AFI Announces Their Official Selections for TV Programs of the Year

Yesterday, American Film Institute announced their official selections for the programs of the year for 2009.

I'm happy that the esteemed board--which included The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan, TV Guide Magazine's Matt Roush, Variety's Brian Lowry, actor CCH Pounder (The Shield), and writer/producer David Milch (Deadwood)--chose to recognize several series that don't get nearly as much love from critics and audiences as they should.

Along with noteworthy freshman series like Modern Family and Glee (both of which I expected would end up on the list) and the always sterling Mad Men, the panel selected such unexpected entries like HBO's lyrical mystery series No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Starz's breakout ensemble comedy Party Down, HBO's groundbreaking (and sadly often overlooked) drama series Big Love (which had its best season yet earlier this year), saved-from-cancellation drama Friday Night Lights, and Showtime's sensational medical-based dark comedy Nurse Jackie.

HBO, not unexpectedly, walked away with a number of programs on the official selections list, landing three spots for Big Love, True Blood, and No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

The full list of AFI's official TV selections can be found below.

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR-OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS)
BIG LOVE (HBO)
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (NBC/DirecTV)
GLEE (FOX)
MAD MEN (AMC)
MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY (HBO)
NURSE JACKIE (Showtime)
PARTY DOWN (Starz)
TRUE BLOOD (HBO)

What do you think of AFI's official selections for 2009? Are there other series that you would have rather seen make the list? Or ones that did that have definitely earned their spots? (Personally, I'd have substituted The Big Bang Theory presence here for NBC's Parks and Recreation.) Discuss.

HBO Renews "True Blood," "Hung," and "Entourage," Others Still Up in the Air

HBO's Richard Plepler and Michael Lombardo took to the stage yesterday at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Pasadena that HBO had locked in its entire current Sunday night lineup for additional seasons next summer.

The pay cabler has officially renewed True Blood for a third season, Hung for a second season, and Entourage for a staggering seventh season. All will return to the lineup next summer rather than premiering earlier.

"True Blood, Hung, and Entourage will all be coming back next summer and we're very excited about it." Lombardo told the press. "So stay tuned for next June."

The duo, in an executive session at the aforementioned TCA panel, also relayed information about HBO's other crop of series and whether we could expect to see them return or not, with the fate of several series still very much up in the air.

Curb Your Enthusiasm returns September 20th with a new series and will be slotted together with new comedy Bored to Death, starring Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson, and Zach Galifianakis, which will launch on the same night.

Lombardo wouldn't give any details about Evan Rachel Woods' appearance in Season Two/Season Three of True Blood. "Alan Ball would kill me," he said emphatically.

As expected, Big Love will be back in January. HBO expresses their disappointment that Big Love's talented cast didn't net Emmy nods for the truly amazing third season. (Editor: personally, I agree with them completely. Egregious error.)

Also on the subject of the Emmys, which announced yesterday that they would cut eight categories--including movie and miniseries awards--from the live telecast and instead film them separately and air edited versions of the winners' acceptance speechs, Plepler shot back at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. "For an awards show that seems to celebrate TV," said Plepler, "it seems odd that you would minimize categories that have huge viewership."

Flight of the Conchords isn't quite as dead as it appeared a few months back, with Plepler and Lombardo stating that the future of the series was squarely in the hands of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. "When they are ready, we're ready," said Plepler about a potential third season of Flight of the Conchords. "The challenge is of course they're not only writing a television show but have the added challenge of writing an album. So it's double the pressure. But we're waiting and as soon as they tell us they're ready, we'd be thrilled."

Things are looking less certain for a second season of the critically acclaimed drama series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which HBO co-produces with the BBC. "We're actually in conversations now and try to figure out the next step on that show," said Lombardo. "That show has been a challenge creatively as you know because the creative vision behind that show, Anthony Minghella, unfortunately passed away after the pilot was done." Fingers crossed that they can reach an agreement to bring Jill Scott's Precious Ramotswe back for a sophomore season...

And things are still very uncertain for a third season of In Treatment. "We're trying to put it together," said HBO. "It was adapted from an Israeli series, which had two seasons, so we would have to create new scripts from whole cloth but we're working to see whether that's possible." As for a final word on the series' fate, the duo said: "Gabriel is very interesting in doing it again so stay tuned."

Meanwhile, Little Britain USA is dead. But HBO said that they are in talks with creators/stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams about doing a series of specials featuring new characters and new situations. But don't hold your breath for these; at the very earliest the first special would air on HBO at the end of 2010 or shortly thereafter.

