WASHINGTON — Timed with college basketball’s NCAA Tournament, the WTOP entertainment page built its own March Madness bracket debating the greatest TV shows of all time.
Over the past two weeks, you’ve voted for your favorites and now the results are in.
“M*A*S*H” defeated “Star Trek” to win the championship, after knocking off such comedy competition as “Seinfeld,” “I Love Lucy” and “All in the Family” en route to the finals.
As you can see in the above bracket, 64 shows were grouped into four regions: Modern Drama, Modern Comedy, Classic Drama and Classic Comedy. For dramas, the classic period was everything before 1990. For comedies, the classic period was everything before 1982. The bracket excluded miniseries, sketch, reality, soaps, educational, talk shows and game shows.
The biggest Cinderella was “Law & Order” defeating “The Wire,” “Game of Thrones” and “The Sopranos,” reminding us of the mass appeal of a prolific network TV drama compared to the more splintered, niche audiences of cable and streaming shows, despite their critical acclaim.
With this in mind, I suppose it’s only fitting that “M*A*S*H” ultimately went the distance, considering the “M*A*S*H” finale remains the most-watched show in television history.
Thanks again for voting! Stay tuned for next year’s bracket: the Battle of the Bands.
See the which shows made it in each round.
