TV Madness 2018: Law & Order: SVU, Absentia square off in round 2

Law & Order: SVU logo

Welcome to another edition of our third annual TV Madness Tournament! This is a fun annual tradition here at CarterMatt where we have some fun, engaging battles between various shows looking to make it all the way to the final round on March 28.

Above, you can see our full bracket, complete with entries, their seeds, and start/end dates. Once you are within the bracket, the dates listed are when the previous poll ends and the next one begins! We’ve got a great group of shows taking part this year, with some newbies as well as others who have been a part of the tournament every single year. The voting rules are pretty simple — you can vote however often you would like on however many devices that you would like! If you are on mobile and you are having a problem seeing the poll at the bottom of the article for whatever reason, be sure to click to view the non-AMP version of the page at the bottom of the article.

For this round 2 battle, we’re presenting what we think to be a rather fantastic showdown. These are two shows in Law & Order: SVU and Absentia starring brilliant actresses who give tour-de-force performances, and both of them leave you with something to think about when the show is over. There are also many differences — one is a network show, for example, that is probably about to be renewed for its 20th year on the air. Meanwhile, the other is coming off of its first season streaming on Amazon in America, yet has a passionate following who is helping to push the show towards a season 2.

Now that we’ve set the stage, let’s get to breaking down these entries further. Voting for this round remains open until Friday, March 23 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time.

Law & Order: SVU (#3 seed) – We wrote in the first round about how one of the most interesting facets of SVU being in the tournament this year was how it had a chance to get direct revenge against Supernatural in the first round after losing there last year. It was a fairly close vote, but the Mariska Hargitay drama did enough to advance. It now has a fearsome opponent coming up, one that is certainly going to be riding a high after already dethroning a long-running show.

Absentia (#7 seed) – Are we surprised that the Stana Katic series pulled off an upset over NCIS in the first round? Not exactly. Absentia fans came out to vote hard and they were able to build a big enough lead to stop NCIS in its tracks. This time around though, it faces another challenging opponent with a devoted audience. Victory is absolutely possible, but Absentia fans are going to need to bring all their fire.

Photo: NBC

Love TV? Be sure to like Matt & Jess on Facebook for more updates!