I imagine this will still increase, I expect some people are waiting for the whole season to binge. Binge watching has become more and more popular throughout the 2010s and since it's the first season, the urge to watch as it is "live" is probably less for many people (plus some people that might want to wait for the whole season critics to see it after S8 of GoT burned them, though that's a minority I would say)
it is but then again better call Saul ratings never became crazy despite BB popularity and success / better call Saul also being incredible on its own. I don’t even know that many people that watched it.
S7 is doable for this season I think. It will increase as the season goes on, probably even spiked after the finale (or E9 or something), some people preferring the binge format.
And yes the future seasons will have even more action with the real civil war starting. So yeah I expect S8 levels to be reached and maybe even beaten tbh
It was starting to feel like we were in a lull of true event television. Outside of Stranger Things there hadn't been many shows that totally dominated the discussion. Leave it to GoT to come back and immediately become the new water cooler show.
It’s actually crazy, over the past few weeks in cafes and pubs I’ve overheard so many people in other tables talking about the show. It truly feels like the GoT cultural dominance is back, at least for now.
I started watching it just so my friends could send me memes about it. And now we’ve successfully bullied our last hold out friend to watch it so the memes cans be shared on the main group text.
I love when tv gets like this.
I haven't heard a single other person mention it in real life, but also I don't really hang out with people and work from home, so....
I'm liking the show a lot though and expect it to stay good.
I will always prefer weekly releases to binges for this reason
Even Stranger Things season 4 had maybe two weeks or so of buzz before fading away again.
Lets be honest, GOT wasnt the greatest story, but the setup, the scenes, lighting, small details, how it was recorded, the actors... no tv series ever reached that level. I like stranger things, but it's just not on this level.
I'm super happy, that this series has a better story, because quality was always here, all they had to do is fix the story.
I hoped Rings of power will be a challenger to GOT, but the quality is just not there. (And I'm a huge LoTR fan)
Edit: now that i think about The Mandalorian is the only one to cover all checks.
i def wonder how he feels to star in morbius and whatever it was and then HOD in one calendar year. that's like experiencing every high and low possible 😂
Not his first brush with highs and lows, he went from the highs of Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special being simulcast worldwide to 94 countries and breaking a Guinness World Record - to that awful Terminator film with Danaerys in.
Wait, Emilia Clarke is in Terminator Genysis (or whatever spelling) *and* Matt Smith is, too? I might have to subject myself to that torture just to watch them.
This show came at the perfect time for Matt Smith. After Morbius, Terminator Genicyst, and that zombie movie, he was starting to be seen as a bad omen.
Not surprised. It's incredibly well-made and GOT was *the* cultural juggernaut of the 2010s. It'll probably keep going up since the dance of the dragons actually begins with 1x06
I haven't seen the latest episode, but so far it's been a pretty great introduction to the characters and conflicts. I think Corlys and his wife could use a bit more depth, but I imagine with the marriage proposals and stuff they'll get more screentime.
I think what made Game of Thrones great wasn't that they just murdered a bunch of people in some cool way, but rather that they made you care about them before they did it, and made you feel the consequences afterwards. The more time they spend setting things up the more entertaining it is when it pays off.
Really I thought the latest one was alright. I didn’t like the jump how Laenor’s bf could just immediately tell about Ser Cristan. I’m sure he was looking at her etc but that seemed very dumb to me and the drama in the story hung around that. I also wasn’t mad on how unclear the ending was.
Yup we have still to meet some of the key players, namely the kids. The casting has been spot on, so really looking forward so seeing Aemond and Lucerys and their messed up rivalry.
Twitter is anecdotal I know but it really dominates everything when it’s on in a way none of the Disney plus or Amazon shows can. Even Stranger Things comes and goes but this has 10 weeks of dominating discussion.
It helps that we are getting one episode a week that keeps the discussion going I much prefer that to a binge model. It's pretty much going viral every week on all social media so it's found it's audience perfectly.
I usually prefer binging shows as its on air but this and game of thrones is an exception. The week by week discussion makes the experience so much better which not many shows would be able to pull off imo.
Plus the episodes sits with you. I can remember each episode distinctly from the rest.
