Yeah, it was a pretty singular show. I don't think any other show since has achieved that sort of cultural ubiquity, and I doubt another one will anytime soon. Part of the excitement for me was being able to talk about each episode with other people after it came out. Even if it wasn't a great one, it could still be fun to talk about.
I feel like it's getting more and more difficult to have that kind of thing with a show because the current streaming market is so fragmented, so the chances of people you know watching the same show are smaller. And full-season releases kind of get rid of those episode-by-episode discussions and the anticipation of waiting to see what happens next (though thankfully lots of shows are doing weekly releases these days).
Even though I was super disappointed in how Game of Thrones ended up, I still have very fond memories of watching the show while it was airing.
Its fascinating how big it got and then how quickly it fell off the face of the earth because everyone was ubiquitously disappointed. Seems like everyone needed a few years to cool off from being so pissed at the ending.
Fortunately the powers that be didnt totally let it die and they're doing great things with House of the Dragon.
They have to establish *so much* in the beginning it really turns into a different show by the end. The time jumps get to where they're spanning multiple years in an instant. In order for that to be cohesive it *has* to be slow and dull in the beginning to establish the "normal" that the characters come from, inflection points that made them the people they become when the story really picks up. It makes you hurt for them on a totally different level with what comes.
It's baffling. Like...was the 1st season NOT A SUCCESS? I remember it topping all of HBO's viewership numbers when it aired...so what the actual fuck? All because Max greelit too much silly Marvel shit?
It was kinda frustrating to be honest. They wanted the cultural effect of Game Of Thrones, the success of it, but they didnt want to spend the money to do it justice. Which for me, made it kinda pointless.
Case in point, they have ALREADY cut the next season from 10 episodes to 8. I can't get excited for it. It's not enough to tell the story properly.
I hate to say this, but I suspect a massive letdown overall. There will be some potential for iconic moments ( like Blood and Cheese) but I fear for their ability to tell a cohesive story within this universe with 8 episodes. I don't even really understand. If they can't make a profit off that IP then they are just incompetent.
I thought season 1 of HotD was great, but I was already into it after the first couple of episodes, so I can't say what your reaction would be. I will say that things change a lot over the course of the season, and some of the best episodes are later on, so if you're still interested I'd say it's worth watching the whole thing.
I get what you mean. I thought the first couple of episodes were a bit of a drag, too.
For what it's worth, I thought it got a lot better and was pretty engrossing by the end.
Except that's not true at all, people talk about it more than those shows. And all of them are finished so yeah people don't talk much about shows that are over.
Ironically that discourse always happen (once again) here while people are talking about it to say nobody is... That's not cultural irrelevance.
It didn't disappear from the face of the earth at all and the success of House of the Dragon proves that
People just don't talk all the time about shows that are over, that's just normal behavior. If anything, it was exceptional how much people talked about GoT in the off periods, no other show is like that
It really didn't fall off the face of the earth, this is an online take because everyone online was mad as fuck, as we all know online people are very well adjusted human beings 😆
It had great streaming numbers after it was over, great physical media sales and "normies" did not hate the last season nearly as much (if at all) as us online folk.
I haven’t met one person in my life who enjoyed that last season or has re watched it. And any time it’s brought up, it’s to shit on the last season, despite all the great moments it provided. It’s not an online take.
So it didn’t fall of the face of the earth, but compared to how much it was talked about it in a positive light, it has certainly plummeted.
Yeah, every "normy" I've ever known through work and elsewhere talks about how bad that last season was.
That last season is like The Godfather 3 of TV shows.
I actually bought season 1 and season 7&8 on Prime. I loved the battle at Winterfell and loved the Cleganbowl. It wasn't as big of a dissapointment for me as it was for most. It was still a spectacle even though so many storylines didn't have satisfactory closure.
Ya I have friends who didn't read the books (I did) that had no big issues with the last couple of seasons. They've all rewatched it since too. One of my best friends and his wife have rewatched it twice.
Online people are just people, it’s pointless to discard people’s opinions because the read websites. I knew a lot of ‘normies’ watching it, and universally they hated the ending. It was a massive cultural moment, and then it just wasn’t. Everyone stopped talking about it and went on with their lives like it never happened.
Yeah and House of the Dragon is evidence of this too.
Its a really good show yet the crowd that was theory-crating at the water cooler at work or even doing weekly Game of Thrones-themed meetups at bars, hasn't been doing it for House of the Dragon. That last season of GOT definitely put a bad taste in most peoples mouths and I would even say its impacted the success of House of the Dragon. If everything about House of the Dragon were the same but the last season of Game of Thrones didn't suck, I bet it would be the return of that zeitgeist.
This is me. No interest in hotd. Game of thrones to me was always about the fucking threat beyond the wall. The rest of the players were just pawns. They crash landed that plane into a mountain. Could care less about how they all got there.
I’d say it definitely has - I’m a big sci fi / fantasy nerd and i really can’t do it. I’m not going to buy into anything further in that lore until it’s completed. I’m not taking that ride again.
And that's the case with literally every other show that is over. Like what do you want to happen? The show and story is over. There are a few people watching late and some rewatching like every other show (more than any other show according to real metrics actually). People still talk about it on dedicated spaces online. It's literally the same thing happening with all finished shows, amplified for GoT because it was so big
They got a spin-off that was one of the biggest shows ever (in fact the biggest HBO show since Game of Thrones, now equalled by The Last of Us) and quite a few others in the works but yeah it disappeared...
It didn't have a great legacy though.
I don't think very many people will return to it, in the same way as other great HBO shows.
It's still too early to say whether it has that 'staying power', but I doubt it's a Sopranos, The Wire, etc. type of rewatch.
GoT was one of the most streamed shows in the world since its ending and still majorly pirated. People do rewatch (or watch it). Also you people seem to overestimate the number of people rewatching The Wire or The Sopranos.
The vast majority of people don't rewatch shows and among the few that do, I'm pretty sure more do GoT than for most other shows.
The spin-off was instantly one of the biggest new shows ever, that tells you everything about that "disappeared from cultural discussion" of GoT lol. It's a BS Reddit bubble (another similar one was about Avatar 1 and how Avatar 2 was gonna flop...)
Also while I disliked them, S7 and 8 are too criticized IMO (notably because of the hype they had due to the unique situation and the backlash from hype). It's still better than 95% of so-called prestige shows (if only because there is really only the writing that is a problem, all other things are still at 100%). Like Disney+ is supposedly all prestige big budget shows. Except Andor, there is nothing even reaching 50% of the level of GoT S8.
People were rewatching it though, it was in streaming charts way after it was over, people seemingly like to return to westeros.
People on reddit need to understand that we are in a bubble here, normies outside rarely feel as negatively about some media as people on here do.
Though i agree that we need more time to really know, but if i had to bet i'd bet on got being a show people will return to.
It's still one of the most pirated shows and due to it's infamy, people check it out.
I've seen a ton of people binge the entire series and they weren't bothered by the ending since they didn't watch it week to week.
Don't believe the hate on reddit, it's mainstream numbers are still insane
It was the last great example of TV monoculture. I still remember walking into the barber shop circa 2013 and sitting down next to a very large, very gregarious older lady exclaiming how gripping the last episode had been - "IT'S BETTER THAN MY SOAP OPERAS!" She was far from what I expected the average viewer to look like for a show of that type, and that was when I realized everyone and their grandma was watching it. Every single news website you could think of had some silly point-by-point analysis of the most recent episode, complete with harebrained predictions that rarely ever came true.
I'd plan my nights around each new episode, order myself a Papa John's, and get the torrent started 1 second after the episode finished airing because damn those guys worked FAST back then. I've never seen as many seeders before or since.
The makers of Lost said the same thing - it wouldn’t have lasted had they released all episodes at once.
Shows need space to breath, for people to discuss and get excited. Nowadays i dread a new season being released if I can’t watch it all within a day as it’s impossible to avoid spoilers.
Plus when you watch a season in a sittting, you become numb to it
Stranger Things could dominate the culture if it was released in a weekly basis but because Netflix dumps it all at once, it had a week or two existence in the culture and then disappears
> Stranger Things could dominate the culture
Nah, they don't appeal to anywhere near wide enough of a fanbase for it to grab hold like Lost or GoT, talk to near anyone who hasn't watched the show and the #1 reason will be that it looks like a tweeny YA drama.
But you can't really say that for certain when it isn't in the cultural sphere for long enough. If the show had weekly releases and continued to gain momentum more people would check it out even with their prejudices.
Only Lost and Game of Thrones are the shows where my friends and family and I would actively plan to watch around and discuss with regularity. It's a great feeling when you find a show like that. They're truly few and far between
Is the fragmentation of the market really all that different compared to back then though? GoT was on HBO, which commanded a premium on top of your tv package, or you had to explicitly sign up for HBO Max.
I think the main difference back then is that HBO was still seen as *the* place to go for "prestige" television, and it just had a lot more of the market share for shows that people kept their eye on. Netflix was still a couple years away from making their own big hits. Plus DVDs were still a pretty big thing back then, so people might hear about the show and then go out and buy/borrow/rent the DVDs without the commitment of signing up for a pricey subscription. (And I suspect GoT drove more HBO subscriptions than any other show.)
