"Parenthood," "The Big C," "Wartorn," among those honored as "television with a conscience"

From The Emmys:

The eight programs to be honored at the Fourth Annual Television Academy Honors were announced by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Chairman and CEO John Shaffner.

The event May 5, hosted by actress Dana Delany, star of the new ABC series Body of Proof, will celebrate the power of television to change attitudes and lives — and specifically, eight programs that have had significant impact on the viewing audience.

The programs selected this year explore such vital issues as sexual abuse and assault, racism, mental health and trauma, teen pregnancy, autism, living with a life-threatening disease and good nutrition in the fight against childhood obesity.

The star-studded evening at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Thursday, May 5, will recognize and pay tribute to the honored programs, which exemplify “television with a conscience” and were telecast in 2010 on ABC, DirecTV, ESPN, HBO, NBC and Showtime and in syndication. Phil Gurin (The Singing Bee, Your Chance to Dance, Miss Universe Pageant) will produce the ceremony for the fourth consecutive year. This is Delany’s third successive year hosting the event.

Recipients of the fourth annual Television Academy Honors are:

• The 16th Man — The documentary tells the emotional story of the end of apartheid in South Africa, the start of Nelson Mandela’s new government with its goal of racial unity, and what the South African rugby team’s victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup meant to the country’s healing process. With narration by Morgan Freeman, the program educates viewers on how Mandela used the sport of rugby to make a deeply divided, distressed nation whole again when traditional politics failed, and how the 1995 Rugby World Cup win became the turning point in South Africa’s history. (Produced by ESPN Films in Association with Revelations Entertainment)

• The Big C, “Taking The Plunge” — In the season-one finale of The Big C, Cathy Jamison (Laura Linney) finally informs her family of the life-threatening cancer diagnosis she had kept secret, and after wavering on treatments, opts for a risky procedure. In this compelling episode, Cathy examines the taboo nature of her own mortality while bravely transcending denial to acceptance of living with her disease. The Big C explores the critical need for all, whether facing a medical diagnosis or merely getting older, to live life every day as though one is dying the next. (Produced by Showtime Presents, Sony Pictures Television, Perkins Street Productions, Farm Kid and Original Film)

• Friday Night Lights, “I Can’t” — One of America’s most acclaimed family drama series tackles a difficult situation that teens and adults face every day: unwanted pregnancy. As Becky (Madison Burge) faces a heartbreaking decision and seeks support, information and advice from friends and total strangers, the episode delves into the human emotion surrounding abortion with honesty and grace, never succumbing to the politically charged emotion that usually overwhelms the dialogue around this controversial issue. (Produced by Imagine Television, Film 44 and Universal Media Studios)

• Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution — Hosted by celebrity chef, best-selling author and food activist Jamie Oliver, the Primetime Emmy® Award-winning docu-reality series proves a television show can create a movement. The series is set in Huntington, West Virginia, named by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the most nutritionally unhealthy areas in America. Oliver works to help people switch from fast and processed to fresh foods, both in the schools and at home. With the success of Huntington behind him, Oliver is ready for a bigger challenge — helping the kids and families of the country’s second largest city — Los Angeles. (Produced by Fresh One Productions and Ryan Seacrest Productions)

• The Oprah Winfrey Show, “A Two-Day Oprah Show Event: 200 Adult Men Who Were Molested Come Forward” — Shattering the stigma of male sexual abuse, 200 men speak out — some for the first time — about the trauma of their own childhood experiences in this special two-part episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. It is estimated that one in every six men has been molested as a child, but this special marks the first time a national television conversation has been held in such depth about male childhood sexual abuse. Fathers, husbands, sons and brothers stand alongside Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, and open up like never before about how the abuse continues to affect them, in the hope of offsetting the stigma of male sexual abuse and open a “door to freedom,” help and healing for themselves and others. (Produced by Harpo Productions, Inc.)

• Parenthood, “Pilot” — In the series premiere of Parenthood, Kristina and Adam Braverman (Monica Potter, Peter Krause) discover their young son Max (Max Burkholder) has Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. 1.5 million Americans have some form of Autism Spectrum Disorder, but this statistic ignores the millions of parents, siblings, friends, teachers and therapists whose lives are affected by autism every day. In its pilot episode, Parenthood introduces the colorful, intergenerational Braverman family; with raw emotion it demonstrates the impact of Asperger’s on all members of Max’s family and the need for them to find the means to support each other. (Produced by Imagine Television and Universal Media Studios)

• Private Practice, “Did You Hear What Happened to Charlotte King?” — In this powerful episode, Private Practice masters the gut-wrenching crime of sexual assault, as well as a poignant depiction of its aftermath and the long-term mental health effects that follow. When Pete (Tim Daly) discovers Charlotte (KaDee Strickland) in the halls of the hospital bloodied and bruised, he and his fellow doctors come to her aid. However, only Addison (Kate Walsh) learns the truth from Charlotte — that she wasn’t just beaten and robbed, but was raped. This marks the second Television Academy Honors award for Private Practice. The series was also honored in 2010 for the episode “Nothing to Fear,” a thought-provoking account of physician-assisted suicide. (Produced by ABC Studios)

• Wartorn 1861-2010 — With suicide rates among active military servicemen and veterans currently on the rise, Wartorn 1861-2010 brings urgent attention to the invisible wounds of war. Drawing on personal stories of American soldiers whose lives and psyches were torn asunder by the horrors of battle and post-traumatic stress disorder, the documentary, executive produced by James Gandolfini, chronicles the lingering effects of combat and post-traumatic stress on military personnel and their families throughout American history, from the Civil War through today’s conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Produced by Attaboy Films and Downtown Community Television in Association with HBO Documentary Films)

“We continue to be impressed each year by the amount of programming that not only entertains the audience, but uses the medium of television to showcase and expand understanding about important social issues,” said Shaffner. “The programs selected exemplify the idea of television with a conscience.”

Added Television Academy Honors committee co-chair Lynn Roth, “The programs selected this year are from all different networks and cover a wide array of topical subject matter. When members of the television community embrace the responsibility of telling socially impactful stories as these honorees have, it is our pleasure — and mission — to provide them with the recognition they deserve.”

Television Academy Honors held its inaugural ceremony in 2008. Honorees from the past three years include:

• Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq
• Boston Legal
• Brothers and Sisters
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• Explorer: “Inside Death Row”
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
• Glee
• Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am? with Maria Shriver
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Stand Up to Cancer
• Whale Wars
• Vanguard: “The OxyContin Express”

Eligible programs for this year’s Television Academy Honors aired from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2010, and were submitted for fiction/nonfiction as a whole series, single episodes or story arcs up to three episodes. Made-for-television movies, miniseries and fiction/nonfiction specials were also eligible to apply for The Television Academy Honors.