After 540 characters nominated and 64 competitors, we are now down to the final 2. Woo hoo! Congratulations to the Shadowhunters and Lucifer fandoms for getting their characters to the last round. It wasn't easy. Magnus had several close races, including the super close semi-final race. To get here, he defeated April Kepler, Klaus Mikaelson, Regina Mills, Jamie Fraser, and Buffy Summers. Of the two finalists, he had the hardest competition and as such has topped out at 67% of the vote. Magnus is coming into the finale the same way he started - as the underdog. With over 2,500 less overall votes than Lucifer, the Shadowhunters fandom will have to come out strong to come out on top. However, they already moved Magnus up 57 spots after he narrowly even made it into the Cup. With that dedication, a #1 spot may be theirs for the taking.
Lucifer fans have dominated much of this contest, handily defeating Lorelai Gilmore, Jack Pearson, Oliver Queen, Sherlock Holmes, and Andy Flynn. Coming in with over 15,000 overall votes and receiving over 5,000 votes in the semifinals, he is statistically the odds-on favorite to win. While his competition may not have been quite at the level of Magnus Bane's, he also has never had a close match here and Lucifer has a habit of winning at SpoilerTV. In the end though, past statistics are just that - the past. With both fandoms heavily organized, this should be a much closer contest than the semifinals. Who will prevail? Let the voting begin!
Note: The poll between Buffy Summers and Andy Flynn is only to determine their place in the rankings. The winner will take third place, while the other will be in fourth. Also, don't forget to vote in our Favorite TV Animal poll where it is cartoon dog vs sorcerer cat, as Scooby-Doo and Salem face off.
Rules
Stats/Rankings/Brackets
Round 1A / Round 1B / Round 1C / Round 1D
Round 2A / Round 2B / Round 2C
Round 3 / Round 4 / Round 5
Prediction Contest and Wish Lists:
While round 5 wasn't nearly as exciting as round 4 was in the polls, it still provided a major shakeup in the prediction contest. With only one round left, Randi and SRothie are tied in first place with 111 points each. Monica with 107 points and Bradley with 100 points trail them. This may end up being the closest finish to our prediction contest yet. Randi also joins the wish lists in third behind Joanna and Caomoyl, who have lead since round 1. Congrats to everyone!
TV Talk Topic - It's a Woman's World?:
First off, thank you to everyone who nominated topics for this Cup. I appreciate the ideas. Before delving into our last topic of the Cup, I thought I'd share some of the most popular topics nominated that we didn't cover. I choose topics based on what's nominated, what others bring up in the comments, past topics nominated but not used, how recently the topic was discussed on SpoilerTV or in previous Cups, how specific the topic is, and how likely it is that the topic will lead to bickering. If you nominated a topic that we did not use, please check back next year or see why below:
Most Nominated Topics Not Chosen This Year:
1. Show XYZ should not be cancelled. (This is too narrow. Instead I changed it into the TV Grief topic.)
2. Show runner/Writer/Fan Power (We touched on this with the fandom topic. Most of these were also too narrow, focusing on not liking how a specific character was treated.)
3. The way Hollywood writes females (Today's topic)
4. Shipping (This will never be a topic because it goes off the rails too quickly.)
5. Ratings (This is a frequent topic on STV, but we may use it next year.)
6. Social Media (Topic last year.)
7. Sensitive topics / politics (Topic last year.)
8. Characters leaving / Character development (Likely topic next year.)
Today's Topic:
As the third most requested TV Talk Topic, I wanted to do this earlier but female characters as a whole didn’t last very long this year. By the time I originally planned to post this topic, there were only a couple of females left in the contest and that felt too pointed. So with Buffy officially out, let’s talk females on TV. Who are you favorite female characters now and on previous shows? Are there any prevailing stereotypes that Hollywood needs to work on? In what ways, if any, do fans tend to judge female characters differently than male characters? Would you like your favorite character as much if they were of the opposite sex? Is writing for female characters easier than males? Are women over 40 being represented more or less? How are issues traditionally considered more female-oriented like body image portrayed on TV? How do you expect gender issues to change on TV in light of the #MeToo and other movements? (Thanks to the following for nominating this topic: Joy, Samantha, Jill, Jessica, Ivana, Alexandra, Yvonne, and DJ)
