We've arrived at the final match-up to determine the overall winner. Although I would of liked to see some of my more favorite shows in the final round, I can't complain about the match-up. Once again, I will hold my vote in case of a tie.

Voting will remain open on this round for one week, until January 2nd.

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE --VS-- BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER




last round......
Twilight Zone defeated Farscape, 10-7
Buffy the Vampire Slayer defeated Quantum Leap, 11-6

To Learn more about The Twilight Zone - http://www.tzworld.com/
To Learn more about Buffy The Vampire Slayer - http://www.upn.com/shows/buffy/

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bump to keep near the top.

To be honest, Chew, I lost alot of interest in this tourney after the "do-over."

And now, seeing the "final two"... I've lost all interest. (The Farscape inclusion nearly made me forget the ridiculousness that both Treks went bye-bye.)

Good luck, though.

Yeah, everybody lost interest. Including me. But, I wanted to see it through to the end anyway.

I just wished one of the initial rules was: you can only vote in each match-up if you've seen the complete run of each show. I really think we would of had a much different final four if that were the case.

I find myself very vexed with the dominance that Buffy has shown. It's a good show, but to own Twilight Zone like this - an enduring classic icon of television, one with insightful commentary on the world, with solid writing and acting across the board (the cast of TZ is a list of top shelf actors a mile long) - is just wrong.

To be trounced 2-1 like that indicates that there is something seriously askew with people, enjoying a quick flash in the pan over a timeless classic.

(Of course the very argument that Buffy is better than all other SF shows - Old School Trek, Babylon 5 and Doctor Who to name a few - is just ludicrous indeed. Its a flawed concept from the get-go.)

This would exclude too many people from voting. And what defines "the complete run"? I've watched all 7 seasons of Star Trek:TNG when it originally aired on TV, but there were some weeks that I missed because the cable was out, it was preempted by sports, the VCR didn't work, etc. and I haven't been able to see it on DVD yet. Should I be excluded from voting for that show if I missed around 5% of the episodes? What about someone who watched only seasons 1-5 of Buffy or 3-7 of Voyager?

Also it'd mean some people would need to miss out on voting for thier favorite show if it was against something they hated. For a fictional example, suppose Babylon 5 were up against Touched by an Angel. Are all the Babylon 5 fans supposed to forfit their vote because they hated TbaA and never watched every episode of that show?

Sez you. It's not ludicrous, it's a perfectly valid opinion that you don't happen to hold. Of course, any tournament like this is going to dissapoint almost everyone except fans of the winning shows. People will always have different opinions and perspectives. I've seen enough of Farscape, for example, to see what other people enjoy about it, and I can see how it could be someone's favorite show ever- it just happens not to be mine. It doesn't mean that I'd think someone who would argue (or vote) that Farscape is better than B5 or Trek is ludicrous. It's just a valid opinion that I don't happen to hold.

Anyway this is an interesting (if somewhat flawed) tournament. (How did the seeding work to put Buffy and B5 up against each other so early on???)

Keep the votes coming.

OK, "complete" was a bit extreme. There just seemed to be way too many early votes that said something to the effect of: "I've never seen this certain show and only an episode or two of the other. So, I'm voting for the second one."

A differing opinion:

The thing about Twilight Zone is that while it may be a timeless classic, it's classic in the old way of science fiction--idea driven stories with cardboard characters. When you have half hour shows with new characters each time, there's no real way to present much more than a neat idea. It was a great show, but limited by its format and nowhere near as good as Farscape or Babylon 5 (or Buffy). All in my opinion of course . . . I can see how someone would love Twilight Zone, but it seems very dated to me.


tasha

Buffy! Buffy! Buffy!

I think we should do this with a March Madness seeding in place. Start w/ 64.

Actually, it did. The first round had 64 shows, seperated into four brackets which started on 10/03.

They were randomlyy choosen, not seeded. So you had Farscape and MST3K up against each other in the first round.

Well, your opinion is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong!




The weakness of Zone - the constant cycle of cardboard characters (or characters as fleshed out as the story needed them to be) displays the amazing strength of the writing. Also, really now much development do you need? Does it make Nightmare at 20,000 Feet a better story if you know that Bill Shatner was a recovering gambling addict that was abused as a child and is afraid to fly as a result?

Not really.

As for the cheap and dated, that too is a strength. A perfect example being the old and new Battlestar Galactica. On new Galactica everything look fantastic at the expense of little details like good screenwriting and a sense of fun. Shows like the old school Star Trek, Doctor Who and the original Galactica may look cheap, but they play like a million bucks. Unfortunately the new Galactica looks like a million bucks, but plays like a lead balloon.

Now, all of this is not to say that Buffy is bad - far from it, in fact. I just powered through the last half of season 4 over the last couple of days and enjoyed myself immensely. However, there's a reason that Doctor Who has been around and going strong for 40 years. There's a reason that Old School Trek is such an identifiable icon around the world.

I just cant see how anyone could put a newcomer over the old gods like that.

^bump^

Zone, of course.

What El-Kabong said.

Last chance for voting! The poll will close tomorrow morning.

After it's strong opening lead, Buffy gave up the crown in the last few days due to a late surge and Twilight Zone won the tournament!

I wonder if the big Sci-Fi marathon had anything to do with that?

I'm sure it did. All the Zone haters grudgingly watched an ep or two and had to admit to themselves it was, indeed, the better program.