The Simpsons Win Peabody Award
April 3, 1997 ©1999 ABC News Internet Ventures.

The Fox network and PBS generally don’t have much in common. But May 12, when the prestigious Peabody Awards are handed out at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Gillian Anderson and the cast of Sesame Street may just bond over a bagel. The X-Files and The Simpsons, both on the Fox network, won George Foster Peabody Awards, which are presented annually for broadcast and cable excellence by the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The awards are usually reserved for the socially responsible fare found on PBS, but award sponsors noted that The X-Files has brought new vitality to prime-time television, and that The Simpsons offers biting social satire. Other network winners were ABC’s N.Y.P.D. Blue and NBC’s Law and Order. Boston Public Broadcasting Service affiliate WGBH-TV was the biggest winner with six awards, all for episodes of Frontline.