[Courtney]

Here we are. The Finals!!! Two big powerful men. In this corner, Tony Soprano, the biggest baddest mofo mafia boss in the entire world. In the other corner, we got Vic Mackey, the biggest baddest mofo dirty cop in the entire world. Who's gonna win? Let's do it.

THE SOPRANOS



vs.

THE SHIELD



Poll will close Tuesday, October 30th, at 10:30 CST!!!

[Lori]

I am entirely satisfied with this final 2, although it was kind of predictable. I got nervous for a minute, I didn't even see Deadwood making an impact because I thought it sucked pretty hard. This is probably the point where most of you choose Tony over Vic. I honestly think The Shield is the better show, having seen almost all of both. (I still haven't seen the end of the Sopranos, and season 7 of The Shield isn't out yet.) After I see the very end of each, maybe my opinion will change, but so far The Shield has kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what the hell they were going to come up with next for a good long time. The Sopranos is also excellent, and I won't freak out if it wins, but I still think it lags slightly behind The Shield.



[edit]

And Vic is way hotter than Tony. Not to mention The Shield has Lem. Hot guy vote!

[The Jewish Cunthead]

I've been hooked on The Shield since the pilot in 2002. With the Homicide-esque camera angles and breakneck kinetic pace, it's easily the most exciting and baddest show on tv. If Sam Jackson's BAD MUTHAFUCKA wallet from Pulp Fiction was a tv show, it would be The Shield. But we're talking about The Sopranos... it's the show that re-invented the TV drama with its multi-layered stories and characters. The problem with it is that the casual fans got tired of Tony's home life and just wanted "whackings". To me, the Mafia subplot was secondary to Tony dealing with his panic attacks and loveless upbringing, namely from his mother. I mean shit, she even conspired to kill him in Season One.

And even if Vic is way hotter than Tony, Meadow is way hotter than Danny, Corrine, Shane's wife, et al. OMG HOT CHICK VOTE~!11

[Jack Quinn]

I haven't seen The Shield but it is Michael Chicklis, and he played in Wired, perhaps the worst Bio ever created. For that offense, I must vote Sopranos

[DevSop]

Lori, do I owe you a vote here?

[Lori]

Yes!!! Thank you!

[Courtney]

Just wanted to remind everyone that this poll closes TOMORROW at 10 CST.

[Lori]

It's close, Vic could come back. C'mon people, I know there were more than 12 of you voting.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

Some of the comedy showdowns had well over 20 voters.

[williamssl]

Maybe there's a correlation between voting and giving a shit.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I'm wondering how this would have gone over if all dramas were combined. Much better I'd presume.

[DevSop]

Except we'd have the very same final or else the showdown would be bullshit. You guys can complain all you want about separating the two drama showdowns, but the fact is, either the sopranos/shield is the most likely final anyway, or people are stupid and they aren't in the finals.

If people really don't think these 2 are the two best dramas, I just give up. I truly would give up, but Lost or anything from a network wouldn't come close to touching these 2 or deadwood or a few others. And if people weren't trying to be assholes, Raw never even makes the showdown. But you can keep complaining about it.

[williamssl]

devilsoprano said:

And if people weren't trying to be assholes, Raw never even makes the showdown.

Don't confuse INTENT with how you feel about RESULTS.

Decision was made to split out cable dramas.
Many people, myself included, don't know a lot of cable dramas. I think the # of entries and depth of people's entries supports this.
Not speaking for others, but RAW is one of the few cable shows I watch regularly and have watched pretty much since its debut.
I know it, I watch it, I nominate it under this framework.
I'm guessing others followed suit. It got a lot of nominations and ended up high on the list. Hell, it progressed fairly far through the tournament.

So you may not like the fact that it was nominated and that it ended up in the showdown and thus we're assholes for bringing about that result, but back off the intent thing.

I've deliberately abstained in this showdown matchup (and many others). Don't watch either show. Don't know enough about them to cast a vote. But if I were an asshole, I might vote for one now anyhow.

And I'll go on record as saying you're delusional if you think an all-drama showdown, inclusive of cable and network, would have resulted in this final matchup regardless. But alas we'll never know that now, will we?

[DevSop]

If it didn't result in this matchup, the showdown's a joke because they are the two best dramas on television. Anybody who has watched one and/or the other agrees with this with few exceptions. If this board had deemed L.A. Law or whatever the hell winds up winning the Network Showdown when I get to it as better than both of these shows, I just feel sad that people are that dumb.

[williamssl]

Let's just cancel the Network showdown then and declare the winner here as the ultimate victor. Easier. Quicker. And fewer "you're stupid" or "you're an asshole" 's.

[Courtney]

The decision was made to separate the two and that's that. If you don't like the results or anything else, then too bad. Would we have had more votes if we had combined the two? Probably. Would it have been the same final? Maybe so, maybe not. We'll never know unless we someday combine the two.

That being said, this showdown is over and the winner is...

THE SOPRANOS!!!

Thanks to everyone who nominated shows and voted. This was really fun.

[Lucky]

devilsoprano said:

If it didn't result in this matchup, the showdown's a joke because they are the two best dramas on television. Anybody who has watched one and/or the other agrees with this with few exceptions.

Like me. But cable rules all and every drama put on cable is hailed as great right out of the gates purely because its on cable. They can curse! Somehow we've deluded ourselves into this idea that only cable is capable of writing good TV. Its silly and based in nothing.

Bah. I knew Sopranos was gonna win because people have the same thinking Dev has. I liked some of it, loved a little of it, a lot of it was crap and overrated. But as much as I love the Shield its a bit overrated too. Only show in this contest I cared deeply for was The Wire and noone watches that so it never had a shot.

But these were the two greatest TV shows in history and you're stupid if you think otherwise. Because the internet says so.

[creepy]

luckylopez said:

Only show in this contest I cared deeply for was The Wire and noone watches that so it never had a shot.

I watch. It shoulda won. Haven't seen season 4 yet. Can't wait for that and I might get HBO just for season 5.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I'm not so sure Shield & Sopranos would have made it if it was combined. I'm sure 24, Lost, and many other Network shows would have done well because MORE people watch them. There was a bit of an anti-Premium sentiment and Shield wasn't a runaway winner either. I think some of the Network shows could have taken them out.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

I think Lost vs. Sopranos would have been a lot closer than Shield vs. Sopranos but I guess we'll never know.

Thanks for running it Court. This was fun.

[williamssl]

courtney said:

this showdown is over

[Courtney]

ok, now you're just being an ass. which isn't unusual, i grant you, but still...you're being an ass.