AFI (American Film Institute) selects 10 television programs each year (as well as 10 movies) for the AFI honor based on how overall creative ensembles that create the programs "best advance the art of the moving image." The selections, as they have been since 1999, are made through a debate and discussion among 13 selected jurors considered to be scholars, film artists, critics or AFI trustees. The jury then meets for two days in Los Angeles to discuss who should be named, and who should be left off.

This year's jurors included Richard Frank, chair of the AFI Jury for Television; !@#% Askin, president and chief executive officer of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; producer and writer Steven Bochco; producer and director Kevin S. Bright; Paul Brownfield of The Los Angeles Times; director, producer and writer Michael Dinner; Barry Garron of The Hollywood Reporter; Amanda D. Lotz from the University of Michigan; Brian Lowry from Variety; Tara McPherson of the University of Southern California; Matt Roush of TV Guide; Vivian Sobchack of the University of California-Los Angeles; and Kristal Brent Zook of Columbia University.

Besides "Battlestar Galactica" and "Heroes," other nominees include "Dexter," "Elizabeth I," "Friday Night Lights," "The Office," "South Park," "24," "The West Wing" and "The Wire." Of all the shows being named to the AFI list, only "Battlestar Galactica" and "24" were on the AFI list in 2005.