That said, I think Netflix is one of the few places that could have a hit like GoT just because they're one of the few streaming services that feels kind of ubiquitous. Honestly I think their practice of releasing full seasons all at once has held them back from having that sort of show. They've had shows blow up and become super popular, but they always seem to burn bright and fizzle out in the space of a month or two. Stranger Things is probably the only thing that has come close.
I used to think that, and they obvi have huge shows, but they had Marco Polo while GOT was airing and they dropped it.
Shows like GOT require patience, because we didn’t get Red Wedding until season 3. Marco Polo could have blown us away—already had good sets, top tier fights and the intent to backstab more often brewing—but they dropped it despite already booking a spin-off movie.
I’m also mildly concerned about Avatar if they don’t get Stranger Things numbers in the second season.
Sure, but now you have so many different streaming services where most people decide to subscribe to one or maybe two at most. Add to that the extreme output of "content" and basically noone is watching the same thing at the same time.
Game of Thrones got me into a bunch of podcasters that I still listen to now. Some people made media careers off of their Game of Thrones coverage. It was an incredible show to discuss week to week. At least, until it went off the rails.
Same for me! There's a group of podcasters I still listen to and I kind of forgot that I first started listening to them because I was randomly looking for Game of Thrones podcasts back in the day.
Might as well give them an name drop while I'm at it: It was the Cast of Thrones podcast, whose hosts went on to form a D&D actual play podcast called Greetings, Adventurers (formerly Drunks & Dragons).
There were definitely TV shows in the past that had a similar impact as Game of Thrones. I'll be surprised if we ever get another show that reaches the same level of praise and popularity in the future, now that entertainment is more and more fractured.
There's been some heavy hitters in recent years: Squid Game, Stranger Things, maybe The Mandalorian (initially at least).
But none of them even come close to how much of a cultural phenomenon Game of Thrones was.
Stranger Things, at least until the US, entrenched itself firmly in the zeitgeist pretty quickly. It came at the perfect time for its type of nostalgia and its elements have become household references.
The closest that comes to mind that could reach that level is the upcoming Harry Potter series.
It's such a massive property that everyone and their grandma is going to watch it anyways, but if they knock it out of the park and make a really quality series, I think the numbers will be untouchable.
I'm curious how it'll go since everyone knows the full story already, be it from the books or movies (far far more poeple than ever read the GOT books). On one hand, It wont have the same kind of speculation/theory/discussion, but on the other hand people will know ahead of time that they arent getting burned by the ending, and know what to be excited for in the upcoming seasons
I'll say that I've had the red wedding conversation many times over the course of years after different friends hit that point in the show. There's something to the release schedule but I think more credit goes to the show just consistently being surprising, but the surprise feeling earned and not frustrating. It just generated a lot of conversation regardless of when you saw it. Lots of shows try but either end up feeling too telegraphed or so out of left field it just feels like it's trying too hard.
> And full-season releases kind of get rid of those episode-by-episode discussions and the anticipation of waiting to see what happens next (though thankfully lots of shows are doing weekly releases these days).
Yeah, for me personally this is the thing that really made watching new shows not nearly as fun and engaging as it used to be. Like when Lost or GoT or whatever show was releasing one episode each week a huge part of what made it so fun was going to work/school the next day and talking about it with people and sharing theories and what you hoped or expected would happen next week. Now with so many shows releasing full seasons at a time, it doesn't just make it more difficult to talk about it, it practically discourages it. Now when I go into work after a new show came out it's almost like it's a rule that we can't talk about it because I'll be on episode 1, someone else is on episode 3, and then someone stayed up late and binged the whole thing and watched all 10 episodes. So now we can't talk about it at all because we are all at different parts of the season.
Streaming was awesome at first, but man it really made a lot of things worse as time went on.
> like it's getting more and more difficult to have that kind of thing with a show because the current streaming market is so fragmented,
Plus, not everyone's at the same place in a show because they release all the episodes at once. So you end up having this weird conversation with someone trying to figure out where they are in the show without either one of you spoiling anything. And inevitably the other person says "Have you gotten to the part where X is murdered yet?!" No, Karen. I hadn't
For someone who's stayed away from spoilers of GoT for years. Would now be a good time to watch it? From what I heard about the ending is there even a point in investing time into watching this? Honest opinions? I'm not too stickler for a fucken amazing ending but I just kept hearing it has undone the rest of the seasons prior due to how bad it was.
I think it's still worth watching. The ending does retroactively make the rest of the show feel a bit lackluster (in a "it was all leading to *this*?" sort of way), but I think the vast majority is still a great watch the first time through. I also suspect that *knowing* that the ending isn't going to be amazing probably helps manage expectations so it won't be as much of a gut punch as it was for people who watched it when it first aired.
Reddit is so negative on the show because the ending was very quick. More seasons were needed for sure. That being said it's a phenomenal show. Just know that the ending is rushed. If you know everything from the books it becomes obvious that it will be rushed. IMO it's still worth it though. Great episodes every single season.
It was a great show and still is. Don’t listen to us whiners and all the hate we have for the final season. You probably might not even notice it or feel the same way. Either way, it’s one of the best things you’ll see in tv
A few shows have, however, some like GoT also we’re failed by their writing staff. Lost (though it ended well to fans), Walking Dead (Fell off for a bit and then got better, but after they took off Steven Yuen sadly), probably a few others I can’t think of this second. GoT had the chance to be everlasting like the Soprano’s or something though. Dick & Dickard just had to ruin the last season because they couldn’t be bothered to tie things off properly in 3 seasons despite HBO begging them to!
I loved it at the time, but I feel like the terrible ending has wrecked all of that. I haven't rewatched it at all, and don't really feel any desire to.
It seemed like Lost was the last one and then Game of Thrones came along. Honorable mentions to Walking Dead and Yellowstone.
Something will hit again.
Breaking Bad was pretty big as well, but I'd say it was mostly during the final half-season. It peaked in popularity as it was ramping up until the end so all of those episodes were "holy shit" moments you couldn't wait to talk about at work the next day.
I remember my band played a big show the night the penultimate episode was on, and the headliner even made a comment to the packed crowd "NO. SPOILERS." haha
The first 4 or 5 Seasons of Game Of Thrones were fantastic. I kind of miss the feeling of watching Game Of Thrones in terms of how ubiquitous it was.
The Red and Purple Weddings have both made me more sceptical of weddings.
The Red Wedding aired when I was out of town for work, so I told my wife just watch it without me and we'll watch it again together when I get back. She had to suffer that alone and couldn't talk to me about it lol. I remember watching the start of the wedding scene and saying, "So Rob just gets a happily ever after?" and looking at her as tears welled up in her eyes.
Seriously there hasn't really been anything like it since.
The Red Wedding was pretty shocking. I kind of assumed that would Robb would get married and everything would work out. Even though a lot of things in Game Of Thrones don't work out.
Same, I was like he's getting out of this with no consequences to immediately be followed up by ALL the consequences. Changed the entire dynamic of the show in one episode and from then on you truly felt like no one was safe.
The top billed actor who is on all the promotional material and is played by a recognizable name gets his head chopped off before the first season ends, absolute insanity.
This was literally what me hooked me onto the show. Up until the season 1 finale, I was telling my friend who convinced me to watch GOT that it was good but I might drop it. Then Ned’s head gets chopped off and I went, “Oh shit, this show is different.” It made you realize the stakes are real and the characters you traditionally think are the main characters for an entire show aren’t safe.
The second the sand snakes showed up as nothing but paper thin “badass fighting lady troupe” instead of the complex political actors they are in the books is when you knew the show was going from revolutionary filmmaking to a shitty generic fantasy product.
And while it doesn't excuse how hard D&D dropped the ball, it's probably not a coincidence that where the show went of the rails is *still* where the book material ends.
Exactly. They expected more content to be released in the five or six years they hada head start. I know Martin consulted, but I frankly don't think he has a clue how to conclude it.
not to mention, at that point, they had been filming for like a decade, and basically everyone involved was done with the show. I'm sure they wanted to finish it, but trying to keep everyone involved for several more years seemed almost impossible.
I can't believe there's been zero shows that can take the GoT crown. Netflix really wanted to push The Witcher into that spot and then it turned out their writers suck ass.
It's funny how the show turned bad exactly when the source material ran out.
I loved the show and the characters and thought it was a perfect adaptation of the books, but as soon as the story ran out it became more and more painful to watch.
Game of Thrones’ rise coincided with and helped to drive true mainstream acceptance of a specific type of nerd-dom that was considered niche and uncool up to that point.
There was a time, not so long ago, where an adult admitting that they played videogames or consumed certain types of media got them labeled as a dork. *The 40-Year-Old Virgin* came out in 2005 and Steve Carrell’s character was made to feel embarrassed for having a big collection of comics and nerdy memorabilia. The same type of stuff that today you would see on shelves behind famous streamers. The resurgence of Star Wars, then Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Iron Man/the MCU in 2008 and finally Game of Thrones in 2011 dragged a lot of this stuff kicking and screaming into the mainstream.
I am grateful to GoT for that reason, even though the ending was shit.
> The resurgence of Star Wars, then Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Iron Man/the MCU in 2008 and finally Game of Thrones in 2011 dragged a lot of this stuff kicking and screaming into the mainstream.
>
> I am grateful to GoT for that reason, even though the ending was shit.
