"Jane the Virgin" and John Oliver's satirical news show are among the winners in the first round of this year's Peabody Awards.
The Peabody panel deemed the CW sitcom "Jane the Virgin" a "smart, self-aware telenovela" and its star Gina Rodriguez "incandescent."
HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" is a "worthy addition to the news-as-comedy genre," and offers "fresh, feisty investigative reports," the panel said in announcing its entertainment awards this week.
Others winners include "The Americans"; "Fargo"; "The Honorable Woman"; "Inside Amy Schumer"; "The Knick"; "Rectify" and "Black Mirror," an English TV anthology of dark tales.
Individual and institutional Peabodys are being awarded to David Attenborough, the veteran British nature documentarian, and "Afropop Worldwide," a public radio series about African music and its international incarnations.
Peabody news and radio winners will be announced Monday, followed on Thursday by honorees in the documentary, public service, education and children's programming areas.
Winners will receive their statuettes May 31 in New York as the awards take a step toward glamor with its first red-carpet evening ceremony, hosted by Fred Armisen (whose "Portlandia" comedy is a past Peabody recipient). The ceremony will be featured in a Peabody special airing June 21 on Pivot.
The awards for the best in electronic media, in their 74th year, are decided by the board of the George Foster Peabody Awards at the University of Georgia.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More