EWB's All-Time Favorite TV Show Tournament

[Josh]

The votes have been counted, the rankings have been distributed, and the brackets have been sorted. It's now time to pit our subjective tastes against each other in a fiery, rage-fueled tournament for the ultimate prize: niche message board bragging rights!

EWB's All-Time Favorite TV Show Tournament

When the nomination round came to a close, 165 fictionalized television series had been nominated for entry. Ultimately, 64 shows made the cut. For the sake of context and false stakes, here's a few shows that did NOT make the cut:

- Cheers

- 30 Rock

- Taxi

- The Muppet Show

- M*A*S*H

- Boardwalk Empire

- Roseanne

- The Big Bang Theory

- and Yu-Gi-Oh 5DS.

The prestigious 64 shows that were deemed battle-worthy have been assigned rankings according to the points they gained in the nomination round - the higher a given show was ranked, the more favorably it was placed in the tournament brackets.

And now, the tournament begins.

THE RULES

- For the sake of our collective sanity, in the early rounds of voting we will vote on multiple match-ups at one time. The tournament's first round will be broken up into 4 brackets to be voted on: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Second round voting will be broken up into 2 brackets to be voted on. Once we have reached the third round (or Sweet Sixteen), we will vote on each match-up separately.

- Once I have posted the new round to be voted on, each poster who chooses to vote will bold their selections.

- For every round you vote, you must vote on every match-up. You may not leave certain match-ups off. Any incomplete selections will be discounted.

- When each round's match-ups are posted, I will also post a deadline for the end of that voting period. No more votes for that round will be counted after that deadline.

- You may edit your vote until that deadline is reached. You may post again to simply say you have edited your votes, but do not re-post your votes. This is to keep vote-counting simpler for me and to prevent any miscounts.

- You are allowed (and encouraged) to post any reasoning you have for your votes. Feel free to pimp your favorites, post video clips that you feel are representative of a show overall, and generally give your opinions on the match-ups. This will become more and more important as the tournament progresses.

Once I have posted the first bracket of match-ups from the first round - along with that bracket's voting deadline - I will post my own votes, so everyone will have an example of the voting format.

Best of luck. The first bracket will be posted soon.

[Kapalua2483]

24

Sliders

Supernatural

and Heroes in the final four...a FIGHT TO THE DEATH...

That Jack Bauer will win!

[GoGo Yubari]

24

Sliders

Supernatural

and Heroes in the final four...a FIGHT TO THE DEATH...

That Jack Bauer will win!

If that ends up being the final four I will kill all of you.

[Ruki]

I am getting Scrubs into the finals

[Josh]

Let the voting for the first bracket begin!

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

You have approximately 72 hours to place your votes. Voting for this bracket will end at 6:59 EDT/5:59 PM CDT/11:59 PM GMT on Thursday, March 29th. Remember to vote on every match-up, or else your votes will not be counted.

My votes are coming up right away, so you'll all have an example of formatting.

[Josh]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

Usually I'll post my reasoning (and I will for these very soon), but I wanted to get mine up right away so you guys will have an example of formatting. For now, I'll say there's one or two of these where I can easily be swayed to change my vote.

[Ruki]

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

Never watched One Tree Hill, so Community wins by default. Never watched either of the 8/9 shows, so I went with West Wing. Never watched Peep SHow, so HIMYM wins by default...actually, same goes for The Office, East Bound and Down, Frasier and Seinfeld.

The only one where I DID watch both was The Walking Dead vs Tick, and as much as I loved The Tick, The Walking Dead is better in my mind.

[HailtotheYo]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

[GoGo Yubari]

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill -- yeah, I don't even need to explain this, do I? Sorry, the presumably one person who put One Tree Hill at #1 or something.

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing -- I have literally never seen a single episode of either. What criterion am I supposed to base this on? Voting for Only Fools and Horses because I think the majority are voting West Wing and I want to make this fun.

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show -- never seen Peep Show, so default victory for HIMYM which I've seen the first two seasons and two episodes of.

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo -- It's not so good now but for the first four seasons it was my absolute favorite show on TV. It'll always have a special place in my heart.

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down -- I bet Eastbound and Down wins and that will be sad. It's a funny show, but Blackadder is one of the all-time great British comedies and the second season is especially glorious.

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series) -- The Walking Dead has a lot of things, but it doesn't have The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight.

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier -- I've always liked Frasier alright but never loved it. The Shield, conversely, is practically underrated because it's never really mentioned in the same breath as The Sopranos and The Wire and so on as being one of the best TV dramas of the last decade, and it absolutely is one of the best TV dramas of the last decade.

