Fey, Dr. Horrible, Slumdog Made 2008 Significant for AFI
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Ready for another end-of-the-year retrospective catalog?
Courtesy of the list-happy folks at the American Film Institute, AFI has unveiled its Top Eight Moments of Significance in film, television and web to honor performances, trends and pretty much anything that can't be shortlisted on, say, AFI's Top 10 Films list.
Among those earning kudos are everyone from Tina Fey and Dr. Horrible to Slumdog Millionaire and the Olympics.
A week after being heralded as AP Entertainer of the Year, Fey was dubbed "America's First Lady of Laughs" by AFI for her boob-tube work on 30 Rock and as Republican vice presidential hopeful (and new grandma) Gov. Sarah Palin, which "served as a lightning rod for laughs."
AFI also heralded the unprecedented levels of coverage surrounding the election, as well as NBC's supplemental coverage of the Beijing Olympics.
Noting the Internet as a force to be reckoned with (Hulu.com gets a shout-out), Joss Whedon's Web musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris, was singled out for its cult status and putting the Internet on the map as a potentially lucrative distribution outlet.
As for film, the Mumbai-set Slumdog Millionaire — which missed the Top 10 Film list because it's not an American production — was cited as "a monument to the possibilities of cross-cultural storytelling." Other films deemed to have the same impact were Gran Torino, The Visitor, Australia, as well as TV's Heroes.
AFI's other "moments" include the diminishing influence of film critics due to job cutbacks and the poor state of independent filmmaking as several divisions were folded or closed.
What do you think of AFI's list? Completely random or actually meaningful? What were your top moments of 2008?