Bionic Buzz® covered the red carpet of the 2023 Sentinel Awards at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, CA. Emmy winner, comedian, producer, writer and actor Larry Wilmore hosted the 2023 Sentinel Awards, which celebrated some of the best and most challenging TV entertainment of the past year that made a difference in viewers’ lives. The 11 honorees, submitted by broadcast, cable and streaming networks and represented a range of topics on health, safety and security, were announced at the ceremony.
The annual celebration recognized 12 shows whose storytelling tackled powerful and timely topics, including Emmy nominees and winners Dopesick, Abbott Elementary and Hacks, as well as A Million Little Things, Never Have I Ever and Reservation Dogs, the breakout coming-of-age series about four indigenous teen-age friends living in rural Oklahoma. Reservation Dogs received a Culture of Health Award for its entire Season 1 body of work that covered healthcare and economic disparities, aging and caregiving, mental health, suicide and racism.
Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, presented the awards at the event. For more than 20 years, the Sentinel Awards have recognized exemplary achievements in TV storylines that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives. For audiences here and around the world, television often provides both entertainment and factual information about a wide range of health topics and social issues. Today, fighting widespread misinformation with facts has never been more important, and HH&S helps TV storytellers find the facts they need to “get it right.”
As the entertainment landscape expands and programs continue to push boundaries, topics such as disease, injury, maternal health, disability, violence, discrimination and more are being explored through dynamic storytelling.
Funding for Hollywood, Health & Society comes from the California Dept. of Water Resources, the California Health Care Foundation, End Well, Future of Life Institute, John Pritzker Family Fund, Ogilvy, the Plastic Pollution Coalition, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute. The program, now celebrating more than 20 years of service to the TV entertainment industry, serves as a free resource by providing expert consultations and briefings, panel discussions, screenings, custom research trips, social media and more.
On the red carpet our host Evie Matavelli interviewed Anna Hagen (Producer of The Diplomat), Betsy Thomas (Writers Guild West Secretary-Treasurer), Cheryl Strayed (Writer & Tiny Beautiful Things), Liz Tigelaar (Executive Producer of Tiny Beautiful Things), Chris Estrada (Actor from Hulu’s This Fool), Damon Lindelof ( Producer / Showrunner of Lost and Watchmen), Debbie Allen (Producer of Grey’s Anatomy and Fame), Elizabeth Tulloch (Actress from Superman & Lois and Grimm), Frankie Quiñones (Actor from Hulu’s This Fool), Isabel Kaplan (Author of HANCOCK PARK), Jaina Lee Ortiz (Actress from Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy), Jason George (SAG Negotiating Committee), Kate Folb (Hollywood, Health and Society – Director), Logan Marmino ( Actor from Best Foot Forward), Martin Kaplan (Hollywood, Health and Society – Principal Investigator), Peter Paige (Showrunner / Producer of The Fosters), Scott Z. Burns (Creator / Showrunner of Extrapolations), Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Showrunner / Writer of Fleishman Is in Trouble).
Our Youtube Shorts interview with Elizabeth Tulloch (Actress from Superman & Lois and Grimm).
Our Youtube Shorts interview with Jaina Lee Ortiz (Actress from Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy).