Journey Through the Decade - 2019 SpoilerTV Favorite Series Competition Post
Nine editions of SpoilerTV's ultimate competition, the Favorite Series Competition, has been held. The site's mainstay competition since 2010 has seen numerous victors: Supernatural took the site's jewel crown in 2010 and 2011 before losing the crown the next year and retained it a year after, with ABC's popular crime drama Castle responsible for The CW show's missed third consecutive title. Coming far from Scotland, Outlander emerged victorious in 2014, and a year after one show even managed to win the site's triple crown for two years straight: Person of Interest, whose Series Competition win has been their cherry topping for three editions straight. Last year, Lucifer dominated many polls upon renewal to Netflix after the original network FOX cancelled the show, and all those victories included the Series Competition.
The tenth edition of the competition put 32 best shows from current broadcast and ended ones, with interesting names spicing up the field. Past victors, including Lucifer, set to add another title to their credit after completing their SpoilerTV triple crown in this year's Episode Competition and missing out the podium in the last Character Cup, while runners-up from the likes of Shadowhunters, Psych, and Buffy, among others, vied for their almost-successes they had over the course of their all-time appearances. Battling alongside them were victors from other STV competitions such as Timeless, Supergirl, and The 100, while hot newcomers Schitt's Creek, Dynasty, and Euphoria, along with award-winning names like Game of Thrones, Orphan Black, The Americans, The Handmaid's Tale, and Westworld, also joined the fray in search of their first ever title as the competition reached its one decade milestone.
STATISTICS
The following statistics (with the exception of the all-time ones) make use of competition years from 2014 to 2018 as a comparison to this year's number, since some of the stats incorporate STV's other competitions as well, being Episode Competition and Character Cup.
The first poll page revealed the number of nominations to stand with under 400 submissions (with the exact number being 365, roughly half from last year's figure, circa 700), with 149 current shows and 182 finished shows nominated within the submissions for a total of 331 nominated shows. Votes for this year stand at roughly 38,000 which might not be as much, especially comparing to last year's ~93,000 and the all-time record of 125K votes in 2014, although the number is almost on par with 2015, only about two thousand votes short. These numbers are confirmed by Bradley Adams, the competition's host.
In a more positive news, a record-breaking number of 110 shows have been represented across three STV competitions for this year, ten more from previous record of 100 in 2017, 2016, and 2014. More than one thirds of the roster are predominantly Sci-Fi/Fantasy (39 shows) and Drama (41 shows) shows while more than a half of the composition are broadcast network shows (57 shows). Five countries were represented across three competitions with 26 networks represented. The CW and Netflix contributed the most with 14 shows across the competitions.
This year sees an additional 13 shows to the all-time roster established since the first competition in 2010, bringing it up 191. Eight shows have competed since its first edition in 2010 from the likes of Supernatural, Breaking Bad, Fringe, Buffy, LOST, The X-Files, Dexter, Friends, and Firefly. Doctor Who's absence from the competition effectively kicked the show off from this list. Worth noting that out of these names, Supernatural has also consistently competed in all three STV competitions since 2014.
Debuting competitors this year come from different backgrounds in terms of competition history: Dark, Euphoria, Line of Duty, Orange is the New Black, and The Boys made their official debut in SpoilerTV competitions, not just limited to the Series Competition. Three of these shows are actually total freshman shows, while Line of Duty has been around for five seasons, and yet OITNB's "late" appearance in this competition is kinda surprising since the show was involved in different couple competitions years before. On a more interesting note, Netflix's Dark is the new non-English addition to the STV competitions in general and the first in Series Competition, being a German-produced show. For this reason, Germany is the sixth country of origin represented in STV competitions in general; in case you missed it, the fifth one was Mexico in Character Cup and in the same competition Australia was represented in 2016 thanks to Farscape.
