Steve Harvey, Doug Herzog, Quincy Jones, Sophie Turner Laing and Norman Lear will receive the National Association of Television Program Executives’ (NATPE) 13th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, the organization announced Wednesday.
Named in honor of late NBC Entertainment head Brandon Tartikoff, the award was created to recognize a select group of television professionals who exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the creation of television programming.
The Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award is presented each year at a special reception in association with Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News during the annual NATPE Market and Conference on Jan. 20.
“Each of these honorees has had enormous impact on our culture and our business, which is dedicated to celebrating content excellence across multiple platforms,” NATPE President and CEO Rod Perth said. “Steve Harvey, Doug Herzog, Quincy Jones, Sophie Turner Laing and Norman Lear are fearlessly creative innovators and we can’t think of a more fitting group to honor for this year’s Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award. We look forward to honoring their achievements in television at this momentous event at NATPE Miami 2016.”
Steve Harvey is a comedian, businessman, radio mogul, TV personality and best-selling author. He is the host of the Emmy Award-winning daytime talk show “Steve Harvey,” currently in its fourth season.
His first book “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man” was released in 2009 and became an international bestseller, spending 64 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. In December 2010, Harvey’s follow up, “Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Man,” debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list.
Doug Herzog is the president of Viacom’s Music and Entertainment group, which includes Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, and Logo. Over the course of his career, Herzog has launched some of television’s most successful original series, including “The Daily Show,” “South Park,” “The Colbert Report” and “Inside Amy Schumer.”
Herzog began his career at CNN before joining MTV in 1984 to create MTV News. During his first tenure at MTV, he developed series including “The Real World,” “Unplugged” and “Road Rules,” as well as the network’s signature MTV Video Music Awards and MTV Movie Awards.
Quincy Jones‘ career has encompassed the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, TV producer, record company executive, magazine founder, best-selling author and humanitarian.
Currently celebrating more than 60 years in music, Jones has won 27 Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy’s Trustees Award and the Grammy Living Legend Award. He also holds the record for the most Grammy nominations with a total of 79. He is an Emmy winner and seven-time Oscar nominee, and was recently honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Sophie Turner Laing, CEO of Endemol Shine Group, oversees a network of more than 120 creative production companies in over 30 markets with a portfolio of approximately 600 revenue-generating titles across scripted and non-scripted genres. Prior to taking up her current role in Dec. 2014, Turner Laing held a number of senior positions at Sky in the UK, including director of movies and managing director of Content.
Norman Lear is a producer, writer, director and author. He has enjoyed a long career in television and film, and as a political and social activist and philanthropist. Lear began his TV writing career in 1950, eventually producing the iconic series “All in the Family,” which in its nine seasons on CBS garnered four Emmy Awards for Best Comedy series and a Peabody Award in 1977. The series was followed by a succession of other television hit shows, including “Sanford and Son,” “Good Times” and “The Jeffersons.”
Lear founded People For the American Way, a non-profit organization formed to speak out for Bill of Rights guarantees and to monitor violations of constitutional freedoms. Additionally, he formed other nonprofit organizations, including the Business Enterprise Trust (1989-2000), which spotlighted exemplary social innovations in American business.
Donning a scruffy beard, tattered robe and questionable personal hygiene, host Samberg opened the show paying tribute to the way many of us are watching TV these days. Missed 151 episodes of "Castle"? Back in the bunker you go!
Fox
Worst: What decade is it?
With jokes about Robert Blake, 1940s baseball player Jackie Robinson, and Dagwood from the newspaper comic strip “Blondie,” Andy Samberg’s uneven opening monologue often seemed like it could have been delivered by, well, Robert Blake back in the ‘70s.
Porn kind of sounds like "Portlandia," see? That's it. That's the whole joke.
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Best: Real life out "Veep"-ing "Veep"
"Veep" is in danger of getting out-satirized -- by real life, as the HBO star hilariously pointed out in her win for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy. Who said it: "Veep" or Donald Trump?
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Worst: Spoiler Alert!
Despite the good intentions of the montage paying tribute to all the shows that ended this season - from Letterman, Stewart and Colbert signing off from their late night shows to the last episodes of "Mad Men" and "Parks and Rec" - the package was still chock full of spoilers for every show you ever wanted to binge in the future.
Best: "Transparent" winners stand up for LGBT rights
Jill Solloway kicked things off by plugging TransEquality.org in her speech after winning Best Directing for a Comedy Series. Jeffrey Tambor picked up the mantle after winning Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, dedicating his award to the trans community and saying: “Thank you for your patience, thank you for your courage, thank you for your story, thank you for your inspiration, thank you for letting us be part of this change.”
Their dynamic on Fox's monster hit is explosive, but things got awkward when Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson teamed up to present an award. The most cringe-worthy moment came when Howard leaned over and laid a kiss on Henson's cheek, which she clearly did not enjoy.
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Best: HBO may regret letting people share passwords
Samberg took advantage of HBO's lackadaisical attitude towards people sharing their HBO Go passwords by calling their bluff - and sharing his account and password, live during the Emmys. Sure it's obviously fake, but don't lie, you totally tried it.
In the monotonous streak of "Olive Kitteridge" wins - great for the cast, crew and HBO, kinda boring for everyone else - Jenkins breathed some fresh air into the room when he took a moment to appreciate being handed his award by Lady Gaga As the singer-turned-actress covered her face and giggled over the attention, Jenkins continued to marvel. “‘So Dad, what did you do last night?'” he said, playing out the questions his family would ask him the following day.
You had nine years and seven nominations to prepare for this, and that was the best you could do? Don Draper was one of the coolest characters on TV, but Hamm's speech was easily the most boring of the night.
"Orange Is the New Black" star Uzo Abuda is, in fact, now the new Ed Asner, becoming the second in history to win an Acting Emmy in both the drama and comedy categories — thanks to the Netflix series switch to dramatic competition for 2015. Breaking records wasn't enough though, as the star also gave one of the most emotional, memorable speeches of the night.
It's impossible to include every notable TV personality who we lost in 2015, but how could the Academy possibly justify leaving out "Batgirl" Yvonne Craig, acting legend Christopher Lee, and pro-wrestling legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, among others?
Actress Viola Davis made history becoming the first black actress to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for “How to Get Away with Murder. “ An emotional Davis thanked other actresses of color, including fellow nominee “Empire’s” Taraji P. Henson, “Scandal” star Kerry Washington, and Halle Berry. “Thank you for taking us over that line,” she said.
Tracy Morgan made a triumphant return to the Emmy stage on Sunday, and not just to show what good health he is in — but also brought laughs along with.
“God bless all of you and your love and your prayers," he said, before sparking laughter from the crowd. “I recently started to feel like myself again, which means a whole lot of y’all are going to get pregnant at the after party."
Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but timeliness is better than both of those things. The three-hour best-of-TV broadcast was long, but it ended right on time -- not a trait usually associated with awards shows. Now, west coasters can make it to their parties by 9 p.m. and east-coasters can make it to bed by midnight. Give that director a raise and the keys to the Oscars, Grammys, as well as every other live TV event.
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TheWrap reveals its highs and lows from TV’s biggest night at L.A.’s Microsoft Theater on Sunday
Donning a scruffy beard, tattered robe and questionable personal hygiene, host Samberg opened the show paying tribute to the way many of us are watching TV these days. Missed 151 episodes of "Castle"? Back in the bunker you go!