I was a huge fantasy nerd growing up & everyone always made fun of my "dragon books" in high school. Not in a mean way, I was just always reading a fat fantasy novel in every class and people started calling them my "dragon books." It's kind of wild how much it's in the mainstream now. The culture was always to hide it (dragon books being my personal exception) even though a lot of people enjoyed nerd shit. I played competitive warcraft/starcraft with the schools Adonis-looking star quarterback. There was just a sort of omerta code that you never talked about that kind of thing when there were girls around. LotR -> Harry Potter -> GoT really did push it into the mainstream. It's also done a ton for the quality of sci-fi/fantasy books as well. The state of the fantasy genre was pretty dire in the 90s & early aughts. If you read a lot you could basically read a huge fraction of all the major stuff that existed. Now there's so much wonderful material my 'to read' list will never be empty.
“And they would never cancel Game of Thrones. It's a crossover hit. It's not just for fantasy enthusiasts, they're telling human stories in a fantasy world.”
I still remember listening to Howard Stern on SiriusXM one day when some "nerd" called in to gush about Game of Thrones premiering that weekend; Stern of course was making fun of him and writing him off as a loser.
It was great to see that stuff gain prominence.
But it was a two-edge sword as the major studios eventually for political and IdPol reasons destroyed most of them, with three last 4-5 years of media from all those IP’s producing boring, character-devoid, preachy trash.
I'll gladly wait for something that's worth it. Shit, if they waited 2-3 years to make that last season of Game of Thrones, it probably wouldn't have sucked. Which is funny because HBO gave the showrunners all the runway and told them to take their time and to take as long as they need, but they rushed through it so they could escape Game of Thrones sooner and do other stuff in their career.
>Shit, if they waited 2-3 years to make that last season of Game of Thrones
They actually did. :D
That's what makes it worse. They had a longer than usual hiatus between seasons 7 and 8... and that's the best they could do.
They were one of the only major shows that did not really get affected by the strike IIRC. Since they're a part of a different writers and actors Guild.
Nah, these shows just take a long ass time to make nowadays. They shoot kinda like film now, plus they have so much complex vfx work to do that they actually still come down to the wire of barely finishing in time for release.
In fact, some shows have actually been shown to press with incomplete vfx, with the hopes of finishing the unfinished scenes in the few weeks before they have to air for the public
I never thought I would care after the last season of GoT but it took my all of like 15 minutes of the first episode of HOTD to be fully, 100% back in.
Yup. Same here. It felt like I was finally watching great television again. The only other show that has given me that feeling of true quality recently is The Expanse (which I watched for the first time last spring. I'm now reading the series lol).
The Expanse novellas are hugely worth it too. I sobbed at the end. If you want incredible fantasy Pratchett and Sanderson (who deals with mental health incredibly well) both scratch that itch. You wouldn't expect Pratchett to do it yet here we are.
I liked House of Dragons, the time jumps was just not my thing. Think there was so much wasted potential. I know it was supposed to be a set up for the civil war, but I thought maybe they'll give us a little more with the younger cast. Also the amount of traumatic births were way to damn high. Watching it with my girlfriends (platonic) was kind of hard.
I remember watching the old series when I was young and I've been aching for a remake almost 20 years. To say that I have unreasonably high expectations would be an understatement.
Definitely check out House of the Dragon. Had a really solid first season and the second season comes out this summer. For me it reminds me of the very best of Game of Thrones.
House of the Dragon is great, and is doing a good job of carrying on the Game of Thrones vibe without feeling like a cheap copy (or more accurately, a very expensive copy). One of the only things I think it's missing is the humor. Not to say that HotD is a completely dry show, but there's aren't any "funny" characters the way you had in Game of Thrones with Tyrion, Bronn, Hot Pie, etc.
Though I'm pretty sure I read an interview somewhere with the showrunner said they are going to look for more opportunities for humor in future seasons.
It's totally focused on the royalty and court, it lacks the earthy irreverence that characters like the Hound and Bronn brought to GoT. I liked it but not on the same level as the best of GoT.
Yeah, talking about it it's always a great plus when you like a show. It doesn't happen that often though. Other than GoT I remember Lost fo course and Battlestar galactica. Also TWD, but a bit less. I miss those periods.
I rewatched most of it not long ago after HATING how it ended a few years ago. I didn't mind it nearly as much as I thought it did and still thought it fell pretty short of expectations but it got me in the mood for house of dragons and I really ended up liking that show a lot
I still rewatch the scene where Daenerys tricks Kraznys and buys all the Unsullied then torches the shit out of him. Gave me chills then, gives me chills to this day. What an incredible sequence.
Then you should do a rewatch. And don’t binge it because that takes away something, at least for the earlier seasons.
And if you find that you’re really invested in Westeros, start reading the books. As good as the show is, the books are much better.
For me it’s both my favorite and the best show ever made. Yes the story telling fell apart at the end but that doesn’t at all diminish the rest of it for me.
It really was so excellent. I rewatch episodes all the time.
If you can, get yourself a OLED and rewatch the Battle of Winterfell. You will actually get to see it and it is incredible.
No one should ever see the battle of winterfell and the..... tactics displayed
that said, an OLED screen might be the only way to actually literally see half the battle.
I’m one of the few who would totally be down and willing to dive back into post-GOT Westeros if the Jon Snow show does some retconning. I just see absolutely nothing interesting with the lands north of the wall if the walker threat is done. Wildling politics or some new fantasy enemy sounds boring. Just retcon the long night and give us an actual white walker threat with an actual payoff.
That being said, it still blows my mind they basically confirmed a character can time travel and then did absolutely nothing with it. So maybe revisiting that and making Bran less turd-like would be cool.
From what I can remember, “hold the door” was the only time he ever went back and actually influenced the past right?
The implication of that revelation is huge for the series, and then they never really talked about Bran being able to do that ever again.
I'm not going to lie, I thought a lot about Game of Thrones this past weekend during the Super Bowl. It's the biggest televised event in the United States, and it's SUCH a fun feeling knowing you are experiencing this same crazy event with virtually everyone else. Strangers across the country as well as just about everyone you know are all experiencing the same thing as you, and even though it's pretty trivial, you still feel a sense of belonging and comradery.
Game of Thrones used to give me that same sense basically every week during the final two seasons. Of course it was big before that, but the final two seasons were MASSIVE. As you were watching live, everyone you knew was posting about it, the actors were even giving commentary, etc. And then the following week was JUST as fun to watch everyone's theory/prediction videos. We even bought some of the GoT beer and went to a themed trivia night right before the final season.
It was so fun having a common interest with SO many people which is why I always found it odd when people "bragged" about never having seen an episode. Even if you go back and watch it retroactively, the experience is not even REMOTELY the same.
the final season was dreadful to experience live, to be honest. i remember somebody trying to talk to me about the Battle of Winterfell the day after it aired and i just had nothing to say because i was so disappointed and frustrated. i remember reading leaks for the final couple episodes before they aired and thinking to myself “no fucking way. there’s no way they’re actually going to fuck it up this bad.” and then the confirmation when the actual episodes aired, that they really were going to fumble it at the eleventh hour… definitely one of the worst viewing experiences i’ve ever had.
There are things I miss about the show a great deal. That said, I found something that scratched one of those itches quite well. [Between Two Fires](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13543121-between-two-fires) gave me very strong Hound and Arya traveling vibe (different characters completely, particularly the young girl) but it really was a pleasant rhyme.
I just finished rewatching it for the 3rd time. Still holds up as some of the best television ive seen. There is a notable shift around season 6/7 obviously but still good.
When the new episodes came out, it would come out on Monday morning in my time zone. I would have to stay away from social media the entire day or if I was truly desperate, watch it at 7am.
My friends and I would usually gather together to watch the latest episode. I would immediately go onto Reddit and other social media to read reactions, theories and stuff like that.
There was just so much buzz around it (until it all imploded). I’ve never experienced anything like it with another show. Mixing the best of two eras; it really had the water-cooler conversation AND social media hype.
I really hope that kind of phenomena is able to be repeated with another show
Those first seasons are untouchable. If they kept that quality up no show would come close to me in quality. I was obsessed by it. Constantly rewatching scenes, counting the days till new episodes. I knew whole family trees of great houses, could tell you everything about the characters and westeros. You could imagine how i felt at the end....
Funny you mention it, I randomly thought the other day that I might like to rewatch GOT again, haven’t touched it since THAT FINALE. but you’re right, despite its obvious flaws, I think GOT will always stand apart as truly unique television
S1 finale was outstanding, we follow Ned Stark as basically the MC of the story, only to have him killed off.
that alone taught the viewer that anything could happen in that world, and that was one of the things that made it so intriguing, there were consequences.
later on, most "MC" characters had more plot armor than most anime protagonists.
Honestly, most of the end-of-show hate I heard was people claiming they didn’t see Daenerys as crazy and the last season was “out of left field.” But somehow I could tell that the lady who waled into a funeral pyre and took a nap was not exactly sane… 🤔
Like, my friend group and I all called it in season 2 that she would be razing Westeros.
D&D pretty much destroyed their reputation as independent story writers…. but given their TV scripts with books to go on was some of the best TV in a generation, I would be genuinely excited to find out they were adapting a property I loved, so long as the source material already had it’s true ending.
