EWB's All-Time Favorite TV Show Tournament

[Damian WayLNKe]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.)

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy

HIMYM vs. The Office and Frasier vs. Seinfeld are my toughest choices so far. I'm a die hard Frasier fan, but had to go with Seinfeld.

[Panni]

1) Community vs. 9) West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.)

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy

[Nick Adams]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing - It's probably more that I love the movie The American President, and seeing the guy that played the Chief of Staff in that film playing the President on the show always struck me as logical casting somehow.

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.) - Having seen the UK version of The Office, the US version struck me as patently unoriginal. There are some remakes that work, but this one didn't for me. HIMYM is just entertaining for me, even though, good GOD, we need to have Ted meet the mother at some point. I vote for the end of Season 9, at Barney's wedding reception.

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead - Zombies versus political satire with Hugh Laurie for most of the episodes. No-brainer.

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld - Seinfeld's final episode was just wrong, because the "show about nothing" ended with an actual moral lesson, and the main characters got comeuppance for their nihilistic actions. Frasier at least left me satisfied (but wanting more) when all was said and done.

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones - I can at least understand Game of Thrones.

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad - I don't understand TV shows that make criminals the protagonists. That, and it's Monty Python.

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park - At some point, South Park stopped being fun for me. Fawlty Towers never did.

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy - See my explanation of my Flying Circus vote.

[Guest zrc]

EASTERN BRACKET

West Wing

How I Met Your Mother

Blackadder

Frasier

CENTRAL BRACKET

Game of Thrones

Monty Python

South Park

Sons of Anarchy

[jrhodes]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.)

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld - This was tough. I went with Seinfeld because I think it's aged a little better than Frasier has.

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park - Oh the pain! Two of my favourites but I went with Fawlty Towers because it burned brighter in its brief run.

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy

[DavidMarrio]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.)

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy

Didn't really care for the last matchups in each bracket. Probably the toughest one for me was Monty Python against Breaking Bad

[CobraKaiEnTai]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.)

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy

[Guest mr. potato head]

SRN: But I like Community too! I'll probably be voting for it in at least the next two rounds!

C-MIL: Anyone who can't make a Favourite TV Shows Poll with Sports Night needs to get out of the Favourite TV Show Poll-Making business. :/

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.)

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad - also very tough

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy

[thebrettclark]

I like Arrested Development, wasn't it the first mockumentary? Is it called mockumentary?

It's not a mockumentary. (Sidenote: The first mockumentary I can think of would be This Is Spinal Tap, back in the 80's.) I suppose the cinematography on AD borrows from the documentary style, but that's about it. The characters don't even directly acknowledge there are cameras present. (However, there are multiple "meta" references throughout the series, which basically amount to dialogue with one meaning for the plot and another meaning for the self-aware audience at home.) The Office (especially the UK version) is more like a mockumentary.

That said, AD is still a genius show. It's just not in the sub-genre you've named.

PACIFIC BRACKET

1) Arrested Development vs. 16) The IT Crowd

8) Mystery Science Theater 3000 vs. 9) Chuck

5) Parks & Recreation vs. 12) Curb Your Enthusiasm

4) Angel vs. 13) The A-Team

6) Futurama vs. 11) Red Dwarf

3) Friends vs. 14) The O.C.

7) Twin Peaks vs. 10) Six Feet Under

2) The Wire vs. 15) Prison Break

thebrettclark, did you mean to leave one match without a pick, or was that a mistake?

Mistake. If its not too late I vote friends. My bad.

[thebrettclark]

EASTERN BRACKET

9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother

3) The Walking Dead

10) Frasier

CENTRAL BRACKET

9) Game of Thrones

4) Breaking Bad

3) South Park

15) Sons of Anarchy

[Ruki]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing- Community by default

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.)- I've watched and enjoyed both shows....but The Office has better characters and gets more laughs from me;.

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead- Another default victory

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld- I watched Seinfeld a lot more. And got a lot more enjoyment out of it compared to Frasier.

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones- This one was actually challenging...but, Game of Thrones has to take it. Amazing characters, amazing fight scenes, amazing everything.

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad- Default

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park- Default

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy- Default

[Josh]

Alright, I decided.

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing - Apologies to West Wing, but Community is just too special.

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.) - I make no apologies to HIMYM.

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead - Again, the whole zombie thing just ain't for me. Blackadder's tremendous and could beat a whole lot of shows.

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld - Very close. End of the day, I think I'm personally more drawn to comedies with some sort of emotional core.

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones - Lost continues to hold no appeal for me.

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad - Monty Python is far too influential. That's not a knock on Breaking Bad.

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park - Not only Fuck Off South Park, but Fawlty Towers was perfect.

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy - It came down to aesthetic appeal for me. I kinda dig the whole outlaw thing. I do feel bad about this one, though.

Seriously. Fawlty Towers, ya'll.

[Stormshadow]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.)

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy

[C-MIL]

C-MIL: Anyone who can't make a Favourite TV Shows Poll with Sports Night needs to get out of the Favourite TV Show Poll-Making business. :/

Well, that's not really what I meant, but I figure if West Wing and schlocky comedies like How I Met can qualify as top 64 or whatever, a show that gives you two for the price of one should also, no?

