The American Film Institute announced it top tv shows and movies for 2008 yesterday.
Disney and Pixar’s “Wall-E” and this year’s biggest blockbuster “The Dark Knight” made the list. Rounding out the top ten were Clint Eastwood’s “Grand Torino”; the fable-like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; the historical drama “Frost/Nixon”; a tale of illegal immigrant smuggling, “Frozen River”; the comic book adventure “Iron Man”; the portrayal of slain gay-rights activist Harvey Milk’s life, “Milk”; a drama about a woman and her dog, “Wendy and Lucy”; and a drama about an aging athlete who won’t quit, “The Wrestler.”
In television, AFI honored ABC’s “Lost,” and FX’s “The Shield” as two of the top programs of the year. HBO’s final season of “The Wire” also made the list as did NBC’s workplace comedy ” The Office,” HBO’s psychological drama ” In Treatment,” NBC’s cop drama “Life,” and two AMC dramas, the Emmy-winning “Mad Men” and the off-kilter ” Breaking Bad.”
Two HBO mini-series also were honored: ” John Adams,” based on the bestselling book by David McCullough about the nation’s second president, and “Recount,” based on the events surrounding the 2000 presidential election.
The AFI Awards selections were made by a 13-person jury composed of scholars, industry professionals, critics and AFI trustees.
Among the film jurors were USC film professor Rick Jewell; writer/director/producer Robert Towne; critics Richard Schickel, Elvis Mitchell and Leonard Maltin; and columnist Anne Thompson. Television jurors included AFI president emeritus Jean Picker Firstenberg, The Times’ TV critic Mary McNamara and TV Guide’s Matt Roush.
AFI got it pretty much right.