2017 Character Cup Winner and Stats

Special thanks to Rendy for making this title card!

2017 Character Cup Winner

Alex Danvers

 

63+ polls later and we have a winner! Congratulations to the Supergirl fandom for voting Alex Danvers to the top in the second closest finale in Character Cup history. While Jamie from Outlander led for most of the 24-hour poll, Alex started gaining in the last few hours and pulled off the victory by a mere 143 votes. (Our first finale between Jack from LOST and Clark from Smallville had a 142 vote difference.) What an exciting Character Cup this was! It just goes to show how each vote matters. To become the winner, Alex defeated Chuck Bartowski, Klaus Mikaelson, Sara Lance, Sarah Manning, Buffy Summers, and Jamie Fraser. She also had the most votes in a single poll with 2,571 and finished the contest with 6,868 votes altogether, more than any contestant last year and second only to Jamie this year. As the winner, she joins Jack from LOST, Dean and Castiel from Supernatural, and Root and Shaw from Person of Interest in our Hall of Retired Winners.

Congratulations to Supergirl fans and all other fandoms who supported their favorites. Jamie from Outlander was the only other character to have more than 2,000 votes in a single round, while Buffy and Bellamy were the only other characters with over 1,000 votes in a single poll. Our breakout character this year was Eleven from Stranger Things, who made it all the way to the Elite Eight. I'm looking forward to seeing where she ends up next year. Over in the Them Song Contest, our winner was the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme, with the Big Bang Theory theme placing second. Thanks to everyone who participated in this mini-contest. I hope you had fun reminiscing about old favorites and maybe even finding some new ones. If you have suggestions for next year's mini-contest, please put them in the comments below.

Interested in other stats for the 2017 Character Cup?  Check out the stats page here.  Normally there would be an updated bracket in it, but my usual computer has gone kaput so I will add the finished bracket whenever I can get it fixed.  If there are other stats you are interested in, let me know and I will try to add them.  Thanks for making this such a fantastic contest!

Prediction Contest Winner:

 

Noor

In a competition where odds-on favorites went out quicker and newcomers stayed longer, this Character Cup made it even harder than usual to predict for me. Not so much these guys. Congratulations to Noor for earning 86 points and taking first place in our predictions. Woo hoo! Awesome job! Bragging rights are yours for the year! (Unless you want something from my old Supernatural stuff as a prize. Come on, you know you do.) Only 1 point behind, Joasiary and Amber Lacey tied for second. Again, very impressive. Panos came in third with 83 points to round out our leaderboard. I hope that everyone who participated had fun no matter where you placed. This year we did a straight up point value, meaning that every poll was worth the same number of points, but before we used a graduated points system so every round was worth twice as many points as the previous round. Just for fun, I ran filtered the predictions through the graduated system too. Under that system, Joasiary would be the top predictor with 145 points, Noor would be second with 141 points, and Amber Lacey and Maria Sol would tie for third with 139 points. Congratulations again to everyone who won and best of luck next time to the rest of us.

Thanks:

Thank you to everyone for making this the best Character Cup I've ever organized. I appreciate all the people who followed the rules and made this a fair competition.  It is the first time in 2 years that we have not had to disrupt the contest to deal with an overwhelming amount of cheating. For some reason this contest seems to inspire people to try to mutli-vote, once getting so bad that the contest stopped for two full years. Therefore, I cannot put into words just how grateful I am for all the honest people who participated. You restored my faith in humanity and made the 2017 Character Cup a true pleasure to host. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Thanks also to everyone who participated in the TV Talk Topics, my favorite part of the contest. It was awesome talking TV with all of you. I'm sorry we were not able to get to everyone's suggestions. We actually had twice as many topics nominated than needed so we'll have a great assortment to choose from next year too. If we did not get a chance to discuss yours, feel free to bring it up in the comments. A huge thanks also goes out to everyone who helped provide pictures for the polls. You saved me so much time! Finally, thanks as always to Andy, without whom there would be no SpoilerTV, the best TV website I have ever had the privilege to be a part of. It was the Best Show Contest that brought me here over half a decade ago, so if you have just joined us for the contest, I encourage you to make SpoilerTV your first stop for pre-episode information and post-episode discussion. There is no greater community to talk about TV with than here at SpoilerTV.