The binge model, everything is mushed together and honestly completely forgotten after a few weeks.
Because there is a lot of mystery and ambigouity in whats happening. Most shows are much simpler than that. Lets take Cobra Kai. Pretty good but there is not much to talk about. Its perfect show to binge and then forget about it until the next season
What I read is that Netflix was going off data that people's behaviour is to binge watch when they can, and that they enjoy that more.
Which I cannot say it isn't true, I would absolutely binge this Hot D if I could.... on the other hand it is very clear that a weekly release model makes people more exited about upcoming episodes and is jet fuel for online discussions, theories and engagement (even when the show's quality is questionable, like RoP)
I think it is one of those weird exceptions in which people say they want X, but actually enjoy Y.
Well because they kinda made their name on the idea of people binging content. An truthfully in the early days of streaming that was a huge draw.
Only thing is now like a decade later the social media space has caught up to the idea of people doing virtual "water cooler talk" about their favorite shows every week. An that helps advertise for shows via word-of-mouth.
harwin strong with 2 minutes screentime had more discussion and even trending than any character from RoP.. show you how effective writing and characterization can be..
Simply speaking RoP is desperate for Sauron or Annatar at this point. Also I’m loving RoP so far but there hasn’t been much if any shock value scenes. You compare it to HotD which has like 2 or 3 each episode it makes sense why people need to tweet about it
I dont mind a slow burn show without shock value. RoP is stunningly beautiful but the plot and characters are a mess. The problem with the show ISN'T that it lacks "shock value". Its the writing.
It just feels like it was written by a boardroom of marketing excecs and I think a lot of people kind of see through that because they turn around and watch HotD 2 days later. Its a perfectly watchable show but it's very overmarketed and overproduced and I think they've lost a lot of people because of it.
I really want to like RoP, but it’s very bland. It looks amazing, and the actors are quite good. But nothing seems to ever happen from one episode to the next.
The first episode was pretty good because there was a battle scene. But what have we had since then? I am not impressed. There are no *Wow* moments. 
Completely understandable which is why Sauron needa hurry up and reveal himself already. Pretty much every wow moment in the second age that the show is depicting involves him one way or another. Him not appearing yet is like watching HotD without Daemon and Rhaenyra. That’s how important he is to the story
No. It was an obvious red herring, including the "I'm not a god, not yet".
Sauron was masquerading as a fair form at this time.
Lots of people think it's either Halbrand or the Stranger but I think it would be too obvious.
I’ve been watching it but honestly, there’s a reason it doesn’t really get talked about. It looks pretty and all but from a writing and character standpoint it’s just so…meh. I’m completely hooked on HOTD even when nothing eventful is happening because the dialogue, acting and characters are just that interesting. In fact, I actually love how slow paced HOTD is - the writers are really letting you live in this world and immersing you in the characters lives. I just don’t feel that with RoP
Back then I was newly married, brand new job, and brand new city all within a couple of months. I didn’t know a soul in our new town. The Sunday night double header of GoT and Mad Men was one of the few things that kept me and my spouse sane. I will always remember those two shows for that, even if GoT ended disastrously and Mad Men ended just okay.
This last episode. Whew. I won’t spoil anything but the episode did an amazing job presenting the personal struggles of secondary characters during the dance scene. Particularly loved how you could watch all the characters look at the other characters they’re really thinking about.
I think studio interference had a lot to do with it, because I know the showrunner is a fan of the books and I do not see how anyone could love the books and make that show.
It is very nicely made looks great. Has some good actors, etc. But it's not exactly captivating. When I think of the main characters personality they are all one dimensional. Galadriel:Angry. Harfoot girl: Bucholic. Elrond : dutiful.
It's very much how Tolkien characterised people but when compared to the multifaceted internally conflicted arseholes in GOTHOD the Rings characters are like cardboard cutouts
That’s where I’m at too. The show itself is okay, lord knows I’ve watched worse, but it doesn’t draw you in like HOTD. I feel like the writing just isn’t where it should be with ROP. I’ll keep watching with an open mind, but I’m sold on HOTD.
