Earlier today, it was announced that the Television Academy Hall of Fame will honor several influential individuals by accepting them as this year’s inductees, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
What’s Happening:
- The Television Academy Hall of Fame honors those who have made outstanding contributions in the arts, sciences or management of television over a lifetime career or for their singular achievements.
- The Television Academy Hall of Fame Selection Committee announced the five individuals into the 25th Hall of Fame Class today.
- Seth MacFarlane
- The name might (and rightfully, should) stir up images of characters from Family Guy, or American Dad, but this award will honor his rather extensive career that includes his work as a writer, director, producer, animator, actor, singer and comedian as well as 5 emmy wins.
- Geraldine Laybourne
- Leading the charge into groundbreaking and innovative television throughout her extensive career, she and her team built Nickelodeon into the brand we know it as today before she became the president of Disney-ABC Cable Networks in 1996, eventually leaving to co-found Oxygen Media.
- Jay Sandrich
- Sandrich is a five-time Emmy winning director, responsible for hundreds of episodes of such classic shows as The Golden Girls, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Soap, and The Cosby Show.
- Cicely Tyson
- The three-time Emmy winner will be honored for her acting career that has spanned over six decades. Previously winning one Screen Actors Guild Award, one Tony Award and an honorary Academy Award, her talent can be seen on display in How to Get Away With Murder, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, The Help, and Fried Green Tomatoes.
- Bob Iger
- The current CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Iger has seen the company grow by leaps and bounds by acquiring Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and 20th Century Fox. More recently, he oversaw a wildly successful direct-to-consumer strategy that includes ESPN+, Hulu, and the enormously popular Disney+ that delivers content from all the aforementioned labels and brands directly to subscribers.
- Seth MacFarlane
- The Hall of Fame was created in 1984 and has inducted more than 146 individuals. Fans of Disney parks may remember the The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Plaza. An outdoor exhibit at Disney's Hollywood Studios that featured 12 busts of Hall of Fame inductees that also featured a life-size Emmy Award statue at its center. It was visible from 1994 until it was removed recently in late 2016.
- The 2020 class will be honored at the 25th Hall of Fame Ceremony on Jan. 28 at the Television Academy’s Saban Media Center.
What They’re Saying:
- Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy: "These contemporary performers, content creators and executives have been pioneers and innovators in so many aspects of television; and they have had a profound impact on their art and on our culture. It’s an honor to welcome this distinguished group of individuals into the Hall of Fame and to acknowledge their remarkable contributions, which continue to shape our industry."
- Hall of Fame Selection Committee chair Rick Rosen: "These exceptional individuals have been major forces in television’s evolution. It is our pleasure to honor them and celebrate their influence and impact on the growth of our industry across six decades of unprecedented change."