2017 Character Cup Top 10:

 

1. Alex Danvers

2. Jamie Fraser

3. Buffy Summers

4. Bellamy Blake

5. Peggy Carter

6. Eleven

7. Leo Fitz

8. Sarah Manning

9. Felicity Smoak

10. Jethro Gibbs

Best Theme Song Winner:

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme

Reminder: The Episode Contest starts Monday, right here on SpoilerTV. Don't forget to check it out and help your favorite episodes move to the next round!

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she reviews and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, loves live tweeting, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Previously she wrote a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."

2017 Character Cup Finale

Special thanks to Rendy for making this title card!

After 570 characters nominated and 64 competitors, we are now down to the final 2. Woo hoo! Congratulations to the Outlander and Supergirl fandoms for getting their characters to the last round. It wasn't easy. Unlike past Character Cups, for the majority of the polls no one has blown away the competition, with the last rounds being especially close. In fact, both Alex and Jamie received 55% of the vote in the semi-finals to proceed on.

Still, Alex Danvers comes in as the odds-on favorite. She has held the largest leads over her competitors winning by 55% - 81% of her polls. She entered the contest with 40% of those in the prediction contest projecting her as the winner (including me). A whopping 51% expected her to be in the finals. In comparison Bellamy Blake, the second most predicted winner, was only 22% predicted to win. To get to the finale, Alex beat Chuck Bartowski, Klaus Mikaelson, Sara Lance, Sarah Manning, and Buffy Summers.

Jamie Fraser, on the other hand, is the underdog. In his closest race, he won by only 19 votes and only 1 person predicted he would make it to the finals with only 6 betting that he'd be in the Final Four. However, Jamie stands as the character with the most votes so far in the whole contest. He's the only character to have received over 2,000 votes in one round and currently has almost 1,000 combined votes more than Alex. To get to the finale, Jamie beat Jughead Jones, Jake Peralta, Felicity Smoak, Eleven, and Bellamy Blake.

In the end though, past statistics are just that - the past. With both fandoms heavily organized, this should be a much closer contest than last year was. Who will prevail? Let the voting begin!


Prediction Contest - Given that soooo many people's brackets exploded in the last round, Noor is still in first place with 80 points. Amber Lacey, with 79 points, is tied for second place with Joasiary, who is the only person to predict that Jamie Fraser would make the finals. Nice predicting there!


Final Notes:

1. The poll between Bellamy and Buffy will only be used to determine 3rd and 4th place.
2. There is no poll for 3rd and 4th place for the Theme Song Contest. Sorry.
3. Polls will end on Thursday, June 15 at around 10 am CST.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme
The Big Bang Theory theme
Rules
Stats / Rankings / Bracket

Today's TV Talk Topic:

Dream Job - (Reminder: This is a PG-Rated contest. Keep it clean. ;-P You know if I'm talking to you.) Say someone in Hollywood (or wherever) offered you a decent salary to quit your job and be part of the TV industry. What job would you most want? What shows, actors, or crew would you most want to work with? What goals would you have? What kind of pitfalls might there be? What personality traits or skills from your current job could you use in your new one? A comprehensive list of TV jobs can be found here.  I never even thought about some of these.

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she reviews and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, loves live tweeting, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Previously she wrote a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."

2017 Character Cup - Stats, Bracket, and Rankings

Below you will find the official brackets, stats so far, and both final and original ranking lists once voting begins. These include all the characters that made it in the Character Cup. The original rankings are placed by number of nominations and I've included what shows they are from in case you need a handy guide for predicting or voting. Final rankings are placed by which round they went out and how many votes they got in that round.

Official Brackets: 

If you click on full screen, you can see the whole thing. A downloadable copy is here.  If you would like a blank printable bracket to play along, click here.  Fillable brackets are here.  (Hint - download it before you fill it out or it won't keep what you typed.  Learned that from experience..ugh!)

