TV Madness 2019: Blue Bloods, Grey’s Anatomy battle in round 2
TV Madness 2019 is officially upon us! March is one of our favorite times of the year for many reasons — spring is in the air, the days are getting longer, and the idea of a bracket is a part of our pop-culture lexicon. TV Madness is CarterMatt’s version of March Madness, where a number of fantastic shows from across the map face off against each other. There are seedings, head-to-head showdowns, and the performance of each show is based entirely on you, the reader.
In this showdown, we are prepared to send round 2 off into the sunset! It’s only fitting that we do that with a pair of TV titans in Blue Bloods and Grey’s Anatomy. These two shows, collectively, have been on the air 24 years. Seriously. Combine their run-time and that’s past drinking age. They are stalwarts beloved by their massive audiences. They’ve both also got something to prove here, as neither has managed to previously climb atop the TV Madness mountain to scream “victory.” They’ll still have a long way to go to make it there, even on the other side of this showdown, but every step in the right direction helps.
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 Saturday, March 23 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. Whoever wins this showdown will square off against either Last Man Standing or Manifest — those two shows have been battling since yesterday, and either of them would prove to be a fairly formidable opponent against the winner of this showdown.
You can see the full bracket (including start dates for each individual round) in the graphic at the top of this article.
The competitors
Blue Bloods (#6 seed) – We seeded the Tom Selleck series #6 in this year’s tournament because in the past, it’s suffered some early defeats. However, is there something in the air this time around? Blue Bloods didn’t just win its round 1 showdown against MacGyver — it dominated by a fairly large margin. This indicates to us that Blue Bloods is here to play this year and to show everything that it’s made of. In terms of its potential, we know that it’s got plenty.
In a lot of ways, it’s only fitting to proclaim this show as an underdog. Just think about it this way — this is a series that routinely doesn’t get the press it deserves, despite it being one of Friday’s mostly-watched shows for almost a decade. It has an extremely loyal following and it speaks to parts of being a police officer that really are not emphasized elsewhere and that’s saying something since there are tons of cops shows on the air.
Grey’s Anatomy (#2 seed) – Meanwhile, here we have a medical drama that has already cemented its place in TV history as the longest running ever! That’s a tremendous achievement, but as many out there know, it means nothing within the TV Madness world. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been around or what makes you special; it’s all about who comes out for a given battle. It does go without saying that Grey’s Anatomy has one of the biggest, most-passionate followings out there. That stems from powerful, emotional storytelling … and then also great performances from the likes of Ellen Pompeo and the rest of the cast.
The impact of Grey’s Anatomy is everywhere — young people are pursuing careers in medicine and, we certainly think that many shows out there have taken a few cues from it over the course of its run.