Day one is over and the competition has officially gotten underway. The results of our first set of polls has seen Game of Thrones triumph over The Big Bang Theory with a convincing 66.39% of the votes, as well as Pushing Daisies perhaps surprising Lie To Me with a strong showing to win with 54.67%
Today sees two more current and two more finishes shows doing battle for a place in the next round.
Firstly we have FOX's former smash hit Glee which over the last season has seen quite a drop in viewing figures but still carries a large online fan base. Glee is taking on the critical behemoth that is Breaking Bad, which begins the first half of its final season in the next month.
Secondly sci-fi epic Farscape is challenging the much loved Friday Night Lights to become the second finished show through to round two. Will the fact Farscape has been off the air for 9 years affect its chances against a show that only ended last year? Only time will tell...
If you haven't joined in the competition before, remember that all you need to do is simply select which show is your favourite in both of the polls below. Easy!
If you want to see the draw for the rest of the competition, and see which show will take on which other show then head HERE for a look.Let the voting begin!
Glee vs. Breaking Bad
Series Run: 2009 - present
Major Emmy Wins: Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series - 2010. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - 2010.
Major Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Comedy Series - 2010, 2011. Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - 2010, 2011. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - 2011. Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series - 2010. Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - 2010. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - 2010. Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series - 2010.
Series Run: 2008 - 2013
Major Emmy Wins: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - 2008, 2009, 2010. Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - 2010.
Major Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Drama Series - 2009, 2010. Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series - 2008, 2010. Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - 2009.
Farscape vs. Friday Night Lights
Series Run: 1999 - 2003
Major Emmy Wins: N/A
Major Emmy Nominations: N/A
Series Run: 2006 - 2011
Major Emmy Wins: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - 2011. Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series - 2011.
Major Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Drama Series - 2011. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series - 2010, 2011. Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - 2010. Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series - 2010. Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series - 2007.
All posts for the competition will be under the label "2012 Series Competition" for easy finding, and can be found in the "features" tab on the main menu bar from the homepage.
You can also keep up to date with the competition by following me on twitter @AdDHarris
I've created a # for the show on twitter, which is #STVSeriesComp so add that to your tweets!
For now, get your vote in, spread the word on Twitter and Facebook, then comment below with who you want to see win!Remember to come back tomorrow when we have Hart of Dixie vs. Grey's Anatomy and Firefly vs. Freaks & Geeks.
Competition Bracket & Shows Left Standing
24
Alias
Angel
Arrested Development
Battlestar Galactica
Bones
Breaking Bad
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Castle
Charmed
Chuck
Community
Criminal Minds
Desperate Housewives
Dexter
Doctor Who
Dollhouse
ER
Farscape
Firefly
Flashforward
Freaks & Geeks
Friday Night Lights
Friends
Fringe
Game of Thrones
Gilmore Girls
Glee
Grey's Anatomy
Grimm
Hart of Dixie
Hawaii 5-0
Heroes
Homeland
House MD
How I Met Your Mother
LOST
Moonlight
NCIS
NCIS: LA
Nikita
Once Upon a Time
Person of Interest
Prison Break
Pushing Daisies
Revenge
Scrubs
Sherlock
Six Feet Under
Smallville
Stargate SG1
Supernatural
The Good Wife
The Mentalist
The OC
The Sopranos
The Vampire Diaries
The Walking Dead
The West Wing
The Wire
The X-Files
Veronica Mars
Good luck,
Adam
I voted for Breaking Bad and for Friday Night Lights; two critically acclaimed drams which easily deserve a place in the later stages of the competition!
ReplyDeleteVoting for Farscapes,such underrated show :(
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad gets my vote. Obviously.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen either show in the second poll though.
Breaking Bad and Farscape (miss the show) for me today. FNL is a good show though
ReplyDeleteI can see it already. Its going to be Supernatural vs. Vampire Diaries. I looked at the list, they can only face in the finale.
ReplyDeleteOut of the four,I've only watched Friday Night Lights.
ReplyDeleteSo,no vote in the first poll and FNL in the second.Great show with pretty impressive acting.
Breaking Bad and definitely Farscape for me.
