When the Paley Center for Media selected Discovery Communications founder and chairman John S. Hendricks as the honoree at its 2010 gala, the institution of all things television took the opportunity to incorporate the stars of Hendricks's 25-year-old network into the night's programming and vendors.
Produced by Paley director of special events and membership Amy Handler, the event brought a crowd of nearly 500 to Cipriani 42nd Street on April 6. Guests posed for photos with Mike Rowe of Discovery's Dirty Jobs and checked out a spinning globe cake created by Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro of Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey. (Valastro also catered the dessert course of cupcakes.)
The Paley Center is home to an extensive archive of television programing, so it took the chance to showcase some of its catalog. Footage from its collection featuring ecologist Jacques Cousteau and astronomer Carl Sagan played on televisions throughout the cocktail hour.
And that wasn't the only thing to watch. During the program, hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, waitstaff came out to deliver 3D glasses to each of the attendees. They watched the first screening of Discovery's new 3D programming, which was later shown to buyers at last week's Discovery upfront.