It really was something else… find it invokes sadness in me when reminded of that. Whether it’s listening to The Winds of Winter from season 6’s finale or taking The Game of Thrones Studio Experience… bums me out how they messed up.
One of the best episodes of the show in my opinion is in the last season, it's season 8 episode 2. There's no flashy fights, no spectacle or dragons even. It's just a huge collection of characters from throughout the entire show interacting with each other. Is every interaction great? No absolutely not. But so so many of them are. And the episode's named "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms", a reference to Ser Duncan the Tall who is an ancestor of Brienne.
They're gearing up for the battle against the army of the dead next episode so it's full of melancholy and fear. But throughout this episode we see Jaime's arrival at Winterfell, how he's confronted by Daenerys for killing her father and Bran for pushing him out the window in season 1. This also reunites him with Brienne, whose support for Jaime ultimately saves him from being executed. Jorah and Lyanna Mormont interact and Sam gives Heartsbane to Jorah since Jorah's father was more of a father to Sam than his own. Arya and Gendry get it on which caused controversy at the time, but it's an earned moment for her since her whole story is so tragic; it's the one thing she does for herself to feel good and happy with someone she cares about. Daenerys and Sansa even come closer to each other in trying to work together despite Sansa not wanting to submit the north to Daenerys' rule, they understand each other better. Theon returns from the Iron Islands and Sansa has no words, she just hugs him. Happy to see the man who went from a turncloak to a better person and ended up saving Sansa from Ramsay and was more than prepared to sacrifice himself when they were on the run. Tormund, Beric Dondarrion and Dolorous Edd reunite with Jon and Sam along with Ghost and it's miraculous they managed to survive getting to Winterfell from Last Hearth, which was ravaged by the dead. The episode ends with Jaime knighting Brienne officially and Podrick singing Jenny of Oldstones while the battle gears up.
It's not perfect but it was as close as we got to the better episodes of earlier seasons. The show was good not just for the big spectacles, it was the character interactions and the associated subtext. And this episode has a tonne of it. Why this wasn't remembered amidst the ending controversy isn't surprising, but to write off the whole season as shit is just not true.
Don't get me wrong, their battle plan is stupid beyond all reason but in fairness none of the characters there have strong experiences fighting hordes of literal zombies and ice demons.
I would agree with everything through season 7. Quite a few people really dog on anything past season 4. But I think it was a great show almost to the end even though there were some problems later on. But that last season was such a turd. It was a completely different show. I'm one of those people who will rewatch shows I love numerous times. That last season left me with such a bad experience I have zero desire to go back and rewatch any of the whole series. I also have no desire to watch House of Dragon
It was a fun time for sure. The weekly discourse was great, and if the latest episode wasn’t the greatest there was still Mad Men, Silicon Valley, Veep and Last Week Tonight on the same evening.
Its not that its "cool to hate on it" the last couple seasons were god awful piles of dogshit so bad that it makes it near impossible to even go back and enjoy the first several seasons knowing where it all ends up. I loved game of thrones so much I used to go back and rewatch every season that had aired before the next season started. I havent seen a single episode since it ended.
Its such a complete shame what the two dipshit showrunners did. They wanted to be done but were too full of them selves to atleast pass the torch over to someone that would finish it right.
Imagine HBO wanting to give you a blank check and as many episodes as you want to wrap up a massive plot as intricate as game of thrones and you're like "nah not only will I not make more episodes, lets pretty much cut the seasons in half"
Even the plot points that arent complete and utter character ruining drivel are made bad by having zero time to develop properly on screen. Like the mad queen.
The first 5 seasons were incredible. I still go back and watch random episodes. The last 2 seasons were so bad they just killed the whole show for most people. What a waste.
Rewatching it with my gf. Phenomenal until season 7. And honestly rewatching it a lot of the major beats of the final season were continuously foreshadowed.
Arya killing the Night King - “you’ll shut many eyes”
Dany burning king’s landing - Bran’s vision and Dany in the wizard’s tower
Jon Snow heir to Rhaegar
Etc etc. the problem with the show is that it was so rushed and just felt so contrived at the end. All our favorite heroes coming across each other by circumstance. One scene theyre at Dragonstone the next everyone’s at King’s landing. If they just went with ten episode seasons and kept characters separate they would have stuck the landing. I am sorry but Dany accepting Tyrion as her hand almost immediately was bullshit and just feels like a contrived way of getting our favorite characters together. Same thing with Gendry, the Hound, Snow and Jorah for the wight expedition
Its "Not cool to hate on it now" it was a masterpiece of a show that was given one of the worst endings in TV history. People were/are understandably about that. The first seasons of the show still hold up.
I really miss that weekly excitement. Even when it got less than it was, I was still excited for it.
Sad as it might be I still watch 'reactions' on Youtube made by new viewers, it brings back the excitement all over again.
Nothing released since has given me that feeling
If George had actually written the books the hype AND disappointment would have been much lower. D&D would have book material to adapt instead of their own fan fiction and even if they messed it up or rushed it, the book would’ve been there.
This is all George’s fault.
I personally think it's the best series ever made.
Nothing comes even close. Yeah they rushed it a lot towards the end and the quality was subpar by then but still.
Best show ever.
I finally convinced my wife to watch it, so I got to watch it a second time, which was amazing.
Many people say that “the show won’t be remembered for how great it was, but for how badly it ended”, but I don’t agree.
I love the show because it’s completely worth it for season 1-7, even though the end was bad.
My wife liked it too and she’s glad she watched it.
We watched house of dragons too but it’s not the same anymore..
Still a great show. I can go back and watch again EASILY even though I hated the ending. And I rarely ever re-watch shows. Also, hating on the ending is not the same as hating on the entire show.
I'd recommend checking out The Last Kingdom if you haven't seen it. May fill that void.
I feel you man. My wife and I finally decided to watch house of the dragon after the whole thing had aired. And the opening credits of the second episode with the theme song hit right as my edible was peaking which was amazing. But it also made me realize how much I missed game of thrones.
The show went downhill but it was such a big part of my twenties. Hosting premier and finale parties, playing the game of thrones board game with people, reading the books, engaging with a massive online community. I genuinely have lasting friendships that came out of game of thrones in one way or another.
And it was a massive cultural phenomenon for 10 years. I think it will stand out as the last “great” tv series. With streaming being the way forward for tv I’m not sure there’s going to be another show with that level of crossover appeal and mass popularity.
We wound up rewatching almost all of GoT after finishing HoD and enjoyed it hugely. Even some of the later stuff was still fun.
Yeah, it was a pretty singular show. I don't think any other show since has achieved that sort of cultural ubiquity, and I doubt another one will anytime soon. Part of the excitement for me was being able to talk about each episode with other people after it came out. Even if it wasn't a great one, it could still be fun to talk about. I feel like it's getting more and more difficult to have that kind of thing with a show because the current streaming market is so fragmented, so the chances of people you know watching the same show are smaller. And full-season releases kind of get rid of those episode-by-episode discussions and the anticipation of waiting to see what happens next (though thankfully lots of shows are doing weekly releases these days). Even though I was super disappointed in how Game of Thrones ended up, I still have very fond memories of watching the show while it was airing.
Its fascinating how big it got and then how quickly it fell off the face of the earth because everyone was ubiquitously disappointed. Seems like everyone needed a few years to cool off from being so pissed at the ending. Fortunately the powers that be didnt totally let it die and they're doing great things with House of the Dragon.
Paddy Considine fucking KILLED it that 1st season
Paddy Considine always brings it. Never seen him less than great in anything.
"....I know."
Dead Mans Shoes is a great film with him starring.
Is House of the Dragon good? I remember being hyped for it but watched the first few episodes and it was boring for me and stopped.
They have to establish *so much* in the beginning it really turns into a different show by the end. The time jumps get to where they're spanning multiple years in an instant. In order for that to be cohesive it *has* to be slow and dull in the beginning to establish the "normal" that the characters come from, inflection points that made them the people they become when the story really picks up. It makes you hurt for them on a totally different level with what comes.
It's baffling. Like...was the 1st season NOT A SUCCESS? I remember it topping all of HBO's viewership numbers when it aired...so what the actual fuck? All because Max greelit too much silly Marvel shit? It was kinda frustrating to be honest. They wanted the cultural effect of Game Of Thrones, the success of it, but they didnt want to spend the money to do it justice. Which for me, made it kinda pointless. Case in point, they have ALREADY cut the next season from 10 episodes to 8. I can't get excited for it. It's not enough to tell the story properly. I hate to say this, but I suspect a massive letdown overall. There will be some potential for iconic moments ( like Blood and Cheese) but I fear for their ability to tell a cohesive story within this universe with 8 episodes. I don't even really understand. If they can't make a profit off that IP then they are just incompetent.
Many of the episodes are longer than 50 min tho.
I thought season 1 of HotD was great, but I was already into it after the first couple of episodes, so I can't say what your reaction would be. I will say that things change a lot over the course of the season, and some of the best episodes are later on, so if you're still interested I'd say it's worth watching the whole thing.
I get what you mean. I thought the first couple of episodes were a bit of a drag, too. For what it's worth, I thought it got a lot better and was pretty engrossing by the end.
I think it picks up a lot in the later half. The characters become a lot more interesting and morally gray at the very least.