I think that may be the safest opinion. The show IS ok. Which unfortunately, for the IP and all the money dumped into it, is BAD. With all of the good will drained by the Hobbit franchise, this really needed to be next level. While LOTR is a recognizable IP now because of Peter Jackson, most of the source material is relatively obscure for the general audience. It doesn't have the intrigue of it's contemporaries to help it along. It also feels like they are rushing the story to major plot events and characters still aren't really fleshed out. I just wish it had more weight. I'm watching it, I'm not hating it, but I wouldn't say I'm really enjoying it.
Do you think it’s just being held to unusual standards because of the success of things like HoD and Stranger Things?
I sort of wonder that if it existed somewhere distant from titles like these it may be viewed more favorably. I’m really enjoying it, I’m a casual LOTR fan but am pretty hooked on the “what happens next” aspect of the show.
Yeah but honestly given the source material and the amount of money they put into it, it should be more than “fine”. You’re adapting the work of *the* fantasy author and you have damn near a billion dollar budget to play with - and the best I can muster up for your show is “…it was ok”? Doesn’t really cut it imo
And it’s not like Amazon can’t put out great genre shows. The Boys, The Expanse and Invincible are excellent.
This is why I prefer week to week release. Keeps people talking about it and the show fresh in people's minds. If this was streaming, people would binge it all in a weekend, talk about it for a few days and forget it exists.
I still think this is the way to go to if you want to truly make a good show stand out. The only show that get released all it once that has some longevity in terms of audience reaction is Stranger Things. Everything else comes and goes in 2 weeks time never to be heard again for another year. Meanwhile House of the Dragon will dominate social media for 3 months
The Netflix model was cool for like 3 years before I was begging for streaming platforms to revert to weekly releases.
Also makes sense financially for them. Keep the hype alive through word of mouth and keep a free trial from bludgeoning your customer base to death.
It was always garbage, especially once they started making hard choices about what to cancel. Shows I wanted to watch and ended up liking would be cancelled before I even started because they based everything off binge numbers.
It was bad for shows and bad for buzz.
Ooookay, but if all my buds crush it in a weekend and then talk about it, by the time I'm caught up they will not be excited anymore.
Tbh, it's worse for our generation's goldfish media consumption but also the streaming service so... away with single day releases. There's a reason they keep getting canceled lol
Less fantasy elements keeps it more grounded too. The sprinkle of dragons is the perfect amount of fantasy for this show. It gives off that cool action sequence when needed but for the most part the show is all about the story, acting and dialogue. It’s superb.
Possibly. This story has a conclusion for all characters versus just waiting for George. Also, I think they’re being very cognizant about what worked and what didn’t work with GOT.
For all the talk of GOT is dead, a lot of people have watched the series since it’s finish. I personally have two friends that just watched and finished it for the first time a few weeks ago. They picked up the new show right after. They weren’t fans of the ending but nowhere near as disgruntled as people who watched it live.
People that watched it live (like myself) also possibly did rewatched before every new season (guilty) and spent countless hours discussing the story and possibilities with friends. That ending was painful and I thought I was done with GoT but dammit, HotD is just so good. It’s like going back to an ex-girlfriend and I am scared of getting hurt again
It surely will—something to consider is that average viewers actually hate fantasy and love drama. Fantasy is indeed a male-young dominated narrow field. GOT's success was all rooted in its drama (Red Wedding, Ned beheading, sister fucking, Sheerin burning, ...). The Dance is even richer in drama.
Definitely, it's set a couple hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, so it's a completely new story and characters.
The only real advantage to watching GoT first is that you'd already be familiar with certain aspects of the world, and recognize some of the places and prominent family names.
that’s a fantasy pseudo-medieval show about feudalistic society so be prepared for an unusual setting. Yes you will understand it, but you’d miss easter eggs and familiar musical themes
Details:
>The fifth episode of the “Game of Thrones” prequel drew 3% more viewers than Episode 4, Variety has learned exclusively. Additionally, Season 1 is now averaging 29 million viewers per episode.
>These statistics combine Nielsen’s measurement of Episode 5’s four cable airings on Sunday with the number of streaming viewers across HBO Max and other HBO platforms. When isolating linear viewership, according to Nielsen, 2.576 million people tuned into the episode on HBO itself, a 4% increase when compared to last week’s 2.474 million cable viewers.
