March Madness 2011 Final Week: TV Series Bracket

Bye Thia! | Credit: American Idol

It is already April but the March Madness fever is still on as we head to the National Championship game this Monday/Tuesday. All my Final Four teams have long been eliminated but I am interested in watching the Butler Bulldogs finally completing their unfinished business last year. I was not rooting for them during last year’s Cinderella run (simply because I am a Duke fan) but I am 100% rooting for them to upset UConn.

However, I was not able to follow NCAA basketball on TV this year (the most that I could was via ESPN.com). Thus, I will be discussing what I was able to follow (thanks to torrents… I can watch them any time even if I have them playing in the background while working from home during a weekend) – TV series.

This journal entry is my last meaningless and trivial attempt to post an imaginary bracket this year. I have a better bracket blog idea for next year but that will have to wait for now. Nevertheless, this year’s final blog covers an interesting topic: TV characters. If you pit two TV characters, who would you choose? Thus, I am writing about a TV Character bracket. This time, I am just going to discuss TV characters from the shows I watched unlike my first TV bracket this year where I put TV shows that I never watched at all. In this way, I can be fair. I am judging the characters based on how great they were; how well-acted these are; and if they are female characters, how hot they are. Aside from these factors, I am judging the characters on how nicely I perceive them. In short, it is still subjective. In this way, I am still not fair.

OK, I am just kidding on the last part. I will try my best – as much as possible – to judge the characters based on how good they really are without any gender and racial biases (in fact, the top tier characters are mostly males because let’s face it – most of the compelling TV characters are males). Thus, even if Joan Holloway has that sexy body, I will try not to have that sway my decision. (Who am I kidding? Of course, I like Joanie!)

But before we get into the bracket, here are my quick thoughts on TV this week:

B-B-Bennie and the Jetsss!!! | Credit: American Idol

•    WTF? No “How I Met Your Mother” episode again?! They just returned and their next episode is weeks away from now. But then, they have 24 episodes this season so I should not be complaining too much.
•    The only significant news on TV this week is “American Idol.” I thought Elton John night would be a snoozefest. The only Elton John song I knew was “Candle in the Wind.” It also does not help for my case that I watch the TV series on replay every weekend. Lastly, Thia was eliminated so it sucks. But when I watched the replay, this was what happened:
o    Four words: Bennie and the Jets. Damn! Haley Reinhart’s ”Bennie and the Jets” happened and I am now on total LSS on that song. It pretty much capped off Haley’s momentum run. She is now on my personal Top 5. When I watched the Top 24 being announced, I though Haley was 100% fodder. Heck, I even want her to be eliminated even before she sang in the Top 24. Surprisingly, I ended up liking her performance then (making me satisfied that she reached the Finals unlike some forum posters in the Web). She was under the radar for the past few weeks but I did not find any trainwreck performance from her. She was always good with her unique voice and style. Her only crime was not being a standout. Last week, she stopped committing that crime. B-b-bennie and the Jetsssss!!!

