Vote for Babylon as best tv show of all time

[stian999]

Hi all.

My local news paper here in Norway is holding a vote on their site over which TV show is the best of all time. Well there are 17 shows to vote over and B5 is one of them.
If u guys could have taken a few seconds of your time to vote for B5 i would be very happy.
Click here to got to the site and vote!

Just chose Babylon 5 and press the blue button on the bottom of the page saying "gi din stemme".

Thanx guys

Stian
Trondheim
Norway

 

[crofootski]

Cool!

 

[colonyearth]

Way cool, B5 is neck and neck with Seinfeld and is only beat out by Twin Peaks and Friends. Nice

 

[Ninja_Squirrel]

Put in my B5 vote.

What an interesting mix of Norwegian & American shows. Do you get the American shows in English or translated?

It's not as big a list as I was expecting, so I'm impressed Babylon 5 was even on there. Is B5 really that big in Norway?

Thanks for the link.

 

[DaRkEnEdStAr]

I live in the UK and i have heard that b5 is bigger in Europe than in America . Mybe it is because we are more patient

 

[anlashok1]

I'm sorry but I can't do that. I know its not on the list but my vote for best TV show of all time is M*A*S*H.

 

[FlipperPA]

Bab-5 is currently strong at #3... behind Twin Peaks at #1 (a surprise for me, for sure... but pleasant surprise!).

I only could bring myself to vote for B5 since Cop Rock and Jerry Springer Show were not on the list...

-Tim

 

[FlipperPA]

Another thing - Band of Brothers (which was EXCELLENT) was a 10-part one time mini-series on HBO... how does that count as a show? Seems out of place with the others on the list.

-Tim

 

[AnlaShokGrey]

Cool! I love the fact that my vote counts in Norway, since apparently it does not count anymore in the US... :-(

Aisling

 

[Quagmire]

I voted for B5 since the true best show of all time, the Simpsons, was not on the list.

 

[Shaal Mayan]

Mine is in the best tv show ever .

 

[GeoKuutio]

Been there, done that.

 

[phoenixrising]

Babylon 5 is now at #2, behind Twin Peaks.

Anyone else notice they screwed up the zip code for Beverly Hills 90210. They put it down as 90201.

 

[FlarnChef]

I voted for B5 since the true best show of all time, the Simpsons, was not on the list.

I always knew there was something special about you. Doh!
I agree, but put in my vote for B5...

 

[Chris Springob]

I live in the UK and i have heard that b5 is bigger in Europe than in America . Mybe it is because we are more patient

I've heard people claim that B5 is more popular in Europe than in the U.S., but I've never seen anyone produce ratings statistics to back it up (which might not necessarily be a fair way to compare anyway).

Based purely on anecdotal evidence, my guess is that B5 is somewhat less popular in Europe overall than it is in the U.S., but that there's substantial regional variation, and the average is brought down by it being less popular in "Southern Europe" (the countries on the Mediterranean like France, Greece, Italy, Spain....) which account for a substantial share of the population of Europe. I've seen statistics showing that they watch less American TV than northern Europeans, and they also don't seem to have much presence in online B5 fandom. (Or TV sci-fi fandom in general. Go to any B5, Trek, or Farscape board, and count the number Dutch or Austrians vs. the number of French or Italians.)

On the other end of the spectrum, B5 seems to be highly popular in Scandinavia, or at least Norway and Finland, but that's a small share of the total population of Europe.

If any actual Europeans want to correct my impressions of sci fi fandom in Europe, feel free.

 

[stian999]

What an interesting mix of Norwegian & American shows. Do you get the American shows in English or translated?

It's not as big a list as I was expecting, so I'm impressed Babylon 5 was even on there. Is B5 really that big in Norway?

Actually this is the second round of voting. First they had votes in about 7 categories i think ranging from best drama, comedy, best children show etc. They then took the best 2-3 from each category(dunno how they came up with 17 but i guess its because some shows where nominated in more than one category) and made a final vote on the best TV show.

In Norway all the foreign shows and movies are in english with subtitles. We dont translate then and dubb them like i know the germans love to do
I guess the reason for that is that we here in Norway do speak english very well. Its our second language and we start to learn it in 3rd or 4th grade in school. And i wouldnt have it any other way.. hate dubbed movies and tv shows

Dont think B5 is that big here in Norway, but everyone who loves Sci-Fi have heard about it and most of them have also seen the show.

Babylon 5 is now at second place behind Twin Peaks with 17% of the votes. Think i can thank you guys for that.. Great job.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

I live in the UK and i have heard that b5 is bigger in Europe than in America . Mybe it is because we are more patient

I've heard people claim that B5 is more popular in Europe than in the U.S., but I've never seen anyone produce ratings statistics to back it up (which might not necessarily be a fair way to compare anyway).

Based purely on anecdotal evidence, my guess is that B5 is somewhat less popular in Europe overall than it is in the U.S., but that there's substantial regional variation,

I suppose to some extent that depends on whether you class the UK as part of Europe (and man, do I want to avoid that argument right now) ...

Again without ratings to back it up, it seemed clear whilst B5 was in first run that, in the UK at least, B5 was at least as "successful" (in relative terms) as in the USA, a point acknowledged on at least one occasion by JMS himself IIRC.

Certainly he dropped "Channel 4" into a few scripts and claimed that this was a way of paying some small tribute to the TV channel on which it was shown in the UK - just wish I could lay my hands on the relevant posts right now.

Factor in the success of the VHS video releases (which happened season by season not long after each season's first TV run) and you get the general idea.

We were also privileged enough to see the end of two season (S2 and S3?) before the US audience as C4 ran the seasons all the way through back to back over 22 weeks without the break for the final few episodes that US audiences had to deal with.

As for the rest of Europe, frankly I have no idea - except that my Sister-in Law's Norwegian boyfriend was/is a massive fan of the show.

I think perhaps a comparison between the USA and the whole of Europe as a block (with its many and varied countries, peoples, cultures and backgrounds) is somewhat unrealistic, due to the "substantial regional variation" you describe. Not to mention the fact that it was not necessarily on air at the the same time in the various countries of Europe - there being no Europe-wide TV networks, or syndication markets of any description.

There certainly appear to be plenty of my fellow Brits on these discussion boards though.

 

[Mike G]

Dont think B5 is that big here in Norway, but everyone who loves Sci-Fi has heard about it and most of them have also seen the show.

Thats more then I can say about most U.S. Sci-Fi fans.

 

[stian999]

Well it looks like we wont be able to get the first place. But im pretty satisfied with the 3rd place.
The poll closes is 1h

 

[stian999]

The poll has now closed and B5 got a very nice third place in the vote behind Twin Peaks and The West wing(or Presidenten as its called here in Norway)
The news paper is surpriced that B5 came in 3rd and says:
"Among stars and planets

The vote big surprice came in the form of the sci-fi series Babylon 5. Similar to The west wing, Bablyon 5 got 5 seasons behind it. First accused of beeing a simple copy of Star Trek, the series showed already durring the first season that it was anything but that. Bruce Boxleitner in the role as captain John Sheridan showed that he had other things to offer besides a pretty face in "The Gambler". Babylon 5 have become a real cult phenomenon and the fact that it placed 3rd in our vote shows that there is a huge fan base av the space station Babylon 5"
(excuse any translation errors as it was done in a hurry)

Fun to see that B5 beats shows like Friends and Seinfeld. And that it beats Seinfeld is another point the news paper makes as Seinfeld was voted the best TV show in a similar american vote.

I think this will create further interest for B5 atleast here in norway and that is always a good thing

Cheers

Stian
Trondheim
Norway