Peabody Awards Make Necessary Shift
The ceremony cancelled due to the writers strike, but honorees remain
The Peabody Awards had its plan in place: A return to an in-person celebration for the first time since 2019, PRE-COVID pandemic. And to mark the occasion, a big move to Southern California for the first time, with a West Coast ceremony that would highlight the talent behind some of TV’S most groundbreaking storytelling.
The breakdown between the Writers Guild and the networks/ studios/streamers, however, means that many of the creative minds behind those honorees are now on the picket line.
“As an organization dedicated to honoring the most compelling and empowering stories in broadcasting and streaming media, we recognize and respect the position that many of this year’s Peabody Award winners find themselves in,” the org said in a statement two weeks into the strike. Indeed, there will be no ceremony — but this year’s honorees remain.
Chosen each year by a board of jurors, the Peabodys aim to recognize “stories that powerfully reflect the pressing social issues and the vibrant emerging voices of our day.”
The topics tackled by this year’s winners are far-ranging, including the environment, mental health, women’s reproductive rights, transgender rights, gun violence and threats to democracy.
Special recognition is going to NBC News’ “Today” as an institutional award winner; Lily Tomlin as this year’s recipient of the Peabody career achievement award; Issa Rae as trailblazer; and Shari Frilot as visionary award winner. FX’S “Atlanta” and AMC’S “Better Call Saul” were both recognized as they wrap up their final seasons, a bookend to the Peab ody honors each received for their first seasons.
Here are this year’s entertainment honorees, and the Peabody jurors’ reason for the award:
• Abbott Elementary (ABC)
“The show isn’t content to present funny scenarios absent any social context; ‘Abbott Elementary’ insists on surfacing the structural issues that make its teachers’ work so hard.”
• Andor (Disney+)
“A keen- eyed commitment to mirroring our own mundane tri
By Michael Schnieder
als and tribulations as it follows scavenger Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), who unwittingly becomes radicalized in the wake of a police state intent on crushing any and all signs of the Rebel Alliance.”
• Atlanta (FX)
“Introducing an anthology-style structure in Season 3 that deviates largely from the central cast, allowing the final two installments of ‘Atlanta’ to display a wealth of creativity and insight.”
• Bad Sisters (Apple TV+)
“The heart of the show is its keen, loving attention to relationships among women.”
• Better Call Saul (AMC)
“The show serves as a vibrant interrogation of its forebear as well as a closing chapter to an era of prestige television.”
• Los Espooky ( HBO Max)
“Pays homage to Latin America’s passion for the paranormal and Hollywood’s love of horror.”
• Mo (Netflix)
“The humor comes from telling a wholly American story whose absurdity is only matched by its authenticity.”
• Pachinko (Apple TV+)
“A handsome period piece that tenderly traces an intergenerational saga that begins in Japanoccupied Korea in the 1920s and splinters its aching melodrama plots in the lifetimes that follow.”
• Severance (Apple TV+)
“At its most hopeful, ‘Severance’ examines the desire for meaning, the emotional power of memory, the bonds of social attachment, and the urge to rebel against subjugation and control.”
• We’re Here (HBO Max)
“Drag isn’t a mask you hide behind, as they suggest with every new transformation of a local trio tasked with performing at the end of every episode; it’s a way to reveal who you really are.”