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Curated playlist

Peabody Award–winning television programs

  • Moon ShotMoon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon is a book published in 1994, and its cover carries a crowded list of names. Some belong to astronauts, some to journalists, and one name on that list tells a quieter story than the…
  • The SimpsonsMatt Groening sketched The Simpsons in a lobby after deciding not to sign away his comic strip rights.
  • The Last of Us (TV series)The Last of Us, an HBO drama about a world undone by a fungal infection, premiered on the 15th of January 2023. That first night, 4.7 million viewers watched it across linear television and HBO Max. Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, is a…
  • Sesame StreetTest children lost interest in Sesame Street's human-only street scenes, so producers re-shot them with Muppets.
  • Twin PeaksSheryl Lee was hired to play Twin Peaks' dead girl, Laura Palmer. Lynch saw her in a picnic scene and kept her on.
  • Doctor WhoDoctor Who first aired 80 seconds late because Kennedy news ran long. The BBC show began on November 23, 1963.
  • FrasierFrasier was first pitched as a show about a paraplegic publisher. Paramount pushed for a Frasier Crane spin-off instead.
  • Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live began because Johnny Carson wanted weeknights off. NBC needed a new Saturday show.
  • The Civil War (miniseries)Many viewers thought the fiddle theme of The Civil War was an actual Civil War song. Jay Ungar wrote it in 1982.
  • The SopranosThe Sopranos aired on HBO from the 10th of January 1999 to the 10th of June 2007. It ran for six seasons and 86 episodes. At its center is Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, a New Jersey Mafia boss who suffers panic attacks.…
  • Breaking BadBreaking Bad began as a joke about two unemployed writers cooking meth in an RV.
  • Jeopardy!A quiz show idea came to Merv Griffin's wife on a flight: give contestants the answers and ask for questions.
  • The Office (American TV series)The Office, an American mockumentary sitcom about a paper company's branch in Scranton, Pennsylvania, began on the 24th of March 2005 with a trial run. NBC aired a preview episode straight after The Apprentice, and 11.2 million people…
  • Game of ThronesHBO made the Game of Thrones pilot redo about 90 percent of its footage. The re-shoot changed cast and directors.
  • South ParkFox balked at a talking stool, and South Park's creators walked away from the deal.
  • Avatar: The Last AirbenderAvatar: The Last Airbender opens with a boy frozen in an iceberg for a hundred years. Aang wakes to a world at war.
  • The Ed Sullivan ShowEd Sullivan vowed never to book Elvis Presley, then signed him after a rival host's ratings win.
  • Better Call SaulBetter Call Saul ran for six seasons and 63 episodes, and it turned one wry prediction into a real place. In the Breaking Bad episode "Granite State", the lawyer Saul Goodman gives Walter a best-case scenario. He says: "If I'm lucky, a…
  • The WireThe Wire, David Simon once said, is "really about the American city, and about how we live together." That is an unusual claim for a crime drama. Simon, a former police reporter and the show's creator, wrote most of it himself for the…
  • Ted LassoTed Lasso is a television comedy-drama about an American college football coach from Kansas City, Missouri, who is asked to run an English soccer team. He has never coached the sport. Many around the club doubt him, and the person who…

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