The Simpsons win TV series tournament with 503 votes
The Simpsons won the tournament, defeating Twin Peaks in the final. Breaking Bad lost narrowly in the semifinals.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The Simpsons win TV series tournament with 503 votes
One statistic stands out more than any other in the final tally: Twin Peaks started the tournament with 144 votes in the first round, an absolute record for the competition despite having one less voting day, and ultimately lost the final to The Simpsons by 134 to 76. Matt Groening's series took the title with 503 accumulated votes against David Lynch's creation's 458, in a tournament that closed with a ranking of twenty series where anime, cartoons, and auteur television drama coexist.
The contest organizer, who signs the count, admits that Breaking Bad would have won had it not fallen in the semifinals to The Simpsons by just two votes: 65 to 63. That matchup decided the tournament more than the final itself.
Which series made the top 10 of the tournament
The final ranking is led by The Simpsons (503), original Twin Peaks (458), Breaking Bad (379), The X-Files (301), and The Wire (260). Rounding out the top 10 are Dragon Ball (249), The Sopranos and Chernobyl tied at 231, Knight Rider (190), and The Pink Panther (181).
There is a pattern the count itself points to without hesitation: among the eight best, only Chernobyl can be considered relatively recent. The rest are products with decades behind them. The inevitable conclusion is that the weight of nostalgia—what forum jargon calls the oldies factor—has been dominant from start to finish.
The opposite case is The Return, the third season of Twin Peaks by Lynch, which barely made a mark and was eliminated against the original series by a decisive 78 to 6. The mother held up; the late experiment did not.
Why The Simpsons won despite 20 irregular seasons
The paradox running through the entire tournament is this: The Simpsons have been a shadow of their former selves for over two decades and yet they have taken the title. Some argue that the first ten or eleven seasons are enough to justify the throne, and that their influence on common language, memes, and social satire is hard to match. Against this weighs the argument that the series has sold out for twenty years and that, by that criterion, it shouldn't even be in the top 10.
The contrast with other cases is revealing. Game of Thrones finished thirteenth with 163 votes, burdened by an ending that ruined its fruta. Lost doesn't even appear. Twin Peaks, however, has a huge drop after episode 2x08 and it hasn't hurt its standing. The conclusion drawn from the count is uncomfortable: a series' fruta depends less on its average quality than on the memory of its best moments.
The 'Paco' factor and the collapse of prestige series
The organizer distinguishes two classic biases: the oldies factor (nostalgia) and the 'Paco' factor (massive and poorly informed voting). In the movie tournament, the second was decisive; here, however, in the round of sixteen, the process was clean.
What has clearly emerged is the penalty for series with excellent fruta. The Wire stayed at 260 votes, The Sopranos at 231, True Detective at 121, and Fargo doesn't even figure among the top twenty. Only Breaking Bad held its ground. The most repeated explanation is simple: not everyone has seen The Wire, but everyone has seen an episode of The Simpsons.
Modern anime and 80s series, in their place
Dragon Ball reached sixth place with 249 votes, but the diagnosis of the count is blunt: modern Japanese anime is niche. What works is what aired during the voters' childhoods. Chicho Terremoto and Dragon Ball belong to a different category than the rest of the genre.
The beloved 80s series gave what they could. Knight Rider signed ninth place with 190 votes and The Pink Panther tenth with 181. V, with 172, and Miami Vice, with 129, complete the portrait of a generation that votes with memory, not with archives.
With these numbers, it would be reasonable to expect that the series best rated by critics would sweep the board. It didn't happen. And the question left hanging, unanswered in the count, is whether in twenty years anyone will vote for today's airing series with the same devotion shown to The Simpsons.
One statistic stands out more than any other in the final tally: Twin Peaks started the tournament with 144 votes in the first round, an absolute record for the competition despite having one less voting day, and ultimately lost the final to The Simpsons by 134 to 76. Matt Groening's series took the title with 503 accumulated votes against David Lynch's creation's 458, in a tournament that closed with a ranking of twenty series where anime, cartoons, and auteur television drama coexist.
The contest organizer, who signs the count, admits that Breaking Bad would have won had it not fallen in the semifinals to The Simpsons by just two votes: 65 to 63. That matchup decided the tournament more than the final itself.
