Hey all,
It's back. After two weeks of nominations, in which we had over 700 submissions, we're ready to begin the eighth annual Series Competition. 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 July 31st 2017); the other 32 are finished shows (no new episodes after July 31st 2017). The draw has been made, and was done so with the following regulations:
1) The top 8 current shows (displayed in the draw in bold) were split up so that the earliest they could meet is the Quarter Finals.
2) The top 8 finished shows (displayed in the draw in bold italics) 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 in Round Three.
4) The other 48 shows were randomly selected a position in the draw.
The full draw can be seen below, once again using the bracket designed for us by Rendy.
Click here to view the draw in a new window
Some truly mouth-watering first round ties loom once again. At the centre of that is perhaps the pair of all-CW affairs on the left-hand side of the draw: The Vampire Diaries vs. Arrow and three-time winner Supernatural vs. The Flash. Across the 32 pairings, there are so few where there is one clear favourite, and a large number of the battles may well see some heavy-hitters fall at the first hurdle. As more popular shows come to an end and shift categories, and as flashier, newer, well-loved series come to the 53 thousand television channels now available to us, the competition only gets stronger. Let us know in the comments which polls you're most excited for.
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. Each poll will open at 12pm ET on a given day.
2) Vote for your favourite and spread the word with your friends & fans.
3) One vote per person per poll.
4) Comment on what you voted for on in the comments below.
5) 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.
So how do we kick things off? Well, we start with NBC's cancelled, and then uncancelled, freshman time-travel drama, Timeless. Its popularity pushed the peacock network into reviving it and now it is our number seven seed on the current shows list. It certainly shouldn't be written off, although I would suspect it might not be able to make it all the way - I have, however, been known to be wrong on regular occasions. Today it faces NCIS, the mothership of CBS's powerhouse franchise and the most watched television drama in the world. Its fans are aplenty, but can it progress to the second round?
We then see a battle of two HBO dramas: The Leftovers and Westworld. Damon Lindelof's Leftovers was watched by, at its peak, somewhere around 27 people (I jest) but utterly beloved by those who did, with a number of critics going so far as to calling it one of the absolute best shows of the decade. Its competitor, Westworld, resonated with far more and, LOST-style, fans flocked to dissect every moment of its debut season to figure out just what secrets Jonathan Nolan and co. were hiding. The former has a cult following, but the latter is flashy and new. I suspect the flashy and new thing will triumph.
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 The Vampire Diaries vs. Arrow and Major Crimes vs. Doctor Who!
