FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Terry
tsmith@mtr.org lramos@mtr.org
Announces the Twenty-SECOND Annual
William S. Paley Television Festival
Festival to Include:
A conversation with Michael Palin, an In
Living Color reunion, and casts and creators
of Adult Swim, Boston Legal, Deadwood,
Desperate Housewives, Jack & Bobby, Law & Order, The L Word, Lost, NYPD
Blue and Veronica Mars
“It
is with great pride that the Museum presents this annual salute to the very
talented and innovative people of television’s creative community,” said Stuart
N. Brotman, president of The Museum of Television
& Radio. “This year’s William S. Paley Television Festival once again gives television fans
the opportunity to go behind the scenes, both for some of this season’s hottest
shows as well as some old favorites.”
Since the first Festival in 1984, the Museum has honored more than 200 programs, including 24, Alias, Cheers, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Friends, Gunsmoke, The Honeymooners, Laugh- In, M*A*S*H, The O.C., Roots, Route 66, Sábado Gigante, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Six Feet Under, South Park, thirtysomething, The Untouchables, The West Wing, and The X-Files, along with such personalities as Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Jim Henson, Bob Hope, Jane Fonda, John Frankenheimer, Angela Lansbury, Jack Lemmon, Mary Martin, Carl Reiner, Gene Roddenberry, Garry Shandling, Flip Wilson, Jonathan Winters, and many more. Most of these panels have been recorded and are available for viewing at the Museum.
The 2005 William S. Paley Television Festival schedule is as follows:
NYPD BLUE
Wednesday, March 2 at
Now
in its twelfth and final season, this intense exploration of the public and
private terrains of New York’s finest not only pushed the boundaries of what is
permissible on network television, but secured the emotional investment of its
many fans by unraveling a complex and often moving saga with fierce
intelligence and a willingness to portray its cop heroes with all flaws intact. In
Person: Steven Bochco (Creator/Executive Producer), Bill Brochtrup (“John
Irwin”), Gordon Clapp (“Detective Greg Medavoy”),
Bill Clark (Executive Producer), Kim Delaney (“Detective Diane Russell”),
Dennis Franz (“Detective Andy Sipowicz”), Mark-Paul Gosselaar (“Detective John Clark, Jr.”), Sharon Lawrence
(“ADA Sylvia Costas”), Gail O’Grady (“Donna Abandondo”), Henry Simmons (“Detective Baldwin Jones”),
Mark Tinker (Executive Producer). Additional panelists to be
announced.
IN LIVING
COLOR
Thursday, March 3 at
Along with reviving the lost art of the comedy/variety
show, this groundbreaking and daringly irreverent creation of
writer-producer-impresario Keenen Ivory Wayans earned its props by lampooning every known
stereotype—white, black, Asian, gay, straight, critic, clown, fire marshal, you
name it—and introducing America to such future stars as Jim Carrey, Rosie
Perez, Jennifer Lopez, David Alan Grier, and the whole phenomenally talented Wayans clan. In Person: Keenen
Ivory Wayans (Creator/Executive Producer/Cast
Member), Shawn Wayans (Cast Member), Marlon Wayans (Cast Member). Additional panelists to be announced.
ADULT SWIM
Friday, March 4 at
Glazed with the Hanna-Barbera
heritage and infused with the sharpest, most absurd comedy writing since Manimal, Cartoon
Network’s gleefully subversive lineup of original animation (and other treats) is
the favored destination for those who like their ’toons
served on an oddly shaped platter: an after-hours bonanza where every night is
Saturday morning—but, you know, for adults. In
Person: Keith Crofford (Vice President of Production,
“Adult Swim”), Seth Green (Creator/Voice Talent, Robot
Chicken), Tim Heidecker (Creator/Voice Talent, Tom Goes to the Mayor), Matt Maiellaro (Creator/Voice Talent, Aqua Teen Hunger Force), Matt Senreich
(Creator/Voice Talent, Robot Chicken),
Eric Wareheim (Creator/Voice Talent, Tom Goes to the Mayor), Dave Willis
(Creator/Voice Talent, Aqua Teen Hunger
Force).
