NEW YORK. NBC is turning 100, and The Paley Museum is marking the milestone with a three-floor immersion into the network’s television history.
NBC100: A Century Together opens Friday, September 18 at The Paley Museum in Midtown Manhattan. The exhibition brings together more than 75 costumes, props and artifacts tied to programs including Friends, Seinfeld, The Office, Saturday Night Live, Law & Order, The West Wing, ER, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, The Voice and NBC Sports.
The draw is not just nostalgia behind glass. The exhibit is built around participation. Visitors can sit in The Voice coaches’ chair, step behind a TODAY-inspired desk experience, pose on an Olympic victory podium and see the desk associated with Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show. That mix of artifact display and photo-ready interaction makes the centennial feel as much like a live brand experience as a traditional museum show.
Television history becomes an experience
Among the featured pieces are costumes connected to Matt LeBlanc on Friends, Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Seinfeld, Steve Carell on The Office, Martin Sheen on The West Wing, Ted Danson on The Good Place and Barbara Eden on I Dream of Jeannie. Paley is also using its archive and theaters to revisit landmark NBC programming throughout the run.
The most compelling layer is how the experience translates a legacy media brand into something physical. NBC’s history spans broadcast television, news, sports and live entertainment, but this exhibition turns that archive into a walk-through environment built for discovery, memory and shareable moments. It is another example of how established media companies are turning audiences from viewers into participants.
What is next
The opening also leads into NBC100: TV’s Next Generation on Wednesday, September 23 at 7 p.m. The PaleyLive conversation will feature performers from NBC’s current and upcoming slate, including Mekki Leeper, Mary Shalaby, Taylor Bloom, Brandon Larracuente and Precious Way, moderated by NBC News’ Joe Fryer.
NBC100: A Century Together is open Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. at The Paley Museum, 25 West 52 Street. The exhibition opened September 18, and tickets are available through The Paley Museum.
Source: The Paley Museum and The Paley Center for Media.
