Hey all,
After a nomination period that saw over 1000 submissions, we've narrowed it down to the top 64 shows as voted by you. 32 of these shows are current (have aired/will air episodes after June 1st 2015); the other 32 are finished shows (no new episodes after June 1st 2015). The draw has been made, and was done so with the following regulations:
1) The top 8 current shows were split up so that the earliest they could meet is the Quarter Finals.
2) The top 8 finished shows were split up so that the earliest they could meet is also the Quarter Finals.
3) The earliest one of the top 8 current shows can face one of the top 8 finished shows is Round Three.
4) The other 48 shows were randomly selected a position in the draw.
The draw can be seen below (Note: the top 8 current shows are bolded; the top 8 finished shows are in bolded italics.)
Click here to see the draw in a new window
The first round of this year's competition looks absolutely mouth-watering. There are some quite terrific ties on offer, including (but not limited to): today's opening poll between Game of Thrones and The Mentalist, Beauty and the Beast vs. Arrow, LOST vs. Hannibal, Buffy facing spinoff Angel, The Musketeers against The Walking Dead and Supernatural vs. The X-Files. Obviously for some these won't mean much and other battles will, but there are some powerhouses on offer there that could be knocked out in the first round this year. I said in the nominations post that this year will be bigger than ever, and this draw most certainly supports that.
One final thing before we get into the polls. We're now using a voting method whereby you have to log in to either Facebook, Twitter or Google+ in order to vote in the polls. This step has been added in an effort to try and prevent cheaters and repeat voters, as we noticed there was some of this going on in the final of the Character Cup. Now, I know for a fact that people have been attempting to cheat by trying to get around the restrictions we have in place. If you were involved in this, nothing is going to happen to you, but it stops today. All this is doing is reducing how fun these competitions are, because suddenly it isn't about how big a fanbase is or how well you guys spread the word, but instead about who can vote the most times individually. So from today, we're stopping that by adding these social media log-ins.
Anyway, without further ado, let's begin the competition...
We do have some simple rules for those of you new to this competition (or that need a brief refresher). Please adhere to them:
1) Two shows will go into battle in a poll, where after exactly 24 hours, the leading show will win the battle and will progress into the next round.
2) Vote for your favourite, spread the word with your friends & fans.
3) Comment on what you voted for on in the comments below.
4) Have fun. This is a friendly & competitive competition. Please do not start attacking other fans or fangroups in the comments, because this really isn't what this competition is about.
The opening poll of this year's competition sure is a juicy one, as one of, if not the most popular show in the world, Game of Thrones, faces recently ended The Mentalist, which had a huge fanbase on SpoilerTV during its run. Thrones is the second seed this year, but this is far from a sure result, and we could be in for an upset in the very first battle this year. One of Netflix's latest shows, Sense8, then faces the acclaimed Stargate SG-1. I'd expect SG-1 to make it through to the next round, but Sense8 seems to be pretty popular since its release, and so anything is possible.
Don't forget to Facebook, Tweet, and share the poll with your friends! The more people that you get to vote, the better chance your favourites will win!
Remember to check back tomorrow for Fringe vs. The Closer and Chuck vs. Grey's Anatomy!