‘The Leftovers’ And ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Win The 2017 Uproxx TV Critics Poll

The 2017 Uproxx TV Critics Poll is now live, and suffice it to say that I’m very pleased with the results, with The Leftovers handily winning the overall shows poll and The Handmaid’s Tale winning the new shows poll.
Feel free to head on over and take a look at what finished where, who voted for what, etc. When you’re done, some oddity and trivia about this year’s results:

* There was a fair amount of change in the overall top 10, even considering that four of the shows featured last year didn’t air in 2017, with only Game of Thrones and Better Call Saul remaining. (Thrones only turned up on 12 ballots, but most of its votes were for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place.)

* Leftovers comfortably beat Handmaid’s in the overall poll, but that top 10 has a fairly steady downward progression from show to show, while there was an overwhelming top 2 for the new shows poll, with a gap of over 100 points between 2nd place Big Little Lies and 3rd place Glow.

* Biggest droppers from a year ago: The Americans from 2 to 25, Veep from 6 to 40, Full Frontal from 8 to 76, and Transparent from 17 to not ranked. (Other shows that did well last year and didn’t receive any votes this year: You’re the Worst, Silicon Valley, Orange Is the New Black). Fargo, which won the overall poll in both of its first two seasons but didn’t air last year, finished 45th.

* Biggest risers: It was a good time to be a second-year show making a creative leap, as Better Things moved from 26 to 4, The Good Place from 29 to 6, and Insecure from 25 to 8.

* Diversity of opinion: Every year, it seems, we get a show that one person puts in first place and no one else votes for. This year, that was Vikings. Meanwhile, 19 different shows received at least one first place vote, including Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Young Pope, Stranger Things, and Samurai Jack, and 53 different shows received only a single vote in the overall poll, including 13 Reasons Why, Speechless, Nathan For You, The Rundown With Robin Thede, and Top Of The Lake: China Girl.

* Though Netflix placed 23 shows on the overall list, it didn’t get a show into the top 10, with Mindhunter its highest finisher at 14. It had half of the top 10 new shows, though.

There will always be quirks to the system we use. Our methodology, for instance, means the rankings take on less weight once you get past 25 or 30, since a show that would be a consensus top 15 pick will do worse than a show that a handful of people give a 7th or 8th place vote to. And by asking people to vote separately on returning shows versus new shows, there may be inconsistency between the two lists, like GLOW and Mindhunter swapping positions.

So go study the poll, and then tell us what you thought of the results.

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@uproxx.com. He discusses television weekly on the TV Avalanche podcast. His new book, Breaking Bad 101, is on sale now.

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