Fellow comedy Eastbound and Down, however, will return for a second season next year. The series "found young, passionate audience... There was no way we weren't bringing it back." Season Two of Eastbound will shoot at the end of winter or beginning of spring next year.

And animated comedy The Life and Times of Tim will return, with season two of the Media Rights Capital-produced series kicking off in the next few months. Ideally, Tim would be paired with the untitled animated Ricky Gervais comedy series--based on the podcast Gervais does with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington--but the latter likely won't make it on the air until next year.

As for new product, HBO said that the plan is to launch David Simon's newest series the post-Katrina New Orleans-set Treme, in April, trailing out of the end of its WWII mini-series The Pacific.

And HBO is anxiously awaiting a cut of its period drama Boardwalk Empire from executive producer Martin Scorsese and writer Terence Winter. Expectations are that once they see a cut of the pilot, HBO can order it to series and go back into production in September. "From everything we've seen it's fantastic, it's big, and it's everything we'd hoped it'd be," said Plepler.

Finally, HBO proved themselves magnanimous in success. Former HBO topper Chris Albrecht, now an independent producer, "should go where the work is and if he has something for" HBO, they are happy to take the pitch, said Plepler.

Love and Marriage: A Real Botswana Diamond on "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" Season Finale

Was it just me or was last night's season finale of HBO's superlative No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency absolutely heartbreaking and gripping television at its very best?

Last night's episode ("A Real Botswana Diamond"), written by Nicholas Wright and Robert Jones, found Precious reeling from the revelation that her ex-husband Note Mokote (played with terrifying precision by Colin Salmon) had arrived in Gaborone even as she faced a future with JLB, Grace investigating the truth behind the Kgale Hill break-ins, and Florence the Maid taking a decidedly troubled approach to her employer's engagement.

It was at turns distressing, inspirational, humorous, and thought-provoking. Throughout the first season of the lovingly crafted series, a co-production between HBO and BBC, Precious has lived in the shadow of her former husband, an abusive drunk whose beatings lead to the death of their unborn child and propelled Precious into a new life.

And yet the past always has a way of catching up to you.

In Precious' case, it's the fact that she hasn't been entirely upfront--not to her fiance JLB or us as the audience--about her relationship with Note. In fact, it turns out that there was more going on as Precious considered JLB's proposal of marriage than met the eye as Precious really shouldn't have accepted the offer as she is still married to Note Mokote.

It was an unexpected plot twist that was handled extremely well and spoke volumes about how much Precious has sought to transform herself and her life. At no point did I consider that Precious had deliberately misled or lied to her honorable and upright suitor JLB Matekoni; rather, it's clear that Precious herself has been lying to herself and had convinced herself that she was free of Note, even if the divorce papers hadn't actually been signed.

The scenes between Jill Scott's Precious and Colin Salmon's Note at her beautiful house, decked out to the nines by Precious' ambitious maid Rose to impress JLB, were fraught with peril. Given that we've seen Precious as a strong woman in control of her own destiny, it was saddening to see how she reverted to the position of a battered wife as soon as Note invaded her home and began to walk around the place as though he owned it. This is the demon she's fought for so long to free from her heart, one that prevents her from truly giving all of herself to JLB and one that she finally manages to exorcise at the end of the season.

For all of the abuse Precious has had to endure at the brutal hands of Note, she is still an intuitive and resourceful detective and she does her job with the skill of a true gumshoe, uncovering evidence that proves that Note was already married to another woman when he married her, negating any legality to their own union and preventing him from extorting money from her for a divorce. (I literally jumped with joy when Precious threw this in his face, even as I wanted her to slap Buthelezi earlier.)

Yet still, Precious also proved that there is still mercy in her heart for her former husband. Discovering that he is squandering his gifts with drugs, she sadly holds up his trumpet and tells him that, with his gift, he has more than most people. And she gives him money, not for the drugs but for the music. It's enough to get Note on stage at the Go-Go Handsome Man's Club to perform... and for Precious to walk off with JLB into the night and finally tell her fiance that she loves him.

What else did I love? The fact that it didn't matter whether Precious' engagement ring were a real diamond or a cubic zirconium in the end, especially after she read JLB's beautiful inscription ("To a real Botswana diamond"), which finally compels Precious to admit the depth of her own love for JLB. I also loved the reveal that the culprits behind the break-ins at Kgale Hill weren't vandals or teen thieves but monkeys (loved the way that Precious stood up to that nasty one and gained the strength to stand up to Note himself), that Mr. Patel gave the agency a hefty check for solving the case (and admits that Paterson Joseph's Cephas Buthelezi is the lesser detective), the fantastic and funny scene between JLB and wheelchair-bound orphan Mothleli, the return (albeit brief) of Wellington, and that Nandira Patel really did have a boyfriend named Jack after all. Hmmm...

