The American Film Institute unveiled its list of the “10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres” in a three-hour CBS Television Network special this week. A jury of 1,500 film artists, critics and historians named the following films as the very best in their genres but do you agree?:

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (Science Fiction) - CITY LIGHTS (Romantic Comedy) - THE GODFATHER (Gangster) -  LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Epic) - RAGING BULL (Sports) - THE SEARCHERS (Western) - SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (Animation) - TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Courtroom Drama) - VERTIGO (Mystery) - THE WIZARD OF OZ (Fantasy).

For a full list of the honorees in each category go to the AFI Web site.
 

The reviews for “Swingtown” may not have been great, but U.S. television audiences — at least those not watching the National Basketball Association championship game — didn’t seem to mind as some 8.6 million total viewers tuned in to Thursday night’s premiere of the new CBS program about sexual adventurism in 1970s suburban America.

“Swingtown” garnered 8.6 million total viewers and a 2.7 rating among adults 18-49, while a rival program in the same 10 p.m. hour, ”Fear Itself,” had 5.2 million viewers and a 2 rating among adults 18-49.

On the east coast, “Swingtown” competed with the widely-watched NBA game between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, which won first-place and relegated “Swingtown” to second. “Fear Itself” came in third.

“Swingtown” replaced “Without a Trace” in the 10 p.m. slot for CBS. By comparison, last week’s episode of “Without a Trace,” which was a rerun, had 8.5 million viewers and a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen. 

“Swingtown” has won a lot of media attention because it covers a topic – married couples with multiple sex partners — that typically would not be on a broadcast network like CBS and would likely show up on cable TV where standards over what can be put on TV are less restrictive.

While reviews were rough, several of our Fan Fare readers seemed to like it. You can check out the comments on the blog posting from yesterday “‘Sex’ sold, but will ‘Swingtown’? Reviews are in.”

“David” writes “I don’t care what those stuffy newspapers say, I loved Swingtown!”

That old advertising axiom, “sex sells,” certainly held true for the film “Sex and the City,” which debuted at No. 1 in U.S. movie theaters last weekend with $56 million in ticket sales and has since added about another $12 million.

But a new “sex sells” question mark will be raised Thursday night when the CBS broadcast network debuts ”Swingtown,” about suburban sexual adventurism in the 1970s, complete with orgies, drug use and a touch of nostalgia.

The show has caused speculation over whether a broadcast network can truly do justice to the idea of a lifestyle with multiple sex partners because broadcasters face far greater restrictions than cable networks over the amount of sexual and other adult content in programs.

So far, a few critics are weighing in and several have expressed doubt.

The New York Times said: “Just because an era is amusingly kitsch does not mean it is ripe for dramatic exploration.” The paper noted that cable TV show “Mad Men,” a similar sort of program set in the 1960s that has been a hit with critics, ”plays with all the familiar cues of the period — the music, clothes and raffish ambiance — to frame a mystery that holds viewers’ attention.” “Swingtown,” it said, “has ’70s mystique, but not much mystery.”

The Boston Globe writes that “the older-skewing CBS is almost as far as you can get from HBO … And so while “Swingtown” is racy by network standards, and includes not just sexual situations but all kinds of drug use, it still doesn’t have the freedom to get into the nitty-gritty of a subject that is nothing if not nitty-gritty.”

“For all the industry chatter, the new CBS drama might as well be called ‘That ’70s Sex Show,’” the Los Angeles Times wrote in its review. “A network daring to tread in the R-rated territory previously left to the cable stations — imagine!”

USA Today says: “The show itself, sad to say, is not done well enough to work. But it’s not dull, and it’s worth watching if only to try to figure out what CBS could have been thinking.”

But critics are not the final word; audiences are. Tonight at 10 p.m. est, CBS will begin to find out if it’s risky experiment in the world of swinging 1970s sex will, in fact, sell on network TV in the 2000s.  

When a California court granted Britney Spears’ father control of her business and personal affairs on Feb. 1, the troubled 26 year-old pop star had just been released from a Los Angeles hospital after being held for psychiatric evaluation.

It was the second time in one month that her mental state had been questioned by doctors, so there was little question at the time as to whether the court was acting in her best interests. That control — legally known as a conservatorship — has been extended until July 31, and a host of attorneys have been brought in to make decisions for her and audit her business deals.

Yet, this week news has surfaced that Britney is back at work. She released a new video, and is rehearsing and taping an episode of U.S. television comedy “How I Met Your Mother.” Less than 45 days since she was first considered legally unable to make her own decisions, she’s evidently okay to take a job and function on a TV set. One has to wonder just how sick she really is. Put another way, is she back “In the Zone,” which was the name of her 2003 record.

New details may emerge about her mental state at a hearing set for this coming Monday, March 17. It deals with a temporary restraining order against her former self-styled manager Sam Lutfi , who was the man controlling her life until her January hospitalizations. Some people think he is to blame for her problems, but others source her problems to her current handlers including her father. 

What will be said at those hearings is anybody’s guess. But for now, Britney says in a statement she is “having a blast” on the set of “How I Met Your Mother.” And to be sure, it has been weeks since the Louisiana native has been photographed outside her home in Los Angeles wearing those pink wigs and talking in a British accent.