Editor’s Note: Feel free to post as big or as small of a list as you would like below but please keep your lists contained to these posts and do not open up your own or fill up the OT with them. The winners will be announced alongside the other winners of The Pits on 12/21 and will be calculated by adding up your lists (10 points for first, 9 for second, etc., with 5 points per title awarded for unranked lists). Voting will be cut off some time on 12/21 so make sure to cast your ballot before then. If you wish to change your ballot later feel free to, but please indicate clearly that you are recasting your vote to make things easier to count.
Welcome to The Pits: Best of TV 2018 voting thread. While the number of scripted series dropped a small amount from 2017 (according to FX’s annual report) to 495, there was a historical shift that marks the changing of the times. For the first time ever, original series on streaming services outnumbered broadcast, basic cable, or premium cable. Those numbers in case you are interested are 160 for streaming, 146 for broadcast, 144 for basic cable and 45 on premium. With so many options out there, I expect to see quite a variety in the votes here.
The rules remain the same from last year. There are just two categories: The Groening Award for Best Comedy Series and the Simon Award for Best Drama Series. You are welcome to list out as many as you like, but it is only the 10 ten in each category that will be eligible for scoring. Please, don’t worry about how many “prestige” titles or popular choices you have or even what critical praise there has already been. I want you to put down at least your Top 10 in each category and since we are more People’s Choice than Emmy’s here, you can decide which belongs in each. If you don’t have 10 for each category, I’d still like you to participate, but the scoring will still remain the same. 10 points for your 1st choice, 9 for your 2nd, 8 for your 3rd, etc.
It’s becoming more and more popular for shows to straddle the divide between comedy and drama, so just list those kinds of shows as you see fit and their points will still be awarded based on their position in your list. You may display your list either lowest to highest or highest to lowest but people number them accordingly. I’ll give my list below as an example.
Top 10 Comedies AKA The Groening Award
10. Bob’s Burgers (1 point)
9. The Kominsky Method (2 points)
8. Baskets(3 points)
7. Brooklyn 99(4 points)
6. Forever (5 points)
5. Atlanta (6 points)
4. Santa Clarita Diet (7 points)
3. GLOW (8 points)
2. American Vandal (9 points)
1. The Good Place (10 points)
The Simon Award for Best Drama Series
10. Better Call Saul (1 point)
9. Westworld (2 points)
8. Killing Eve (3 points)
7. AHS: Apocalypse (I’m as shocked as you are this is on my list) (also 4 points)
6. Ozark (5 points)
5. The Americans (6 points)
4. Succession (7 points)
3. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (8 points)
2. Castle Rock (9 points)
1. The Haunting of Hill House (10 points)
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One last note. I’d like to put up a thread once all the scores are tallied as an official guide to the best tv of 2018. I’d love to be able to include on this guide blurbs on either what the show is about or why it made the Best Of list. It’d be awesome if you could include at least one about a show on your list and if the show makes the cut, I’ll make sure to credit the commentor who I quote.