AFI's top ten 2008

[stj]

The American Film Institute's top ten television shows for 2008 are listed here. The only ones I've seen are Breaking Bad, John Adams and Lost. (Well, I saw the first episode of The Office.) Any comments? Does AFI stand for Amazing Fervor and Intelligence? Or does it stand for Assholes, Fools and Incompetents?

BREAKING BAD
IN TREATMENT
JOHN ADAMS
LIFE
LOST
MAD MEN
THE OFFICE
RECOUNT
THE SHIELD
THE WIRE

 

[Brikar99]

I haven't seen "In Treatment" or "Recount", but those other shows are all pretty fantastic. Good to see "The Shield" and "The Wire" getting some love.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I can't understand why Lost continues to be included on these lists. I finally gave in and watched season four on DVD after quitting it in season two. It's the same convoluted mess it was then. A one season wonder, just like Heroes.

 

[TGTheodore]

John Adams was simply amazing. And I really enjoyed Recount as well.

But Lost? Are you sure this wasn't the Hollywood Foreign Press and not AFI?

--Ted

 

[sidious618]

Lost is better than ever, so, yes, it should be on there. Glad to see the Wire and the Shield on there, too, but where did Life come from?

 

[tomalak301]

I get into a series (30 Rock) that gets critical acclaim and on this list I go 0-for. Oh well.

 

[Warp Coil]

As far as I'm concerned, the 4th season of "Lost" may be its strongest yet, so I'm happy to see it make the list. I recently netflixed the season one, disc one of "Mad Men" to see what all the hype is about. It didn't hold my attention.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I'll agree with John Adams.

Recount was a made for cable movie. Hard to equate with a mini-series or a series.

What I saw of In Treatment seemed a tad pretentious, but it's premise isn't my cup of tea anyway.

Didn't watch the rest.

 

[Cicero]

AFI also named its official selections for Films of the Year:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
Wall•E
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler​

 

[Harvey]

While AFI is not perfect, they at least have some semblance of taste here.

I would very much like it if "In Treatment" was any good, but the reviews were so average, I'll have to wait and see on that one. I'd prefer "Battlestar Galactica" on the list, of course, but judging from what I've seen and/or heard, I can't fault any of the television choices, unless you'd like to quibble as to whether a TV movie counts.

I'm not sure if both "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" belong on the best film lists of the year, but the AFI has always struck a compromise between the critics and populism, as the yearly top 100 lists go, anyway. And, to be honest, I'm not sure if I liked "Frozen River" that much. Beyond a noteworthy performance or two, it suffers from some occasionally horrendous cinematography.

 

[tomalak301]

AFI also named its official selections for Films of the Year:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
Wall•E
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler​

I'm really glad to see Iron Man on so many lists for best of 2008. It really was an awesome, and very surprising movie. I think Robert Downy Jr. is in contention as comeback person of the year. He was great in the two movies he was in and he seems to have gotten his life in order.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Dexter should be on that list, but otherwise, not bad.

Lost makes sense if you stick with it and pay attention. Very different from Heroes, which makes no sense at all and is written at an amateurish level with the kind of blunders that astonishes me, coming from so-called professional writers.

I'd prefer "Battlestar Galactica" on the list, of course, but judging from what I've seen and/or heard, I can't fault any of the television choices, unless you'd like to quibble as to whether a TV movie counts.

BSG has pretty much lost it and is a pretentious, rambling mess. But it's a different sort of mess than Heroes - a better quality mess. At least the writers don't strike me as flat-out incompetent and even when they write nonsense, it's interesting nonsense.