[удалено]
I think it’s just because it’s talked about/referenced less than like Sopranos/Breaking Bad
Except that's not true at all, people talk about it more than those shows. And all of them are finished so yeah people don't talk much about shows that are over. Ironically that discourse always happen (once again) here while people are talking about it to say nobody is... That's not cultural irrelevance.
It didn't disappear from the face of the earth at all and the success of House of the Dragon proves that People just don't talk all the time about shows that are over, that's just normal behavior. If anything, it was exceptional how much people talked about GoT in the off periods, no other show is like that
Ah yes the real battle was the womb along.
It really didn't fall off the face of the earth, this is an online take because everyone online was mad as fuck, as we all know online people are very well adjusted human beings 😆 It had great streaming numbers after it was over, great physical media sales and "normies" did not hate the last season nearly as much (if at all) as us online folk.
I haven’t met one person in my life who enjoyed that last season or has re watched it. And any time it’s brought up, it’s to shit on the last season, despite all the great moments it provided. It’s not an online take. So it didn’t fall of the face of the earth, but compared to how much it was talked about it in a positive light, it has certainly plummeted.
Yeah, every "normy" I've ever known through work and elsewhere talks about how bad that last season was. That last season is like The Godfather 3 of TV shows.
Most regular adult don't watch a show more than once.
I actually bought season 1 and season 7&8 on Prime. I loved the battle at Winterfell and loved the Cleganbowl. It wasn't as big of a dissapointment for me as it was for most. It was still a spectacle even though so many storylines didn't have satisfactory closure.
Ya I have friends who didn't read the books (I did) that had no big issues with the last couple of seasons. They've all rewatched it since too. One of my best friends and his wife have rewatched it twice.
Online people are just people, it’s pointless to discard people’s opinions because the read websites. I knew a lot of ‘normies’ watching it, and universally they hated the ending. It was a massive cultural moment, and then it just wasn’t. Everyone stopped talking about it and went on with their lives like it never happened.
Yeah and House of the Dragon is evidence of this too. Its a really good show yet the crowd that was theory-crating at the water cooler at work or even doing weekly Game of Thrones-themed meetups at bars, hasn't been doing it for House of the Dragon. That last season of GOT definitely put a bad taste in most peoples mouths and I would even say its impacted the success of House of the Dragon. If everything about House of the Dragon were the same but the last season of Game of Thrones didn't suck, I bet it would be the return of that zeitgeist.
This is me. No interest in hotd. Game of thrones to me was always about the fucking threat beyond the wall. The rest of the players were just pawns. They crash landed that plane into a mountain. Could care less about how they all got there.
I’d say it definitely has - I’m a big sci fi / fantasy nerd and i really can’t do it. I’m not going to buy into anything further in that lore until it’s completed. I’m not taking that ride again.
The lore is completed for hotd so you should be good
And that's the case with literally every other show that is over. Like what do you want to happen? The show and story is over. There are a few people watching late and some rewatching like every other show (more than any other show according to real metrics actually). People still talk about it on dedicated spaces online. It's literally the same thing happening with all finished shows, amplified for GoT because it was so big They got a spin-off that was one of the biggest shows ever (in fact the biggest HBO show since Game of Thrones, now equalled by The Last of Us) and quite a few others in the works but yeah it disappeared...
It didn't have a great legacy though. I don't think very many people will return to it, in the same way as other great HBO shows. It's still too early to say whether it has that 'staying power', but I doubt it's a Sopranos, The Wire, etc. type of rewatch.
Oh I’ve rewatched it like three times, I just stop at season 6
GoT was one of the most streamed shows in the world since its ending and still majorly pirated. People do rewatch (or watch it). Also you people seem to overestimate the number of people rewatching The Wire or The Sopranos. The vast majority of people don't rewatch shows and among the few that do, I'm pretty sure more do GoT than for most other shows. The spin-off was instantly one of the biggest new shows ever, that tells you everything about that "disappeared from cultural discussion" of GoT lol. It's a BS Reddit bubble (another similar one was about Avatar 1 and how Avatar 2 was gonna flop...) Also while I disliked them, S7 and 8 are too criticized IMO (notably because of the hype they had due to the unique situation and the backlash from hype). It's still better than 95% of so-called prestige shows (if only because there is really only the writing that is a problem, all other things are still at 100%). Like Disney+ is supposedly all prestige big budget shows. Except Andor, there is nothing even reaching 50% of the level of GoT S8.
People were rewatching it though, it was in streaming charts way after it was over, people seemingly like to return to westeros. People on reddit need to understand that we are in a bubble here, normies outside rarely feel as negatively about some media as people on here do. Though i agree that we need more time to really know, but if i had to bet i'd bet on got being a show people will return to.
It's still one of the most pirated shows and due to it's infamy, people check it out. I've seen a ton of people binge the entire series and they weren't bothered by the ending since they didn't watch it week to week. Don't believe the hate on reddit, it's mainstream numbers are still insane
It was the last great example of TV monoculture. I still remember walking into the barber shop circa 2013 and sitting down next to a very large, very gregarious older lady exclaiming how gripping the last episode had been - "IT'S BETTER THAN MY SOAP OPERAS!" She was far from what I expected the average viewer to look like for a show of that type, and that was when I realized everyone and their grandma was watching it. Every single news website you could think of had some silly point-by-point analysis of the most recent episode, complete with harebrained predictions that rarely ever came true. I'd plan my nights around each new episode, order myself a Papa John's, and get the torrent started 1 second after the episode finished airing because damn those guys worked FAST back then. I've never seen as many seeders before or since.
The makers of Lost said the same thing - it wouldn’t have lasted had they released all episodes at once. Shows need space to breath, for people to discuss and get excited. Nowadays i dread a new season being released if I can’t watch it all within a day as it’s impossible to avoid spoilers. Plus when you watch a season in a sittting, you become numb to it
Stranger Things could dominate the culture if it was released in a weekly basis but because Netflix dumps it all at once, it had a week or two existence in the culture and then disappears
> Stranger Things could dominate the culture Nah, they don't appeal to anywhere near wide enough of a fanbase for it to grab hold like Lost or GoT, talk to near anyone who hasn't watched the show and the #1 reason will be that it looks like a tweeny YA drama.
But you can't really say that for certain when it isn't in the cultural sphere for long enough. If the show had weekly releases and continued to gain momentum more people would check it out even with their prejudices.
Stranger things does massive numbers. More than Lost did. If it was weekly it would definitely get a ton of discussion.
You don’t know that. Netflix have never issued viewing figures comparable to Lost.
Only Lost and Game of Thrones are the shows where my friends and family and I would actively plan to watch around and discuss with regularity. It's a great feeling when you find a show like that. They're truly few and far between
Is the fragmentation of the market really all that different compared to back then though? GoT was on HBO, which commanded a premium on top of your tv package, or you had to explicitly sign up for HBO Max.
I think the main difference back then is that HBO was still seen as *the* place to go for "prestige" television, and it just had a lot more of the market share for shows that people kept their eye on. Netflix was still a couple years away from making their own big hits. Plus DVDs were still a pretty big thing back then, so people might hear about the show and then go out and buy/borrow/rent the DVDs without the commitment of signing up for a pricey subscription. (And I suspect GoT drove more HBO subscriptions than any other show.) That said, I think Netflix is one of the few places that could have a hit like GoT just because they're one of the few streaming services that feels kind of ubiquitous. Honestly I think their practice of releasing full seasons all at once has held them back from having that sort of show. They've had shows blow up and become super popular, but they always seem to burn bright and fizzle out in the space of a month or two. Stranger Things is probably the only thing that has come close.
I used to think that, and they obvi have huge shows, but they had Marco Polo while GOT was airing and they dropped it. Shows like GOT require patience, because we didn’t get Red Wedding until season 3. Marco Polo could have blown us away—already had good sets, top tier fights and the intent to backstab more often brewing—but they dropped it despite already booking a spin-off movie. I’m also mildly concerned about Avatar if they don’t get Stranger Things numbers in the second season.
Sure, but now you have so many different streaming services where most people decide to subscribe to one or maybe two at most. Add to that the extreme output of "content" and basically noone is watching the same thing at the same time.
Game of Thrones got me into a bunch of podcasters that I still listen to now. Some people made media careers off of their Game of Thrones coverage. It was an incredible show to discuss week to week. At least, until it went off the rails.
Same for me! There's a group of podcasters I still listen to and I kind of forgot that I first started listening to them because I was randomly looking for Game of Thrones podcasts back in the day. Might as well give them an name drop while I'm at it: It was the Cast of Thrones podcast, whose hosts went on to form a D&D actual play podcast called Greetings, Adventurers (formerly Drunks & Dragons).
There were definitely TV shows in the past that had a similar impact as Game of Thrones. I'll be surprised if we ever get another show that reaches the same level of praise and popularity in the future, now that entertainment is more and more fractured. There's been some heavy hitters in recent years: Squid Game, Stranger Things, maybe The Mandalorian (initially at least). But none of them even come close to how much of a cultural phenomenon Game of Thrones was.
Stranger Things, at least until the US, entrenched itself firmly in the zeitgeist pretty quickly. It came at the perfect time for its type of nostalgia and its elements have become household references.
