During 1990 alone the series presented such quality works as “Women and Wallace” and “An Enemy of the People.” During the eight previous years it has attracted both seasoned filmmakers and has nurtured new talent. It has offered works by outstanding American playwrights and has presented adaptations of stories by distinguished American writers. This is not always the case today, but it was usually the case at the time.įor nine seasons “American Playhouse” has been showcasing quality television. When O’Reilly studied journalism, the Peabody Award was for the series’ entire history, which by extension affords bragging rights to anyone who has ever worked on it and certainly to a former anchor. Most often, the Peabody honors one-time special presentations like Olympic coverage. But remember, he had thought it was a Peabody the show had won. O’Reilly seemed a bit surprised by the question, shook his head and let the expo move along at that point. It was about the pro-gram.”įranken: “Then why did you use the pronoun ‘WE’?”įranken was referring to the fact that O’Reilly was no longer on Inside Edition when the awards were won. O’Reilly: “It was a discussion about the program. Franken recounted having publicly confronted O’Reilly at a book expo, but his account dishonestly leaves out this part, where O’Reilly’s explains: The Polk is “a journalists award” while the Peabody is oriented toward the program itself. There is an important distinction between Polk and Peabody. Matt Meagher and Tim Peek each got one for their work in an undercover investigation of insurance fraud for the show O’Reilly had claimed that Inside Edition won two Peabody Awards when, in fact, the two award winners at Inside Edition had actually received Polk awards, not Peabody. O’Reilly had been mixed up about what awards had been won by Inside Edition, a news series he had anchored. Of course, Bill O’Reilly never claimed to have Peabody Awards. Claiming to have more than one would be unprecedented boldness indeed. In the cases where it does recognize an individual, it is usually for their lifetime body of work, a high honor. The Peabody Award usually recognizes a program, not an individual. If O’Reilly had claimed to have Peabody Awards, this would in fact be quite a lie. O’Reilly… has repeatedly boasted of his Peabody Awards… In a column for Newsday on March 8, 2001, Robert Reno asserted:
This is without a doubt Franken’s most famous incident.