I am extremely worried, however, about just what Florence intends to do with that illegally purchased gun, whether she intends to plant it at the agency or Precious' house and send her rival to prison... or whether she intends a more permanent solution by finishing Precious off for good. Either way, Florence's maneuvers with Philemon Leannye at the Frosty Glass Bar do not bode well and are clearly meant to set up a second season of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

A second season that I hope comes sooner rather than later. Throughout its first season run, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency has been a beautiful epitaph to the work of the much missed Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack and a testament to their creative partnership and work ethos. I'm hoping that HBO and BBC realize that a trip back to Botswana is a necessity for the many fans of this remarkable and well-crafted series and that all of us want to see just what happens to Precious, Grace, JLB, and PK.

In the meantime, I might have to make myself a cup of bush tea, cut myself a piece of cake, and think about just what a true diamond The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency really is.

Talk Back: HBO's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency"

"Dumela, Mma."

You've read my advance review of the first few episodes of HBO's joyous and addictive new mystery series, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, based on the best-selling novels of Alexander McCall Smith, and heard what series star Jill Scott and executive producer/co-writer Richard Curtis had to say about the production.

But, now that the two-hour pilot has aired, I'm curious to see what you thought of the HBO/BBC co-production. Did you fall in love with Scott's intrepid investigator Precious Ramotswe as much as I did? Did you fall under the beautiful charms of the Bostwana setting and want to set out on a safari as soon as possible? Did you dig the unusual uplifting energy that the series projects? Were you absolutely terrified by Idris Elba's turn as Charlie Kgotso? And captivated by the work relationship between Precious and Grace Makutsi (Anika Noni Rose)? And, most importantly, will you be watching again next week?

Talk back here.

Next week on No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency ("The Big Bonanza"), Precious Ramotswe is still putting herself out there as the sole investigator at The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency but business is floundering financially; Makutsi creates a flier to drum up business and Precious finds herself investigating a disturbed dentist, a missing dog and a missing husband.

Honey Traps and Bush Tea: An Advance Review of HBO's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency"

HBO has become synonymous with high-end dramas that are typically pretty dark, rather bleak, and usually pretty darn violent. Series like The Sopranos, Rome, Carnivale, True Blood, Big Love, and In Treatment all offer gripping if often disheartening looks into the darker elements of the human soul.

So what should audiences make of the fact that HBO is launching the far sunnier No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency this weekend?

Set in Botswana, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, based on the series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, follows the adventures of Precious Ramotswe (the incandescent Jill Scott), a woman who has left her abusive jazz musician husband Note (Colin Salmon) and, after the passing of her beloved father, uses his cattle to raise cash to start a detective agency in the capital city of Gaborone.

I had the opportunity to watch the first four episodes of No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, including the gorgeously produced two-hour pilot episode written by Anthony Minghella and Richard Curtis and directed by the late Minghella, and instantly fell in love with the series' upbeat charms and what will surely become its trademark blend of mystery and magic. It's a series that's filled with joy and never falls prey to the sort of tea-cozy tweeness that populates a lot of whodunits.

Scott's Precious Ramotswe is quite a detective. She has an unerring sense of intuition, a headstrong nature, and a nose for danger. Unlike other gumshoes, she's also warm and charismatic and has a love for bush tea; Precious strives to make her clients feel welcome. That is, if she actually had any clients. Converting the desolate post office into her HQ, she sets about to offer her services as a private investigator... and ends up landing, not a client, but a high-strung secretary (who graduated at the top of her class with a 97 percent score, as she likes to remind us) in the form of bespectacled Grace Makutsi (Anika Noni Rose).

The entire cast is top notch and the pilot alone features guest turns from such actors as Idris Elba (The Wire), terrifying here as a local crime lord with a penchant for witchcraft "medicine," Colin Salmon (Doctor Who) as Precious' trumpet-playing ex-husband, and David Oyelowo (Spooks) as the target of Precious' first investigation, a philandering husband whom she lures into a honey trap. (Look for The Shield's CCH Pounder to turn up in the fourth episode.) Each of them are given moments to shine as actors and they feel wholly integrated into the cast, a real feat for any ongoing television series, much less in a pilot episode.

