TV Madness 2019: The Blacklist, Absentia square off in round 2 battle!
In this showdown, we have a pair of shows in The Blacklist and Absentia that have a few things in common. They each have great leads (in James Spader and Stana Katic), have overarching mysteries through out their seasons, and also both come from the studio Sony Pictures TV. One’s obviously been around longer than the other, but we think that if you’ve followed our TV Madness tournament long enough, you’ll know that this doesn’t mean all that much. We’ve seen underdogs become favorites and the little-show-that-could pump its engine all the way to the finale. Anything can happen here!
If you’ve taken part in CarterMatt’s TV Madness before, you likely know how this works — we spotlight the two competitors and then, on the other side of it, give you a poll for you to commence your voting! The poll is located at the bottom of this article.
How voting works – Vote however often you would like! (Technical instructions for multiple voting can be found right above the poll.) We will keep this poll open until Friday, March 22 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. Whoever emerges victorious here is going to have a tough battle ahead — the possible contenders include NCIS: Los Angeles, Lucifer, The Gifted, and SEAL Team, who have all fared rather well in some of their respective showdowns so far.
You can see the full bracket (including start dates for each individual round) in the graphic at the top of this article.
The competitors
The Blacklist (#1 seed) – This is as great of a twisted narrative as you’re going to find on network TV. The story is dark, intense, but also at times lighthearted and funny. This is also a show in the midst of a very big season, one where a lot of the biggest cards are being played and the larger picture is finally starting to come together. There’s so much we are learning about Raymond Reddington and yet, there is still more to learn.
While The Blacklist may be a top seed in this tournament, it still may need more of a push to make it to the elite eight. Absentia actually posted more votes than The Blacklist in the first round, so in that sense, this really is a case of a favorite becoming an underdog. Will it be able to work its way forward?
Absentia (#5 seed) – The action-packed thriller is also in the midst of a pretty awesome week, as it was revealed that season 2 will premiere on Amazon this June. That may be a long wait for some, but we know that it will be worth it. This show is certainly of the edge-of-your-seat variety; we think of it more as an on-the-floor variety, largely because you’ve already fallen out of the seat and have spilled your popcorn everywhere with in the first few minutes.
Absentia gave a strong performance in the first round opposite Criminal Minds — and now, it’s on its way to replicate the success it had in last year’s tournament, where it made it all the way to the final four before eventually losing out to Timeless. This will be a challenge for Absentia and its fans, but we know that fans are up for it.