Hardly heralding it as anyone's favorite, just was surprised to see it absent is all...

[Guest mr. potato head]

C-MIL: Anyone who can't make a Favourite TV Shows Poll with Sports Night needs to get out of the Favourite TV Show Poll-Making business. :/

Well, that's not really what I meant, but I figure if West Wing and schlocky comedies like How I Met can qualify as top 64 or whatever, a show that gives you two for the price of one should also, no?

Hardly heralding it as anyone's favorite, just was surprised to see it absent is all...

Seems to have been lost to the mists of time in a lot of minds. I generally prefer West Wing anyhow, it's got as much humour as Sports Night ever did (not counting schlocky scenes where the entire office recites the original MLS teams, not including Luxembourg).

[Josh]

Round 2 Eastern and Central Bracket voting has closed. I'll tabulate the results and have them later.

For now, let the Mountain and Pacific Round 2 voting begin.

MOUNTAIN BRACKET

1) The Simpsons vs. 8) House

5) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia vs. 4) The Sopranos

6) Firefly vs. 14) Louie

7) 24 vs. 2) Scrubs

PACIFIC BRACKET

1) Arrested Development vs. 8) Mystery Science Theater 3000

5) Parks & Recreation vs. 13) The A-Team

6) Futurama vs. 3) Friends

7) Twin Peaks vs. 2) The Wire

SPECIAL NOTE: It looks like we don't need quite as much time for voting in this phase as I thought. The deadline for this set of matches will be one day sooner than usual. This is reflected below.

You have approximately 38 hours to place your votes for both the Mountain and Pacific brackets. Voting for these brackets will end at 6:59 EDT/5:59 PM CDT/11:59 PM GMT on Thursday, April 12th. Remember to vote on every match-up in both brackets, or else your votes will not be counted.

[GoGo Yubari]

MOUNTAIN BRACKET

1) The Simpsons vs. 8) House

5) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia vs. 4) The Sopranos -- I foresee a Sopranos loss here and that makes me sad.

6) Firefly vs. 14) Louie

7) 24 vs. 2) Scrubs

PACIFIC BRACKET

1) Arrested Development vs. 8) Mystery Science Theater 3000

5) Parks & Recreation vs. 13) The A-Team

6) Futurama vs. 3) Friends

7) Twin Peaks vs. 2) The Wire

[Josh]

MOUNTAIN BRACKET

1) The Simpsons vs. 8) House - It's very hard for me to vote against House, but It's The Goddamn Simpsons, People.

5) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia vs. 4) The Sopranos - Totally an easy choice. Best drama I've ever seen.

6) Firefly vs. 14) Louie - I mean no offense to the Whedonites, but I feel Louie - on it's own - will mean more to television and television production Firefly. Plus, Louie just holds a higher place in my heart.

7) 24 vs. 2) Scrubs - I feel like both of these shows deserve to go no further than this, but at least I could see myself watching a full episode of Scrubs again.

PACIFIC BRACKET

1) Arrested Development vs. 8) Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Fuck me, a choice this tough shouldn't be happening so early. I know it's an uphill battle, but for sheer uniqueness, breadth of material, and comfort factor, I have to give the nod to MST3K.

5) Parks & Recreation vs. 13) The A-Team - This is largely me being a contrarian, because I do genuinely love Parks & Rec as well. That said, I'll probably never feel like A-Team gets enough love, so it gets my support in the face of what I imagine is certain doom.

6) Futurama vs. 3) Friends - Yeah, no more free ride, Friends.

7) Twin Peaks vs. 2) The Wire - I imagine a lot of similar things could be said about these shows, despite their difference in styles. Ultimately, I feel like The Wire will be a better handbook for artistry on television, simply due to being a complete series.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

MOUNTAIN BRACKET

1) The Simpsons vs. 8) House

5) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia vs. 4) The Sopranos

6) Firefly vs. 14) Louie

7) 24 vs. 2) Scrubs

PACIFIC BRACKET

1) Arrested Development vs. 8) Mystery Science Theater 3000

5) Parks & Recreation vs. 13) The A-Team

6) Futurama vs. 3) Friends

7) Twin Peaks vs. 2) The Wire

Pretty awful bracket for me, Friends is the only one I've watched on a hard and regular basis (A Team back in the days too). I vote against Louie at everything in life from now on, so that was a no brainer. I still need to start watching The Sopranos, yet still decided to vote for it ( ). I vote against everything called The Wire in life from now on. Still haven't got round to properly watching Parks and Rec, plus it's against the goddam A Team. Scrubs beats 24 as I've seen more of it.

[Jimmy]

MOUNTAIN BRACKET

1) The Simpsons vs. 8) House

5) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia vs. 4) The Sopranos

6) Firefly vs. 14) Louie

7) 24 vs. 2) Scrubs

PACIFIC BRACKET

1) Arrested Development vs. 8) Mystery Science Theater 3000

5) Parks & Recreation vs. 13) The A-Team

6) Futurama vs. 3) Friends

7) Twin Peaks vs. 2) The Wire

Really straight forward, 7/8 of were shows I have seen vs. shows I haven't.