Battle of the Seasons - Showdown
Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 8:40 pm
And there we have it... 24 polls, 24 winning episodes... as chosen by you! I think we did really well to keep this going for as long as we did, so I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone that voted and made these 'Battle of the Seasons' polls successfully (maybe they could become a yearly tradition). On the whole I think it's a pretty good batch of episodes, obviously there are some absolute classics missing such as 'Halloween', 'Out with Dad', 'Dial M for Martin', 'Dinner Party', etc, but I guess they just were unlucky enough to draw some extremely stiff competition. Episodes that I don't really think deserve their place on the poll include 'Author, Author', 'Come Lie with Me' (sorry BN/Strat), 'Breaking the Ice' (although I still like it), 'Seat of Power' (it beats High Holidays!), Adventures of Bad Boy and Dirty Girl (sorry Rudy) and Flour Child (much as I love Christopher Lloyd). And I know I said this poll wouldn't start until Monday, after the 'Episode 24' poll expires, but I can't see anything overtaking 'My Coffee with Niles' now, so thought I may as well get on with it. I'm not setting a close date for this poll, like the previous ones, so it'll be open forever and ever! Happy voting - let the showdown begin!
Below is our ultimate season;
THE TWO MRS CRANES 35% (6 votes)
SHRINK RAP SEASON 25% (4 votes)
THE MATCHMAKER 36% (8 votes)
FLOUR CHILD 46% (7 votes)
KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE 55% (11 votes)
MIXED DOUBLES 47% (8 votes)
THE ADVENTURES OF BAD BOY AND DIRTY GIRL 26% (5 votes)
THE LAST TIME I SAW MARIS 36% (6 votes)
DAD LOVES SHERRY, THE BOYS JUST WHINE 37% (6 votes)
BACK TALK 50% (8 votes)
SEAT OF POWER 33% (6 votes)
COME LIE WITH ME 21% (4 votes)
MOONDANCE 73% (14 votes)
THE SKI LODGE 66% (12 votes)
ROOM SERVICE 42% (8 votes)
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP 33% (6 votes)
DAPHNE'S ROOM 40% (8 votes)
HAM RADIO 73% (13 votes)
GIVE HIM THE CHAIR 36% (7 votes)
BREAKING THE ICE 36% (7 votes)
TRAVELS WITH MARTIN 44% (8 votes)
AUTHOR, AUTHOR 27% (5 votes)
THE INNKEEPERS 44% (8 votes)
MY COFFEE WITH NILES 50% (9 votes)
I thought it'd be interesting to break the episodes down and discover which season was best represented and got most episodes into the final poll. Perhaps surprising, Season 3 came out on top, with a third of the 24 episodes qualifying and winning their respective polls. I've always believed that Season 3 contains the best stand-out episodes - and these results seem to confirm this. Season 2 came in second place managing to win 5/24 polls, with third place being shared between Season 1 (which managed to get 4/6 when it came to the last 6 polls) and Season 4, which is generally viewed as the best season. I don't think I expected Seasons 8-10 to win any of the polls, but it'd hugely disappointing to note that neither Season 6 or 11 have any episodes representing them here. Season 7, which in my opinion, is weaker than these two managed one representative in this poll, thanks to 'Back Talk'.
Anywhere, take a look:
Season 1 (4 winning episodes)
Season 2 (5 winning episodes)
Season 3 (8 winning episodes)
Season 4 (4 winning episodes)
Season 5 (2 winning episodes)
Season 6 (no winning episodes)
Season 7 (1 winning episode)
Season 8 (no winning episodes)
Season 9 (no winning episodes)
Season 10 (no winning episodes)
Season 11 (no winning episodes)
WRITERS (Writers are credited if they were responsible for co-writing Moondance)
1. Joe Keenan (6 episodes)
2. = Christopher Lloyd (4 episodes)
2. = Chuck Ramberg and Anne Flett-Giordano (4 episodes)
2 = Steven Levitan (4 episodes)
5. Linda Morris and Vic Raueso (3 episodes)
6. David Lloyd (2 episodes)
No other writer received more than one winning episode.
The winning scriptwriter was always going to be Joe Keenan - winning a quarter of the 24 polls, which is very impressive indeed. The shock entry in joint second place is Steven Levitan, who also received 4 episodes into the final poll (Seat of Power, Breaking the Ice, Come Lie with Me and Moondance, the latter of which he co-wrote). Slightly sad to see that Rob Greenberg and Jeffrey Richman didn't manage to get any of their episodes into the final 24.
Some interesting bits of trivia:
* There were only two polls that tied here, which meant I had to go by Stu's episode ratings. 'Miracle on Third or Fourth Street' lost out to 'Come Lie with Me' (82% vs 87%) and Perspectives on Christmas lost out to Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine (90% vs 92%). Note that if these two losing episodes hadn't been beaten then Christopher Lloyd would have had the most episodes in the final poll.