Which series made the top 10 of the tournament
The final ranking is led by The Simpsons (503), original Twin Peaks (458), Breaking Bad (379), The X-Files (301), and The Wire (260). Rounding out the top 10 are Dragon Ball (249), The Sopranos and Chernobyl tied at 231, Knight Rider (190), and The Pink Panther (181).
There is a pattern the count itself points to without hesitation: among the eight best, only Chernobyl can be considered relatively recent. The rest are products with decades behind them. The inevitable conclusion is that the weight of nostalgia—what forum jargon calls the oldies factor—has been dominant from start to finish.
The opposite case is The Return, the third season of Twin Peaks by Lynch, which barely made a mark and was eliminated against the original series by a decisive 78 to 6. The mother held up; the late experiment did not.
Why The Simpsons won despite 20 irregular seasons
The paradox running through the entire tournament is this: The Simpsons have been a shadow of their former selves for over two decades and yet they have taken the title. Some argue that the first ten or eleven seasons are enough to justify the throne, and that their influence on common language, memes, and social satire is hard to match. Against this weighs the argument that the series has sold out for twenty years and that, by that criterion, it shouldn't even be in the top 10.
The contrast with other cases is revealing. Game of Thrones finished thirteenth with 163 votes, burdened by an ending that ruined its fruta. Lost doesn't even appear. Twin Peaks, however, has a huge drop after episode 2x08 and it hasn't hurt its standing. The conclusion drawn from the count is uncomfortable: a series' fruta depends less on its average quality than on the memory of its best moments.
The 'Paco' factor and the collapse of prestige series
The organizer distinguishes two classic biases: the oldies factor (nostalgia) and the 'Paco' factor (massive and poorly informed voting). In the movie tournament, the second was decisive; here, however, in the round of sixteen, the process was clean.
What has clearly emerged is the penalty for series with excellent fruta. The Wire stayed at 260 votes, The Sopranos at 231, True Detective at 121, and Fargo doesn't even figure among the top twenty. Only Breaking Bad held its ground. The most repeated explanation is simple: not everyone has seen The Wire, but everyone has seen an episode of The Simpsons.
Modern anime and 80s series, in their place
Dragon Ball reached sixth place with 249 votes, but the diagnosis of the count is blunt: modern Japanese anime is niche. What works is what aired during the voters' childhoods. Chicho Terremoto and Dragon Ball belong to a different category than the rest of the genre.
The beloved 80s series gave what they could. Knight Rider signed ninth place with 190 votes and The Pink Panther tenth with 181. V, with 172, and Miami Vice, with 129, complete the portrait of a generation that votes with memory, not with archives.
With these numbers, it would be reasonable to expect that the series best rated by critics would sweep the board. It didn't happen. And the question left hanging, unanswered in the count, is whether in twenty years anyone will vote for today's airing series with the same devotion shown to The Simpsons.
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (109 replies).
More summaries
-
The Simpsons wins vote for best TV series of all time
The Simpsons beats Twin Peaks (134-76) in a tournament that started from the highest-rated shows on Filmaffinity and left out The Wire and Breaking Bad.
-
Beyond Breaking Bad: Streaming Series That Actually Deliver
178 recommendations form a unique canon, from Escape at Dannemora to Frasier. True excellence often hides off the front page.
-
Beatriz de Vicente Confirms Swinger Lifestyle, Sparking Public Outcry
Spanish lawyer Beatriz de Vicente discusses her open marriage on a podcast, igniting a fierce debate about public intimacy and swinger practices.
-
Outdoor Sex in Spain: Drones, Wildlife and Rural Nostalgia
A forum thread on sex in Spanish forests highlights drone surveillance risks and rural nostalgia for lack of privacy.
-
Galicia Integration: Outsiders Describe Cultural Barrier
Testimonies depict Galicia as a hard-to-penetrate community for newcomers, highlighting distrust and the 6% population data.
-
Charmed Actress Sparks Debate Over 'The Wall'
A Charmed actress born in 1975 reignites the debate on aging versus neglect, with forum users comparing her look to peers.