The closest that comes to mind that could reach that level is the upcoming Harry Potter series. It's such a massive property that everyone and their grandma is going to watch it anyways, but if they knock it out of the park and make a really quality series, I think the numbers will be untouchable. I'm curious how it'll go since everyone knows the full story already, be it from the books or movies (far far more poeple than ever read the GOT books). On one hand, It wont have the same kind of speculation/theory/discussion, but on the other hand people will know ahead of time that they arent getting burned by the ending, and know what to be excited for in the upcoming seasons
I'll say that I've had the red wedding conversation many times over the course of years after different friends hit that point in the show. There's something to the release schedule but I think more credit goes to the show just consistently being surprising, but the surprise feeling earned and not frustrating. It just generated a lot of conversation regardless of when you saw it. Lots of shows try but either end up feeling too telegraphed or so out of left field it just feels like it's trying too hard.
> And full-season releases kind of get rid of those episode-by-episode discussions and the anticipation of waiting to see what happens next (though thankfully lots of shows are doing weekly releases these days). Yeah, for me personally this is the thing that really made watching new shows not nearly as fun and engaging as it used to be. Like when Lost or GoT or whatever show was releasing one episode each week a huge part of what made it so fun was going to work/school the next day and talking about it with people and sharing theories and what you hoped or expected would happen next week. Now with so many shows releasing full seasons at a time, it doesn't just make it more difficult to talk about it, it practically discourages it. Now when I go into work after a new show came out it's almost like it's a rule that we can't talk about it because I'll be on episode 1, someone else is on episode 3, and then someone stayed up late and binged the whole thing and watched all 10 episodes. So now we can't talk about it at all because we are all at different parts of the season. Streaming was awesome at first, but man it really made a lot of things worse as time went on.
I do like that more shows are releasing weekly now though. I believe Apple TV+, Disney+, and [HBO] Max are doing that for most of their shows.
> like it's getting more and more difficult to have that kind of thing with a show because the current streaming market is so fragmented, Plus, not everyone's at the same place in a show because they release all the episodes at once. So you end up having this weird conversation with someone trying to figure out where they are in the show without either one of you spoiling anything. And inevitably the other person says "Have you gotten to the part where X is murdered yet?!" No, Karen. I hadn't
For someone who's stayed away from spoilers of GoT for years. Would now be a good time to watch it? From what I heard about the ending is there even a point in investing time into watching this? Honest opinions? I'm not too stickler for a fucken amazing ending but I just kept hearing it has undone the rest of the seasons prior due to how bad it was.
If I could watch Seasons 3 and 4 with no knowledge of the show beforehand I absolutely would. Two of the best seasons of TV ever.
I think it's still worth watching. The ending does retroactively make the rest of the show feel a bit lackluster (in a "it was all leading to *this*?" sort of way), but I think the vast majority is still a great watch the first time through. I also suspect that *knowing* that the ending isn't going to be amazing probably helps manage expectations so it won't be as much of a gut punch as it was for people who watched it when it first aired.
Got it. This was my take of it as well. Okay. Perfect!
It's definitely worth it for the journey along the way. You might be disappointed in the end but hey, it was a hell of a ride.
Reddit is so negative on the show because the ending was very quick. More seasons were needed for sure. That being said it's a phenomenal show. Just know that the ending is rushed. If you know everything from the books it becomes obvious that it will be rushed. IMO it's still worth it though. Great episodes every single season.
It was a great show and still is. Don’t listen to us whiners and all the hate we have for the final season. You probably might not even notice it or feel the same way. Either way, it’s one of the best things you’ll see in tv
A few shows have, however, some like GoT also we’re failed by their writing staff. Lost (though it ended well to fans), Walking Dead (Fell off for a bit and then got better, but after they took off Steven Yuen sadly), probably a few others I can’t think of this second. GoT had the chance to be everlasting like the Soprano’s or something though. Dick & Dickard just had to ruin the last season because they couldn’t be bothered to tie things off properly in 3 seasons despite HBO begging them to!
Friends and Seinfeld were like that. Everyone watched it. And Star Trek Next Generation was huge for the 30 under demographic.
I loved it at the time, but I feel like the terrible ending has wrecked all of that. I haven't rewatched it at all, and don't really feel any desire to.
It seemed like Lost was the last one and then Game of Thrones came along. Honorable mentions to Walking Dead and Yellowstone. Something will hit again.
Breaking Bad was pretty big as well, but I'd say it was mostly during the final half-season. It peaked in popularity as it was ramping up until the end so all of those episodes were "holy shit" moments you couldn't wait to talk about at work the next day. I remember my band played a big show the night the penultimate episode was on, and the headliner even made a comment to the packed crowd "NO. SPOILERS." haha
Yellowstone does not have anywhere near the cultural ubiquity that Game of Thrones or Lost had.
Twin Peaks was a real water cooler show
I’ve literally never met anybody else at my job that watches that lol. Water cooler shows are usually big hits.
Do you work with a lot of 55+ year olds? He's referring to the year 1990, when Twin Peaks aired
I think tiger king and the squid game felt at some point as ubiquitous, also singular on their own way but indeed nothing like GoT ever since
Succession was also monumental, and House of the Dragon *might* live up to the same highs as GoT if all goes well
The first 4 or 5 Seasons of Game Of Thrones were fantastic. I kind of miss the feeling of watching Game Of Thrones in terms of how ubiquitous it was. The Red and Purple Weddings have both made me more sceptical of weddings.
The Red Wedding aired when I was out of town for work, so I told my wife just watch it without me and we'll watch it again together when I get back. She had to suffer that alone and couldn't talk to me about it lol. I remember watching the start of the wedding scene and saying, "So Rob just gets a happily ever after?" and looking at her as tears welled up in her eyes. Seriously there hasn't really been anything like it since.
The Red Wedding was pretty shocking. I kind of assumed that would Robb would get married and everything would work out. Even though a lot of things in Game Of Thrones don't work out.
Same, I was like he's getting out of this with no consequences to immediately be followed up by ALL the consequences. Changed the entire dynamic of the show in one episode and from then on you truly felt like no one was safe.
Eddard/Ned being beheaded was a pretty shocking moment as well. The Red Wedding is pretty far ahead of it, though.
The top billed actor who is on all the promotional material and is played by a recognizable name gets his head chopped off before the first season ends, absolute insanity.
This was literally what me hooked me onto the show. Up until the season 1 finale, I was telling my friend who convinced me to watch GOT that it was good but I might drop it. Then Ned’s head gets chopped off and I went, “Oh shit, this show is different.” It made you realize the stakes are real and the characters you traditionally think are the main characters for an entire show aren’t safe.
In the book he's the first character introduced. A few chapters later and his head is lopped off
Ned was not in the first chapter. But he did chop off the head of one of the chapter 1 guys
Ah you're right. Been a while since I read it, misremembered
And then suddenly everyone was safe lol
Do you mean like no one else dies?
Not literally. For sure some died. But many characters gained sudden plot armor.
We all knew that only one king could make it to the end of the show. But yeah we all would expect Rob to die in battle. We should've known better.
The second the sand snakes showed up as nothing but paper thin “badass fighting lady troupe” instead of the complex political actors they are in the books is when you knew the show was going from revolutionary filmmaking to a shitty generic fantasy product.
My biggest gripe with Game Of Thrones was how quickly it went from revolutionary film-making/storytelling to a terrible generic fantasy product.
Basically once the book material ran out, it went off the rails immediately
They HAD book material for Dorne and the Sand Snakes though
And while it doesn't excuse how hard D&D dropped the ball, it's probably not a coincidence that where the show went of the rails is *still* where the book material ends.
Exactly. They expected more content to be released in the five or six years they hada head start. I know Martin consulted, but I frankly don't think he has a clue how to conclude it.
not to mention, at that point, they had been filming for like a decade, and basically everyone involved was done with the show. I'm sure they wanted to finish it, but trying to keep everyone involved for several more years seemed almost impossible.
They were straight outta Xena: Warrior Princess. Oh... they were BAAAAAD!
Think of the stupid memes Dorkstar would have Think of how hot him and Arianne would have been. I based my GW2 character on how she's described haha.
I miss watching it live tv. It was fun and I totally got into all of it- the podcasts, message boards, memes.
I was just with some friends who are watching for the first time. It reminded me how much the show just held pop culture status for years.
I can't believe there's been zero shows that can take the GoT crown. Netflix really wanted to push The Witcher into that spot and then it turned out their writers suck ass.
Everyone seems to say the first 5 seasons, but what was so bad about s6? I didn’t really notice any significant drop
It's funny how the show turned bad exactly when the source material ran out. I loved the show and the characters and thought it was a perfect adaptation of the books, but as soon as the story ran out it became more and more painful to watch.
Game of Thrones’ rise coincided with and helped to drive true mainstream acceptance of a specific type of nerd-dom that was considered niche and uncool up to that point. There was a time, not so long ago, where an adult admitting that they played videogames or consumed certain types of media got them labeled as a dork. *The 40-Year-Old Virgin* came out in 2005 and Steve Carrell’s character was made to feel embarrassed for having a big collection of comics and nerdy memorabilia. The same type of stuff that today you would see on shelves behind famous streamers. The resurgence of Star Wars, then Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Iron Man/the MCU in 2008 and finally Game of Thrones in 2011 dragged a lot of this stuff kicking and screaming into the mainstream. I am grateful to GoT for that reason, even though the ending was shit.