While competing as debuting entries along with the five freshmen above, Schitt's Creek, Dynasty, Chicago Fire, and Killing Eve completed their full commitments to all of SpoilerTV's competitions, with The CW show being the actual freshman name out of the three since the rest did other competitions prior to this one. Another noteworthy freshman name with prior competition experience is Legacies which returned to the competition after missing out on Character Cup. Daredevil, and Peaky Blinders made their Series Competition debut after years in Character Cup (and Episode Competition in the former's case) as well. Black Mirror, on the other hand, is a special case in that the show only appeared in the 2017 Episode Competition to date until present. These 13 shows follow the 54 others as the one-off names in the competition since 2010.
This year's competition seems to be focused more on returning names as 51 shows are in fact returning names, but this is later split into 40 names from last year's bloodbath and 11 from absence. Returning from 2017 are Fargo, NCIS, House, One Tree Hill, and Glee, while Chuck, The Blacklist, and Banshee represent 2016, and both Stargate SG-1 and Hawaii Five=0 broke their absence from 2015 and 2014 respectively. The real MVP within this list however goes to Twin Peaks, returning from as early as the 2010 competition with absolutely no other appearances on the site's competitions. The most bizarre thing is that it didn't happen as early as 2017, the year the show returned to the television (dubbed as the third season), but perhaps a plan for the show's future continuation might trigger it. No matter how you see the situation, there's some sort of a callback to 2017's inclusion of Psych where its upcoming TV movie fueled the show's competitive call. In return, six shows also succeeded in making their second appearances, automatically relegating them to the "one-off" list. These shows include Legends of Tomorrow, The Expanse, The Good Place, and The Handmaid's Tale, all being last year debutants, as well as Fargo and Twin Peaks.
That said, the competition's current show roster is made up with 11 debuting shows and 21 returning shows while the ended show roster sees 2 debuting and 30 returning. Of the 21 returning current shows, 17 return from last year while 4 return from absence, whereas the 30 returning ended shows has a ratio of 23 for last year and 7 from absence.
Speaking of competing in other STV competitions, 21 shows participated in both Episode Competition and Character Cup prior to the competition, 26 did Episode Competition only, and 34 did Character Cup only for this year. Not that much if you compare with the previous five years of the competition where the lowest were 27 for Episode Competition returns and 36 for Character Cup returns, not to mention that 27 shows competed in all three last year and this year's number matched 2017's with 21, record lowest. As for the numbers for current and ended shows, 20 did Character Cup, 21 did Episode Competition, and 17 did both for the current squad, while ended squad has 14 from Character Cup, 5 from Episode Competition, and 4 that did both.
By show genres, this year leaned towards Sci-Fi/Fantasy more than Drama shows like last year, and even the difference between competing comedies and teen dramas aren't that far. Traditionally, the competition has quite a lot of drama and sci-fi/fantasy shows competing with not much comedies on the grid, though the numbers for the competing comedies this year progressed nicely since last year, now standing at a record number, but at a price of teen dramas since last year the competition saw 11 titles and this year only had 8, an average number for the genre. Newcomer Euphoria is considered as a teen show and the same applies to Legacies as well since it's part of the Vampire Diaries universe which already has been a teen-focused franchise. Drama numbers stay from last year while Sci-Fi/Fantasy numbers is one step away from the record within the last six editions. Interesting to note that distributions between current and finished shows are equal for comedies, 5-3 for teen dramas in favor of finished shows, 16-10 in favor of current shows for sci-fi/fantasy, and 10-14 in favor of finished shows for dramas. Also take note that the categorization may not be reliable: Dramedy shows are often lumped in either Comedy and Drama categories at a random whim (a case for OITNB) while Action and Horror/Thriller genres (Dark is one) are lumped within Sci-Fi/Fantasy, as well as Superhero shows, be it Marvel's universe or the Arrowverse.