2017 CC Brackets - Fixed by Dahne1 on Scribd

STATS TO GEEK OUT ON:

Round Results:

Winner:  Alex Danvers
Second Place:  Jamie Fraser
Third Place:  Buffy Summers
Fourth Place:  Bellamy Blake

Characters Still In (Round 4):  Bellamy Blake, Jamie Fraser, Alex Danvers, Buffy Summers
Characters Out (Round 4):  Peggy Carter, Eleven, Sarah Manning, Leo Fitz

Characters Still In (Round 3):  Bellamy Blake, Peggy Carter, Eleven, Jamie Fraser, Sarah Manning, Alex Danvers, Buffy Summers, Leo Fitz
Characters Out (Round 3):  Jethro Gibbs, Jon Snow, Eliot Spencer, Felicity Smoak, Caitlin Snow, Sara Lance, Lucifer Morningstar, The Doctor

Characters Still In (Round 2):  Bellamy Blake, Jethro Gibbs, Peggy Carter, Jon Snow, Eliot Spencer, Eleven, Felicity Smoak, Jamie Fraser, Caitlin Snow, Sarah Manning, Alex Danvers, Sara Lance, Lucifer Morningstar, Buffy Summers, Leo Fitz, The Doctor
Characters Out (Round 2):  Dana Scully, Michael Scofield, Sam Winchester, Lucy Preston, Meredith Grey, Captian Hook, Liv Moore, Jake Peralta, Kate Beckett, Gregory House, Klaus Mikaelson, Walter Bishop, Lorelai Gilmore, Jane Doe, Veronica Mars, Spencer Reid

Characters Still In  (Round 1): Bellamy Blake, Dana Scully, Jethro Gibbs, Michael Scofield, Sam Winchester, Peggy Carter, Lucy Preston, Jon Snow, Eliot Spencer, Meredith Grey, Captain Hook, Eleven, Felicity SMoak, Liv Moore, Jamie Fraser, Jake Peralta, Caitlin Snow, Kate Beckett, Sarah Manning, Gregory House, Alex Danvers, Klaus Mikaelson, Sara Lance, Walter Bishop, Lucifer Morningstar, Lorelai Gilmore, Buffy Summers, Jane Doe, Leo Fitz, Veronica Mars, Spencer Reid, The Doctor
Characters Out (Round 1): Olivia Pope, Norman Bates, Marty Deeks, Ben Linus, James Cole, Annalise Keating, Harvey Specter, Shadow Moon, Jacob Stone, David Haller, Bonnie Bennett, Jessica Huang, Sherlock (Sherlock), Jane Villanueva, Jughead Jones, Sherlock Holems (Elementary), Matt Murdock, Stiles Stilinski, Martin Riggs, Clay Jensen, Chuck Bartowski, Daryl Dixon, Maeve Millay, Walter White, Sheldon Cooper, Sun Bak, Jack Pearson, Steve McGarrett, Olivia Benson, Red Reddington, Erin Lindsay, Matthew Casey


Polls with the Most Votes:

Alex Danvers vs. Jamie Fraser = 4,999
Jamie Fraser vs. Bellamy Blake = 4,249
Alex Danvers vs. Buffy Summers = 2,482
Jamie Fraser vs. Eleven = 1,944


Losing Characters with the Most Votes:

Round 1 = Annalise Keating, Stiles Stilinski, Shadow Moon
Round 2 = Dana Scully, Meredith Grey, Sam Winchester/Captain Hook
Round 3 = Felicity Smoak, Jethro Gibbs, Caitlin Snow
Round 4 = Peggy Carter and Eleven


Characters with Biggest Improvement between Initial Rankings and Final Rankings: 

Jamie Fraser = moved up 51 spaces
Sarah Manning = moved up 42 spaces
Peggy Carter = moved up 35 spaces


Closest Polls:

Meredith Gray vs. Eliot Spencer = 10 votes
Bellamy Blake vs. Peggy Carter = 11 votes
Walter Bishop vs. Walter White = 14 votes


