One fierce Scandal fixer, Orphan Black‘s bevy of Tatiana Maslanys (Maslaneese?), many Returned undead folk and cut-ups Key & Peele are among the winners of this year’s Peabody Awards, which as the “Pulitzer Prize” for electronic media recognize excellence in radio, TV and the blogosphere.
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We’ve singled out the scripted TV winners below, excerpting the Peabody panel’s words of praise.
For the complete list of winners — including documentaries, films and news coverage such as 180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School, Best Kept Secret, The Central Park Five and Frontline: League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis — visit PeabodyAwards.com.
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BORGEN | This “realistic, richly nuanced dramatic series” from Denmark offers a “rumination on power, ambition, integrity, love and deal-making, with one of the most intriguing female protagonists in all the TV world.”
BREAKING BAD | Exploring “the darkest chambers of a human heart in a way never before seen on TV,” series creator “Vince Gilligan made good on his promise to utterly transform Walter White from Mr. Chips into Scarface.”
THE BRIDGE | This “rare, non-stereotypical depiction of two cultures rubbing against and informing each other is as fascinating as the mystery.”
BROADCHURCH | An “intricately crafted, emotionally rich, endlessly surprising mystery series” from ITV.
HOUSE OF CARDS | “By releasing an entire season of episodes at once, Netflix took binge viewing to a new level and obliterated the idea that a hit TV show needs a slot in primetime.”
KEY & PEELE | Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele aka “Abbott and Costello Meet Richard Pryor” deliver “racially aware sketches both broad and incisive.”
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK | “A complex, riveting character study rich in insights about femininity, race, power, and the politics, inside and outside prison walls, of mass incarceration.”
ORPHAN BLACK | “A super-charged, stylized sci-fi action serial that ponders identity, humanity, bioethics and genetic research when it occasionally stops for breath. Tatiana Maslany is a marvel in the title role.”
THE RETURNED | This French series, which enjoyed a U.S. showcase on Sundance, is “elegant, it’s zombie-free and it’s still unnerving.”
SCANDAL | “[T]urbocharged by Kerry Washington’s star turn, Scandal is part West Wing and part Dynasty, an exaggerated, outrageous, fun-house reflection of the real-life political shenanigans we’ve come to loathe and jeer.”
Do you agree with this year’s Peabody picks?
