AFI Honors Top TV Shows

A total of 10 TV shows -- from ABC’s Alias to HBO’s The Wire -- will be honored by the American Film Institute for their outstanding achievements in television at a Beverly Hills luncheon Thursday, Jan. 22.

Also on the list are HBO’s Angels in America, Fox’s Arrested Development and 24, CBS’s Everybody Loves Raymond and Joan of Arcadia, FX’s Nip/Tuck, ESPN’s Playmakers and Showtime’s Soldier’s Girl.

Unlike most awards shows, which honor the creative community in various categories, AFI honors a show’s entire creative ensemble, including producer, director, cast, writer and so on. A 13-person jury of scholars, artists, critics and AFI trustees chooses the shows to be honored after two days of deliberation in Los Angeles.

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Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.