Gender Breakdown:

This Year - male = 39 / female = 25
After First Round: male = 16 / female = 16
Second Round:  male = 8 / female = 8
Third Round:  male = 5 / female = 3
Elite Eight:  male = 2 / female = 2
Final Four:  male = 1 / female = 1
Finals: female = 1


Network Breakdown:

This Year: network = 36 / cable = 14 / streaming = 5 / ended shows = 9
After First Round: network = 19 / cable = 4 / streaming = 2 / ended = 7
Second Round:  network = 8 / cable = 4 / streaming = 1 / ended = 4
Third Round:  network = 3 / cable = 2 / streaming = 1 / ended = 2
Elite Eight:  network = 2 / cable = 1 / ended = 1
Final Four:  network = 1 / cable = 1
Finals: network = 1

Final Character Ranking List:

1. Alex Danvers (Supergirl)
2. Jamie Fraser (Outlander)
3. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
4. Bellamy Blake (The 100)
5.  Peggy Carter (Agent Carter)
6.  Eleven (Stranger Things)
7.  Leo Fitz (SHIELD)
8.  Sarah Manning (Orphan Black)
9.  Felicity Smoak (Arrow)
10.  Jethro Gibbs (NCIS)
11.  Caitlin Snow (The Flash)
12.  Sara Lance (Legends of Tomorrow)
13.  Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)
14.  Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
15.  The Doctor (Doctor Who)
16.  Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer)
17.  Dana Scully (The X-Files)
18.  Meredith Grey (Grey's Anatomy)
19.  Sam Winchester (Supernatural)
20.  Killian Jones (Once Upon a Time)
21.  Michael Scofield (Prison Break)
22.  Liv Moore (iZombie)
23.  Lucy Preston (Timeless)
24.  Jake Peralta (Brooklyn 99)
25.  Kate Beckett (Castle)
26.  Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)
27.  Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds)
28.  Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
29.  Gregory House (House)
30.  Jane Doe  (Blindspot)
31.  Walter Bishop  (Fringe)
32.  Klaus Mikaelson  (The Originals)
33.  Annalise Keating (HTGAWM)
34  Stiles Stilinski (Teen Wolf)
35.  Shadow Moon (American Gods)
36.  Matt Murdock (Daredevil)
37.  Daryl Dixon (The Walking Dead)
38.  Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock)
39.  Sherlock Holmes (Elementary)
40.  Walter White (Breaking Bad)
41.  Norman Bates (Bates Motel)
42.  Olivia Pope (Scandal)
43.  Jughead Jones (Riverdale)
44.  Clay Jensen (13 Reasons Why)
45.  Sun Bak (Sense8)
46.  Bonnie Bennett (The Vampire Diairies)
47.  Harvey Specter (Suits)
48.  David Haller (Legion)
48.  Erin Lindsay (Chicago PD)
50.  Matthew Casey (Chicago Fire)
51.  Ben Linus (LOST)
52.  Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory)
53.  Martin Riggs (Lethal Weapon)
54.  Steve McGarrett (Hawaii 5-0)
55.  Red Reddington (The Blacklist)
56.  James Cole (12 Monkeys)
57.  Jacob Stone (The Librarians)
58.  Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)
59.  Jack Pearson (This Is Us)
60.  Olivia Benson (L&O:  SVU)
61.  Marty Deeks (NCIS: LA)
62.  Maeve Millay (Westworld)
63.  Jane Villanueva (Jane the Virgin)
64.  Jessica Huang (Fresh Off the Boat)

Original Character Ranking List:

1. Bellamy Blake (The 100)
2. Caitlin Snow (The Flash)
3. Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer)
4. Jacob Stone (The Librarians)
5. Felicity Smoak (Arrow)
6. Leo Fitz (Agents of SHIELD)
7. Alex Danvers (Supergirl)
8. Sam Winchester (Supernatural)
9. Lucy Preston (Timeless)
10. Sara Lance (Legends of Tomorrow)
11. Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds)
12. Jughead Jones (Riverdale)
13. Killian "Captain Hook" Jones (Once Upon a Time)
14. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
15. Martin Riggs (Lethal Weapon)
16. Jethro Gibbs (NCIS)
17. Michael Scofield (Prison Break)
18. Clay Jensen (13 Reasons Why)
19. Jane Doe (Blindspot)
20. Eleven (Stranger Things)
21. Jake Peralta (Brooklyn 99)
22. The Doctor (Doctor Who)
23. Walter Bishop (Fringe)
24. Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)
25. Annalise Keating (How to Get Away with Murder)
26. Klaus Mikaelson (The Originals)
27. Raymond Reddington (The Blacklist)
28. Liv Moore (iZombie)
29. David "Legion" Haller (Legion)
30. Sun Bak (Sense8)
31. Stiles Stilinski (Teen Wolf)
32. Dana Scully (The X-Files)
33. Norman Bates (Bates Motel)
34. Kate Beckett (Castle)
35. Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
36. Meredith Grey (Grey's Anatomy)
37. Jane Villanueva (Jane the Virgin)
38. Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)
39. Daryl Dixon (The Walking Dead)
40. Peggy Carter (Agent Carter)
41. Shadow Moon (American Gods)
42. Walter White (Breaking Bad)
43. Matthew Casey (Chicago Fire)
44. Sherlock Holmes (Elementary)
45. Jessica Huang (Fresh Off the Boat)
46. Steve McGarrett (Hawaii 5-0)
47. Gregory House (House)
48. Ben Linus (LOST)
49. Marty Deeks (NCIS:LA)
50. Sarah Manning (Orphan Black)
51. Jack Pearson (This Is Us)
52. Bonnie Bennett (The Vampire Diaries)
53. Jamie Fraser (Outlander)
54. Erin Lindsay (Chicago PD)
55. Maeve Millay (Westworld)
56. Harvey Specter (Suits)
57. James Cole (12 Monkeys)
58. Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)
59. Olivia Benson (Law & Order: SVU)
60. Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock)
61. Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
62. Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory)
63. Matt Murdock (Daredevil)
64. Olivia Pope (Scandal)

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she reviews and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, loves live tweeting, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Previously she wrote a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."

2017 Character Cup - Round 5 - Final Four

Special thanks to Rendy for making this title card!

With Bellamy beating Peggy Carter by the narrowest of margins in the last round, we have our final four contestants: Bellamy Blake, Jamie Fraser, Alex Danvers, and Buffy Summers. Here's hoping for as an exciting semi-final round as we have had in the previous ones. The winners at this stage are always the fandoms that get the world out to the most people the quickest so spread the word for your champions. Please don't forget to remind people to vote only once per poll though while you do. I appreciate everyone for making this a fair Character Cup and keeping the drama to the polls and not the voting process. Thanks also to everyone who has been commenting in our TV Talk Topics, making it an awesome discussion. You have made this one of my favorite Character Cups. As for the Prediction Competition, Noor continues to lead at 75 points with Amber Lacy right behind her at 74 points. Should there be an upset now, it will break almost everyone in the top 10's brackets, including mine. Should make for an interesting round! Don't forget to vote in the mini-contest as well and as always, happy voting!


Rules
Stats / Rankings / Bracket


Opening Credits for theme songs:

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme
We Used to Be Friends (Veronica Mars)
How Soon is Now (Charmed)
The Big Bang Theory theme

Today's TV Talk Topic:

It's a Small World After All - Over the years, the SpoilerTV community has discussed diversity a lot, mostly in the terms of race, gender, and sexual preference. However, with Sesame Street adding an autistic character, recently there has been a lot of discussion about the way TV portrays both physical and mental disabilities. How well do you think TV has been doing in showing the wide spectrum of abilities? Which shows have done the best in this regard? Which characters have been the best TV advocates? Were there any shows that specifically addressed differently abled people when you were a kid? Which types do you think need to be addressed more on TV?

Theme Song Mini-Contest:

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she reviews and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, loves live tweeting, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Previously she wrote a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."