* Moondance and Ham Radio drew for highest percentage scores/number of votes - each knocking up 14 votes apiece and 73% of the total. Of the qualifying episodes, 'Come Lie with Me' scored the lowest number of votes (4) and percentage score (21%).
* There wasn't a single poll where all 11 episodes received a vote.
* The 'Episode 3' poll received the highest number of votes with 22.
* Only 13 episodes from BN's recent 'Ultimate Season' appear in this poll!
Below is our ultimate season;
THE TWO MRS CRANES 35% (6 votes)
SHRINK RAP SEASON 25% (4 votes)
THE MATCHMAKER 36% (8 votes)
FLOUR CHILD 46% (7 votes)
KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE 55% (11 votes)
MIXED DOUBLES 47% (8 votes)
THE ADVENTURES OF BAD BOY AND DIRTY GIRL 26% (5 votes)
THE LAST TIME I SAW MARIS 36% (6 votes)
DAD LOVES SHERRY, THE BOYS JUST WHINE 37% (6 votes)
BACK TALK 50% (8 votes)
SEAT OF POWER 33% (6 votes)
COME LIE WITH ME 21% (4 votes)
MOONDANCE 73% (14 votes)
THE SKI LODGE 66% (12 votes)
ROOM SERVICE 42% (8 votes)
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP 33% (6 votes)
DAPHNE'S ROOM 40% (8 votes)
HAM RADIO 73% (13 votes)
GIVE HIM THE CHAIR 36% (7 votes)
BREAKING THE ICE 36% (7 votes)
TRAVELS WITH MARTIN 44% (8 votes)
AUTHOR, AUTHOR 27% (5 votes)
THE INNKEEPERS 44% (8 votes)
MY COFFEE WITH NILES 50% (9 votes)
I thought it'd be interesting to break the episodes down and discover which season was best represented and got most episodes into the final poll. Perhaps surprising, Season 3 came out on top, with a third of the 24 episodes qualifying and winning their respective polls. I've always believed that Season 3 contains the best stand-out episodes - and these results seem to confirm this. Season 2 came in second place managing to win 5/24 polls, with third place being shared between Season 1 (which managed to get 4/6 when it came to the last 6 polls) and Season 4, which is generally viewed as the best season. I don't think I expected Seasons 8-10 to win any of the polls, but it'd hugely disappointing to note that neither Season 6 or 11 have any episodes representing them here. Season 7, which in my opinion, is weaker than these two managed one representative in this poll, thanks to 'Back Talk'.
Anywhere, take a look:
Season 1 (4 winning episodes)
Season 2 (5 winning episodes)
Season 3 (8 winning episodes)
Season 4 (4 winning episodes)
Season 5 (2 winning episodes)
Season 6 (no winning episodes)
Season 7 (1 winning episode)
Season 8 (no winning episodes)
Season 9 (no winning episodes)
Season 10 (no winning episodes)
Season 11 (no winning episodes)
WRITERS (Writers are credited if they were responsible for co-writing Moondance)
1. Joe Keenan (6 episodes)
2. = Christopher Lloyd (4 episodes)
2. = Chuck Ramberg and Anne Flett-Giordano (4 episodes)
2 = Steven Levitan (4 episodes)
5. Linda Morris and Vic Raueso (3 episodes)
6. David Lloyd (2 episodes)
No other writer received more than one winning episode.
The winning scriptwriter was always going to be Joe Keenan - winning a quarter of the 24 polls, which is very impressive indeed. The shock entry in joint second place is Steven Levitan, who also received 4 episodes into the final poll (Seat of Power, Breaking the Ice, Come Lie with Me and Moondance, the latter of which he co-wrote). Slightly sad to see that Rob Greenberg and Jeffrey Richman didn't manage to get any of their episodes into the final 24.
Some interesting bits of trivia:
* There were only two polls that tied here, which meant I had to go by Stu's episode ratings. 'Miracle on Third or Fourth Street' lost out to 'Come Lie with Me' (82% vs 87%) and Perspectives on Christmas lost out to Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine (90% vs 92%). Note that if these two losing episodes hadn't been beaten then Christopher Lloyd would have had the most episodes in the final poll.
* Moondance and Ham Radio drew for highest percentage scores/number of votes - each knocking up 14 votes apiece and 73% of the total. Of the qualifying episodes, 'Come Lie with Me' scored the lowest number of votes (4) and percentage score (21%).
* There wasn't a single poll where all 11 episodes received a vote.
* The 'Episode 3' poll received the highest number of votes with 22.
* Only 13 episodes from BN's recent 'Ultimate Season' appear in this poll!