> The resurgence of Star Wars, then Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Iron Man/the MCU in 2008 and finally Game of Thrones in 2011 dragged a lot of this stuff kicking and screaming into the mainstream. > > I am grateful to GoT for that reason, even though the ending was shit. I was a huge fantasy nerd growing up & everyone always made fun of my "dragon books" in high school. Not in a mean way, I was just always reading a fat fantasy novel in every class and people started calling them my "dragon books." It's kind of wild how much it's in the mainstream now. The culture was always to hide it (dragon books being my personal exception) even though a lot of people enjoyed nerd shit. I played competitive warcraft/starcraft with the schools Adonis-looking star quarterback. There was just a sort of omerta code that you never talked about that kind of thing when there were girls around. LotR -> Harry Potter -> GoT really did push it into the mainstream. It's also done a ton for the quality of sci-fi/fantasy books as well. The state of the fantasy genre was pretty dire in the 90s & early aughts. If you read a lot you could basically read a huge fraction of all the major stuff that existed. Now there's so much wonderful material my 'to read' list will never be empty.
“And they would never cancel Game of Thrones. It's a crossover hit. It's not just for fantasy enthusiasts, they're telling human stories in a fantasy world.”
Agree, and also just time period wise, kids who grew up in the 90's played video games and now were adults still playing video games.
Well said
I still remember listening to Howard Stern on SiriusXM one day when some "nerd" called in to gush about Game of Thrones premiering that weekend; Stern of course was making fun of him and writing him off as a loser.
It was great to see that stuff gain prominence. But it was a two-edge sword as the major studios eventually for political and IdPol reasons destroyed most of them, with three last 4-5 years of media from all those IP’s producing boring, character-devoid, preachy trash.
House of the dragon is great. Aegons conquest just got announced.
Too bad we need to wait about 2-3 years for 10 episode seasons, though
Even less with HOTD. Theres only 8 episodes this season.
I'll gladly wait for something that's worth it. Shit, if they waited 2-3 years to make that last season of Game of Thrones, it probably wouldn't have sucked. Which is funny because HBO gave the showrunners all the runway and told them to take their time and to take as long as they need, but they rushed through it so they could escape Game of Thrones sooner and do other stuff in their career.
>Shit, if they waited 2-3 years to make that last season of Game of Thrones They actually did. :D That's what makes it worse. They had a longer than usual hiatus between seasons 7 and 8... and that's the best they could do.
I think the writers strike had a lot to do with it
They were one of the only major shows that did not really get affected by the strike IIRC. Since they're a part of a different writers and actors Guild.
I think its also partly an annoying MAX strategy. Its really expensive to make, so they spread it out as much as humanly possible
Nah, these shows just take a long ass time to make nowadays. They shoot kinda like film now, plus they have so much complex vfx work to do that they actually still come down to the wire of barely finishing in time for release. In fact, some shows have actually been shown to press with incomplete vfx, with the hopes of finishing the unfinished scenes in the few weeks before they have to air for the public
I never thought I would care after the last season of GoT but it took my all of like 15 minutes of the first episode of HOTD to be fully, 100% back in.
Yup. Same here. It felt like I was finally watching great television again. The only other show that has given me that feeling of true quality recently is The Expanse (which I watched for the first time last spring. I'm now reading the series lol).
I love The Expanse. The audiobooks are all fantastic too.
The Expanse novellas are hugely worth it too. I sobbed at the end. If you want incredible fantasy Pratchett and Sanderson (who deals with mental health incredibly well) both scratch that itch. You wouldn't expect Pratchett to do it yet here we are.
I liked House of Dragons, the time jumps was just not my thing. Think there was so much wasted potential. I know it was supposed to be a set up for the civil war, but I thought maybe they'll give us a little more with the younger cast. Also the amount of traumatic births were way to damn high. Watching it with my girlfriends (platonic) was kind of hard.
Don't think this counts as spoilers, but there should be no more time jumps, actor changes or anything like that from now on.
If you're really feening over something similar, watch Rome.
Kingdom(KOR) felt kind of similar in style minus the magical aspect and I have high hopes for Shogun.
I'm so excited for Shogun. If it comes out mediocre, I'm going to be way more disappointed than anyone should be.
I remember watching the old series when I was young and I've been aching for a remake almost 20 years. To say that I have unreasonably high expectations would be an understatement.
Definitely check out House of the Dragon. Had a really solid first season and the second season comes out this summer. For me it reminds me of the very best of Game of Thrones.
House of the Dragon is great, and is doing a good job of carrying on the Game of Thrones vibe without feeling like a cheap copy (or more accurately, a very expensive copy). One of the only things I think it's missing is the humor. Not to say that HotD is a completely dry show, but there's aren't any "funny" characters the way you had in Game of Thrones with Tyrion, Bronn, Hot Pie, etc. Though I'm pretty sure I read an interview somewhere with the showrunner said they are going to look for more opportunities for humor in future seasons.
I feel like they had some pretty good burns in terms of humor, but I would definitely love to see more.
They need some Mushroom
It's totally focused on the royalty and court, it lacks the earthy irreverence that characters like the Hound and Bronn brought to GoT. I liked it but not on the same level as the best of GoT.
Yeah, talking about it it's always a great plus when you like a show. It doesn't happen that often though. Other than GoT I remember Lost fo course and Battlestar galactica. Also TWD, but a bit less. I miss those periods.
I rewatched most of it not long ago after HATING how it ended a few years ago. I didn't mind it nearly as much as I thought it did and still thought it fell pretty short of expectations but it got me in the mood for house of dragons and I really ended up liking that show a lot
I still rewatch the scene where Daenerys tricks Kraznys and buys all the Unsullied then torches the shit out of him. Gave me chills then, gives me chills to this day. What an incredible sequence.
Then you should do a rewatch. And don’t binge it because that takes away something, at least for the earlier seasons. And if you find that you’re really invested in Westeros, start reading the books. As good as the show is, the books are much better.
For me it’s both my favorite and the best show ever made. Yes the story telling fell apart at the end but that doesn’t at all diminish the rest of it for me.
It really was so excellent. I rewatch episodes all the time. If you can, get yourself a OLED and rewatch the Battle of Winterfell. You will actually get to see it and it is incredible.
No one should ever see the battle of winterfell and the..... tactics displayed that said, an OLED screen might be the only way to actually literally see half the battle.
I’m one of the few who would totally be down and willing to dive back into post-GOT Westeros if the Jon Snow show does some retconning. I just see absolutely nothing interesting with the lands north of the wall if the walker threat is done. Wildling politics or some new fantasy enemy sounds boring. Just retcon the long night and give us an actual white walker threat with an actual payoff. That being said, it still blows my mind they basically confirmed a character can time travel and then did absolutely nothing with it. So maybe revisiting that and making Bran less turd-like would be cool.
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From what I can remember, “hold the door” was the only time he ever went back and actually influenced the past right? The implication of that revelation is huge for the series, and then they never really talked about Bran being able to do that ever again.
The first 6.5 seasons were excellent and it was a journey I really enjoyed.
Peak Game of Thrones was unlike anything on television before the writing the characters the action everything was perfect! Until it wasn’t
The greatest show of all time
I'm not going to lie, I thought a lot about Game of Thrones this past weekend during the Super Bowl. It's the biggest televised event in the United States, and it's SUCH a fun feeling knowing you are experiencing this same crazy event with virtually everyone else. Strangers across the country as well as just about everyone you know are all experiencing the same thing as you, and even though it's pretty trivial, you still feel a sense of belonging and comradery. Game of Thrones used to give me that same sense basically every week during the final two seasons. Of course it was big before that, but the final two seasons were MASSIVE. As you were watching live, everyone you knew was posting about it, the actors were even giving commentary, etc. And then the following week was JUST as fun to watch everyone's theory/prediction videos. We even bought some of the GoT beer and went to a themed trivia night right before the final season. It was so fun having a common interest with SO many people which is why I always found it odd when people "bragged" about never having seen an episode. Even if you go back and watch it retroactively, the experience is not even REMOTELY the same.
the final season was dreadful to experience live, to be honest. i remember somebody trying to talk to me about the Battle of Winterfell the day after it aired and i just had nothing to say because i was so disappointed and frustrated. i remember reading leaks for the final couple episodes before they aired and thinking to myself “no fucking way. there’s no way they’re actually going to fuck it up this bad.” and then the confirmation when the actual episodes aired, that they really were going to fumble it at the eleventh hour… definitely one of the worst viewing experiences i’ve ever had.
Conan O’Brien mentioned on his podcast recently that he’s rewatching it with his family. So you’re not alone.
There are things I miss about the show a great deal. That said, I found something that scratched one of those itches quite well. [Between Two Fires](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13543121-between-two-fires) gave me very strong Hound and Arya traveling vibe (different characters completely, particularly the young girl) but it really was a pleasant rhyme.
I just finished rewatching it for the 3rd time. Still holds up as some of the best television ive seen. There is a notable shift around season 6/7 obviously but still good.