•    Casey Abrams had an awesome rendition of “Your Song.” It does seem that he was selling out a bit but whatever…I liked his performance. I have replayed Haley’s and Casey’s performances in Youtube constantly this weekend.
•    Spell Pia Toscano: H-O-T. Oops! Wrong spelling! It should be spelled this way: I-N-S-A-N-E-L-Y S-E-X-Y. I forgive her for her another attempt to sing a ballad (as if she had that much choice). It is her weakest though. There were times when she seemed struggling. But still, I have her performance in my Top 4-5 this week. Sweet P is this year’s frontrunner. I must say that she is playing her cards well by coasting the past two weeks. Why? Because she is the frontrunner! In order for you to have shining/wow moments, you need to give room for some momentum. It is still early in the competition. The past three winners had their moments during the Top 7-9 nights. Thus, playing it safe with a boring song was the best current strategy for Pia.
•    Speaking of strategy, my logical pick (Scotty McCreery) to win “American Idol” is on pace to win it. He does not have a WOW performance yet but he still continues to gather up his strong fanbase. He was even coasting the past few weeks. The fact that he did not get to the Bottom Three despite singing a forgettable song at the start of the show just hammers the fact that he has a strong fanbase. He even improves it this week by going for the grandmother vote. Does anyone know an “American Idol” bookie? Time to put some money on McCreery! If you still don’t get it, here is his fanbase: country fans, teenage girls who dream on being his next girlfriend/wife, grandmothers who have the time to vote a lot, Lauren Alaina’s fans (once she gets eliminated) and fangurls. Scotty is also not a polarizing contestant because he is under-the-radar and is a good boy so he will get votes of the fans of eliminated contestants. Lastly, the producers will love to give him a recording contract. The kid has a unique voice and has great talent! I can see him being the male version of Taylor Swift. There are only two male contestants who can possibly generate a lot of revenue post-Idol: Scotty and James.
•    Farewell, Thia Megia! It was sad to see her go because she has held her own despite of the criticisms. She even played the Filipino card beautifully by greeting her kuya but alas, it was not enough. I am not that frustrated though. There are a lot of singers in the competition who are better than her so the cut was understandable. However, she was really growing on me the past few weeks because I actually liked her past two performances. Oh well…

Now we go to the main part of my blog entry…

Joan Holloway | Credit: Mad Men

I got to think of 64 TV series characters from shows that I watched the past few years (defunct shows like “Lost” and “Scrubs” are included here). I had them ranked up based on popularity and achievements. Awards are a bigger factor on my tiers so not-so-popular characters like Walter White and Don Draper are still ranked high. I randomly put them on the divisions by using MS Excel’s random function to avoid bias. I will be explaining why some characters beat their “opponents” except on no-brainer parts like:

•    #1 seeds automatically beat their 16th seed opponents because they always do.
•    #2 seeds rarely get upset by the 15th seed

Gloria Pritchett | Credit: Modern Family

•    If Joan Holloway does not face a critically-acclaimed character, she wins the battle because of her boobs. Hahaha!
•    Ditto for Gloria Pritchett.

Without further ado, here are the brackets:

East Bracket

Ari Gold | Credit: Entourage

The East Bracket is jampacked with awesome characters. The best first round matchup was Dwight Schrute (The Office) vs. Tim Riggins (Friday Night Lights). Dwight barely won because he is the unique, annoying character that we eventually learned to like. It was also cool to have the “Entourage” matchup of Ari Gold and Johnny Drama. However, it was a cakewalk for Ari Gold (Entourage) other than in the second round. Because a good chunk of the strong characters are in this bracket, it became boring in the Sweet Sixteen as the Top 4 seeds advanced. Thus, I’ll just explain the first round upsets: Brian (Family Guy) and Dr. Izzie Stevens (Grey’s Anatomy). Izzie beats Chuck because she is Katherine Heigl and she was outstanding for some seasons of Grey’s (like its Season 2). Brian, on the other hand, is one of my favorite cartoon characters. How many “serious-looking” characters can pull off uber-funny sequences? Even Blair Waldorf’s bitchiness won’t beat that.

Southwest Bracket

Veronica Mars | Credit: Veronica Mars

Walter White (Breaking Bad) breezes until his Elite Eight match after beating Jim Halpert (The Office) and Dr. Miranda Bailey (Grey’s Anatomy). Both characters are very good but Walt is just amazing. Bailey even defeated my second favorite character in FNL. This bracket, however, is more compelling than that. There are a lot of upsets. Paul Hennessy (8 Simple Rules) defeats fan favorite Sylar (Heroes). It is my way of paying tribute to the late John Ritter. He is such a legendary comedian that he has that humor aura. Not even Sylar’s overwhelming powers can defeat Paul’s Hall of Fame acting powers. However, he bows out to Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars) who beats the first “Mad Men” character in this bracket. Why? Because Veronica 1) is Kristen Bell and 2) a very unique character who can be humane and nasty at the same time. She is so iconic that she pulls off one of the biggest upsets in this bracket – by beating Walter White. Veronica’s CIA-esque intelligence is enough to catch Heisenberg red-handed.

