This year’s Peabody Award winners are varying in tone and subject matter, but all made a huge impact on the year in television in 2017. The 18 nominees previously announced for Children’s & Youth Programming and Entertainment were whittled down to nine, all of which are the official Peabody Award honorees of the year.
Check out the full list of Peabody Award winners in the fields of Children’s & Youth Programming and Entertainment below. The awards will take place Saturday, May 19, with host Hasan Minhaj.
CHILDREN’S & YOUTH PROGRAMMING
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)
“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events follows the tragic but brilliant Baudelaire orphans as they investigate their parents’ deaths while surviving their wicked uncle’s machinations to deprive them of their inheritance. Both darkly gothic in style and drolly hilarious, the televised version visually realizes the melancholy-yet-beautiful essence of the beloved children’s book series on which it is based.”
ENTERTAINMENT
American Vandal (Netflix)
“A surprisingly insightful rumination on contemporary life, American Vandal slowly shifts focus from a high school student accused of a sophomoric prank/crime to the consequences of solving the mystery. Wickedly funny, the show also offers a look at how the ethical questions of the true crime genre intersect with the harsh realities of being a teenager in the age of social media.”
Better Call Saul (AMC)
“Mixing legal drama, crime thriller, and dark comedy, this Breaking Bad prequel of the earnest Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman captures the professional and personal struggles as he navigates an unfair moral universe. A compelling narrative of pathos and character drama, the show’s innovative style and commanding performances reach the creative heights of its origin series.”
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
The Handmaid’s Tale offers a timely warning of a fascist, misogynist near future. Equal parts drama, horror, and science fiction, The Handmaid’s Tale is captivating, harrowing, and crackling with contemporary political relevance—a cautionary tale about the ramifications of the regulations of women’s bodies and reproductive rights, as well as the specter of theocratic rule.”
Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King (Netflix)
“Hasan Minhaj delivers much more than a hilarious stand-up comedy special. Homecoming King is a deeply personal memoir—part Richard Pryor, part Spaulding Gray—that covers the struggles of the immigrant experience, encounters with stereotypes and raced expectations, and intergenerational acceptance, while using comedy to invite empathy, caring, and understanding.”
Insecure (HBO)
“Issa Rae delivers a groundbreaking series that captures the lives of everyday young black people in Los Angeles with a fresh and authentic take. Breaking away from tired and familiar representations of ‘diversity’ on television, this series offers a fun and intimate portrayal of work, relationships, and the ordinary experiences of the two young black women at its center.”
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
“Each week, John Oliver and his team offer something completely new in the merger of comedy and reporting. While scathing in its political critique, the show is also smart and insightful in producing long-form journalism, breaking stories that others have overlooked with precision, clarity, and hilarity.”
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
“A period drama and feminist comedy, Amy Sherman-Palladino’s story of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel centers on the emergence of a 1950s female comedian who runs afoul of New York decency laws. In the process, the colorful and imaginative story also reflects on the ‘place’ of women in public spaces, Jewishness, familial relations, classed expectations, and the importance of a woman not being ‘ripped right out of a catalogue’ that is both impressively weighty and effortlessly light.”
Saturday Night Live: Political Satire 2017 (NBC)
“Building on the strength of its election year parodies, SNL doubled-down this year with wicked satiric portrayals of President Trump and a clownish coterie of administration apparatchiks. Kate McKinnon and special guests Alec Baldwin and Melissa McCarthy, in particular, produced performances that helped the American public come to terms with an unprecedented presidential administration and its daily political absurdities.”