I'm not in the habit of asking for selfies, but when I met Norman Lear at a NATPE conference almost a decade ago, I made an exception. Like many people in this business, I grew up idolizing the legendary producer, whose shows were the first time I saw characters and families who resembled and captured the energy of my own upbringing in El Monte, which otherwise felt worlds away from Hollywood.

That's why I'm excited to see in this issue Eric Deggans's tribute to Lear's landmark series The Jeffersons, which premiered 50 years ago in January. George and Weezy's ascent to a "dee-luxe apartment in the sky" reflected my own aspirations to succeed and carve a place of belonging for people who look like me. Although I ended up making my career in unscripted, it was in part Lear's fearlessness about showcasing outspoken characters and subject matter typically not seen on TV that emboldened me to mix larger-than-life figures and hot-button topics in my own work.

This is the power of television: to reflect, inspire and speak truth to our existence. In this month's cover story by Neil Turitz, the cast and creatives behind Severance, which just concluded its second season, explore what makes this borderline-undefinable drama so compelling. Who among us can't relate to the need, at times, to compartmentalize our reality, particularly as it pertains to the divide between work and personal life?

And, of course, television has the ability to amplify timeless yet urgent narratives. In these pages, Jacqueline Cutler goes behind the scenes of The Handmaid's Tale, whose return for a sixth and final season couldn't be timelier. Margaret Atwood's novel turns 40 this year, but from the moment this Emmy-winning adaptation premiered in 2017, its iconic visuals have become a cultural shorthand for the perils facing American women right now.

At its best, television is in dialogue with the zeitgeist of contemporary times, and as the features in this issue attest, there have been TV shows doing this since the dawn of the medium. At the Television Academy's most recent Board of Governors retreat in late February, one of the key priorities on the agenda was to expand member outreach, particularly to the younger, more diverse generation of TV professionals. Through programming that includes summits, mixers and other networking opportunities, we will ensure that our membership reflects the many voices who are not only shaping television today but will guide our industry in years to come. Together, we will honor television's great legacy while embracing the future of storytelling.

This chair letter originally appeared in emmy Magazine, issue #3, 2025.