Round 1 of May Madness III is in the books & the results of the battles are as follows

(1) Supernatural 314-63 (16) Davinci's Demons
(2) Orphan Black 228-138 (15) Family Guy
(3) Lost Girl 84-40 (14) The 100
(4) Haven 80-38 (13) Teen Wolf
(5) Hannibal 304-86 (12) Falling Skies
(6) Sleepy Hollow 173-81 (11) American Horror Story
(7) Continuum 41-30 (10) The Newsroom
(9) Chicago Fire 47-36 (8) Burn Notice

(1) The Big Bang Theory 340-62 (16) Trophy Wife
(2) Once Upon A Time 326-37 (15) Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
(3) Criminal Minds 86-43 (14) The Simpsons
(4) The Mentalist 72-59 (13) New Girl
(5) Doctor Who 274-34 (12) Defiance
(6) Grey's Anatomy 123-36 (11) The Goldbergs
(9) 2 Broke Girls 59-43 (8) Brookyln Nine-Nine
(10) Modern Family 60-52 (7) How I Met Your Mother

(1) Castle 322-71 (16) Mad Men
(2) The Walking Dead 256-97 (15) Archer
(4) Community 61-46 (13) True Detective
(5) Psych 107-101 (12) The Originals
(6) NCIS 104-61 (11) The Killing
(8) Person Of Interest 85-34 (9) The Vampire Diaries
(10) Breaking Bad 79-45 (7) Hawaii Five-O
(14) Bates Motel 53-49 (3) Beauty And The Beast

(1) Arrow 326-47 (16) King & Maxwell
(2) Dexter 216-122 (15) The Following
(3) Game Of Thrones 127-28 (14) Vikings
(4) Sherlock 119-53 (13) Parks And Recreation
(5) Elementary 192-42 (12) Sons Of Anarchy
(6) The Blacklist 170-63 (11) Glee
(7) Bones 111-33 (10) The Tomorrow People
(8) Almost Human 77-68 (9) Downton Abbey

As expected, all 4 # 1 seeds advanced.  As did all the #2 seeds.

Highest ranked loser #3 seed "Beauty & The Beast" losing to 14th seeded "Bates Motel"

Highest voted total in round 1 - "The Big Bang Theory" with 340 votes.
Lowest voted total in round 1 - 28 "Vikings"

Largest margin of Victory - 289 "Once Upon A Time" over "Once Upon A Time In Wonderland"
Smallest margin of Victory - 4 "Bates Motel" over "Beauty And The Beast"

There were not a lot of shocks to me in round 1. Perhaps BatB losing was a mild shock, but not unexpected. One thing these polls always have is the "over hyped" show or character. A select few fans voting furiously in the qualification round where voting is unlimited, then once the restrictions of 1 vote per IP address are implemented, the REAL number of fans rears its ugly head.

I was also mildly & pleasantly surprised to see "Almost Human" win its 1st round match against "Downton Abbey".

Round 1 Character results will be posted later today.

Starting now the nominations for the 3rd May Madness are under way.

The rules for this year. After a fun twist last year that included former shows & characters as well, we are going back to the original format.

Only current day shows & characters.
To be eligible, a show or character  must have aired/been in AT LEAST 1 episode since last May Madness started on May 10, 2013.

As with past years, all previous May Madness winners & finalists, any Best Of TV Awards winners that are still currently on the air are automatically selected for the tournament.

Here is the list of automatic contenders

TV SHOWS
- Arrow
- Castle
- Dexter
- Lost Girl
- Once Upon A Time
- Orphan Black
- Supernatural
- The Big Bang Theory
- The Walking Dead

TV CHARACTERS
- Dean Winchester (Supernatural)
- Kevin Tran (Supernatural)
- Charlie Bradbury (Supernatural)
- Benny (Supernatural)
- Crowley (Supernatural)
- Malcolm Merlyn (Arrow)
- Kurt Hummel (Glee)
- Kate Beckett (Castle)
- Richard Castle (Castle)
- Dr. Lauren Lewis (Lost Girl)
- Penny (The Big Bang Theory)
- Amy Farrah Fowler (The Big Bang Theory)
- Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory)
- Peter Pan (Once Upon A Time)
- Emma Swan (Once Upon A Time)
- Daryl Dixon (The Walking Dead)
- Arya Stark (Game Of Thrones)
- Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)

Nominations are simple.

Nominate who you want (that are eligible) and if there is more nominations in the end than there are spots available (64 in each tournament) there will be a series of vote offs to pick the May Madness contenders.

Last year had approximately 250 characters & 200 shows vie for the left over spots. Of course, with the rules tightening back up to just current shows & characters, those numbers should in theory come down substantially this year.

Once someone has been nominated ONCE, they DO NOT need to be nominated again. So try to avoid nominating people already nominated by others.

EDIT - April 6, 2014
Nominations ARE NOW CLOSED!
Complete list of nominees will be released soon, approximately mid-April