Vote for Your Favorite Episode

Bracket Winners Voting is now over! See the scientific poll results Bracket 1 Which is your favorite Brad & Ted episode? Bracket 2 Which is your favorite heavy episode? Bracket 3 Which is your favorite farce episode? Bracket 4 Which is your favorite guest episode? Bracket 5 Which is your favorite miscellaneous episode? Finals Which is your favorite episode?

The Tournament Winner "Ted and Brad Get Handcuffed" Here's a way Hey Dude fans can vote for their favorite episode. Since it's hard to choose just one, I've divided up the field into brackets. Each week or so, vote for your favorite episode in that bracket. After winners have been chosen in all brackets, the five finalists will go into a fan vote for the numero uno position. I admit that I didn't spend more than ten minutes breaking the episodes down, so outside of the first bracket, there is still time for modifications. Let me know. Also, Bracket Five is open for anyone who wants to put their personal favorite into the hopper (if it hasn't already been listed). There are five slots. If I get less than five, I'll round out the field myself. If more than five, it can be expanded to the voting software's limit (I think eight). Like I said, I plan on leaving each Bracket up for a week or two for voting. But I disclaimer that in case I get busy, lazy, distracted, or disinterested. I hope you have fun with this!

Here Are Your Contenders...

Ted & Brad Episodes These episodes feature or advance the on-going romantic tension between Senior Staff and the Riding Instructor
[01] "Day One at the Bar None" 3 votes [10] "Ted and Brad Get Handcuffed" 23 votes [26] "Take Me to You Leader" 5 votes [29] "Datenite" 21 votes [64] Ted asks Melody out to make Brad jealous 13 votes

Heavy Episodes These episodes deal with more serious subject matter, or require the featured cast to stretch their performance
[08] "The Good, the Bad, the Obnoxious" 2 votes [22] "Dan the Man " 10 votes [34] "Ex-Static" 1 votes [37] Melody helps her alcoholic brother 16 votes [41] "Ride, She Said" 14 votes

Farce Episodes These comedic episodes rely on quality slapstick, or situations that are far removed from reality.
[02] "Battle of the Sexes" 19 votes [32] "Superstition" 4 votes [52] Murder-mystery night 17 votes [54] To save Jake, the staff invents an imaginary worker 15 votes [56] Mr. Ernst thinks he's dying from gastrothrombosis 11 votes

Guest Episodes These episodes are propelled by the arrival of a Bar None guest.
[20] "Teacher's Pest" 14 votes [23] "Superstar" 4 votes [31] "Sewn at the Hip" 13 votes [40] The Vlecks stay at the Bar None 7 votes [63] "Jake's Fight" 16 votes

Open The best of the rest
[06] "Rehearsal for Romance" 4 votes [14] "Loose Lips" 2 votes [27] "Inmates Run the Asylum" 11 votes [30] "New Kid on the Block" 5 votes [65] "War" 8 votes

Analysis
This poll ran from 2/22/99 to 3/9/99

"Ted and Brad Get Handcuffed" pulled a come-from-behind victory in a very tight race. In the early going, Ep [64] Ted asks Melody out jumped into the lead, but "Datenite" quickly overtook it and looked poised for victory. But a flurry of late voting put "T&BGH" into a solid lead. As the polls started to close, "Datenite" made a run that closed the gap to only one vote, but in the end "T&BGH" hung on to advance to the finals.

Analysis
This poll ran from 3/9/99 to 3/23/99

Episode [37], Title unknown, where Melody helps her alcoholic brother won what essentially to two-horse race with "Ride, She Said". I think most would agree that an awful lot was asked from Christine Taylor in this episode, and she delivered. Her performance probably won it. "Dan the Man" put in a respectable showing. So it's episode 37. I just wish I knew the title of this episode!

Analysis
This poll ran from 3/23/99 to 4/8/99

Episode [02], "Battle of the Sexes" won pretty handily, although the final results make the race look a little closer than it was. Hard to argue, since it gave us a lot of Ted/Brad interaction/rivalry, plue the cooking scene, and the word "sex" never hurts. Still, if the poll ran a little longer, either the murder-mystery or Jed episodes could have pulled out a win, as they both mounted admirable come-from-behind charges. All of these episodes were fun, and they ably showcase the creativity of the writers, cast, and crew.

Analysis
This poll ran from 4/8/99 to 4/25/99

Episode [63], "Jake's Fight" wins in a close race, probablky on the strength of uber-boor Roy Bigelow and his smirking pal, Shermie. The closest competition came from the Laura Innes camp, as Miss Andrews came in just two votes shy. "Sewn at the Hip" had by far the most realistic theme of these episodes, and that probably helped. In a way, it's surprising that the Vlecks have more fans than bland Bobby Rogers. But, in a way, it's not so surprising.

Analysis
This poll ran from 4/25/99 to 5/5/99

I didn't really track the progress of this poll. All I know is that when I voted for "Inmates Run the Asylum", it was far behind "War". But "Inmates" picked up enough to win somewhat handily.

Analysis
This poll ran from 5/5/99 to 5/28/99

Wow, it really couldn't have been closer. This one literally came down to the last couple of votes, and I'll tell you how. As I was closing the poll, "Inmates Run the Asylum" (IRTA) was leading 23-22 over "Ted and Brad Get Hancuffed" (T&BGH). Yeah, a one vote margin. My wife came in, and I let her make a vote without seeing any of the numbers. Well, she chose T&BGH. As I submitted her vote, I was saying out loud, "Uh oh, we have a problem," because it was obvious that a tie was looming. But when the current results popped up, someone else had popped in a vote for T&BGH! That gave T&BGH the one-vote victory. Whoever ran their vote in at about 10:40PM MST, you are responsible for the winning vote! It just goes to show, every vote counts.

So, as selected by the voting fans of this web site, "Ted and Brad Get Handcuffed" is the favorite Hey Dude episode. Well, perhaps not your favorite episode if you voted for something else, but you get the idea. Thanks to everybody who participated!

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