ReplyDeleteFarscape and Breaking Bad for me. Too bad too few people will know about Faracape, it won't get far. :(
ReplyDelete..i choose glee and farscape
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad, obviuosly - it is in my top 5 of the favorite shows :) Sceond poll i will skip, because i haven't seen any of the shows there.
ReplyDeleteFor me this is a easy one. Breaking Bad and Friday Night Light, two of best shows I ever seen!
ReplyDeleteEasy today, Breaking Bad & Farscape. no interest what so ever in Glee and I have never seen Friday Night Lights
ReplyDeleteSeems like a lot of the shows with mass apeal are going to be knocked out in favour of the ones with niche appeal?
ReplyDeleteIts interesting how the lower rated, lesser watched shows are more popular online than the ones who regularly pull in more viewers in the US than most niche shows pull in world wide? Look at CSI for instance, on here it would probably not even get a look in yet look at the number of fans it has all over the world?! Its incredible how redundant that makes online polls such as these. Oh well its just a bit of fun, something to pass the time untill the season starts up again.
You know Adam spent much of his own time putting this together,so instead of seeing it as being "redundant" how about thanking him for doing this..
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad & Farscape
ReplyDeletebecause shows with less viewers have actual, hardcore fans. The big watched series have more casual viewers. That's what I think, at least.
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad and Friday Night Lights. I just started watching Breaking Bad and am in the middle of season 2.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Thanks, Adam. However, an interesting question has come up: is it possible that high number of viewers correlates to more casual viewers? That means the Nielsen box records numbers (which is more meaningful to advertisers) where on-line polls suggest passion. Majority rules, and not passion. True in politics as well.
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad is an easy choice and then Farscape because i never really liked FNL that much...
ReplyDeleteWell, the only one I actually know is Glee, so not many options here...
ReplyDeleteThere also the fact that it open to viewer outside of the United States
ReplyDeleteI think its always been the majority wins/rules and not the passionate viewer/voter. I don't know about high viewership equals casual viewers? But,take Fringe,small audience,devoted,HARDCORE VIEWERS.Maybe it all depends on the show?
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad & Farscape!
ReplyDeleteIf i had a choice of either watching Glee or a test pattern,i would take the test pattern,that's how much i dislike Glee.
It may also be type of show. Genre shows tend to pick up more involved fans than procedurals. Then there's the cable factor.
ReplyDeleteBut, I think there is something to be said for underdog status. For smaller shows or "critically acclaimed" shows, the fans feel like they are in the minority and need to be vocal to be heard. I'd equate it to fans of a minority plotline on a big show, they get online and find people who agree with them and it all evolves from there.
As much fun as these polls are and I DO appreciate all the work that goes into them and love to vote and read the comments, but I gotta agree with TVMonkey, I don't think they really reflect the majority of TV watchers or maybe the way the majority of TV watchers watch TV.
Breaking Bad and Farscape for me ;)
ReplyDeleteEasy one for me. Breaking Bad and Friday Night Lights. My favorite dramas!
ReplyDeleteMan, again with the weird match-ups. I've never seen Breaking Bad, but from what good things I've heard, I don't think it'll have a problem beating Glee (which I DO watch), especially after this past season. As far as the second poll goes, I've never seen either show - so I voted for Farscape in the spirit of it being the underdog.
ReplyDeleteI meant redundant in that these polls dont actually help any of the niche shows to become more popular and have more mass market appeal. If people saw the results of these polls and decided to watch the niche shows that most often win it would be great but as it is picking up a few viewers here and there because of these polls doesnt really help. Therefore there sisnt really much point in the poll other than showing which shows have the most fans online.
ReplyDeletefor fun.
ReplyDeleteFarscape is something you might want to check out,if you like sci-fi. Its a wonderful show and the characters are just great,and its funny as well as heartbreaking at times..Even little tots like it for its colors and some crazy looking aliens..Netflix carries it in case you would like to see it.... I've been watching it since it premiered,actually i still watch it about once a year,i was devastated when they cancelled it...
ReplyDeleteNCIS gets between 18 and 21 million viewers on a weekly basis. So technically one could say it has at least 18 million dedicated viewers in the US just because they dont frequent the internet as much doesnt mean they're any less dedicated to their show. Then again maybe all 18+ million viewers are casual viewers?!
