COMEDY CENTRAL'S® "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART: INDECISION 2004"
HONORED WITH PRESTIGIOUS PEABODY AWARD, THE SHOW'S SECOND
Innovative News Parody Series Cited for Election Year Excellence in Broadcast and Cable
NEW YORK, April 7, 2005 -- "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," COMEDY CENTRAL's unique news parody series, has been honored with its second prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in the 64th Annual Peabody Awards competition, it was announced today. In the program's coverage of last year's presidential race, aptly titled "Indecision 2004," Jon Stewart and the "Daily Show" correspondents, offered comprehensive often live coverage of the race unburdened by objectivity, journalistic integrity or even accuracy. Always provided, however, was a razor sharp, often hilarious, interpretation of the events as they unfolded.
In announcing the winning programs, the Peabody committee said of "The Daily Show: Indecision 2004" coverage, "Through the momentous weeks of the 2004 Presidential Campaigns, Jon Stewart and cohorts provided the kind of cathartic satire that deflates pomposity on an equal opportunity basis. Somehow this sharp commentary made the real issues more important than ever."
Considered the broadcast and cable industry's most prestigious prize, the Peabody Awards were announced by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, which has administered the Peabody Award program since its inception in 1940. The awards will be presented at a luncheon ceremony to be held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on May 16.
Jon Stewart and Ben Karlin are the executive producers of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" with Stewart Bailey serving as the co-executive producer. The series' head writer is David Javerbaum who is also a supervising producer, along with Kahane Corn. Chuck O'Neill is the director.
"The Daily Show" last year received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program. This is the second year in a row that the series took home the best show Emmy and the third time (and second consecutive) that the Peabody Award-winning news satire was recognized in the writing category.
On Tuesday, June 28, COMEDY CENTRAL Home Entertainment will release "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2004" DVD. It will be an uncensored three-disc boxed set featuring original content produced exclusively for the DVD by Jon Stewart and correspondents Samantha Bee, Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry and Ed Helms.
In addition, the DVD will include the following: all four shows from the Democratic National Convention taped at Boston University; all four shows from the Republican National Convention taped at COMEDY CENTRAL's World News Headquarters in New York City; "The Bush-Kerry Debate: The Squabble in Coral Gables," a special live presentation of the first presidential debate held on September 30, 2004; "Election Night 2004: Prelude to a Recount," the culmination of the show's "Indecision 2004" coverage that originally aired as a special one-hour primetime presentation; and highlights from the 2004 campaign.
"Indecision 2004" marks the second presidential election covered by Stewart and his crack team of correspondents from "The Daily Show." The series earned its stripes during the now-infamous 2000 election, receiving an Emmy Award and a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for its year-long coverage of the race for the White House. Senator Bob Dole served as the series' Guest Political Commentator throughout that campaign.
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