LAW &
ORDER
Saturday, March 5 at
As
the guiding force behind Law & Order
and its universe of spin-offs (Special
Victims Unit, Criminal Intent, Trial by Jury), Dick Wolf has created a
brand unrivaled in the history of the medium. Producers and cast members from
each of the shows will join Wolf to discuss how the Law & Order formula—fast-paced, ripped-from-the-headlines
plotting, gritty authenticity, and fearless exploration of important social
issues—continues to set the standard for the prime-time crime drama. In Person: Neal Baer (Executive Producer, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit),
Rene Balcer (Executive Producer, Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Walon
Green (Executive Producer, Law &
Order: Trial By Jury), Peter Jankowski (Executive
Producer, Law & Order, Law &
Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order:
Trial By Jury), Eric Overmeyer
(Executive Producer, Law & Order),
Dick Wolf (Creator/Executive Producer, Law
& Order, Law & Order: Special
Victims Unit, Law & Order:
Criminal Intent, Law & Order:
Trial By Jury). Additional participating cast members to be announced.
DESPERATE
HOUSEWIVES
Tuesday, March 8 at
Like Venus rising out of a sea of reality
programming and testosterone-driven policiers, this
phenomenally successful, female-centered mixture of dark comedy and melodrama—a
“Sex and the Suburbs,” only with lurid secrets behind every perfectly trimmed
hedge—breathes new life into the gloriously catty tradition of such prime-time
soaps as Dallas and Melrose Place with a satiric,
tongue-in-cheek perspective that transcends camp. In
Person: Marc Cherry (Creator/Executive
Producer), Marcia Cross (“Bree Van De Kamp”), Michael Edelstein (Executive Producer), Teri
Hatcher (“Susan Mayer”), Felicity Huffman (“Lynette Scavo”),
Eva Longoria (“Gabrielle Solis”), Nicollette Sheridan
(“Edie Britt”), Tom Spezialy (Executive Producer). Additional panelists to be announced.
JACK &
BOBBY
Wednesday, March 9 at
Inspired by the fundamentally American conceit that
anyone can grow up to be president, this inspirational blend of politics and
wholesome family drama presents a mosaic of everyday events from the lives of
president-to-be Bobby and his older sibling Jack. Then we flash forward
forty-some years to see how the self-knowledge Bobby gained from his boyhood
mistakes reverberates in the decisions he makes as leader of the free world. In
Person: Greg Berlanti (Creator/Executive Producer),
Christine Lahti (“Grace McCallister”),
THE L WORD
Thursday, March 10 at
Having broken
ground with the gay-themed series Queer as Folk, Showtime took another
step forward with creator/writer Ilene Chaiken’s chic
lesbian drama—a potent and unapologetic mix of bedroom secrets, eclectic
characters, and emotional entanglements—in which a tight-knit group of women
are presented as complex individuals, defined far beyond their sexuality. In Person: Jennifer Beals (“Bette Porter”), Ilene Chaiken
(Creator, Executive Producer), Erin Daniels (“Dana Fairbanks”), Pam Grier (“Kit
Porter”), Leisha Hailey (“Alice Pieszecki”),
Laurel Holloman (“Tina Kennard”), Mia Kirshner
(“Jenny Schecter”), Eric Lively (“Mark Wayland”), Katherine
Moennig (“Shane McCutcheon”), Sarah Shahi (“Carmen”).
AN EVENING
WITH MICHAEL PALIN
Friday, March 11 at
Whether fueling the
three-ring madness of Monty Python’s
Flying Circus or writing and starring in the wry travel series Around the World in 80 Days, the
amazingly versatile comedian-actor-producer-writer-children’s author-documentarian-all-around star of stage and screen Michael Palin has delighted in entertaining and elucidating (“The
Fish Slapping Dance,” anyone?) audiences for more than four decades—with
(thankfully) no end in sight. In Person: Michael Palin.
LOST
Saturday, March 12 at
Steeped in an exhilarating blend of familiar genre
tropes and brain-twisting plots, and stamped with the unmistakable verve of cocreator J.J. Abrams, this ingenious and incredibly entertaining
nod to television’s past (The Twilight
Zone) and present (Survivor)
follows forty-odd strandees as they struggle for
survival on a mysterious isle rife with polar bears, Lord of the Flies–style
intrigue, and one extremely inhospitable monster. In
Person: J.J. Abrams (Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/ Director), Naveen Andrews (“Sayid”), Bryan
Burk (Executive Producer), Carlton Cuse (Showrunner), Emilie de Ravin (“Claire”), Matthew Fox (“Jack”), Jorge Garcia
(“Hurley”), Maggie Grace (“Shannon”), Josh Holloway (“Sawyer”), Malcolm David
Kelley (“Walt”), Daniel Dae Kim (“Jin”), Yunjin Kim (“Sun”), Evangeline Lilly (“Kate”), Damon Lindelof (Cocreator/Executive
Producer), Dominic Monaghan (“Charlie”), Terry O’Quinn (“Locke”), Harold Perrineau (“Michael”), Ian Somerhalder
(“Boone”).