ReplyDeleteoff course other than for fun
ReplyDeletebut then again watch what happens when people's favourite shows start getting knocked out and accusations of cheating start flying?!
They are just meant to be a bit of fun for our readers during the hiatus. No other lofty goals :)
ReplyDeleteThis poll has always been for fun nothing more.It always takes place around now since all the shows are on hiatus..I took offense with TVMonkey because he is always coming off like he is better than everyone else,his word is gospel.This is how i read him,even if he doesn't mean,that is how it sounds to me in almost everything he posts...I haven't said anything before,but this time i did...and it probably got lost with everyone replying to him..
ReplyDeleteMaybe I will check it out. I've never been a gigantic fan of sci-fi, but Supernatural is one of my absolute favorite shows (though I suppose that's not sci-fi in the strictest sense), and I enjoyed Firefly a lot (R.I.P.). And honestly, I'll give anything a chance, especially now that my shows have all waved goodbye for the summer haha
ReplyDeleteThose are in the vast minority of the 1000's of people who participate in these polls. We don't concern ourselves with them and neither should you.
ReplyDelete1. Breaking Bad - One of the most magnificent drama series ever... I cannot even stand Glee, and if it beats Breaking Bad I will be most upset.
ReplyDelete2. Friday Night Lights - Fantastic cast, inspiring and dramatic writing without ever being too overt about it. One of the very best high school drama series!
This is more on the order of Firefly but a little more zany,it has character that the Hanson family develop for the show.It has Ben Bower and Claudia Black,aside from others.. This will definitely take your mind off of our shows,besides its a whole a lot of fun,and who doesn't like fun?
ReplyDeleteYep,thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry. I didn't mean to wade into anything like that. I to be honest, I think I misunderstood TVMonkey's point now that he/she has said more.
ReplyDeleteI think the poll is great fun. And wouldn't for a second want to be misunderstood as not appreciative of the time and effort that goes into these polls and the great SPN ones that keep us from going crazy over the hiatus. I was just commenting 'cause I've been thinking for a while about the differences between the majority of people who watch a show (popular or not) and the people who get online and comment. One of my favorite shows has an online fan group that is very organized, very vocal and very worried about fighting the underdog fight that they'll argue to the death is the majority opinion--and who really knows since all we have is online commenting. And this question just kinda fed back into that thought that's been running around my head for a while.
What DarkUFO said below..
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad and Farscape!
ReplyDeleteFriday Night Lights and Breaking Bad.
ReplyDeleteThere are two shows I loved in this one. Unfortunately they are against each other. Farscape is one of my favorite sci fi shows ever and Friday Night Lights was just superb. Since I think Friday Night Lights will take this one, my vote goes to Farscape.
ReplyDeleteOdd matchups, but I voted for Breaking Bad (even though I've only seen the first 3 eps from S1 as I'm still trying to catch up on the series this summer) because even the best from the first half of S1 of Glee (which was the best stretch of the series for me) can't match up with BB. Of course I've only heard that BB just continued to get more awesome, and Glee just got more and more uneven for me as the series proceeded. Some really good performances, but the writing was all over the place much of the time. I finally decided to give Glee up after the recent season finale as it felt like a good point to do so. As for the other pairing, I've only seen the pilots of both shows, and enjoyed them both but don't feel that I can judge between the 2 so far. I hope to catch up on both shows one of these days...
ReplyDeleteSince they are both on the right side of the bracket, they cannot possibly go against each other in the finale. At most they could meet in the semifinals. Of course to do that they would both have to win 4 rounds and I don't think that's as assured as people think. First off, Vampire Diaries would have to beat a strong Castle fan base.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I think that TV watchers with a large online presence often forget that the majority of viewers have never been online about any TV show. We get wrapped up in spoilers, sneak peeks, etc. but most people's TV experience ends when they turn it off. It seems that shows with the biggest online presence are either genre shows or in danger of being canceled. It makes sense though. Being afraid you will lose your show is a powerful motivator to be vocal and help spread buzz.
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad & Farscape. Easy picks today.