Unlike Character Cup, the Series Competition has its own cut-off date. For this year, the cut-off date to determine the competition's Current and Finished shows is June 30, 2019 (based on the nomination page). Simply put, current shows refer to shows aired or set to air new episodes after the date, while finished shows refer to those with final episode aired on the cut-off date or earlier. These are exactly the definitions I used, save for the further categorization between "current" and "active" shows; the former is reserved for shows ended on the date while the latter is reserved for shows still airing after the first round, with a special weekly episode simulation system for Netflix shows. In addition, I use the cut-off date of January 1, 2017 instead of the official one, the same cut-off date I use for my Character Cup analysis this year. If I were to apply it to the official cut-off date, it'd be June 30, 2017.
Though there are 32 current shows this year based on the competition's official categorizing, the exact composition made up of 30 shows still active for the next season, with 3 streaming shows theoretically count as active shows although no actual shows aired during the competition's run, and only one on hiatus with no cancellation announced yet (being Sherlock, rebranded as a finished show despite no cancellation announced). However, two of them, being Stranger Things and The Boys, are actually renewed for another season while only OITNB who has become an ended show as the show's final season has arrived prior to the competition. To further clarify on these theoretical active shows, it is based on the "simulated airing" calculation exclusively for streaming shows released in binge format (e.g., all episodes of one whole season), where each episode in the release counts as a weekly episode, counting from their release date, though this rule will not count towards the true statistics for active shows. In this case, Stranger Things is the only show who still has the active show status from the Character Cup as the show's status would last until August 25, with the other being The Boys. With this rule though, OITNB counts as a current show in this statistics despite being categorized as an ended show in the competition proper. Former active shows during Character Cup The 100, The Handmaid's Tale, and S.H.I.E.L.D. have finished their run before the nominations are closed, but in return are three of four shows to end after the June 30 cut-off, joining Euphoria. As for the 32 finished shows, 14 ended their run after 2017 while 16 ended way earlier. Completing the count are Sherlock and OITNB with reasons already stated above. That said, this year continued 2018's number of renewed shows competing with the ratio of competing ended shows leaned towards those ended earlier than the two-year cut-off, a trend that lasted from 2014 to 2016.
Breaking down the number of networks represented in the competition, it's basically your usual suspects + cable networks, along with BBC/PBS representing the public broadcast front, plus the already-defunct The WB (thanks to Buffy). This year however saw introduction of one new streaming service in the competition, namely Amazon Prime, but it was actually courtesy of The Boys, mind you (for those expecting Mrs. Maisel). While this is the third time in a row The CW become the most-represented network, Netflix has pulled the surprise of having seven entries, a new record for streaming services overall, going as far as being the second-most network represented next to NBC. In other news, 11 cable networks were represented with HBO being the most represented in the category, and BBC as the sole represent for public networks with three shows, comprising of Peaky Blinders, Sherlock (which I previously listed as a PBS show), and Line of Duty, the competition's newcomer. In total, 22 are represented with 21 still active, the highest in competition's history.
In turn, more than half of the roster is populated by broadcast network shows, with the rest populated with cable shows (with almost 1/3 of the roster), streaming shows, and shows aired on public networks in order. This year sees the lowest number for broadcast represents while cable and public network shows have been stable in the past six years despite sitting in average number. The number of streaming shows though has progressively risen each year, with the recent edition saw the most contribution of all-time.
The full distribution for current and finished shows for networks represented and network syndications are as shown in above table. The CW is the competition's most represented network for the fourth time in a row since 2016 while Amazon Prime, Hulu, Starz, and CBC all fielded current shows. FOX has the most ended shows represented for this year, which in fact all comprised of ended shows only. Other active networks fielding only ended shows include Showtime, Freeform, Cinemax, USA Network, and MTV.
