARDS

The Peabody Awards is celebrating 86 years of honoring stories that defend public interest, encourage empathy and expand our understanding of the world.  Respected for its integrity and revered for its standards of excellence, the Peabody is an honor like no other for television, podcast/radio, and immersive and interactive media.  Chosen each year by a diverse Board of Jurors through unanimous vote, Peabody Awards are given in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service programming. The annual Peabody winners are a collection of stories that powerfully reflect the pressing social issues and vibrant emerging voices of our day.  From major productions to local journalism, the Peabody Awards shine a light on the Stories That Matter and are a testament to the power of art and reportage in the push for truth, social justice, and equity.  The Peabody Awards were founded in 1940 at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia and remain there today.  The Peabody Awards also produces the award-winning podcast “We Disrupt This Broadcast,” available on all major podcast platforms. For more information, visit peabodyawards.com to sign up for our newsletter.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Donkis

Aloft Strategic Communications

E-mail: mdonkis@aloftpr.com

Cell: 310-387-0220

Rebecca Taylor

Aloft Strategic Communications

E-mail: rtaylor@aloftpr.com

Cell: 310-447-4831

Scripted historical dramas based on real events have existed since at least as far back as Shakespeare. They take history beyond textbooks and documentaries, often taking liberties, but also bringing past events to life while recontextualizing and reinterpreting what they mean to modern audiences. The genre has produced some of the best—and most talked-about—series of the last decade, including The Crown, Dickinson, Say Nothing, Chernobyl, and When They See Us. (See below.) It has also given us lighter and fizzier fare such as the recent sensation Love Story, which dramatizes the ultimately tragic romance of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. In fact, historical dramas have been so prevalent in the last decade that historical consultants have been in high demand, as has archival research.

On the other hand, Love Story has also brought up a hard truth about these “true stories”: They aren’t bound by the principles of journalism and often revise history to make for more interesting scripts. This not only distorts millions of people’s understanding of past events, but also sometimes victimizes subjects who are still alive. Case in point, the recent New York Times editorial from actress Daryl Hannah taking issue with how she’s portrayed in Love Story as JFK Jr.’s ex.

The irony is that the closer a series resembles what we know and remember about the past, the more damaging it can be. There’s a difference between period dramas—even historically rooted series like Fellow Travelers, which includes real figures such as Roy Cohn and Joseph McCarthy, but centers completely fictional characters—and these shows, which aim to help viewers truly understand events and people who existed.

Here, some of the best of these recent series, and the ways they dealt with skewed and unconfirmed facts.

The origin story of the TV “dramedy” begins sometime around 1970 with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, though no one would use that hybrid word for a long time afterwards. The show was among the first to seamlessly include dramatic elements in what was billed as a sitcom. Even its very first episode—one of the best pilots in history—includes a touching scene in which Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore), who has left her former boyfriend to strike out on her own as a professional woman in Minneapolis, gets one last chance to reunite with him. She’s had a hard time securing an apartment and a job, but she’s managed to do both. She tells him she’s just fine without him. As he leaves, he says, “Take care of yourself, Mary.” Her reply: “I think I just did.”

Gets me every time.

The series would go on to tackle divorce and strained relationships with parents, among other drama-inducing storylines, and delivered one heck of a melancholy finale, too. A few years after The Mary Tyler Moore Show, another drama-comedy hybrid became a sensation: M*A*S*H, which deftly combined laughs with the horrors of war.

The dramedy genre came into its own, complete with its portmanteau label, in the late ‘80s with a spate of shows that contained light drama, serialized storylines, and no laugh track, like The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, The Wonder Years, and Ally McBeal. Dramedies have since flourished in the streaming era, with streaming services less reliant on strict genre boundaries. Thus we’ve gotten Barry, Atlanta, Better Things, Somebody Somewhere, Dead to Me, and Succession, the funniest dead-serious drama to grace television, and Ted Lasso, one of the most emotional comedies. All of these series demonstrate that crossing genre boundaries leads to more than just toggling between happy and sad—it actually encourages experimentation and leads to innovation no one dreamed could happen in television back in 1970.