2017 Character Cup - Round 4 - Elite Eight

Special thanks to Rendy for making this title card!

Welcome back to the Elite Eight of the 2017 Character Cup.  We're getting a little earlier start than expected, but polls will still be open for about 24 hours.  That means these polls will end around 1 am CST on June 8.After some surprising results and several close polls, we have our final 8 characters.  Thanks to everyone for playing fair and passing the word.  I expect the contest will only get more competitive from here so hang on to your hats and talk those characters up.  (While you're at it, don't forget to discuss the TV Talk Topic.)

In our prediction contest, Noor jumps into first place with 63 points, while Pink Panther and Amber Lacy are right behind in second with 62 points.  It looks like the prediction contest is going to be as close as the real thing.  Woo!  Congrats to everyone whose brackets are not completely toast by now.  As we jump back into round 4, best of luck to everyone and happy voting!


Rules
Stats / Rankings / Bracket


Opening Credits for theme songs:

I Don't Want to Be (One Tree Hill)
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme
We Used to Be Friends (Veronica Mars)
Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Cheers)
How Soon is Now (Charmed)
The Ballad of Serenity (Firefly)
The Sanctuary (Angel)
The Big Bang Theory theme

Today's TV Talk Topic:

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's…This Again? (Part 2 because this topic was the most requested in the nominations this year.) Along with the sheer number of superhero shows, the genre has been met with mixed reviews about everything from its roots to storylines and characters. Should superhero-based shows stay true to their source material or focus more on expanding into other kinds of TV viewers? How can they bridge the gap between more comic-driven fandoms and more shipper-driven fandoms? What qualities create a great character on a superhero show? What makes your favorite stick out from the crowd? How important are the secondary characters (ones that at least start out without powers) in the success of a superhero show? Which superhero characters do you want to see in which shows? What character types would you like to see more of?

Theme Song Mini-Contest:

Note - Links to each theme song are above.

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she reviews and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, loves live tweeting, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Previously she wrote a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."

Quote of the Week - Week of May 28

A weekly feature highlighting the best quotes on TV as picked by the Spoiler TV team. We'd love to hear your picks too so please sound off in the comments below.

American Gods -
1. Media: "Mass delusions are as old as I am. I was there when the Martians invaded in 1938. What a panic, powerful panic! Now there are star men waiting in the sky. They believed it was true, and it was." (Milo)

The Americans -
1. Tuan: "You should know I already sent my report on the operation. I don't you want to be surprised. In my self-criticism, I acknowledged the mistake I made in contacting my previous family in Seattle." Elizabeth: "Tuan, we don't..." Tuan: "It's alright. My organization will forgive me. I said you both did a lot of great things during our work together. But I had to point out there were certain lapses during your cover arrangements which I told you about during the operation." Elizabeth: "Yes, you did." Tuan: "I also put in my report that I believed the success of the mission was risked at the very end because your commitment to achieving our goal was overridden by certain petty, bourgeois concerns." (Dark UFO)
2. Elizabeth: "The head of the Soviet Division? I'm sorry." Philip: "It's OK. It's why we came here." Elizabeth: "Maybe you should stop. You need to keep getting the recordings, but maybe you should stop." Philip: "You need me, Elizabeth." Elizabeth: "Not for this. I'm making you stay and it just keeps getting worse for you. I don't want to see you like this anymore." (Dark UFO)

Doctor Who -
1. The Doctor (on humanity): "In amongst seven billion, there's someone like you. That's why I put up with the rest of them." (Milo)

Fargo -
1. Sy: "The world is wrong. It looks like the world, but everything's different." (DarkUFO)
2. Chief Dammick: "Only an intellectual could believe something so stupid." (Dark UFO)
3. Yuri: "You should think of what you're doing. Man. Alone. In a room full of books. Talking to himself. Or maybe you think I'm your conscience. How's that story? Ghost of Christmas Past? You came back for a reason, I'm thinking. The gun? It's there on the counter. Pick it up, your gun. Now go." (Dark UFO)

