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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. Related Stories TV How Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan in 'Lanterns' Series Will Compare to Ryan Reynolds' Take on Green Lantern TV 'Task' Star Tom Pelphrey: The One Thing That Kept Me Up at Night

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.”

Smart’s induction honored one of television’s most versatile performers. She first broke through as Charlene Frazier on the 80’s sitcom Designing Women before moving between comedy and drama in Frasier , 24, Samantha Who? , Fargo , Watchmen and Mare of Easttown . Her career has found another act in HBO’s Hacks , where her performance as veteran comedian Deborah Vance has earned her multiple Emmy wins.

Calling the induction “an amazing and truly unexpected honor,” Smart said being included among her fellow inductees was “a gift of a lifetime.” She also poked fun at her relationship with celebrity, recalling a recent elevator encounter in which a stranger asked, “Are you famous?” “Well, apparently not,” Smart recalled as the room burst into laughter.

One of the evening’s most poignant tributes belonged to Bradley, the groundbreaking CBS News journalist who died in 2006 after 25 years at 60 Minutes and reporting on more than 500 stories. Fellow correspondent Lesley Stahl remembered her longtime colleague as a journalist who always “searched for the human story” and cared deeply about people without power. Bradley’s widow, Patricia Blanchet, accepted the honor and reflected on his significance as one of the few Black journalists of his era with such broad national visibility.