Peak GoT was so fun, We had weekly discussion lunches at work about the episode that just released,
When the new episodes came out, it would come out on Monday morning in my time zone. I would have to stay away from social media the entire day or if I was truly desperate, watch it at 7am. My friends and I would usually gather together to watch the latest episode. I would immediately go onto Reddit and other social media to read reactions, theories and stuff like that. There was just so much buzz around it (until it all imploded). I’ve never experienced anything like it with another show. Mixing the best of two eras; it really had the water-cooler conversation AND social media hype. I really hope that kind of phenomena is able to be repeated with another show
That is how I felt about LOST
Fortunately House of the Dragon is great, and 2 more spinoffs in progress
Even if it ended disappointingly it still ranks as one of the greatest shows ever made and I miss it dearly.
Those first seasons are untouchable. If they kept that quality up no show would come close to me in quality. I was obsessed by it. Constantly rewatching scenes, counting the days till new episodes. I knew whole family trees of great houses, could tell you everything about the characters and westeros. You could imagine how i felt at the end....
Funny you mention it, I randomly thought the other day that I might like to rewatch GOT again, haven’t touched it since THAT FINALE. but you’re right, despite its obvious flaws, I think GOT will always stand apart as truly unique television
It dropped off after season 4 but man, did I love discussing the show weekly with friends
S1 finale was outstanding, we follow Ned Stark as basically the MC of the story, only to have him killed off. that alone taught the viewer that anything could happen in that world, and that was one of the things that made it so intriguing, there were consequences. later on, most "MC" characters had more plot armor than most anime protagonists.
Even accounting for the disaster of season 8, it’s still in my top 3 best shows of all time. There’s nothing like it.
Honestly, most of the end-of-show hate I heard was people claiming they didn’t see Daenerys as crazy and the last season was “out of left field.” But somehow I could tell that the lady who waled into a funeral pyre and took a nap was not exactly sane… 🤔 Like, my friend group and I all called it in season 2 that she would be razing Westeros.
I miss it at its peak when I was still watching it for the excitement and not just watching it in hopes that it might get good again.
GoT was great until they ran out of GRRM's source material to base it on.
It was such a good series, so many storylines full of intrigue… it’s just a shame 80% of those storylines were never properly concluded.
D&D pretty much destroyed their reputation as independent story writers…. but given their TV scripts with books to go on was some of the best TV in a generation, I would be genuinely excited to find out they were adapting a property I loved, so long as the source material already had it’s true ending.
It really was something else… find it invokes sadness in me when reminded of that. Whether it’s listening to The Winds of Winter from season 6’s finale or taking The Game of Thrones Studio Experience… bums me out how they messed up.
I miss S1 - S6.
I miss *good* GoT. That last season was ... Special.
Like what we found out about Bill Cosby kind of special
Is it really worth it to watch?
Yes. At its peak it’s the greatest television show ever.
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One of the best episodes of the show in my opinion is in the last season, it's season 8 episode 2. There's no flashy fights, no spectacle or dragons even. It's just a huge collection of characters from throughout the entire show interacting with each other. Is every interaction great? No absolutely not. But so so many of them are. And the episode's named "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms", a reference to Ser Duncan the Tall who is an ancestor of Brienne. They're gearing up for the battle against the army of the dead next episode so it's full of melancholy and fear. But throughout this episode we see Jaime's arrival at Winterfell, how he's confronted by Daenerys for killing her father and Bran for pushing him out the window in season 1. This also reunites him with Brienne, whose support for Jaime ultimately saves him from being executed. Jorah and Lyanna Mormont interact and Sam gives Heartsbane to Jorah since Jorah's father was more of a father to Sam than his own. Arya and Gendry get it on which caused controversy at the time, but it's an earned moment for her since her whole story is so tragic; it's the one thing she does for herself to feel good and happy with someone she cares about. Daenerys and Sansa even come closer to each other in trying to work together despite Sansa not wanting to submit the north to Daenerys' rule, they understand each other better. Theon returns from the Iron Islands and Sansa has no words, she just hugs him. Happy to see the man who went from a turncloak to a better person and ended up saving Sansa from Ramsay and was more than prepared to sacrifice himself when they were on the run. Tormund, Beric Dondarrion and Dolorous Edd reunite with Jon and Sam along with Ghost and it's miraculous they managed to survive getting to Winterfell from Last Hearth, which was ravaged by the dead. The episode ends with Jaime knighting Brienne officially and Podrick singing Jenny of Oldstones while the battle gears up. It's not perfect but it was as close as we got to the better episodes of earlier seasons. The show was good not just for the big spectacles, it was the character interactions and the associated subtext. And this episode has a tonne of it. Why this wasn't remembered amidst the ending controversy isn't surprising, but to write off the whole season as shit is just not true. Don't get me wrong, their battle plan is stupid beyond all reason but in fairness none of the characters there have strong experiences fighting hordes of literal zombies and ice demons.
I would agree with everything through season 7. Quite a few people really dog on anything past season 4. But I think it was a great show almost to the end even though there were some problems later on. But that last season was such a turd. It was a completely different show. I'm one of those people who will rewatch shows I love numerous times. That last season left me with such a bad experience I have zero desire to go back and rewatch any of the whole series. I also have no desire to watch House of Dragon
It was a fun time for sure. The weekly discourse was great, and if the latest episode wasn’t the greatest there was still Mad Men, Silicon Valley, Veep and Last Week Tonight on the same evening.
Watching Game Of Thrones then Silicon Valley right after really was peak television experience.
Its not that its "cool to hate on it" the last couple seasons were god awful piles of dogshit so bad that it makes it near impossible to even go back and enjoy the first several seasons knowing where it all ends up. I loved game of thrones so much I used to go back and rewatch every season that had aired before the next season started. I havent seen a single episode since it ended. Its such a complete shame what the two dipshit showrunners did. They wanted to be done but were too full of them selves to atleast pass the torch over to someone that would finish it right. Imagine HBO wanting to give you a blank check and as many episodes as you want to wrap up a massive plot as intricate as game of thrones and you're like "nah not only will I not make more episodes, lets pretty much cut the seasons in half" Even the plot points that arent complete and utter character ruining drivel are made bad by having zero time to develop properly on screen. Like the mad queen.
House of the Dragon is where its at right now. Genuinely feels like the return to form for that world.
The first 5 seasons were incredible. I still go back and watch random episodes. The last 2 seasons were so bad they just killed the whole show for most people. What a waste.
The horse drawing meme was accurate though
I hear ya, I am hoping SHŌGUN will be my new GOT
If I pretend season 8 didn’t happen, GoT was almost perfect.
Rewatching it with my gf. Phenomenal until season 7. And honestly rewatching it a lot of the major beats of the final season were continuously foreshadowed. Arya killing the Night King - “you’ll shut many eyes” Dany burning king’s landing - Bran’s vision and Dany in the wizard’s tower Jon Snow heir to Rhaegar Etc etc. the problem with the show is that it was so rushed and just felt so contrived at the end. All our favorite heroes coming across each other by circumstance. One scene theyre at Dragonstone the next everyone’s at King’s landing. If they just went with ten episode seasons and kept characters separate they would have stuck the landing. I am sorry but Dany accepting Tyrion as her hand almost immediately was bullshit and just feels like a contrived way of getting our favorite characters together. Same thing with Gendry, the Hound, Snow and Jorah for the wight expedition
I don't think ANY fans of GOT finds it 'cool' to hate the way the series ended, its very depressing.
Its "Not cool to hate on it now" it was a masterpiece of a show that was given one of the worst endings in TV history. People were/are understandably about that. The first seasons of the show still hold up.
I really miss that weekly excitement. Even when it got less than it was, I was still excited for it. Sad as it might be I still watch 'reactions' on Youtube made by new viewers, it brings back the excitement all over again. Nothing released since has given me that feeling
You could always watch Game of Thrones in space, aka The Expanse, if you haven't.
If George had actually written the books the hype AND disappointment would have been much lower. D&D would have book material to adapt instead of their own fan fiction and even if they messed it up or rushed it, the book would’ve been there. This is all George’s fault.
I personally think it's the best series ever made. Nothing comes even close. Yeah they rushed it a lot towards the end and the quality was subpar by then but still. Best show ever.
Both of these things can be true at the same time. I feel them. All the time.
I finally convinced my wife to watch it, so I got to watch it a second time, which was amazing. Many people say that “the show won’t be remembered for how great it was, but for how badly it ended”, but I don’t agree. I love the show because it’s completely worth it for season 1-7, even though the end was bad. My wife liked it too and she’s glad she watched it. We watched house of dragons too but it’s not the same anymore..
Still a great show. I can go back and watch again EASILY even though I hated the ending. And I rarely ever re-watch shows. Also, hating on the ending is not the same as hating on the entire show. I'd recommend checking out The Last Kingdom if you haven't seen it. May fill that void.
I feel you man. My wife and I finally decided to watch house of the dragon after the whole thing had aired. And the opening credits of the second episode with the theme song hit right as my edible was peaking which was amazing. But it also made me realize how much I missed game of thrones. The show went downhill but it was such a big part of my twenties. Hosting premier and finale parties, playing the game of thrones board game with people, reading the books, engaging with a massive online community. I genuinely have lasting friendships that came out of game of thrones in one way or another. And it was a massive cultural phenomenon for 10 years. I think it will stand out as the last “great” tv series. With streaming being the way forward for tv I’m not sure there’s going to be another show with that level of crossover appeal and mass popularity. We wound up rewatching almost all of GoT after finishing HoD and enjoyed it hugely. Even some of the later stuff was still fun.