ReplyDeleteI think TVmonkey raised a very interesting point and it could have been a very interesting conversation, talking about casual vs passionate viewers and the whole Nielsen landscape for determining show popularity. I didn't take it as an attack on Adam but more of philosophizing about TV ratings as a whole. Believe me, I very much appreciate the time and effort Adam puts into these polls, maybe more than anyone but Andy at this point. :-P I love how he volunteers his time each summer to make our summer better, and polls like these do take a lot more time than people realize. It's one of the highlights of my summer each year. So is good discussion about all things TV.
ReplyDeleteVery good point. Although from what I have seen of the limited data for overseas viewership, it does seem that things that are big in the United States seem for the most part to be big internationally. CSI topped the list this year in international viewers so crime procedurals seem to have universal appeal.
ReplyDeleteI definitely know some hardcore dedicated NCIS fans, but the majority of people I know who watch NCIS would be in what I consider the casual category. They watch the show but don't get all hyper if they miss an episode or two. They certainly don't consider it appointment TV, although in all fairness DVR has kind of killed that attitude all around. They occasionally talk about the characters but wouldn't know what Tiva was or likely care. They watch in spades if they are home but they aren't going to spend time on NICS outside of the amount it takes to watch it. I guess it depends on how you define dedicated. If dedicated means they will eventually watch all episodes and be excited about what they are seeing, then yes. If dedicated means actively searching out avenues to discuss and know about the show outside of viewing, then I think the majority are casual. The mistake comes in thinking that the majority of people watching genre shows aren't casual viewers too because they are.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the biggest watched shows tend to lend themselves to a more casual approach. They tend to be more procedural and if you miss an episode you rarely need a previously to get caught back up. However, I think the vast majority of fans for any show are casual viewers, even those with a notoriously passionate online presence. It's funny when people point to an online poll to prove that one character is preferred to another or that a plot point is helping or ruining a show given that the online community is such a very small percentage of any show. I'm not saying that occasionally the online community can't affect a show because it certainly can. I just don't think it's as powerful as a lot of us would like to think.
ReplyDeleteI loved Farscape and I'm not usually a fan of alien sci fi shows. What grabbed me first is that it took care of one of my major sci fi pet peeves - why do they all speak English - right at the beginning. If you can get beyond the fact that one of the main characters (and the most annoying one) is a puppet, it's a great ride. For the most part, it is less "epic" minded than Stargate SG-1 and more unusual fun than Firefly. As always it is the characters that make the story and there are some great ones in Farscape. I'd say check it out and see. (Well after watching Dark Angel of course. I'm hoping you join in on our discussion of all things Alec later this summer.)
ReplyDeleteAnother easy round, Breaking Bad and Farscape
ReplyDeleteIt is nothing like Supernatural. Definitely do not go into Farscape with SPN on the brain or you will be disappointed. It's got more of the "on the run" feel of Firefly. Mostly it's an enjoyable way to pass the time until October.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I step into controversy when I don't mean to (sometimes I'm being feisty. This was the former). I thought the casual vs passionate discussion, that I thought TVMonkey was alluding to, was interesting. Because there can be a tendency in forums, etc, to see our commenting subset as a representative sample of all fans, and I'm toying with the idea that that is not always the case. There are just so few of us compared with the numbers of people watching in all. I'm not sure I have an opinion on whether or not networks/writers/etc should take our opinions or polls or anything else into account much or if I ever thought that my voting on my favorite Supernatural episode (thanks again for those) should mean anything greater than getting a chance to discuss my thoughts with other fans, which is what I thought TVMonkey was saying in his/her clarification (?).
ReplyDeleteBut I have been thinking about the differences in engaged/vocal viewers and casual viewers for a little bit now, and I agree with what you've said. I think in lot of cases there is a fighting element or motivation to it--to save a show from cancellation, to support a favorite character or story we think is being dismissed, to root for one side or another of a triangle, to get more attention for or find people that agree with you on a show or genre that might get neglected by viewers or critics. And in the end to fight for what we thought made a show great when we feel betrayed by a bad episode or decision (aka, whining). Maybe that is just the initial impetuous. I found SpoilerTV to feed a single show obsession, but I've stayed around and I'm engaged in a couple of the show pages where I'm not nearly so vehement (or crazy) as I was with that first show.
I'll take that into account, as well as your comment above about the puppet character haha... that made me raise an eyebrow, but I'll give it a chance anyway. I did love Firefly, so I think Farscape merits a watch.