At the bottom of the bracket, popular show characters like Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead) and Sandy Cohen (The OC) bow down to Dr. House (House) – duh! – and Sarah Braverman (Parenthood). The next matchup, however, was very compelling. It was tough to say goodbye to either character. House is obviously one of the most unique and wittiest characters of all-time but I hold a special bias on “Parenthood.” Nucky Thompson (Boardwalk Empire) and Sue Sylvester (Glee) easily defeat their first round opponents but I end up pondering hard who is the better of the two. Then, I realized that Sue Sylvester is in a poorly-written show (with regard to character development) and she has done ridiculous stuff at times so I had Nucky winning it and easily beating older brunette version of Taylor Swift in the Sweet Sixteen.

West Bracket


My “Parenthood” bias continues as Adam Braverman (Parenthood) defeats Hank Moody (Californication). Adam has been through a lot with Max’s Aperger’s that he needs that feel-good win over Hank who gets to mess around with a lot of hot chicks. March Madness always featured 12th seeds beating 5th seeds at least once a year so I intentionally put Best Supporting Actor Cameron Tucker (Modern Family) in it. He even beats critically-acclaimed Dexter Morgan (Dexter). Cameron is too weak to murder anyone so Dexter spares him. However, Benjamin Linus is too wicked that he won’t even spare a harmless homosexual father. He is indeed the greatest TV villain.

Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights) vs. Pam Beesly (The Office) was an interesting matchup between TV mothers with big racks. Both are very good actresses but I went with Coach’s wife even if Pam had one of my favorite emotional moments in “The Office” Season 3. Tami is just more consistent. Another good first rounder was the Foreman battle. This is the funny thing with randomizing this bracket – one “That 70s Show” character will surely get eliminated. In this case, Red (That 70s Show) beats his son’s ass because Eric is a dumbass. However, Jack Shephard (Lost) is no dumbass even if he had irrational moments like flying across the Pacific Ocean several times. Jack is too iconic to be defeated this early. However, he gets upset by Tami’s acting prowess which derailed the possibility of the compelling “Lost” matchup between Ben and Jack.

Southeast Bracket


The dream matchup of Ted (HIMYM) and Barney (HIMYM) did not materialize because Aaron Paul acts very well as Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad). As opposed to Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosby, it was an easy win for Jesse. Unfortunately for him, Barney is just too legen – wait for it – dary for Jesse. Peggy (Mad Men) continues the streak of 12th seeds beating the 5th seeds. Tina Fey won a lot of awards as Liz Lemon (30 Rock) but Peggy has “The Suitcase.”  She is so good that she even beats John Locke (Lost).

On the bottom part, it was a cake walk for Don Draper (Mad Men).Don versus Seth (The OC)? Child, please… I made rules about Joan (Mad Men) and Gloria (Modern Family) winning early on this blog but they incidentally face each other in the first round. I gave it to Joan because 1) she is Christina Hendricks and 2) she is Christina Hendricks. Unfortunately, she gets beaten by her boss in the second round. Don Draper is just too phenomenal to be beaten by the hottest chick in TV right now. Marshall (HIMYM) defeats Phil (Modern Family) because of his outstanding drama acting this season. Lastly, Jack Bauer (24) gets upset by Keith Mars (Veronica Mars). Jack is like Georgetown. He gets a high seed (3) because of name recall but he gets eliminated by a legit underdog like Keith Mars. Keith continues with his VCU-esque streak by edging out Marshall. Unfortunately for Keith, Don is just too good.

