Press Release: The Paley Center for Media Announces PaleyFest2011 (True Blood, Freaks and Geeks, The Walking Dead, American Idol!)

THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA ANNOUNCES PALEYFEST2011
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL WILLIAM S. PALEY TELEVISION FESTIVAL

March 4–18, 2011, at Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA

Evenings Honoring True Blood, The Walking Dead, 10 seasons of American Idol and a reunion of the casts of Judd Apatow’s Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared are the first four honorees revealed from PaleyFest2011’s 12-Event Lineup

Los Angeles, CA—The Paley Center for Media will present the twenty-eighth annual PaleyFest: The William S. Paley Television Festival (PaleyFest2011) from March 4 to 18, 2011, returning to the historic Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California. The Festival is also revealing four of its 2011 honorees: HBO’s True Blood, AMC’s The Walking Dead, FOX’s American Idol, which will be honored for its ten seasons on the air, and the seminal cult classics Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared, which will be jointly honored on one special evening.

PaleyFest is an extraordinary interactive pop culture event, connecting fans with the casts and creators of their favorite series as well as the icons who have changed or are changing the face of media. Named for William S. Paley, founder of both the Paley Center and CBS, annual Festival celebrates television’s rich and diverse programming and the creative process behind the medium. During each evening, the audience views episodes or highlights of the featured work and has the opportunity to ask questions of the cast and creative team or the individual involved in its production.

The complete schedule for PaleyFest2011 will be announced on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, first on the Paley Center twitter feed (twitter.com/paleycenter) and available on paleycenter.org with additional details. Starting today, the all-inclusive Festival Pass is available for purchase at ticketweb.com—just in time to give the perfect holiday gift to the ultimate TV fan. The Festival Pass includes one guaranteed ticket for premium seating each night, access to Festival events, free parking, concession stand vouchers, a one-year Paley Center general Membership, and other benefits. Starting January 19, several PaleyFest2011 Ticket Packages will be announced and available, also at ticketweb.com. Individual tickets will go on sale to Paley Center Members on Friday, January 21, and to the general public beginning the following Sunday, January 23, 2011.

Since the first Festival in 1984, the Paley Center has honored more than three hundred programs, including 24, Alias, American Idol, Battlestar Galactica, The Big Bang Theory, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cheers, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Damages, Desperate Housewives, Dexter, Entourage, Family Guy, Friends, Friday Night Lights, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, The Golden Girls, Gunsmoke, House, The Honeymooners, Laugh-In, Lost, Mad Men, M*A*S*H, Modern Family, My Name Is Earl, The O.C., The Office, Roots, Route 66, Sábado Gigante, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Six Feet Under, South Park, thirtysomething, True Blood, Ugly Betty, The Untouchables, The West Wing, and The X-Files, along with such personalities as Judd Apatow, Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, John Frankenheimer, Jim Henson, Bob Hope, Angela Lansbury, Jack Lemmon, George Lucas, Mary Martin, Carl Reiner, Garry Shandling, Flip Wilson, Jonathan Winters, and many others. PaleyFest panels are recorded and are available for viewing at the Paley Center in New York and Los Angeles.

PaleyFest2011 is made possible in part by a grant from the William S. Paley Foundation.