The Leftovers -
1. Patti: "May God have mercy on your soul if there is a god, which there is not." (DarkUFO)
2. Secret Agent Kevin: "Take this thing out of me." President Kevin: "Why?" Secret Agent Kevin: "So we can't ever come back here again." (DarkUFO)
3. Secret Agent Kevin: "We f*** up with Nora." (DarkUFO)
4. Secret Service Agent: "Now your penis please, sir." Kevin: "My what?" Agent: "Your penis. Place it on the other scanner please, sir." Kevin: "Why?" Agent: "Mr. President, due to advancements in plastic surgery, anyone with enough resources can copy a person's face. But your, uh, your penis, sir, well, they're not gonna go to that length." (Bradley)
5. President Kevin: "I'm not f*** killing him." Assassin Kevin: "Good, 'cause I'm not f*** letting him." Patti: "Gentleman, language." Both Kevins: "F*** you!" (Bradley)
6. Patti: "I couldn't enlighten you with a f*** thousand watt bulb." (Bradley)

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she recaps, reviews, and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, The 100, Grimm, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, live tweets a multitude of shows each week, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Currently she writes a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."

2017 Character Cup - Sweet Sixteen

Welcome to the Sweet Sixteen of the Character Cup.  Thanks to everyone for their patience and for playing fair.  Joining round three is Caitlin Snow, Sarah Manning, Alex Danvers, Sara Lance, Lucifer, Buffy, Fitz, and The Doctor.  Still rocking first place in our Prediction Contest is Agent of Space with 48 points, but right behind are Joasiary and Amber Lacy with 47 points. Nice predicting! Mine just keep getting sader and sader with each round, so if you'rein the same boat, I feel you.

Today we also add on the mini-contest.  Remember that any show that still has a character in the real contest is not eligible for the mini-contest so that means heavily nominated TV themes like Game of Thrones and Buffy were not included.  I'm sorry if those are your favorites but it would be no fun to have a mini-contest with the same shows as the Character Cup.  Happy voting to all!


Rules
Rankings / Bracket

Today's TV Talk Topic:

Usually when I ask for TV Talk Topic suggestions, they are pretty evenly spread out over a plethora of subjects.  This year, however, superheroes were by far the most nominated topics.  So much so that I had to break it into 2 categories just to cover it all.  So for the next 2 days, it's all superheroes.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's…This Again?  (Part 1 because this topic was the most requested in the nominations this year.)  Post-Smallville, TV went through a superhero dry spell.  Now they are all over the TV landscape.  Has the superhero genre gone overboard and mutated into its own archnemesis or are there plenty of alternate worlds left for all of them?  What superhero show do you think still needs to be created?  Which ones would you let go?  What makes a superhero or comic-based show stand out in a crowded lineup?  ?  Are there crossovers and other marketing events you'd still like to see or have they been overdone?  Which storylines would you like to see become more common and which are largely played out?

Theme Song Mini-Contest:

Third Annual Summer "Pitch Your Show" Nominations

Summer's here and as every TV fan knows, it's time to start that time honored tradition of binging all the shows you didn't get around to in the regular season. But how are TV addicts even to know all the great shows they've missed under the sheer glut of shows that have aired? Enter Pitch Your Show - Summer Version. It's your time to shine the spotlight on your favorite shows and encourage others to try them. The midseason version focuses specifically on low-rated shows that are currently airing, but there are no such stipulations in the summer post. So brush off the cobwebs of your favorite TV series and help a fan out. Do you know a show that's perfect for marathoning? Have you come across one that needs a cult following? How about a recurring show that will be airing in fall that people should get caught up on now so they can join the current season?

The whole idea behind Pitch Your Show is for people to find new shows to check out while waiting for the fall season to start. All you have to do is nominate your show in the form below and tell us why we should be watching it. Feel free to nominate as many different shows as you'd like. The most persuasive pitches will go into the article that will be posted in a couple of weeks. (I make sure that all nominated shows are represented but if a show gets too many responses, then I put the best arguments for why to watch it in the actual article.) A link will be provided in the article so all nominations and comments can be read, not just the posted ones.

