EWB's All-Time Favorite TV Show Tournament

[Pizza]

Season 4 was one of the best seasons of a TV show I can think of. I even kind of liked Season 5. Louie's still better.

[Summers]

Honestly, I can't say. I've never seen Louie. I know Dane Cook was in, and I watched the scene about the allegations. I loved Dexter from day one, so it's a shame to see it lose out this early.

[Josh]

As an avid Louie supporter, I should point out that I have not seen Dexter and it actually sounds like good television, for the most part. My not having seen it is largely an issue of access.

[TKz]

Dexter starts to show how weak it is as it progresses. At this point it's suffering badly from Showtime syndrome, something Weeds also was killed by. It's a better than average cop show when you get down to it. The only difference is that it has a series long villain rather than nothing but self contained episodes. The cast is okay but it becomes very apparent how unremarkable it is once you've seen it once.

And this is coming from a guy that pretty much does nothing but play video games and watch TV series through over and over again. Louie definitely deserved the win.

1) Arrested Development vs. 16) The IT Crowd - IT Crowd is good but has weakened a lot with each passing series, Arrested Development never had to face that problem.

8) Mystery Science Theater 3000 vs. 9) Chuck - I'm sorry, EWB. Early Chuck wins out over a show I've only seen a few episodes off.

5) Parks & Recreation vs. 12) Curb Your Enthusiasm - Funniest show on television, bar none.

4) Angel vs. 13) The A-Team - C'mon. It's me.

6) Futurama vs. 11) Red Dwarf - Red Dwarf gets less funny the more of it you watch. The new Futurama has been mostly eh, but there's some fantastic stuff in the original series.

3) Friends vs. 14) The O.C. - I liked both pretty much an even amount, but Friends wins out for just being a constant okay. It's literally always on and it's never really that bad, at it's worst it's average. That wins out over The OC, which was mostly good, but suffers from plenty of problems and doesn't have the lasting appeal.

7) Twin Peaks vs. 10) Six Feet Under - Couldn't get into Twin Peaks. I liked Six Feet Under enough I guess, but it's not really something I'd ever bother to finish watching.

2) The Wire vs. 15) Prison Break - Sorry, EWB. I've still not seen The Wire. I quite liked Prison Break. I have no problems with it losing out because it's not that great, but I can't vote for a show I've not yet seen.

[Josh]

More videos!

An early MST3K Short CLASSIC (although a bit long for a "short" at over 17 minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np9eflhMx08

It's a bitch finding A-Team clips that aren't tributes set to odd music choices, but this is at least low on the odd choice of music scale and includes some dialogue here and there:

[Stormshadow]

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

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Fucking Louie

[Nick Adams]

Fucking 24. (N)

[MGW]

Fucking Sons of Anarchy

[Josh]

Last call. I'll try to tabulate things and move forward tonight.

[Josh]

Pacific Bracket voting is closed. And that's the whole first round.

Expect another update tonight, kicking off Round 2.

[Josh]

Pacific Bracket results are in. Here are the final first round bracket results!

In the battle of 1) Arrested Development vs. 16) The IT Crowd, the winner is

1) Arrested Development

New bracket, same 1 vs. 16 result. Sorry, IT Crowd. 29-8.

In the battle of 8) Mystery Science Theater 3000 vs. 9) Chuck, the winner is

8) Mystery Science Theater 3000

Once again, nerd interests collide! The OG nerds win out by 3 votes. 20-17.

In the battle of 5) Parks & Recreation vs. 12) Curb Your Enthusiasm, the winner is

5) Parks & Recreation

I again wonder what more exposure would do for Curb Your Enthusiasm, but this a pretty emphatic result. 29-8.

In the battle of 4) Angel vs. 13) The A-Team, the winner is

13) The A-Team

I want to call this a true upset. Maybe my perception of how much these two shows are loved on EWB is a bit off? 21-16.

In the battle of 6) Futurama vs. 11) Red Dwarf, the winner is

6) Futurama

Oddly enough, this was almost the biggest blowout of the bracket. 30-7.

In the extremely, extremely close battle of 3) Friends vs. 14) The O.C. - the winner is

3) Friends

Yeah, I'm just fucking with you. This was the biggest blowout of the bracket. 31-6.

In the battle of 7) Twin Peaks vs. 10) Six Feet Under, the winner is

7) Twin Peaks

I'm a little surprised here. That said, it was certainly close: 20-17.

Finally, in the battle of 2) The Wire vs. 15) Prison Break, the winner is

2) The Wire

The Wire had a comfortable lead, but it was by no means a blowout: 26-11.

And that, ladies and gents, is the end of Round 1!

Stay tuned, because the first batch of second round matches will be posted tonight.

[Josh]

Round 2 draws nigh! In this round, to keep things moving at a clip we'll vote on two different brackets at the same time. This first half will feature the Eastern and Central brackets, with the Mountain and Pacific brackets to come in the second half.

But first, a bit of context when it comes to the Eastern and Central brackets . . .

IN MEMORIAM

One Tree Hill

Only Fools and Horses

Peep Show

Columbo

Eastbound & Down

The Tick (Animated Series)

The Shield

Star Trek: The Next Generation

ER

Mad Men

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Bottom

Supernatural

Batman

Farscape

Doctor Who

And now, ROUND 2 BEGINS.

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

You have approximately 69 hours to place your votes for both the Eastern and Central brackets. Voting for this bracket will end at 6:59 EDT/5:59 PM CDT/11:59 PM GMT on Tuesday, April 10th. Remember to vote on every match-up in both brackets, or else your votes will not be counted.

[Mofoticon]

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

[Josh]

I'm actually gonna hold off on placing my votes for just a bit. I know here my votes are going in 6 of those 8 matches (South Park can fuck off, Fawlty Towers is TREMENDOUS), but I want some feedback on the other 2:

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones

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

Talk me into voting for your picks in those matches.

[Lint]

Eastern Bracket

Community

HIMYM

Walking DEad

Seinfeld

Central:

Lost

Monty Python

South Park

SoA

[GoGo Yubari]

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

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

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 is a really interesting match-up, and while I firmly believe Seinfeld will take it, it'll be neat to see how it plays out).

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

[RPS]

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

[Pizza]

EASTERN BRACKET

1) Community vs. 9) The West Wing - Like Community a lot, never liked West Wing.

5) How I Met Your Mother vs. 4) The Office (U.S.) - Haven't watched either in a long time, but actually liked the Office when I did.

6) Blackadder vs. 3) The Walking Dead - Never watched Blackadder, I enjoy the Walking Dead.

10) Frasier vs. 2) Seinfeld - Probably my two favourite laughtrack sitcoms. Big fan of Seinfeld, still watch it in syndication when nothing else is on.

CENTRAL BRACKET

1) Lost vs. 9) Game of Thrones - Big fan of both. Hated a lot of the third and 6th seasons of Lost though, and haven't disliked an episode of GoT yet.

12) Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. 4) Breaking Bad - Still the best show on TV.

11) Fawlty Towers vs. 3) South Park - Actually voted for Fawlty Towers and against South Park last round, but can't do that again. I probably need to watch Fawlty Towers again. Saw it 10 years ago when I was 15, and although I remember liking it, I can't remember much of it. Can't vote it over a show that I actually watch and enjoy, and I do like South Park a lot.

10) Freaks and Geeks vs. 15) Sons of Anarchy - Freaks and Geeks didn't resonate with me as much as it did with others. SOA had a really solid first season, and I haven't watched any further, but it was enough here.