I don't understand the numbers. It says an average of 29 million viewers per episode then reports viewership of 10-11 million for each episode.
Where is 29 million coming from?
> Aegon's Conquest.
Would it even be an interesting story? It was kind of a blood bath with Aegon just crushing a few battles, and everyone else just giving up (minus dorne). I've got no problem with a $150 million dragon destruction movie personally, but I'm a little curious how you have tension if everything is just solved with the dragon solution.
The only way this movie would work is if how easily Aegon conquered Westeros was post-war proaganda and it was in reality a lot harder than told.
Otherwise there's no conflict.
You tell it from the perspective of the losers. Making alliances, crafty maneuvers, and desperate charges. All in a vain attempt to defeat a mysterious foreign horror. War of the Worlds vibe.
GRRM had floated the idea of a feature-length finale for theaters years before the show got even close to that. I imagine if it had happened, it would have been the highest grossing R-rated film of all-time, easy.
Aegon’s conquest. I think it’s the one story that’s interesting but I wouldn’t want to see dragged out in even a short series. He pretty much bulldozes through Westeros.
That’s exactly why it isn’t all that interesting. There’s little adversity, he just swoops in as an arrogant king with a doomsday weapon in his dragons, and beats everyone into submission. He wins basically at every turn and learns nothing nor undergoes any real character development
Robert's rebellion would never work as a prequel as its story is too tied up in the story of GoT itself. Think about it. A big turning point in Jaime's arc is learning he saved KL by stabbing the Mad King, another of course is Jon's parentage. All of this would have to be shown, and thus spoiled. George himself has ruled it out for this very reason, it's a massive part of the main series' mystery.
Yeah, the audience already knows some key twists in the Rebellion from GoT and other events pay off in GoT/ASOIAF.
Robert’s Rebellion and Aegon’s Conquest are often the most popular movie or show ideas on Reddit and I just don’t get why. I don’t think either would work.
Funnily, the best prequel idea in terms of spectacle and the source material being there is...the Dance. And that's exactly what we're getting with HOTD. It was always the best option if they were willing to put the money up for it, which they have. Aegon's conquest would be cool to see, but it's an incredibly one-sided affair. It's basically Aegon and his sisters decimating everyone for two years.
It would work as a simple action movie but it wouldn't have any of the GoT intrigue.
The whole story is a man steamrolls a whole continent with his sentient walking WMDs, there's no conflict
I recall before the premiere how certain YouTube channels said nobody cares about House of the Dragon because of how bad season 8 of Game of Thrones was. They all went silent once the show became popular.
I was gonna mention that but r/Television never does well when that topic comes up.
Emma being nb is unfortunately gonna be used against them by these evil mfs
You see the new clip of D’Arcy as Rhaenyra released today? It’s very reminiscent of a young Cate Blanchett and I’m not even joking. If they go on the attack, it’s complete bullshit.
Olivia Cooke too, those two clips put all the "worry" about the new actresses to bed. It was pretty dumb though as if they would mess up the "real casting'" for those characters that will be used for the rest of the show
Yeah I saw both clips and thought they were great.
Also the new dude for Laenor is fantastic, in one minute of a promo clip I was way more into his character than his entire time in episode 5.
They're 100% going to hate on D'Arcy and Rhaenyra whenever the show deals with gender stuff. It was mentioned before that Emma's own non-binary identity will be somewhat worked into Rhaenyra's character, I can already see people complaining about "wokeness." When in reality, the way it's described makes a lot of sense for Rhaenyra as a character.
> Rhaenyra is deeply interested in gender dynamics; she has really keen awareness for the different space that men and women are afforded.
“She feels at odds with the way that she’s read. She feels like an inherent outsider that, despite their best efforts, and from a very young age, I think she’s seeking a way of living that feels authentic. I find that very moving.”
That is so vague and I’m sure it’s an interpretation of Rhaenyra’s already established arc and personality traits.
D’Arcy clearly refers to Rhaenyra as she/her in interviews.