Rules:

1. You must put your name, the show, and why people should watch the show. You do NOT have to know where it is airing but more people will watch it if they know where to look. (Hint - sometimes it is easier to type your reason in a word processing program and then cut and paste it into the form, especially if it is a long response.)

2. Only scripted shows (network, cable, or streaming / still airing or ended). No reality TV.

3. You can submit as many shows as you wish but this is not a popularity contest so there's no need to nominate a show multiple times with the same comment. I will take the most thoughtful comments for each show nominated and there are no bonus points for a show having the most nominations.

4. The purpose is to persuade others to watch your show. Merely saying "IT'S THE BEST SHOW EVER!!!" won't help. In fact, triple exclamations and having all letters capitalized will probably work against you. Instead focus on why someone who doesn't watch the show should take their precious time to try it. Enthusiasm is only good when backed by details and thoughtful discourse. If you can provide multiple reasons to watch, like good characters and great action, that is even better.

5. Nominations will remain open until June 7.




Any questions? Please leave them in the comments section below and don't forget to tell us what shows you nominated! Not sure how to write your pitch? Check out last year's pitches in the links below.


Part A
Part B
Part C
Part D
Part E
Part F

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she reviews and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, loves live tweeting, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Previously she wrote a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."

2017 Character Cup - Round 2B

And with that, my brackets are busted. Again. :-P Yesterday included not only the most votes in a single day for the 2017 Character Cup so far, but it also had the closest round by far with Captain Hook and Eleven trading leads all night. They were tied several times. Meredith vs. Eliot and Gibbs vs. Michael were also super close, with a handful of votes separating them. Because these votes are soooo close, we're going to take a short break in the contest to ensure that all votes are valid once the polling software checks them. Look for round 3 to probably continue on Sunday morning CST. Until the unofficial winners include Bellamy, Gibbs, Carter, Jon, Eliot, Eleven, Felicity, and Jamie. If the winners stay the same, our current Prediction Contest board just got very interesting. In the lead still with 38 points is Agent of Space, while in second is Panos with 36 points. Here's hoping your brackets aren't the hideous mess mine are.


Rules
Rankings / Bracket

Mini-Contest:

This also gives us time to get the mini-contest up and going. For those of you who weren't with us previously, we added in a mini-contest 2 years ago because a lot of people no longer had anyone to vote for after the third round. This gives everyone a fresh start and something new to root for. This year's topic will be....Favorite TV Theme Song! Take a trip back to the TV credit sequence. Did you want to go where everybody knows your name? Did a 3-hour cruise get stuck in your brain? Maybe Saved by the Bell had you feeling alright and you know you wanted to move to Bel-Air with the Fresh Prince. Or maybe you were more into kicking butt with Nerf Herder? Whatever your TV jam was, get your 2 choices in quickly because this will be a very short turnaround. Depending on the number of participants, the mini-contest will either start in round 4 like usual or maybe even in round 3 (depending on how fast I can get it together). Like always, ANY show that is still in the main contest when the mini-contest begins is NOT eligible for the mini-contest since it is designed to spread the voting love. Also, only one submission per person please and just tell me what show it is from. You do not have to name it unless the show had multiple theme songs over the years. If you have any questions, head for the comments. Until then, may the votes be close and your favorite squeak through. Happy voting!

Today's TV Talk Topic:

I Get By with a Little Help from My...Music Director - Since the mini-contest is all about the classic theme song, this TV Talk Topic is all about the music that enriches TV. From background music that sets the mood to soon-to-be hit songs showcased at just the right moment, music is a crucial part of a show so come talk all things music with us, such as: What TV shows have the best theme music? Which ones do you still remember the words from even though you were a kid? Which shows have the best instrumentals? Which ones would you like to change the music on? Have you ever become interested in a band or singer because they were featured in a show you like? Are there any music genres that TV turned you on to? Which bands/singers would you like to hear in a TV show?

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she reviews and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, loves live tweeting, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Previously she wrote a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."