TV Madness 2017: Outlander and Doctor Who enter the fray in Round One

Outlander and Doctor Who are the entrants today in our TV Madness 2017 tournament, and for the Starz drama, this is a chance to keep the (metaphorical) championship in the trophy case. The show won the tournament last year after a tense final showdown with Once Upon a Time, and this year it begins its journey as a #1 seed. The expectation is here for it to do well once again, but that’s not something we have the power to control. It’s all up to the supporters and the voters!

We do think that this should be an interesting showdown here just because Doctor Who is an upset-minded show. It has a devoted following and many years on the air. Let’s break this down a bit further, shall we?

Outlander (#1 seed) – As the reigning champion, it would be irresponsible to classify the show as anything other than a frontrunner, especially when you consider everything else on its resume at this point. It’s the reigning Show of the Year here, and it swept the entirety of its categories at the People’s Choice Awards. We hope it also remains at the forefront of the conversation just how amazing a show it is. The reason why it wins so many fan votes and awards is because it’s beautiful, poignant, and thought-provoking. It’s a story viewers can get lost in within the blink of an eye.

Doctor Who (#8 seed) – This is the first year of including the long-running British important in the tournament, and there is an intriguing wild-card factor here given that there are Whovians the entire world over who love the show. Will they come out to vote for it? That’s the larger question that we have. One of the things that we’ve enjoyed doing throughout the TV Madness article series is compare shows to teams that would actually take part within an NCAA Tournament. Doctor Who in this tournament is that team with potential, but you don’t know if the players are going to show up on a nightly basis.

Now, let us turn this over to you! Voting rules are fairly simple — vote however often you like, though you may need to change browsers or devices in order to do so. This poll will remain open until March 15 (see the image above), where it will take on the winner of Power / Major Crimes, another showdown we are very curious to see unfold.

Happy voting! Let’s just celebrate the fact that there are so many great shows out there so that we can even do a tournament like this.

Check out more TV Madness battles!