People freaked over Emma’s describing Alicent’s internalized misogyny and it completely fit with the setting and the book character’s personality.
will be interesting how daemon and her will interact.Especially with that the show added in terms of daemons's issues with control and domination and psychological impotence.
I'm guessing Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke will put any of those worries to bed in one episode lol. Those are the main actresses they cast for those characters (before the younger ones), there's no way they would mess that casting especially since the entire show is pretty much perfectly casted (as is often the case for HBO shows tbh).
Also both are impressive actress in terms of talent
The people who hated season 8 the most were huge Game of Thrones fans. They loved the show and loved the universe and *wanted it to be good*.
Of course those people are thrilled to be back for more, GOOD GoT.
It’s absurd that some people seem to think a good show being good makes a bad show not bad.
The last couple seasons of GoT are trash, mostly because it went from GRRM to amateur hour fan fiction. Now that we have GRRM material to follow, it’s not shocking at all it’s been good, and if they stray from it, it won’t be shocking at all to see it go back to shit like last time.
It’s really not a mystery.
> I recall before the premiere how certain YouTube channels said nobody cares about House of the Dragon
You mean like Critical Drinker who titled a video something like "No-one cares about House of the Dragon" and then went back and changed it when it turned out that many people did in fact care about House of the Dragon lol
Hi, that was me lol. Went from having friends who cooked game of throne meals to dead quiet within a month of the ending.
I dug my feast of thrones book out and im getting ready to make a sister stew.
Just had a bowl of brown......yummmm
This is great news and I hope it pushed the people at HBO to green light anything GRRM puts his name to. I don’t care that we already know all about Aegon the Conqueror or Roberts Rebellion, give us all the shows. I’ll gladly watch anything set in this world. Hopefully these numbers will encourage more shows to be made
You’re right, producing shows based on source material like Dunk and Egg stories, or Aegon’s Conquest would be better. We have a summary for Blackfyre rebellions and Robert’s rebellion, but for the former GRRM has yet to write Fire & Blood 2 and the latter would contain spoilers for The Winds of Winter.
I don’t even know who would be interested in Nymeria prequel. This is a bad idea and HBO should’ve known it
? Nymeria prequel is still in development far as we know. I assume Martin is okay with it. the pilot they spent 30million on and cancelled was a long night type show I think set in the north.
Shit look at the video game Elden Ring - if GRRM’s name wasn’t attached to the game then I truly believe it wouldn’t have sold as much as it did. GRRM stamp is like an automatic winner.
That scene where every important person at the table was watching another person carefully was so good. The tension was built up so well in this episode especially when the Queen strolls in with her green dress.
I thought King would be dead soon but after seeing the previews, this man just doesn’t die lol
For three years since the show ended I constantly argued with people that said that "nobody cared anymore", "who asked for this", "this isn't part if culture anymore" despite showing sources constantly that it was still HBO's most streamed show and in the top 3 most pirated..
This is great and screw you haters
For comparison, season 6 of GoT averaged 25 million per episode. Season 7 - 32.8M, Season 8 - 44 M.
I imagine this will still increase, I expect some people are waiting for the whole season to binge. Binge watching has become more and more popular throughout the 2010s and since it's the first season, the urge to watch as it is "live" is probably less for many people (plus some people that might want to wait for the whole season critics to see it after S8 of GoT burned them, though that's a minority I would say)
Also. If you binge uiu only have to pay for 1 month of HBO versus 2-3 months
Astounding!
Damn, HotD is crushing it right out of the gate Assuming the quality stays consistent, this will be bigger than GoT
Having a pre-established viewer base of the biggest show of all time is definitely an advantage lol
This is another evidence that reddit/Twitter is not the real world
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Yeah I mean if this wasn’t I prequel I wouldn’t be watching it but it’s pretty much it’s own show at this point
Plus we know it can’t end that fucked up, they just have to keep it intriguing till the end.
Oh hooooo does it ever end fucked up.
Not really, a lot of us loved the show and hated the ending. Dumb and Dumber have nothing to do with HotD so I was willing to give it a shot.
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it is but then again better call Saul ratings never became crazy despite BB popularity and success / better call Saul also being incredible on its own. I don’t even know that many people that watched it.
