AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR-OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA soars light years beyond the expectations of science fiction on television. Au courant and hard-hitting, it's one of the best series today about United States entanglements in the war on terror, addressing the moral quandary--when at war, when does a society become that which it opposes? It is this kind of deep thinking in space that makes the show both a cautionary tale and a rip-roaring, out-of-this-world adventure.

DEADWOOD

DEADWOOD is a Shakespearean epic in spurs and continues to blaze new trails in television as it enters its second season. David Milch's use of language continues to astound, and when the superb ensemble acting, production design and costumes are added to the artistry of the page, the viewer enters a fully realized world of exceptional heft--which is just one of the four-letter words that best describe DEADWOOD.

GREY'S ANATOMY

GREY'S ANATOMY is one hour of pure pleasure each week--a medical mixer on our need to connect and a McDreamy reminder that one of television's primary goals is to entertain. The program hit its stride in 2005, intertwining life and death and love in a scintillating package--one that is enriched by the show's color-blind casting and bedpan humor.

HOUSE

HOUSE has redefined the medical television show. No longer a world where an idealized doctor has all the answers or a hospital where gurneys race down the hallways, HOUSE's focus is on the pharmacological--and the intellectual demands of being a doctor. The trial-and-error of new medicine skillfully expands the show beyond the format of a classic procedural, and at the show's heart, a brilliant but flawed physician is doling out the prescriptions--a fitting symbol for modern medicine.

LOST

LOST is a tribute to the intellect of its viewing audience--with a dozen major characters and a vast number of story lines leading us through the wilds of a remote island and the bizarre and thrilling mysteries that are found there. This year, the show dared to go too far--and succeeded--mostly by carrying the story forward through flashback. The creative ensemble utilized the device with such effectiveness that it has created a new form of storytelling--characters are more finely developed, mysteries are intensified, and yet audiences are never lost...and always wanting more.

RESCUE ME

RESCUE ME takes an American hero sacrosanct after 9/11--the firefighter--and with great respect, honors its legacy by celebrating the struggle under the symbol. Denis Leary is the engine of the show and has created one of the most self-destructive characters in recent memory; one who rescues, but desperately needs to be saved. That the show has life after 9/11 is not only a tribute to the creative ensemble, but also to the healing power of the nation, who loves a hero most when it finds him human.

SLEEPER CELL

SLEEPER CELL is a frighteningly real look at the clash of civilizations in a post-9/11 world. The program peels away at the mundanity of American suburbia and exposes the terror that lives just below the surface. Complex, and well-plotted; nuanced, and bold--the show's most significant achievement is that it is, simply, dramatically plausible...which makes it all the more terrifying.

SOMETIMES IN APRIL

SOMETIMES IN APRIL is a shining example of what television is capable of--illuminating, educating, and in the process, transcending the pain of a subject that would otherwise be impossible to embrace emotionally. After all, how does one tell the story of Rwandan genocide? Here the creative ensemble's courage and artistry has earned them the right not only to present the historically complex saga, but also to offer the question of reconciliation. Spanning this chasm is the function of art in our world.

24

24 has changed the face of television--one hour, one minute, one second at a time. This is a masterpiece of episodic storytelling and continues to deal with the bright color issues in America's war on terror with a degree of difficulty that is off today's television charts. Powerful and involving, with characters who are more fully realized with each season, the show still has viewers on the edge of their seats, both riveted to the action and begging, pleading for a modicum of relief.

VERONICA MARS

VERONICA MARS is a celebration of what it is to be a young woman--and a welcome alternative to the feminine model that is threatening to consume American culture. The show is smart and cool and clever--all virtues that are lauded in its geeky heroine. The show's writing and casting also transcend the teen detective log line by not imagining Veronica as a super girl, but a teenager with a strong father figure and loyal friends who live in a community with complicated images of race, class and family--like all of us.