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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > April > 06 > Entry
‘South Park’ ‘toon gets award for being edgy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Oh my God, “South Park” won a Peabody Award!
The honor was announced Wednesday at the University of Georgia in Athens. The 9-year-old edgy ‘toon won praise from judges as TV’s boldest, most politically incorrect satirical series.
Two Gulf Coast stations that stayed on the air throughout Hurricane Katrina won awards as well, and CNN and NBC were honored for their coverage of the deadly storm.
WWL-TV, which judges said was the only New Orleans station to broadcast in the city through the hurricane and its aftermath, and WLOX-TV, which kept Biloxi, Miss., residents informed even after broadcasters were forced to the halls when the roof of their building was blown off, were both recognized for their coverage.
The George Foster Peabody Awards, for broadcasting excellence in news and entertainment, are given annually by UGA. Thirty-two awards will be handed out June 5 in New York, hosted by two-time recipient Jon Stewart, who anchors Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”
“South Park” was praised as a show that “pushes all the buttons, turns up the heat and shatters every taboo,” Peabody Awards Director Horace Newcomb said. “Through that process of offending, it reminds us of the need for being tolerant.”
Peabody judges said Katrina brought out the best in local and national broadcasters. NBC’s Brian Williams, the recent successor to longtime anchor Tom Brokaw, was honored for his Katrina coverage, as was CNN, which Newcomb lauded as “the go-to channel for the latest news, no matter the time.”
Fox’s medical drama “House” and ABC’s “Boston Legal” also picked up Peabodys.
The Sci Fi Channel won its first Peabody, for “Battlestar Galactica,” a drama about a war-ravaged civilization trying to start anew. Also winning their first awards were FX, for the police series “The Shield,” and the Sundance Channel, for presenting “The Staircase,” an eight-part documentary about a North Carolina murder case.
Best-dressed contenders
Were those shouts of approval or just cheers of relief? A crowd of nearly 300 roundly applauded the local dandy chosen to represent Atlanta in Esquire’s second annual search for the Best Dressed Real Man in America on Tuesday night at Lenox Square’s Macy’s.
Though the number of competitors was far larger last year — when an oddly dressed interloper from California crashed (and won) the Atlanta phase of the 10-city search — most entrants dressed businesslike this time, and few could argue the winner’s merits. The ultimate winner of Esquire’s search will again be announced on NBC’s “Today Show” on the eve of New York Fashion Week.
And now for a shameless plug: To find out who won, and who he beat out, see the Style page in the April 16 Sunday Living section of the AJC. Or you can wait until September to see the final outcome on TV.
Uncoupling
Rapper Eminem’s dysfunctional relationship with wife Kim has hit another low — he filed divorce papers in Detroit on Wednesday, less than three months after remarrying her.
The filing on behalf of Marshall Bruce Mathers III, Eminem’s real name, was confirmed by Eminem’s publicist Dennis Dennehy. The Grammy- and Oscar-winning rapper and Kim Mathers remarried Jan. 14, a month after the couple announced they were getting back together.
Their first marriage ended in October 2001 in an ugly legal fight that included a custody battle over their daughter, Hailie.
Rowling’s paper shortage
Author J.K. Rowling, well into her seventh and final “Harry Potter” book, says the writing is going fine despite one annoying obstacle: the lack of paper.
“Why is it so difficult to buy paper in the middle of town?” the author, a resident of Edinburgh, Scotland, lamented in a diary entry posted Wednesday on her Web site, www.jkrowling.com.
“What is a writer who likes to write longhand supposed to do when she hits her stride and then realizes, to her horror, that she has covered every bit of blank paper in her bag? Forty-five minutes it took me, this morning, to find somewhere that would sell me some normal, lined paper.”
Rowling also reported she had recently visited the Leavesden Studios in London, where the next Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” is being made.
“It was exciting to see some of the new ‘Order of the Phoenix’ sets, but most of all to see the actors again — slightly unnerving to realize that nearly all of them are taller than me now,” she wrote.
Celebrity birthdays
Country singer Merle Haggard is 69. Actor Billy Dee Williams is 69. Actress Marilu Henner (“Taxi,” “Evening Shade”) is 54. Singer-guitarist Frank Black of the Pixies is 41. Actor Paul Rudd is 37. Actor Jason Hervey (“The Wonder Years”) is 34. Actor Zach Braff (“Scrubs”) is 31. Actress Candace Cameron (“Full House”) is 30.
Contributing: A. Scott Walton and news services. If you have a tip, 404-526-2749. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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