[DevSop]

It's the young kid on the block, the season and a half of our 3 seed Heroes. A show which has gotten past Matlock, Twin Peaks, and House now faces it's stiffest competition.

That competition comes in the form of the longest current serial drama, the 6 seed ER. ER has basically steamrolled it's opponents-Dirty Sexy Money, Veronica Mars, and CSI.

The winner here may get the privilege of losing in the finals.

3. HEROES




vs.


6. ER

[Fire-Babe]

yes! csi is OUT!

[National Champion Chris Cole]

Ugh, Heroes over House was a tough pill to swallow. I don't watch either of these shows but I have to vote Heroes because I would be interested in watching that on DVD someday. Not so with ER.

[Lucky]

Me not happy House is out. But its the show I loved for 1 season and found ok for half a season vs the show I see 30 second clips of before or after I watch other shows.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

metallikid said:

Not so with ER.

Seriously? Why?

[Lucky]

I'm not. I can't speak for MKid. Soap operas just aren't my ideal. And I've always gotten the impression that that's what ER was. And medical dramas have never been my ideal but St Elsewhere, House, and Scrubs feels like a full plate. None of the ER actors I know stand out as good enough to draw me in. I don't know. Nothing about ER makes me want to watch it just like nothing about it has made me want to watch it since it went on the air.

Although watching Shane West get run over by a truck in the 30 seconds before my DVRed episode of Las Vegas DID make me smile.

[salmonjunkie]

I haven't cared about ER since the second season. That may be the case with Heroes in the future, but all I know is if they were both on tomorrow night on TV, I'd watch Heroes and not DVR ER.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

The only defense I can make is that it didn't start out so soapy, it took a gradual exodus of the original cast for the show to focus on more action instead of the characters. I'll still put up the first 5 or 6 seasons of ER up against almost anything.

[DevSop]

But this isn't a match-up between seasons 1-5 of ER versus seasons 1-1.5 of Heroes. It's about all 14 seasons of ER. And I admit there was a time where ER was required viewing...Pretty much up until the mass exodus of Benton, Greene, and the lightening of Carter's role on the show. And that's when the should have ended and just maybe it'd be looked at as one of the best shows of all-time, but instead it's gone on about 7 seasons too long and now it's just wounded the legacy to such a degree that a shorter-running but more condensed quality show wins the competition between the door.

[Jack Quinn]

I think that is my problem with these showdowns. We are saying a longer running show is hurt because they faced the inevitable problems of poor ideas, or hell just running out of ideas. It comes up against a show that has barely been on, hasn't had to face ANY of that, and we say that it is automatically better. Doesn't seem right

[Lou]

I loved the first season of Heroes. This season I would dvr it, and maybe not watch it for a day or three. I haven't seen an episode of ER in probably 10 years, although I did like it at one time. I'll have to give this one a little thought.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

Solly, I don't like hospital shows. They don't interest me. My wife had to FORCE me to watch House. I'm glad she did. I like that show because it is part mystery and I love the cast of the show. But I never got into or tried to get into ER, Grey's Anatomy, or any of the other hospital shows.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

I'd at least give the first season a shot

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I probably won't. There are plenty of shows that I have a sincere interest in and have not yet gotten around to watch. Heroes, Sopranos, Deadwood Seasons 2 & 3, The Shield. I could go on but I think you get my point.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Well if you put it that way then yeah Sopranos, Deadwood and Shield should be your priority.

[creepy]

mooseheadjack said:

I think that is my problem with these showdowns. We are saying a longer running show is hurt because they faced the inevitable problems of poor ideas, or hell just running out of ideas. It comes up against a show that has barely been on, hasn't had to face ANY of that, and we say that it is automatically better. Doesn't seem right

I agree Moose. Let's see where Heros is in 15 years. And you know they'll do it as long as the World needs Savin'!!!!!*

I can see where a show like ER could win, but Heros has been on for 2 years? Best evar? Are you kidding me? Maybe these needed breaks like they are only eligible if they have been 5 years or if they
are off the air. A 2 year old best show ever is pretty lame.




*And as long as shitty shows make money, then the World will need Savin'.

[Lucky]

I've argued that short term shows have an unfair edge since the beginning of these TV showdowns. But when it comes down to it we judge a show on what it is. Heroes can't produce 3 more seasons right now so we can judge it fairly. And there's no way I'm giving ER or another show a vote PURELY because its long running. If a show did better over a longer run I'll vote for it. I voted House over Heroes last round because 3+ seasons have been better than 1+ of Heroes. House maintained its quality over 4 seasons and I think its 4th season is possibly its best. But do I think Heroes should lose a vote PURELY because its had a short run? No. That's silly.

I don't love this final 8 at all. Like most of these showdowns it shows the biases of our group and "recent" is a very real bias for us. That none of these shows existed before the '80s blows. That Magnum PI is the oldest show of the "best 8 of all time" sucks. But it is what it is. As MKid has argued its not "best ever." Its "most popular amongst our small group based on fairly random rankings and tournament knock offs." Do I think Heroes should be a Final Four? No, probably not. But I have to choose from Heroes and ER. If I could plug St Elsewhere or Hill Street Blues or Alfred Hitchcock Presents or the Twilight Zone in here I'd love to.

[Stu]

As MKid has argued its not "best ever." Its "most popular amongst our small group based on fairly random rankings and tournament knock offs."

If you know that then you should chill out about it. I know what you mean about the final outcomes of these things, and how we feel some thing should last longer, but it's really fairest that we only vote for things on a match by match basis, instead of looking at the overall picture. Otherwise, we're not being really true about which ones we prefer.

[Lucky]

Why do I have to "chill out?" Why do people think any of us really care about these showdowns? They're fun distractions. Sometimes you get sucked in. Sometimes you get disappointed by a matchup. But lets face it, these things exist because most of us like arguing with each other and calling each other names. Its good natured and we all forget it. Half the time I call Moose a mean name I'm in chat with him 2 hours later joking around about it.

I just like extended arguments on all manner of subjects. Its fun to me. So if its about the average acting ability of '80s TV actors for '90s - 21st Century TV Actors? That's a pretty silly argument but its not following me off the board.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

luckylopez said:

But lets face it, these things exist because most of us like arguing with each other and calling each other names.

I think Sop just likes the name-calling aspect.

[bigdonantonio]

I haven't seen an episode of ER in many years and haven't missed it. So I guess I'm going with Heroes

[DevSop]

And Heroes completes the Elite 8 domination by recent shows. Should be an interesting Final 4 for some people.