'American Horror Story,' 'Girls' crack the AFI TV Top 10 for 2012

'Mad Men' and 'Walking Dead' return to the list

By Daniel Fienberg Monday, Dec 10, 2012 3:55 PM

"American Horror Story: Asylum"

Credit: FX

The American Film Institute unveiled its TV Top 10 for 2012 on Monday (December 10), a somewhat conservative list that includes five repeat entries from last year's Top 10.

"Breaking Bad," "Game of Thrones," "Louie," "Homeland" and "Modern Family" are all repeat entries on the AFI Top 10. "Modern Family" has made the list four years running.

Prone to welcoming new shows, the AFI Top 10 has only had three repeating shows on each of the two previous lists.

Even several of the new additions to the AFI Top 10 list aren't exactly "fresh" choices. "Mad Men" returns after a one year absence to make its fourth AFI Top 10, while "The Walking Dead" is back in the AFI Top 10 after a one-year absence.

Crashing the AFI Top 10 field for the first time are FX's "American Horror Story," HBO's "Girls" and the HBO telefilm "Game Change."

That gave HBO and AMC three Top 10 entries apiece, with FX snagging two. "Modern Family" was, as you can tell, the only network show on the AFI list.

To make room for the four additions, "Boardwalk Empire," "The Good Wife," "Parks and Recreation" and "Justified" all dropped out. The other show from the 2011 list was "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which didn't air new episodes in 2012.

If you prefer lists, here's your AFI TV Top 10 for 2012:

"Breaking Bad"

"Game of Thrones"

"Louie"

"Homeland"

"Modern Family"

"Mad Men"

"The Walking Dead"

"American Horror Story"

"Girls"

"Game Change"

And check out the AFI Movies Top 10 for 2012 here.

Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.

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Other Scott

What an odd list. I can't really find any rhyme or reason to it. It looks like it values critics opinions over move mainstream viewership by including Girls and Louie, and then puts Modern Family over Parks and Rec, and American Horror Story in over something like Boardwalk Empire.

The only thing I can think of is that with no new shows really deserving of any accolades, and all the other shows still operating at the same level of quality, AFI had to find a way to change their list somehow. So they over-rewarded Walking Dead and American Horror Story for improving, even though they weren't better than some of the excluded shows.
December 10, 2012 at 5:18PM EST Reply to Comment
leemats

Daniel -
I just went to the AFI site and their eligibility period is between January 1 and December 31, 2012. Do you think they received advance screeners for Homeland and AHS? Because Homeland has been hit and miss this season (as you and Alan mentioned in the podcast). Wondering if AFI is grading the season as a whole or just the eps that aired at the time they made the list.
December 10, 2012 at 8:14PM EST Reply to Comment
- dan LeeMats - There's no chance they got screeners. They just went with their guts based on what they'd seen. And I don't know when the voting took place, either.
  
  -Daniel
  December 10, 2012 at 8:33PM EST
Jenna

It's always the same shows.... I'm so sick of Modern Family and all the hype it is getting. It is not werthy of it. The show is going downhill and is the same every week. It's not even original.

December 11, 2012 at 2:18AM EST Reply to Comment