Elite Eight

East Bracket

1 Ari Gold (Entourage)
3 Coach Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights)

This was a tough matchup. We have the three-time Emmy Award adorable douchebag from “Entourage” against the hard-nosed but likeable leader of “Friday Night Lights.” In my draft, I had Coach Taylor winning this but I realized that I may just be on nostalgia mode because FNL ended two months ago. Ari Gold was not his awesome self last year but that does not derail the uniqueness that his character brings. He carries “Entourage” despite the fact that some of the core cast members are mediocre (like Vincent Chase). There is a reason why Ari has constantly beaten Barney Stinson on the award.

Winner: 1 Ari Gold (Entourage)

West Bracket

1 Benjamin Linus (Lost)
7 Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights)

If Eric and Tami won in their respective Elite Eight matchups, the couple will be battling it out in the Final Four.  Unfortunately for them, the mean guys won. It is hard to pass up on Ben Linus as he is the iconic villain of “Lost.” Also, it would be weird for me to have my third favorite character in a show advance while my favorite character is already eliminated. Tami already toppled Jack (Lost) and beating two “Lost” guys consecutively is too much.

Winner: 1 Benjamin Linus (Lost)

Southwest Bracket

4 Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)
6 Nucky Thompson (Boardwalk Empire)

What is not enough then? Two words: Veronica Mars. These are the characters that Veronica Mars has beaten in the Southwest bracket: Pete Campbell (Mad Men), Paul Henessy (8 Simple Rules), Walter White (Breaking Bad). She is like Randy Orton back during the days when he was dubbed as the Legend Killer. And the legend killing continues as I have her winning over Nucky. I can have two of the three fallen ones beat Enoch Thompson so it’s just right that Veronica wins over them. In a fantasy world, Veronica is such a smartass that she can expose the corrupt Nucky.

Winner: 4 Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)

Southeast Bracket

1 Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)
2 Don Draper (Mad Men)

Great matchup on paper of my favorite characters. However, I am easily picking Don here. Neil Patrick Harris has done a great job of acting as Barney but there were some ridiculous over-the-top parts in the past few seasons. Don Draper does not have those. In fact, Jon Hamm has outstandingly portrayed Don in “Mad Men” Season 4 most specifically on “The Suitcase.” If Neil Patrick Harris complains why I have him lose to another corporate suit, here is my response: “That’s what the money is for!”

Winner: 2 Don Draper (Mad Men)

Final Four

Awesome matchup between Ari Gold and Benjamin Linus. Let us break it down…

Awards:
Ari Gold has 3 Emmy’s while Benjamin Linus has 1. Ari Gold-1. Benjamin Linus-0

Acting:
Ari Gold lives through his offensive language but he has that corporate leader aura. You can sense that he is a douchebag but you still end up agreeing with him because he is convincing. He is Hollywood’s most likeable d-bag after all. Ben, on the other hand, is a sneaky bastard that you won’t know what’s on his mind. However, he still got to exhibit strong emotions on vulnerable moments. This was tough but I am going with Ari Gold’s unique character. Ari Gold-2. Benjamin Linus-0

Who is More Valuable to the Show:
No brainer here. Ari Gold-3. Benjamin Linus-0

With regard to Veronica Mars’ legend killing, it has to stop in the Final Four. Don Draper is too discreet for Veronica to find out that he abandoned the war. That and maybe she ends up being Don’s new trophy wife. He likes ‘em young and blonde.

Championship

Don Draper | Credit: Mad Men

Excellent matchup between corporate minds. Ari Gold is more decorated than Don Draper but the latter is just too compelling. Ari’s story is quite straightforward while Don’s is more complex. As much as Ari is “Entourage,” Don is “Mad Men.” Don Draper may have benefitted for having a sterling supporting cast but “Mad Men” is way better than “Entourage” anyway. Although both characters are currently in rock bottom (yes, Don still is because he stupidly married his secretary), Don’s experience was far worse so he needs this more.

Dammit! There’s no “Mad Men” until next year!