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Peabody Awards for ‘Justified,’ ‘Good Wife,’ ‘Sherlock Holmes’

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Cowboys, lawyers, and detectives were honored in their fight for justice (and good television) when the 70th annual George Foster Peabody Awards were announced Thursday by the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

FX’s modern-day western “Justified,” CBS’ legal drama “The Good Wife,” and PBS’ Sherlock Holmes update “Sherlock: A Study in Pink” each received one of a record 39 awards, which recognized the best work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals for 2010. They were joined TNT’s buddy comedy “Men of a Certain Age” and the two-part “Degrassi” episode “My Body Is a Cage,” which aired on Teen Nick and focuses on a transgender teenager.

Selected by the 16-member Peabody board, which includes television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts, the winners were named during a ceremony on the University of Georgia campus.

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Along with some usual awards-circuit sweepers, like HBO’s biopic “Temple Grandin” and its World War II epic “The Pacific,” honorees included a strong range of documentaries, including two from HBO: Spike Lee’s post-Katrina documentary “If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise” and “Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals,” about the fierce competition between basketball stars Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. The arts series “American Masters” got two nods, one for the John Lennon movie “LennonNYC” and the other for “Elia Kazan: A Letter to Elia,” directed by Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones. And ESPN was recognized for “30 for 30,” a collection of sports documentaries commissioned by ESPN for its 30th anniversary.

The Peabodys also focused on outstanding coverage of wars, praising the “American Experience” documentary “My Lai,” which delves into an atrocity in U.S. military history, and the Frontline special “The Wounded Platoon,” which illuminates the psychiatric problems suffered by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Battles waged a little closer to home were also highlighted, including CNN’s coverage of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The awards will be given out May 23 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. It will be hosted by Larry King.

melissa.maerz@latimes.com

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