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The Museum of Television & Radio to Honor Barbara Walters and Everybody Loves Raymond at Annual Gala in Los Angeles

Monday, August 30, 2004

Los AngelesCA—The Museum of Television & Radio will honor at its annual gala in Los Angeles ABC News correspondent Barbara Walters for her distinguished and substantial contributions to news reporting on television and Everybody Loves Raymond creator/executive producer Phil Rosenthal, Ray Romano, and the rest of the cast and writers of the award-winning family sitcom. The Museum's annual galas in New York and Los Angeles are major fundraising initiatives that benefit the Museum's ongoing efforts to continue to collect and preserve television and radio programs and advertisements and make them available to the public. The gala will be held on November 15, 2004, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills. 

"The Museum is pleased to recognize the many accomplishments of Barbara Walters.  One of today's most influential journalists, Barbara is a true pioneer for women in news, and she continues to break new television ground on camera and off.  Everybody Loves Raymond, with its talented writing led by Phil Rosenthal and award-winning cast, has offered the American viewing public one of the finest examples of the classic family sitcom," commented Stuart N. Brotman, president of the Museum. 

Barbara Walters' exclusive interviews with world figures, newsmakers, and celebrities, as well as her enterprising reporting, have won her national recognition and numerous awards, including The Lowell Thomas Award, The Overseas Press Club's President's Award, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award, and The International Women's Media Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award. Stepping down after twenty years as coanchor of the ABC magazine show 20/20, Walters continues to serve as an ABC News Correspondent and host of The Barbara Walters Specials as well as creator, cohost, and executive producer of ABC Daytime's Emmy-winning The View

Beginning its ninth and final season on CBS, Everybody Loves Raymond continues to earn critical acclaim and high ratings. The show has received fifty-six Primetime Emmy Award nominations and has won twelve of those awards in several categories, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Produced by Worldwide Pants Incorporated and HBO Independent Productions, Everybody Loves Raymond, with standup comedian Ray Romano in the title role, revolves around Ray Barone, a successful sportswriter living on Long Island with his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), and their children. However, Ray's meddling parents, Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts), live directly across the street and embrace the motto "Su casa es mi casa," managing to infiltrate their son's home to an unparalleled extent. Ray's brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), a police sergeant, is married Debra's best friend, Amy (Monica Horan), and is never too far from the nest.  Executive producers of the popular show are Phil Rosenthal (also the show's creator), Stu Smiley, Rory Rosegarten, Ray Romano, Lew Schneider, Tucker Cawley, Steve Skrovan, and Jeremy Stevens.  

Past Museum of Television & Radio gala honorees include Alan Alda, Julie Andrews, Steven Bochco, Kevin S. Bright, David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw, Carol Burnett, James Burrows, Sid Caesar, Marcy Carsey, David Crane, Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Marta Kauffman, David E. Kelley, Mary Tyler Moore, Jack Paar, Dan Rather, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Martin Sheen, Tom Werner, and Dick Wolf.

The Museum of Television & Radio, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, was founded by William S. Paley to collect and preserve television and radio programs and advertisements and to make them available to the public. Since opening in 1976, the Museum has organized exhibitions, screening and listening series, seminars, and education classes to showcase its preeminent collection of over 100,000 television and radio programs and advertisements. Programs in the Museum's collection are selected for their artistic, cultural, and historic significance.


The Museum of Television & Radio in New York, located at 25 West 52 Street in Manhattan, is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 6:00 p.m. and until 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays. The Museum of Television & Radio in California, located at 465 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, is open Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 5:00 p.m. Both Museums are closed on New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Suggested contribution: Members free; $10.00 for adults; $8.00 for senior citizens and students; and $5.00 for children under fourteen. Admission is free in Los Angeles. The public areas in both Museums are accessible to wheelchairs, and assisted listening devices are available. Programs are subject to change. You may call the Museum in New York at (212) 621-6800 or in Los Angeles at (310) 786-1000. Visit the Museum's website at www.mtr.org.