VERONICA MARS
Monday, March 14 at
Whether going undercover at hippie communes,
exposing school-election rigging, befriending misunderstood gang leaders,
nerds, and other school outcasts, or sweet-talking her way into all sorts of
secret places—all the while keeping on the trail of the case that changed her
life, the murder of her best friend—the titular teen sleuth of this appealing
detective show is a plucky, fearless solver of crimes and other misdeeds, a Nancy
Drew for the twenty-first century. In Person: Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”), Enrico Colantoni (“Keith Mars”),
Joel Silver (Executive Producer), Rob Thomas (Creator/ Executive Producer). Additional panelists to be announced.
Tuesday, March 15 at
James Spader and William Shatner reprise their Emmy Award–winning roles from The Practice in this fast-paced and
sardonic spin-off about the professional and personal lives of a high-priced
brigade of brilliant but emotionally—and often ethically—challenged civil
litigators. Created by David E. Kelley, television’s reigning
paterfamilias of courtroom-themed shows.
In Person: Rene Auberjonois (“Paul Lewiston”), Candice Bergen (“Shirley
Schmidt”), Bill D’Elia (Executive Producer), Scott Kaufer (Executive Producer), David E. Kelley
(Creator/Executive Producer), Rhona Mitra (“Tara Wilson”), Monica Potter (“Lori Colson”),
William Shatner (“Denny Crane”), James Spader (“Alan Shore”), Mark Valley (“Brad Chase”), Betty
White (“Catherine Piper”).
DEADWOOD
Wednesday, March 16 at
Merging a dark vision of
frontier history with an unvarnished realism, this adult western from creator
David Milch envisions the fabled American West as a
ruthlessly wild, uncivilized milieu: a sepia-toned battleground where a
down-and-dirty array of fictional and historical characters, schemers and
dreamers, outlaws and entrepreneurs, prostitutes and racketeers are locked in a
mythic power struggle. In Person: Powers Boothe
(“Cy Tolliver”), Garret Dillahunt (“Francis
Wolcott”), Brad Dourif (“Doc Cochran”), Gregg
Fienberg (Executive Producer), Paula Malcomson (“Trixie”), Ian McShane (“Al Swearengen”), David Milch
(Creator/Executive Producer), Timothy Olyphant (“Seth Bullock”), Molly Parker
(“Alma Garret”), Carolyn Strauss (President, HBO Entertainment), Robin Weigert (“Calamity Jane”).
TICKETS
Tickets will go on sale to Museum Members on
To qualify for the Member discount, you may purchase Memberships with Paley Festival tickets at the Museum or via TicketWeb (service charges apply to phone and Internet sales).
Tickets can be purchased as follows:
·At The
Museum of Television & Radio, 465 North Beverly Drive in
(corner
of
For Members Only
February 5 & 6;
from
·By Telephone or Internet (Service charges apply.)
Call TicketWeb toll-free at (866) 468-3399 beginning at 9:00 a.m. on February 5 for Members and at 9:00 a.m. on February 11 for the general public, Mondays through Fridays from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturdays from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Sundays from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or visit www.ticketweb.com.
·At
the Directors Guild of
(one block west of
Tickets for all events are available at the DGA, only on Festival evenings from
Please note: There is a four-ticket limit per person, per event. All seating is general admission; seats
cannot be reserved. For sold-out
evenings, tickets may become available at the Directors Guild ticket table five
minutes before starting time. There are
no refunds or exchanges. Events and
participants are subject to change.
FESTIVAL HOTLINE
Information about the Paley Festival is available through the recorded Festival hotline: (310) 786-1010.
SPECIAL THANKS
The Museum thanks American Airlines, Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at
The Museum of Television & Radio, with
locations in
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The Museum of
Television & Radio in New York, located at 25 West 52 Street in Manhattan,
is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 6:00 p.m. and until 8:00 p.m. on
Thursdays. The Museum of Television & Radio in
-30-