‘Glee,’ ‘True Grit’ Among AFI’s Annual Top 10 List

Adding its stamp of approval to such critical favorites as The Social Network and Toy Story 3, the American Film Institute released its annual list of the 10 best movies of the year and 10 best TV programs on Sunday.

The 10 films, selected by the AFI jury, are: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, The Social Network, The Town, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter’s Bone.

While the AFI traditionally considers only narrative features that have “significant creative and/or production elements from the United States,” this year it also issued special awards to the British dramaThe Kings Speech and the documentary Waiting for Superman.

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“As AFI Awards entered its second decade of documenting excellence across the century, it became clear from the scholars, critics and artists who come together for the American Film Institute that acknowledging outstanding work outside the traditional AFI criteria would provide greater context to our goal of recording a true history of the art form,” Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO, said. “This year and moving forward, in addition to honoring American storytelling in the narrative format, the juries may name Special Awards and it is AFI’s honor to shine a proper light on these artists and their achievements.”

The AFI TV programs of the year are: The Big C, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Glee, Mad Men, Modern Family, The Pacific, Temple Grandin, 30 Rock and The Walking Dead.

The AFI will honor the creative ensembles for each of the films and TV shows at a luncheon sponsored by Hewlett-Packard on Jan. 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.

This year’s motion picture jury was chaired by producer Tom Pollock, a member of the AFI board of trustees, and consisted of Jeanine Basinger, Wesleyan University; Donn Cambern, editor; Diablo Cody, writer/producer; Lee Daniels, director/producer; Jane Gaines, Columbia University; Gazzale; Akira Mizuta Lippit, University of Southern California; Leonard Maltin, Entertainment Tonight; Elvis Mitchell, At the Movies; Claudia Puig, USA Today; Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly; and Michael Wood, Princeton University.

Producer Richard Frank of the AFI board of trustees chaired the TV jury, which consisted of Steven Bochco, producer/writer; Gazzale; Marshall Herskovitz, producer/writer/director; Jennifer Love Hewitt, actor/producer; Henry Jenkins, USC; Anna McCarthy, New York University; Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times; James Poniewozik, Time Magazine; Matt Roush, TV Guide Magazine; Maureen Ryan, AOL; John Schaffner, production designer; and Janet Staiger, University of Texas at Austin.