MUMBAI: It is awards season time for the American film and television industries. The American Film Institute (AFI) has chosen what it considers to be the best that television and film had to offer this year.

Its television programmes of the year included HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm which airs in India on Zee English and ABC's Desperate Housewives. The show took ABC to second spot in the November sweepstakes.

The other winners included Fox's Arrested Development, The Shield which airs in India on AXN and HBO's The Sopranos which airs on Zee English in India.

Unlike other film or television awards, the AFI selections are made through a 13-person jury process in which scholars, artists, critics and AFI trustees discuss, debate and determine the most outstanding achievements of the year, as well as provide a detailed rationale for each selection. Two AFI juries -- one for motion pictures and one for television -- convened in Los Angeles for two days of deliberation.

AFI will honor the creative ensembles for each of the honorees at a luncheon on 14 January 2005, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The jury rationales for each selection will be revealed at this event. In fact three years ago when the AFI first announced their awards they had a ceremony in a bid to compete with the Golden Globes. However, after getting a lukewarm response the organisation decided to simply announce the winners.

As far as the best film list was concerned Martin Scorcese's The Aviator which is considered by some to be the favourite to win the Best Picture Oscar in February was chosen by AFI as one of the top ten films of the year. Sony's blockbuster Spiderman 2 also made the cut along with Collateral where Tom Cruise played a ruthless killer, the comedy classic Sideways which deals with wine tasters in California and the mind bender Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind.