From the Chair: The Television Academy Honors and the State of Documentaries

Television does a great deal more than entertain or even inform. The stories we tell shape who we are, how we see the world and, perhaps most importantly, who and what we value. On May 23, the Academy gathered to celebrate some of the programs that inspired us last year by highlighting issues of social import and driving meaningful conversations and reflections among audiences. Established in 2008 to recognize programming that addresses topics of social, cultural and political consequence, the Television Academy Honors has become a prestigious awards program showcasing TV that doesn’t just raise awareness but has the power to spark action and change lives.

The programs saluted at this year’s Honors challenged audiences to think deeply about issues such as race, class, gender, bodily autonomy, belonging, despair and loneliness. Included among the honorees were 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed (Max), an exploration of growing up mixed-race in America; The 1619 Project (Hulu), addressing issues surrounding racial justice, economic justice, reproductive justice, racism, democracy, criminal justice and reparations; A Small Light (National Geographic), about the courageous Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II; BEEF (Netflix), a darkly comedic examination of alienation, class anxiety and depression; Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court (Showtime), delving into the role of the Supreme Court amid America’s shifting political landscape; Heartstopper (Netflix), a sensitive coming-of-age story of queer love; and Lakota Nation vs. United States (AMC+), a chronicle of the Lakota Indians’ fight to protect their sacred land.

As this list shows, in addition to recognizing distinguished scripted programs, the Television Academy Honors has become a platform to celebrate extraordinary documentaries. The prominence of docs in recent years reflects an increase in audiences’ exposure to the genre via streaming platforms as well as a growing interest in the true human stories behind news-making events, historical moments, popular culture, brands and more. With so much information and misinformation at our fingertips, it seems all of us are trying to get closer to the core truth, whatever it might be. Documentaries provide a powerful way in.

The feature “A Matter of Fact,” on page 110 of this issue, offers an inside look at the state of the documentary as well as a “must see” list of 30 recent docs to watch. Told through conversations with some of the most respected names in the genre — Ken Burns, R.J. Cutler, Ron Howard, Andrew Jarecki, Sheila Nevins, Dawn Porter and Yohuru Williams — the piece explores the massive transformations in the genre, impacted today by the same contraction and consolidation affecting every genre, the evolving tastes and interests of audiences and the increased commercialization of docs and competition among platforms. As with so many corners of our industry, there’s understandable concern among those in the doc space, though it’s tempered with pragmatic insights about the way forward.