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation -- another one where I don't really have any allegiance or extensive viewing of either show. Seinfeld wins because I liked that episode where Kramer tried to run in the marathon without wearing a ribbon, and because it factored into one of the best seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

[Damian WayLNKe]

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

[TEOL]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing - most difficult by far.

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

[LittleDaniel]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

Most of these were blow-outs, the only one being remotely close was Seinfeld vs TNG. Honestly, I probably like Seinfeld a bit more, but I've been watching TNG recently and I feel like most people will vote Seinfeld so I figured I'd help make it interesting.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

The West Wing is seriously going to beat one of the greatest shows of all time, isn't it? Please rally to stop this happening

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

First six are a foregone conclusion for me. Never seen The Shield and the less said about Star Trek the better

[Sousa]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

I hope The Walking Dead walks off a cliff and dies.

[TKz]

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

[Pizza]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

Hardest ones were The Tick and The Shield. Easiest ones were Community and Seinfeld. I'm not big on HIMYM or West Wing, but I never saw their competition. Eastbound and The Office are both pretty solid shows. The only show here I could vote over Community is the Shield, and even there I'm leaning towards Community.

[hot rod]

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill - Base soley because I have never watched an episode of Community.

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing - Flip of a coin.

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackaddervs. 11) Eastbound & Down - Eastbound is hand down the funniest show on television right now. Not only that but this season has improved so much, writing wise. Last night's episode even made me strike a tear.

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (The Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound and Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation

Pretty easy voting as for the most part, I've only seen one of only two. I used to be really into OTH, but Community blows it out of the water. Never seen either Only Fools or West Wing. I feel like I would like Blackadder more than Eastbound, but my friend and I have plans to run through it this summer. It kind of pains me that I had to vote for Frasier, too. Never been a fan.

[Josh]

As promised, my thoughts on this round's match-ups:

- I would vote almost anything over One Tree Hill and it happens to be up against my current favorite show on television period. Community wins in a blow out.

- I feel a bit bad for most of the British shows in this tourney, as I fear most of us Americans (and maybe those living in a third undesignated place?) will have never seen them. That's definitely the case with Only Fools and Horses for me. I feel less bad about not giving it the nod when it means I'm voting for The West Wing though. West Wing's never been my favorite, but it produced high-caliber television for quite a while on a consistent basis. I am kind of a sucker for eloquent dialogue and lots of it.

- How I Met Your Mother was my choice and it's a strange one. I'm far from its biggest fan, but Peep Show is suffering from the aforementioned problem of being a British show I haven't seen. I've seen an episode of HIMYM and it was . . . okay. I might be convinced to change my mind here.

- The Office might be the iconic post-2000 sitcom. Columbo was actually really fun television, and it's unfortunate that a lot of you likely haven't seen it. Peter Falk is an underrated actor these days and he did tremendous things with that character. That said, on most days, if you gave me the choice to watch one versus the other, I'm going with The Office.

- Like British sitcoms, I may have difficulty finding HBO shows I've seen. Case in point: Eastbound & Down. Moreover, what little I have seen of the lead character makes me think I would get annoyed after a while. On the other hand, the several episodes I've seen of Blackadder have been downright fabulous. I especially like seeing Roawn Atkinson and Hugh Laurie together. Blackadder deserves this win.

- I'm so over zombies. I don't doubt The Walking Dead has produced some fun episodes, but this genre is just awfully hard for me to enjoy. Conversely, if we don't hang ten for justice, who will? SPOON, people. SPOON. Seriously, rarely does a show aimed at kids have this kind of lasting power with adults. If you haven't watched it, get the fuck on that.

- The Shield falls into the "haven't seen it, but I'd probably love it" territory. Wish I could say more about it. Frasier, meanwhile, is the rare laugh track/studio audience sitcom I can still enjoy. The modern incarnations are tough for me to watch, and the no audience modern sitcoms have made most classic sitcoms just as hard for me to watch. Frasier is one exception to this rule, and it's largely due to the high-caliber writing. The cast is stellar too, but good casts are often wasted on average or poor writing. Not here.

- Finally, a very tough choice. Both Seinfeld and Star Trek: TNG did a lot for their genre, but at the end of the day I'm a comedy guy. Seinfeld it is.

[Ace]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 16) One Tree Hill

8) Only Fools and Horses vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 12) Peep Show

4) The Office (U.S.) vs. 13) Columbo

6) Blackadder vs. 11) Eastbound & Down

3) The Walking Dead vs. 14) The Tick (Animated Series)

7) The Shield vs. 10) Frasier

2) Seinfeld vs. 15) Star Trek: The Next Generation