As for the main cast, Scott and Rose are absolutely sensational as Precious and Makutsi respectively. Scott radiates a warmth and openness that is rarely--if ever--seen on a television series, imbuing Precious with an inquisitive nature and an almost Zen-like calm in the face of danger (and, yes, she does often end up way over her head). Contrasting with the warm roundness of Scott (her "traditional" figure), Rose is all angles and tension. Her Grace Makutsi is wound as tightly as a spring yet she's very eager to please, even tapping away at two typewriters procured by Precious' patient would-be-suitor JLB Matekoni (played with aplomb by Lucian Msamati), neither of which have all of their keys. Rounding out the fantastic cast is the fantastic Desmond Dube as flamboyant hairdresser BK of the Last Chance Hair Salon. In a way, they are all outsiders in the cosmopolitan environs of Gaborone and they quickly form a makeshift support system for one another... and wind up quickly drawn into Precious' investigations themselves.

While their relationship is cordial and professional (if more than a little strained due to Grace's interference), both Precious and Grace are hiding dark secrets from one another and therefore can't be completely open and honest. For Precious, it's the truth about what happened with the abusive husband she left behind and the child she lost. For Grace, it's her efforts to conceal the fact that her brother is afflicted with AIDS. Will either come clean to the other about their situations?

But as I said earlier, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency doesn't put its main focus on the dark side of life (though the cases are often rather tragic, dealing in the first few episodes with kidnapping, witchcraft, poisoning, murder, medical fraud, AIDS orphans, etc.) but rather on the spirit of community and openness that categorizes the nation of Botswana. And Botswana really is a character unto itself here, presented in all of its gorgeous majesty and color. It's a swirling landscape populated with colorful characters, vibrant sunsets, and lush landscapes. It's easy to see why Precious is so at home here: the land is as bountiful and inviting as she is.

Ultimately, the transcendent No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a rare beast, the sort of television that invites you into a world that is overflowing with an infectious joy. And in these dark economic times, anything that's this soulfully uplifting and remarkably genial, from Scott's marvellous turn as Precious to the series' adorable animated credit sequences, deserves your attention. Even if it doesn't inspire you to take that trip to Botswana (and, believe me, it will), spending your Sunday evening with Precious and Grace might just be the perfect way to end your weekend.

No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency launches with a two-hour premiere on Sunday evening at 8 pm ET/PT on HBO.

Jill Scott and Richard Curtis Discuss HBO's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency"

"Do not look where the harvest is plentiful, but where the people are kind." - Botswana proverb

This Sunday, HBO is launching its newest original series, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, based on the best-selling novel series by Alexander McCall Smith.

The series, created by the late Anthony Mingella and co-writer Richard Curtis, stars Jill Scott as Precious Ramotswe, the owner of the very first female-run detective agency in Botswana, as well as Anika Noni Rose, Lucian Msamati, and Desmond Dube, along with a host of high-profile guest stars. A departure for the traditionally bleak dramas at pay cabler HBO, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency offers a glimpse into an Africa that's not the tragedy-ridden one we hear about on the evening news, but a joyful place where mysteries lurk round every corner.

"I was a fan of 'The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' book series before I even spoke to Anthony Minghella about them," said the series' executive producer Richard Curtis, who co-wrote the two-hour pilot episode with the late Minghella. "I loved the fact that they were full of neat little detective stories that I could tell my kids about at night. And I loved the fact that Africa – so often portrayed as being full of violence and chaos – was shown in all its rich, optimistic humanity and normalcy."

"Then one day Anthony, an old friend, rang me and asked if Id like to work on the TV show with him," he continued. "It was my first TV adaptation and I agreed straightaway, as an opportunity to work with Anthony and with books I loved. I thought we might produce a show that would not only be entertaining but do a lot of good, bringing real Africa into peoples' living rooms as entertainment rather than bad news stories."

Much of the success of that hinged on the performance of singer/actress/poet Jill Scott, who plays the lead in No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Mma Precious Ramotswe, a headstrong woman who leaves her abusive husband and opens up Botswana's first female-led detective agency in the capital city of Gaborone.

"By far the biggest challenge of the pilot, and where it could have gone completely wrong, was the casting," said Curtis. "And it was very hard indeed finding the perfect lead characters, particularly hard to find Mma Ramotswe. Anthony looked on three continents! The moment we found Jill Scott everything fell into place, because if the fans believe in her, they'll believe in the show. Without that, no amount of cunning plotting and pretty pictures would have gotten us through. And now I think all the cast is so perfect – and the guest stars richly idiosyncratic."

