Thursday Night Madness on Fat Train

You may have noticed that television connoisseur Josh Toulouse of Fat Train hasn't been commenting on the Thursday TV Tournament competition. Well, there's a couple of reasons for that, and he's made those reasons abundantly clear in an article titled "Thursday Night Madness."

Josh's article points out a couple of things that I had meant to clear up from the get-go.

When I began gathering information for the Thursday TV Tournament, I was aware that I was excluding the NBC program Parks and Recreation. The unfortunate fact was that I wouldn't be able to get caught up on the show before the previous season, and I believe that I ought to be caught up on the show to properly judge it. Josh recently reminded me that it is also a travesty that The League was not included. It was unfortunate, but I decided to go ahead with the tournament anyways. As a way of making amends, I intend to get caught up on both Parks and Recreation and The League before the 2011-2012 season begins. Next year, friends, there will be a reckoning.

Furthermore, my method of establishing seeds is imperfect. I based the seeds on which episodes got the best ratings, which is more of a judgment of how good the previous episode was. Also, FX programs like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League can't compete with network programs, and programs on less popular networks like NBC can't compete with programs on more popular networks like CBS. I asked Josh to make suggestions on better methods. He said it might be a better idea to check out IMDB or TV.COM user ratings. If any of you have other suggestions, I am all about hearing better ideas.

That said, it's still a great tournament, pitting the ever-so-popular Big Bang Theory against The Office in Steve Carell's final season, with Community, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and 30 Rock giving good fight too. Next year's tournament will be more comprehensive and perhaps better-seeded. Until then, enjoy some pretty fantastic battle for this year's rankings.