Here, a history of the dramedy in seven episodes.

TV can capture love—and lust—like no other medium, as the recent frenzy over the hockey romance Heated Rivalry has proven. TV allows, famously, for a longer will-they-won’t-they dance that could take weeks, months, or even years; it can also encompass the lasting love of a lifetime. This Valentine’s Day weekend, settle in with some of the best, whether their love is of the forbidden, star-crossed, tragic, opposites-attract, or longtime variety. A few suggestions:

Interactive Media Takes You Inside Deadly Fires, Gaza, Bias in Medicine, and More

Interactive media pulls you into unknown situations, making them feel real. These Peabody-recognized works on the deadly Maui fires, war in Gaza, racial bias in medicine, and more, build empathy through gaming, immersive storytelling, cutting-edge technology, and social media.

The Peabody Awards Returns to Los Angeles May 31 as It Celebrates 86 Years of Recognizing Excellence in Impactful Storytelling.

Athens, GA (November 12, 2025) – The Peabody Awards will return to Los Angeles and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on May 31, 2026, as it celebrates 86 years of stories that encourage empathy, champion public interest, and expand our comprehension of the world around us.

Awards will be given in the following categories: entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, immersive and interactive media, and public service programming.

“We look forward to honoring the creators, journalists, and visionaries who continue to make Peabody the foremost honor for impactful storytelling,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody.  “In a particularly fractured time, our mission at Peabody remains to celebrate stories that unite audiences and explore the richness of humanity through diverse perspectives.” The Peabody program is based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

The Peabody Board of Jurors is comprised of media industry professionals, as well as journalists, critics and scholars, appointed to six-year terms.  All programs that are nominated and win Peabody Awards must receive a unanimous vote by the Board of Jurors.

The 2025 Peabody Awards ceremony, hosted by Roy Wood Jr., took place on June 1 at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills where Andrea Mitchell was honored with the Peabody Career Achievement Award and “Saturday Night Live” was honored with the Peabody Institutional Award. In October 2025, the Peabody Awards honored musician, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, and activist Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson with the 2025 Peabody Trailblazer Award.

Past Peabody Award winners include some of the most beloved and groundbreaking series of all time, including “Hill Street Blues,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Wire,” “Veep,” The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Office” and “Succession”, and limited/mini-series including “Roots,” “Tales of the City,” “Chernobyl,” and “Dopesick.”  Children’s and youth honorees have included “ABC Afterschool Specials,” “Bluey” and “Doc McStuffins,” while landmark educational programs such as “Cosmos” and “NOVA” have also been honored.  Peabody began recogning Interactive and Immersive Media in 2021, with organizations such as The New Yorker, The Washington Post and The New York Times receiving honors.  The Peabody Awards precedes The Emmy Awards as the longest running awards program to honor how television/broadcasting, and now digital and podcast programming, can have positive effects on society.

Nominees for the 2026 Peabody Awards will be announced in April, with winners announced in May.  For more information, please visit peabodyawards.com.

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ABOUT THE PEABODY AWARDS

The Peabody Awards is celebrating 86 years of honoring stories that defend public interest, encourage empathy and expand our understanding of the world.  Respected for its integrity and revered for its standards of excellence, the Peabody is an honor like no other for television, podcast/radio, and immersive and interactive media.  Chosen each year by a diverse Board of Jurors through unanimous vote, Peabody Awards are given in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service programming.  The annual Peabody winners are a collection of stories that powerfully reflect the pressing social issues and the vibrant emerging voices of our day.  From major productions to local journalism, the Peabody Awards shine a light on the Stories That Matter and are a testament to the power of art and reportage in the push for truth, social justice, and equity.  The Peabody Awards were founded in 1940 at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia and remain there today.  For more information, visit peabodyawards.com to sign up for our newsletter.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Donkis

Aloft Strategic Communications

E-mail: mdonkis@aloftpr.com

Cell: 310-387-0220

Rebecca Taylor

Aloft Strategic Communications

E-mail: rtaylor@aloftpr.com

Cell: 310-447-4831