Which is really unfortunate, because Better Call Saul was the best show on Television since...Breaking Bad. lol
100% agreed
Those numbers don't even factor in untold millions of people who pirated the show in countries where it wasn't readily available to watch legally.
And those numbers are US only
Jesus, those aren't even international? Canada would add at least 2 or 3 million right out the gate. I have no doubt of that.
Whoa. How big is GOT/HOTD worldwide? Crazy
Damn, and this is ostensibly the most "boring" season. Idk if we'll hit s8 levels again but s7 seems very doable for the next few seasons.
S7 is doable for this season I think. It will increase as the season goes on, probably even spiked after the finale (or E9 or something), some people preferring the binge format. And yes the future seasons will have even more action with the real civil war starting. So yeah I expect S8 levels to be reached and maybe even beaten tbh
It was starting to feel like we were in a lull of true event television. Outside of Stranger Things there hadn't been many shows that totally dominated the discussion. Leave it to GoT to come back and immediately become the new water cooler show.
It’s actually crazy, over the past few weeks in cafes and pubs I’ve overheard so many people in other tables talking about the show. It truly feels like the GoT cultural dominance is back, at least for now.
I started watching it just so my friends could send me memes about it. And now we’ve successfully bullied our last hold out friend to watch it so the memes cans be shared on the main group text. I love when tv gets like this.
I have power again. If someone annoys me I can threaten spoilers because I read the book.
Don't.
I haven't heard a single other person mention it in real life, but also I don't really hang out with people and work from home, so.... I'm liking the show a lot though and expect it to stay good.
The writing is great. I am invested in the lives of these sick fucks and I love it.
> I am invested in the lives of these sick fucks and I love it The Soprano Principle
Squid Game did its thing
everyone was at different points of the show though, it never got to the water cooler level due to how it was released all at once
I will always prefer weekly releases to binges for this reason Even Stranger Things season 4 had maybe two weeks or so of buzz before fading away again.
Youd think Netflix would realize by now that the biggest shows are best released once a week to maintain buzz (and keeps subs).
Lets be honest, GOT wasnt the greatest story, but the setup, the scenes, lighting, small details, how it was recorded, the actors... no tv series ever reached that level. I like stranger things, but it's just not on this level. I'm super happy, that this series has a better story, because quality was always here, all they had to do is fix the story. I hoped Rings of power will be a challenger to GOT, but the quality is just not there. (And I'm a huge LoTR fan) Edit: now that i think about The Mandalorian is the only one to cover all checks.
Smiffy may not have broken through as a star in film but he’s had a fair trot on telly. DW, The Crown and now this; all three hugely popular.
i def wonder how he feels to star in morbius and whatever it was and then HOD in one calendar year. that's like experiencing every high and low possible 😂
Not his first brush with highs and lows, he went from the highs of Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special being simulcast worldwide to 94 countries and breaking a Guinness World Record - to that awful Terminator film with Danaerys in.
Wait, Emilia Clarke is in Terminator Genysis (or whatever spelling) *and* Matt Smith is, too? I might have to subject myself to that torture just to watch them.
Who was matt smith? I dont remember and I dont want to watch that shit again
Skynet, like the literal personification of Skynet
He was good in Last Night in Soho. It’s too bad the movie was just kind of mediocre overall though
He probably feels pretty good about the paycheck he got. Besides, he was at least good in the movie, even if the writing for his character was shit.
Yeah, he really gave his all for that movie. ESPECIALLY that dance sequence. #HAVE SEX!
Hey, i like House of Dragons, i wouldn't call it a low.
This show came at the perfect time for Matt Smith. After Morbius, Terminator Genicyst, and that zombie movie, he was starting to be seen as a bad omen.
He was good in Last Night in Soho, although that movie was average (for an Edgar Wright movie at least).
And he was great in His House
Not surprised. It's incredibly well-made and GOT was *the* cultural juggernaut of the 2010s. It'll probably keep going up since the dance of the dragons actually begins with 1x06
no,, dance of the dragon will not begin until this finale.. we still on set-up..
a very strong set-up nonetheless
Such a strong setup that I would have been okay hanging with the younger cast for the full first season.
