Conan O’Brien at Featured Session “Claiming the Future of Entertainment” at Austin Convention Center on March 11, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Andy Wenstrand
Music and variety programming are well-represented on the list of six 2025 honorees set to join the Television Academy Hall of Fame. The inductees are talk show host Conan O’Brien, prolific composer Mike Post, producers Ryan Murphy and Don Mischer (who died on April 11), and actors Henry Winkler and Viola Davis.
The 27th Hall of Fame ceremony will be held during the Televerse Festival on Aug. 16.
The Hall of Fame honors persons who have made outstanding contributions in the arts, sciences or management of television over a lifetime career or via singular achievements. The 2025 Hall of Fame honorees join more than 150 individuals previously inducted into the Hall of Fame since its inception in 1984. (The ceremony is not quite annual; this is the first induction class since 2022.)
“These trailblazing performers, creators and producers have left an indelible mark on our industry. Their groundbreaking work has shaped and elevated the television landscape in profound ways,” said Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy. “We are honored to welcome these legends into the Hall of Fame and to recognize their exceptional contributions to the evolution of television.”
“All six honorees have elevated the art of storytelling and have had an extraordinary influence on television culture and history,” said Rick Rosen, chair of the Hall of Fame selection committee. “Their transformative leadership and innovative work have made a lasting impact on the medium, and the Television Academy is proud to honor their legacy.”
Televerse is an immersive festival experience for industry insiders and fans of television from Aug. 14-16 at the JW Marriott at L.A. LIVE. Attendees can register here to receive news and information when sessions are announced. The Hall of Fame will be separately ticketed and will be open to Academy members and the public for purchase.
Here are capsules on each of the six 2025 honorees:
-
Conan O’Brien
The Emmy-winning writer, producer and comedian had a 28-year career as a late-night host, one of the longest tenures in late-night history, concluding with an 11-year run with Conan on TBS. O’Brien, 62, has won five Primetime Emmy Awards, seven Writers Guild Awards and The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Additionally, he has hosted two Primetime Emmy Awards telecasts (2002 and 2006), the 2025 Oscars (and is set to host the 2026 Oscars) and performed at the White House Correspondents Dinner for two presidents.
O’Brien, who hosted The Tonight Show briefly in 2009-10, is the fourth host of that legendary franchise to join the Television Hall of Fame, following Steve Allen (1986), Johnny Carson (1987) and Jay Leno (2014).
-
Mike Post
The Emmy-winning musician, composer, arranger and producer is widely considered the most successful composer in television history. Post, 80, has written music for 7,200 hours of TV, including: Law & Order; NYPD Blue; Magnum PI; The A-Team; Quantum Leap; Doogie Howser, M.D.; Blossom; and News Radio.
Post co-wrote Joey Scarbury’s “Theme From ‘Greatest American Hero’ (Believe It or Not),” which was a No. 2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. As an artist, Post has had two top 10 hits on the Hot 100 – “The Rockford Files” and “The Theme from Hill Street Blues.” He also cracked the top 30 with “(Theme From) Magnum P.I.”
Post has won five Grammy Awards. His first, in 1969, was for best instrumental arrangement for Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas,” a No. 2 hit on the Hot 100 in 1968. His most recent, in 1989, was best instrumental composition for “The Theme from L.A. Law.”
Post won a Primetime Emmy for his outstanding main title theme music for ABC’s Murder One.
-
Ryan Murphy
The prolific writer, director and producer has created some of the most iconic and critically acclaimed series on television, including Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Pose and Monster. Murphy, 59, is known for bringing the stories of marginalized characters to mainstream audiences around the world. He has won six Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award (for a 2016 revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night) and has two Grammy Award nominations for two installments of Glee: The Music which were nominated for best compilation soundtrack album.
His Emmy wins are for projects as varied as Glee, The Normal Heart, The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.
-
Don Mischer
The renowned producer and director of television and live events was the founder of Don Mischer Productions. His credits include the Emmys, We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, The Kennedy Center Honors, Super Bowl Halftime shows, the Democratic National Convention, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, 20 consecutive annual 9/11 Memorial Services at Ground Zero in New York City, and the ABC special Taking the Stage: African American Music and Stories That Changed America.
Mischer received 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, including several for music projects – Irving Berlin’s 100th Birthday Celebration and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever and Motown Returns to the Apollo. The first of these Motown specials was the legendary show where Michael Jackson first publicly unveiled his moonwalk.
Mischer also received a record 10 Directors Guild of America Awards for outstanding directorial achievement, two NAACP Image Awards, a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and the 2012 Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television from the Producers Guild of America. Mischer died on April 11 at age 85.
-
Viola Davis
The artist, activist, producer, philanthropist and author, 59, was the first Black actress to win the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her role How to Get Away with Murder. In 2023, she became an EGOT, just the third Black woman to achieve that feat (following Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson). She clinched her EGOT when she won a Grammy for best audio book, narration & storytelling recording for Finding Me. In 2025, she received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for her contributions to the world of entertainment.
-
Henry Winkler
The Emmy-winning actor, producer, director and best-selling author has appeared in more than 100 television series, including Happy Days, Barry, American Horror Stories, Arrested Development, Royal Pains, New Girl, and Parks and Recreation. He finally won his first Primetime Emmy in 2018 for his supporting role on Barry. Winkler, 79, produced and directed numerous television series and specials, including MacGyver, Mr. Sunshine and All Kids Do It (which won him a Daytime Emmy Award for best director). Winkler joins his Happy Days co-star Ron Howard in the Television Hall of Fame. Howard was honored in 2013.