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad - Although I havent watched the show, I've heard it's good. And I dont like Glee.
ReplyDeleteFarscape - While i've never watched either show, Farscape sounds much more appealing to me.
Love your analysis and I completely agree. For the most part I think people first come to online fandom by accident or to find solidarity for the fight (like you said the fight can be for many reasons). However I think online fandoms can become an almost addiction in their own right. It becomes about so much more than the show and in all honesty, I watched the X-Files far past my normal tolerance for bad scripts and unanswered questions simply because being part of the fandom was so much fun and I wasn't ready to give it up. I think this is partly to blame for the whining component of fandoms. No one wants to give up on the community they've found even if they would normally give up on the show.
ReplyDeleteStill because online fandom becomes its own community of friends or family if you will, it is sometimes easy to think of it as the way most people experience TV and that is never the case. In our passion we make grand statements but just because it seems like a majority of fans on Tumblr feel one way about a topic does not usually mean the majority of people watching do. In fact, it seems the majority of people watching rarely care about anything that becomes a big deal on Tumblr. For that reason I think it is a big mistake most of the time for show runners and writers to take what is said online very seriously. Many times fans getting what they wanted ends in unhappy fans. Take for instance the Roadhouse in SPN. The online backlash was huge in season 2 and yet many people who hated the idea, myself included, have come to enjoy the Ellen and Jo characters and suddenly it's all, "Why did they have to kill them?" a few years later. For me, the writers and show runners need to tell their story in the best possible way with the resources they've got. Sometimes it make sense to listen to the fans, but many times fan opinion changes on a dime and no one could possibly make a good show if fan opinion swayed everything.
Hey at least it's not Mr. Fizzles. :-P
ReplyDelete*shudder* I still think Mr. Fizzles needs to be hunted... FAST.
ReplyDeleteWell, these two were easy - BB and Glee are such polar opposites, and I'll go with Dark & Menacing over Oppressively Peppy any day. I've not yet watched Farscape, but just recently finished FNL on NetFlix and enjoyed it immensely - which is amazing since I generally do not give a flying green booger about Football.
ReplyDeleteLooking at future brackets, I see mostly easy choices except Freaks & Geeks V. Firefly - both really tremendous short-lived shows. Edge probably goes to anything in the Whedonverse, though.
Glee and Friday Night Lights Buddy!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDidn't vote in the first poll. Not a fan of either show. Farscape.
ReplyDeleteBreaking Bad vs anyone...
ReplyDeleteFNL vs Farscape is a bit harder though....
I think FNL is one of the more underrated dramas on network TV in the last 20 years, but Farscape was an underrated gem of a Science Fiction series too. I think I enjoyed Farscape more (FNL could get too sappy or preachy for me at times), butFNL was the better show.
Breaking Bad
Friday Night Lights
How could you possibly vote for Glee?
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Along with Snuggles the fabric softener bear.
ReplyDeleteOf these four shows I've only seen Breaking Bad. And even though I think Breaking Bad is a tad overrated these days (still love it, but the show had more meaningful resonance back when it was still on the Season 1 formula), I don't think I could ever bring myself to vote for Glee over it based on the few clips of it that I've seen and what I've heard about the show second-hand.
ReplyDeleteSo Breaking Bad and Abstain.
That was way to easy: Breaking Bad and Friday Night Lights of course.
ReplyDeleteBut then I saw that Breaking Bad has to go against Game of Thrones next round. Can't decide on that one...
Not sure I like this new disqus. I couldn't vote for Glee... it's Glee... 'nuff said, but never even wanted to watch Breaking Bad, so I'll abstain from that one. I loved Farscape!! But I loved FNL -- at least the first three seasons. Once all the original kids left, the new ones didn't hold my interest, so I'll have to throw my vote to John Chrichton and Moya - the original Leviathan. :)
ReplyDeleteMoya was a much better one too.
ReplyDeleteOppressively Peppy has to be the best description I have heard of Glee in a long time.
ReplyDeleteFriday Night Lights.
ReplyDeleteFriday Night Lights & Breaking Bad
ReplyDeleteAargh too late... at least Game of Thrones won this round.
ReplyDelete