The Television Academy welcomed seven new members into its Hall of Fame Thursday night, honoring a class that has spent decades defining television across comedy, drama, documentary, journalism and entertainment.
Actors Ted Danson and Jean Smart, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, documentary pioneer Sheila Nevins and the late broadcast journalist Ed Bradley made up the 2026 class, bringing together careers that have transformed television.
For Parker and Stone, the honor arrived on a fitting anniversary. South Park premiered exactly 29 years earlier, on Aug. 13, 1997. Since its debut, the Comedy Central juggernaut has become one of television’s longest-running animated series, earning five Emmys while establishing Parker and Stone as two of the most fearless satirists. The pair, who also created the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, have served as writers, producers, directors and lead voice actors on the series.
Stone credited the show’s longevity in part to deadlines. “You wouldn’t get anything done without a deadline,” he said. Meanwhile, Parker joked that he turned to AI for help with his acceptance speech. “No matter how hard I tried, ChatGPT just couldn’t seem to get it right,” he said before launching into a bit built around an AI generated speech. He ended on a more earnest note about the show’s commitment to skewering all sides. “We can’t stop laughing at ourselves, at each other,” Parker said, “because when any one group starts taking itself too seriously, really, really bad shit happens.”