RECAP
(Image: Tenor)
The competition started with 16-day first round featuring some of the great opening matches. Opening the first week of polls, LOST, along with reigning champions Person of Interest, Outlander, Castle, and Lucifer all through to the next round while the same can't be said for Supernatural, whose attempt for the fourth title had to be nixxed after their loss against Legends of Tomorrow. Both Legacies's and Orange Is The New Black's debut to the competition didn't leave a good impression either after losing to Dark and Dexter respectively, with Firefly one-upped Bones by only a fraction of votes and Breaking Bad shamed Glee as the show had to face their fourth straight first round exit across eight competitions on the site. More shows duked it out in the second week with a time travel derby of Timeless and 12 Monkeys resulted in former's victor. Arrow and Game of Thrones were subject to seeded show exists as well courtesy of The Blacklist and Chuck respectively, while Shadowhunters, Buffy, Killing Eve, Sense8, and The 100 made a strong impression, moreso Black Mirror who booted off Grey's by a mere one vote. The final two days of the first round is completed with Supergirl, Psych, House, and Hawaii Five-0 emerging victorious.
The second round lasted for eight days and was opened with Dynasty's strong showing against The X-Files, paired with POI's win which effectively paired them for the next round. The DC and Marvel rivalry realized within Legends vs. Daredevil of which The CW show saw the light of the next round, but same can't be said to its fellow Arrowverse compatriot Supergirl who lost to Psych in the final day of the round, following the headlining exits of Killing Eve and S.H.I.E.L.D.. Twin Peaks' prime after its long absence also stopped here at the hands of The Blacklist as Breaking Bad suffered the same with Castle, proving that the the pen is mightier than meth, and not to mention Amazon Prime's headlining debutant The Boys had to pack earlier courtesy of Timeless as well. Other notable success stories came from Fringe, Shadowhunters, The 100, Buffy, and Five-0.
The third round that lasted four days continued the journey of the remaining 16 title seekers, with only 12 seeded shows remain along with 4 unseeded ones. Already the competition escalated with Dynasty easily ending POI's reign by 84% of votes with LOST securing the berth for the next round on the same day. Both Shadowhunters and Timeless also booked their place in the quarterfinals after enduring the strong oppositions of The Blacklist for the former and The 100 for the latter. Lucifer's indomitable strength ended Castle's journey for another title, with Fringe awaiting the Netflix series for the next round's duel. Concluding the round are victories from Buffy and Psych, straight out of defeating Sense8 and Hawaii Five-0 respectively, ending both of their journeys with already a new personal record in hand.
The polls now moved to one-day affairs after a one-day break as the quarterfinals went into the horizon. Both LOST and Lucifer proved too strong for Dynasty and Fringe respectively after both advancing shows led the entire 24 hours of the poll. Buffy also opened the round with a strong showing, but Psych easily crashed The WB contender in search of the title, earning the show its second semifinal appearance in its third year with a hope of another appearance in this year's final a la 2017. The headlining story of the round however went to the battle between Timeless and Shadowhunters, two of the passionate TV fandoms whose shows have ended already. Timeless led the majority of the poll, but the Freeform show slowly gained pace after three quarters of the distance. It wasn't until the 22nd hour that they found their footing and managed to outwit NBC's time-travel show in the final hours, ending the duel with a winning percentage of 51.3%.
Final round of this year's Series Competition summed in a nutshell. (Image: Tenor)
LOST, Lucifer, Shadowhunters, and Psych all lined up for the semifinal round, with each syndication and each network represented at this point, with one guaranteed a cable show in the final with the broadcast network show facing the ex-broadcast network show, now a Netflix show. Lucifer still proved to be a strong contender for the entire poll despite the ABC show (and SpoilerTV site's origin)'s attempts at gaining back its loss which often ended up a failure with slow drops in percentages. On the other side, Psych started out with a bang which saw the show building up lead from the Freeform show. Yet, the series caught up the same way like in the previous round with the final 2 hours proved to be the show's awakening, all for its appearance in the final round and invoking the rematch of last year's Character Cup.