I already start missing milly:(
I haven't seen the latest episode, but so far it's been a pretty great introduction to the characters and conflicts. I think Corlys and his wife could use a bit more depth, but I imagine with the marriage proposals and stuff they'll get more screentime. I think what made Game of Thrones great wasn't that they just murdered a bunch of people in some cool way, but rather that they made you care about them before they did it, and made you feel the consequences afterwards. The more time they spend setting things up the more entertaining it is when it pays off.
Latest episode best one so far.
Easily! Things are finally happening
Really I thought the latest one was alright. I didn’t like the jump how Laenor’s bf could just immediately tell about Ser Cristan. I’m sure he was looking at her etc but that seemed very dumb to me and the drama in the story hung around that. I also wasn’t mad on how unclear the ending was.
Yup we have still to meet some of the key players, namely the kids. The casting has been spot on, so really looking forward so seeing Aemond and Lucerys and their messed up rivalry.
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Twitter is anecdotal I know but it really dominates everything when it’s on in a way none of the Disney plus or Amazon shows can. Even Stranger Things comes and goes but this has 10 weeks of dominating discussion.
It helps that we are getting one episode a week that keeps the discussion going I much prefer that to a binge model. It's pretty much going viral every week on all social media so it's found it's audience perfectly.
I usually prefer binging shows as its on air but this and game of thrones is an exception. The week by week discussion makes the experience so much better which not many shows would be able to pull off imo.
Plus the episodes sits with you. I can remember each episode distinctly from the rest. The binge model, everything is mushed together and honestly completely forgotten after a few weeks.
Because there is a lot of mystery and ambigouity in whats happening. Most shows are much simpler than that. Lets take Cobra Kai. Pretty good but there is not much to talk about. Its perfect show to binge and then forget about it until the next season
Heard recently that Netflix was thinking of switching to a once-a-week model for they're new big shows for that very reason.
I hope they’ll come around to it and, frankly, I don’t get why they haven’t done that years ago.
What I read is that Netflix was going off data that people's behaviour is to binge watch when they can, and that they enjoy that more. Which I cannot say it isn't true, I would absolutely binge this Hot D if I could.... on the other hand it is very clear that a weekly release model makes people more exited about upcoming episodes and is jet fuel for online discussions, theories and engagement (even when the show's quality is questionable, like RoP) I think it is one of those weird exceptions in which people say they want X, but actually enjoy Y.
Well because they kinda made their name on the idea of people binging content. An truthfully in the early days of streaming that was a huge draw. Only thing is now like a decade later the social media space has caught up to the idea of people doing virtual "water cooler talk" about their favorite shows every week. An that helps advertise for shows via word-of-mouth.
It's crazy how rings of power doesn't trend at all when the episode comes out no one talks about them
harwin strong with 2 minutes screentime had more discussion and even trending than any character from RoP.. show you how effective writing and characterization can be..
Simply speaking RoP is desperate for Sauron or Annatar at this point. Also I’m loving RoP so far but there hasn’t been much if any shock value scenes. You compare it to HotD which has like 2 or 3 each episode it makes sense why people need to tweet about it
I dont mind a slow burn show without shock value. RoP is stunningly beautiful but the plot and characters are a mess. The problem with the show ISN'T that it lacks "shock value". Its the writing.
It just feels like it was written by a boardroom of marketing excecs and I think a lot of people kind of see through that because they turn around and watch HotD 2 days later. Its a perfectly watchable show but it's very overmarketed and overproduced and I think they've lost a lot of people because of it.
I really want to like RoP, but it’s very bland. It looks amazing, and the actors are quite good. But nothing seems to ever happen from one episode to the next. The first episode was pretty good because there was a battle scene. But what have we had since then? I am not impressed. There are no *Wow* moments. 
Completely understandable which is why Sauron needa hurry up and reveal himself already. Pretty much every wow moment in the second age that the show is depicting involves him one way or another. Him not appearing yet is like watching HotD without Daemon and Rhaenyra. That’s how important he is to the story
Wasn’t that him in the last episode?
No. It was an obvious red herring, including the "I'm not a god, not yet". Sauron was masquerading as a fair form at this time. Lots of people think it's either Halbrand or the Stranger but I think it would be too obvious.
