http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/sitcom-smackdown-readers-bracket-finals-vote.html

I was recently invited to participate in my friend’s March Madness NCAA Bracket. Two years ago, Josh and I actually won the bracket, with only his near-encyclopedic knowledge of sports and my flair for picking cool names at our disposal. (Seriously, I love a good name. Who wants to accompany me to the horse races?)

Whether I will enter the basketball pool remains to be seen. My favorite bracket of this season, though, must be New York Magazine/Vulture’s “Sitcom Smackdown.” This will certainly be recommended reading for my “American Television Sitcom” students this summer.

Spoiler Alert: After a final showdown between Cheers and The Simpsons, the latter triumphed. Cheers was only a few years before my time, and while I slept with Bart Simpson’s Guide to Life under my pillow for a time, I cannot call myself an avid Simpsons viewer. It also never read as a “situation comedy” to me. I’ve decided to recommit to watching more Simpsons, just to see for myself. (I do not predict this will be an impossible resolution to keep to.) I’m more than a little surprised that Seinfeld didn’t take the cake or even make it to the final round.

Other notes: History repeats itself as Arrested Development is ruled out too soon. (Why, oh why, did the third season have to be such a disappointment?) Also, while Sex and the City and 30 Rock are both favorites of mine, how does sex trump night cheese? It doesn’t feel right somehow. 30 Rock, though not uniformly awesome, is certainly the funnier show. Are situation comedies more about the situation/characters/setting/etc. or the comedy?

As Carrie Bradshaw says: “I can’t help but wonder…”

UPDATE: Huh. Readers’ Bracket, AD triumphs. What can I say? Bluth fans love the internets.