As the final round came, the title is on the line within the 48-hour poll, between the second consecutive title and the first ever title. As the poll begins, Shadowhunters led the early hours before Lucifer made a dent to the opposing show's lead to attain a lead, reaching 59% mark after 12 hours. Despite gaining up to 60%, Shadowhunters fought back, slowly gaining until taking back the lead by the 22nd hour and secured the lead for the first day. The next 8 hours after, SH extended its lead before Lucifer slowly gaining in an attempt for a fight back, but it was a vain attempt as the final six hours had the Netflix show's percentage dropped slowly, handing Shadowhunters its first victory on the competition and the site overall with over 4000 votes cast, making it the edition's most-voted poll. The third place poll meanwhile was won by Psych, maintaining its strong lead to end the round with a 57.7% lead to its favor.
Following its win, Shadowhunters has become the sixth show to win the competition since 2010 in its third appearance, first teen drama winner and third winner to originate from a book series (2012 winner Castle is based on a series of novels featuring Nikki Heat while 2014 winner Outlander is based on Diana Gabaldon's book of the same name). It is also the second winner from a cable network following Outlander, and effectively made Freeform (formerly ABC Family) the sixth network represented in the Hall of Fame, second cable network next to Starz. As for the runner-up, Lucifer's streak in the competition has lasted for 11 polls straight and has become the first streaming show to become the competition's runner-up. Had the Netflix show won, it would be the first show in the competition to be represented by two networks since the show won as a FOX show last year, but it is respectable enough to become the highest finisher among streaming shows in competition's history, setting the bar high for the future competitions.
While you can view the competition's complete bracket in full here (in case this isn't big enough for you), I proudly present the 2019 SpoilerTV Competitions Suite spreadsheet, a complete spreadsheet containing statistics, brackets, and results for SpoilerTV's competitions; Episode Competition, Character Cup, and Series Competition. Alongside my contributions, I've compiled additional data across competitions contributed by the likes of Dahne, Bradley Adams, and Laura Markus (Yes, the percentages for the Series Competition come from her spreadsheet here!) as well, which you can view in full web format here or in downloadable form over here.
IN CONCLUSION
(Image: SpoilerTV / Freeform)
Lucifer against Shadowhunters; a feat that finally saw its light once more after last year's Character Cup and a full-scaled feat for victory. One might guessed that the Netflix show with a huge fanbase and popularity could take this one up, which would earn the show its second consecutive title, but the goddess of fortune had a different fate set: a victory to the now-ended Freeform series based on the books by Cassandra Clare. In all its three years of competing here, the show never fell earlier than in the semifinals, and this year has marked a testament to the fandom's strength that has been developed since its first airing.
One can remember the fact that the show is familiar to being the runners-up in competitions; its second place finishes during E!Online's TV's Top Couple in 2016 and 2017 through Magnus and Alec, a couple of runner-up honors in poll-based awards over STV and E!Online in 2018, second place finish in last year's Character Cup, and a third place finish in last year's Series Competition. This year, though, they upped the ante with a variety of victories, whether it's the show's three Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror category wins over TellTaleTV's Awards or all the sweeps in the TV Scoop Awards, maintaining such perseverance even after dominating People's Choice Awards last year. The fandom's consistent silverwares and coveted gold trophies proved further how passionate the Shadowfam are, even despite their show's ending. As an ended show whose eligibility would soon vanish in most of the key competitions (except SpoilerTV's Character Cup and Series Competition of course), this marked yet another precious collection as the show's parting gift. If they could sweep PCAs once more like they did last year, it won't be a zero surprise for a fandom that has been performing well in competitions since their 2016 debut.
(Image: SpoilerTV / Freeform)
As the tenth edition has come to an end, the SpoilerTV Favorite Series Competition shall head towards the next decade. Being the site's earliest competition, it has withstand ten years of competitiveness with fandoms come and go with different winners carved their marks. Almost 200 shows have stepped their feet in the competition that has pitted current and finished shows, with a myriad of winners claimed the title. One can wonder how next year's eleventh running would shape with so many TV shows come and go, along with the fandoms that go with them. The journey for another decade has started for the site's competition, perhaps the longest-running polling competition involving TV shows, ever.
And as the time goes by, Fall TV season has already come...
~[R]