Keep ‘Stranger Things’ out of the Upside Down: Vote in the Bingewatch Awards

If you ever needed finite proof that fandoms rule TV shows (and not the other way around), you need to keep up with TV polls. In recent weeks, we’ve seen the Shadowfam, Lucifans, Earpers, and every other fandom under the sun flock to online polls to vote for their favorite shows (and show support for their fellow fandom warriors).

In these bold new bingewatching times, TV networks and platforms can’t rely on the old outdated Nielsen ratings system to track the viewing habits of their audiences, so making renewal decisions can be harder than ever.

A show may have a pitifully low number of live viewers (we’re looking at You on Lifetime) but clean up on catchup viewing and streaming platform bingewatcher views. Because audience numbers are more “fluid” than ever, fandom polls are paying a part in influencing decision-makers when it comes time to renew a show.

As you well know, we’re dedicated to keeping the shows on air that our fandom family loves, so it’s high time we dive into the TV poll world to help our favorite shows stay around or be saved.

We’re going to share the results of our polls with complete data, metrics, and geographic information publicly, so if any studios are on the fence about a renewal they can see just how large and dedicated each fandom is for their shows. (Don’t worry: your personal data is always safe with us here. We wouldn’t dream of sharing names, email addresses, IP addresses, or anything of the like.)

If you’re a fan of Stranger Things, here’s why the show deserves your vote.

It’s the OG of Netflix ‘n’ Chill created to keep us bingewatching

Alongside shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s MVPs, and for good reason: the show is a fun, creepy, gripping 80s nostalgia shot with a pitch-perfect cast and the Duffer Brothers at the helm.

As much a monster-fuelled Stephen King-esque headscratcher as it is a coming-of-age tale of friendship and family, Stranger Things walks a balanced line, avoiding gratuitous nostalgic references and instead honoring the sci-fi horror genres of the era.

Although it has proved a sleeper hit, it’s hard to remember a time when Stranger Things was anything but a household name. It didn’t take long for the show’s popularity to spread, mostly because the first season were eight hours of genuinely entertaining television.

It rides the nostalgia train and won our hearts

For those of you who haven’t had the Stranger Things experience, the show is set in Indiana in 1983, where a young boy (Noah Schnapp) vanishes into thin air. 

As his friends (Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, and Gaten Matarazzo), family (Winona Ryder), and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one very unique girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). 

Word on the street is Stranger Things’s entire storyline is based on real experiments that were carried out in Montauk, Long Island in that time period.

The cast is totally amazing

We can’t choose our favorite member of the cast. Winona Ryder (Edward Scissorhands), David Harbour (Suicide Squad), Finn Wolfhard (Supernatural), Millie Bobby Brown (Intruders), Gaten Matarazzo (The Blacklist), Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp (Bridge of Spies), Natalia Dyer (I Believe in Unicorns), Charlie Heaton (Shut In), and Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket) are all just amazing.

Barb might be coming back 

Fans didn’t get to enjoy the justice for Barb (Shannon Purser) they so eagerly rallied for, even if the actor did enjoy an Emmy nomination for her performance in the beloved role. 

According to Natalia Dyer (who plays Nancy on the show), there’s still a chance the character could be revisited in some way. Dyer told Elle, “The whole Barb thing, I don’t think she feels completely validated, I don’t think that’s over. I think there’s still more there that feels wrong and off, and I don’t know if you can ever fix that.”

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Vote for Stranger Things now.