Those guest stars include The Wire's Idris Elba, Doctor Who's Colin Salmon, and Spooks' David Oyelowo in the first two-hour episode alone.

For Scott, meanwhile, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency found her rather than the other way around and provided her with a rich acting challenge.

"It's a funny thing, the project actually found me," she said. "[Anthony] contacted me after a colleague suggested I would be great for the part. He was searching for Precious for years and, after watching a few of my performances on YouTube, I piqued his interest enough for an audition. [...] I wasn't familiar with the series prior to my role, but I know it in and out now. There were many worthwhile challenges. The most vigorous would be the dialect training, which I studied for during the three months while I was touring. Up until now, I am constantly trying to perfect my accent, which isn't an easy one. I love a good challenge and I think my fans support me and love to see me in a new light."

Curtis, meanwhile, was working hard behind the scenes to preserve the vision that Minghella had for the project before his death while also broadening it enough to sustain a series.

"In the original pilot, Anthony explained Mma Ramotswe's complex history, her world, the setting up of the agency and a whole bunch of stories," explained Curtis. "Things can be a bit simpler in the shorter episodes, but we are trying to keep all the flavors that Anthony was aiming for--the reality of the lives of the leading characters and the complexities of Africa--as well as trying to tell cracking detective yarns."

And Curtis knew it was meant to be an ongoing series, rather than just a two-hour film. "I always wanted it to be a series," he admitted. "Not only because the books are a series – and because there are lots of stories to tell – but because I am very keen on the idea of people welcoming Mma Ramotswe and Botswana into their living rooms as regular friends, not a one-off exotic exception."

It's the authentic setting in Bostwana, where the series was filmed on location, that adds to the series' appeal.

"Filming in Botswana has been a life-changing experience," said Scott. "So much so that I have to urge everyone to visit Africa at least once in their life. And yes, Botswana and the culture is a character all in itself."

"Authenticity was hugely important to us – Anthony traveled to and from Botswana to get to the truth and was always very passionate to actually shoot the show there, rather than somewhere that looked a bit like Botswana," added Curtis. "And by being authentic, we can be confident about the sunnier side of the show. So much coverage of Africa is so traumatic that many people actually believe that there is no normal life there – no shops and services, no stories and family and laughter and friends and mysteries. We had to be authentic to convince people that this is really Africa and that Africa really is a wonderful and interesting place to be – an opportunity for the world, not a problem."

Definitely adding to that appeal is Scott's winning performance as Precious Ramotswe, a woman as compassionate as she is inquisitive and intuitive, making her the ideal candidate to be a successful detective.

"There's a lot that makes us different and so much that binds Precious and me," mused Scott about her character in No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. "We are both women with passion who have hurt and seen pain, yet remain determined to have our voices heard. We both move to our own beat, meaning we go against the grain and refuse to be common for the sake of being common. There were times I tapped into my own experiences to bring out an emotion while playing Precious, but most of all I learned to simply let go, stop thinking and just be, which was the main lesson Anthony Minghella taught me."

Scott says that she drew on her own personal experiences in bringing Precious to life on screen: "Family is huge to me and the bond Precious has with her father I share with my mother, who has been always been a powerful motivating force in my life. We all need someone to believe in us whether or not we believe in ourselves: that's family."

Adding to the sense of family in the series are Mma Makutsi, played by Dreamgirls' Anika Noni Rose, and JLB, played by The International's Lucian Msamati, who act as Precious' support system in both professional and personal contexts.

"Well, Anika [Noni Rose] is extremely talented and Mma brings a great deal of passion to the agency, although she can be overzealous at times," explained Scott. "In an ironic way she brings a balance to the agency by remaining eager and blunt about each case when Precious is overwhelmed. Anika and I both agree that our characters have enhanced us as actresses."

"JLB is Precious' confidant and he seems to want more, but he's more focused on her happiness as a whole, which is awesome," continued Scott. "It seems they both favor each other, but it shows more in their actions than in romantic gestures. He encourages her by supporting her. From helping her fix up the agency to helping her through a life-threatening situation – you can't get more supportive than that."

Now that No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is about to launch, what does Curtis hope that viewers will take away from watching the series?

"I hope people will watch the series and think, I must watch the next episode," joked Curtis. "But also, I hope they think, I must do what I can to make sure, however I can, that Africa has a chance to thrive [...], full of people just like me and people I know, full of humor and hope and foibles and life."

No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency premieres Sunday evening at 8 pm ET/PT on HBO.