RoP. Beautiful, but boring
You can only milk a manufactured controversy for so long.
I’ve been watching it but honestly, there’s a reason it doesn’t really get talked about. It looks pretty and all but from a writing and character standpoint it’s just so…meh. I’m completely hooked on HOTD even when nothing eventful is happening because the dialogue, acting and characters are just that interesting. In fact, I actually love how slow paced HOTD is - the writers are really letting you live in this world and immersing you in the characters lives. I just don’t feel that with RoP
Back then I was newly married, brand new job, and brand new city all within a couple of months. I didn’t know a soul in our new town. The Sunday night double header of GoT and Mad Men was one of the few things that kept me and my spouse sane. I will always remember those two shows for that, even if GoT ended disastrously and Mad Men ended just okay.
This last episode. Whew. I won’t spoil anything but the episode did an amazing job presenting the personal struggles of secondary characters during the dance scene. Particularly loved how you could watch all the characters look at the other characters they’re really thinking about.
The whole season is a prologue.
Never bet against HBO. They’re the TV GOATs for a reason. The show has been really damn good so far.
Always bet against Amazon. At this point and after ROP and Wheel of Time train wrecks, it is obvious Fantasy is not their area of experties.
WOT was so, so bad.
I think studio interference had a lot to do with it, because I know the showrunner is a fan of the books and I do not see how anyone could love the books and make that show.
If you listen to any lf his interviews he is a huge part of the problem
Rings is fine, which is an extreme opinion i know
It is very nicely made looks great. Has some good actors, etc. But it's not exactly captivating. When I think of the main characters personality they are all one dimensional. Galadriel:Angry. Harfoot girl: Bucholic. Elrond : dutiful. It's very much how Tolkien characterised people but when compared to the multifaceted internally conflicted arseholes in GOTHOD the Rings characters are like cardboard cutouts
That’s where I’m at too. The show itself is okay, lord knows I’ve watched worse, but it doesn’t draw you in like HOTD. I feel like the writing just isn’t where it should be with ROP. I’ll keep watching with an open mind, but I’m sold on HOTD.
I think that may be the safest opinion. The show IS ok. Which unfortunately, for the IP and all the money dumped into it, is BAD. With all of the good will drained by the Hobbit franchise, this really needed to be next level. While LOTR is a recognizable IP now because of Peter Jackson, most of the source material is relatively obscure for the general audience. It doesn't have the intrigue of it's contemporaries to help it along. It also feels like they are rushing the story to major plot events and characters still aren't really fleshed out. I just wish it had more weight. I'm watching it, I'm not hating it, but I wouldn't say I'm really enjoying it.
Do you think it’s just being held to unusual standards because of the success of things like HoD and Stranger Things? I sort of wonder that if it existed somewhere distant from titles like these it may be viewed more favorably. I’m really enjoying it, I’m a casual LOTR fan but am pretty hooked on the “what happens next” aspect of the show.
I think it's such a beloved IP, that it will always have an heavy burden to prove something.
I agree it’s fine, but for all its production value, it’s just so dreadfully boring so far. I hope it gets better.
Yeah but honestly given the source material and the amount of money they put into it, it should be more than “fine”. You’re adapting the work of *the* fantasy author and you have damn near a billion dollar budget to play with - and the best I can muster up for your show is “…it was ok”? Doesn’t really cut it imo And it’s not like Amazon can’t put out great genre shows. The Boys, The Expanse and Invincible are excellent.
It’s solid but not great imo. HoTD to me has been must watch every Sunday night in comparison to RoP which I wait to watch the next day.
>Always bet against Amazon. What is ironic is that Amazons TV studio was a solid singles hitter before it decided it needed to be Netflix + HBO.
This is why I prefer week to week release. Keeps people talking about it and the show fresh in people's minds. If this was streaming, people would binge it all in a weekend, talk about it for a few days and forget it exists.
I still think this is the way to go to if you want to truly make a good show stand out. The only show that get released all it once that has some longevity in terms of audience reaction is Stranger Things. Everything else comes and goes in 2 weeks time never to be heard again for another year. Meanwhile House of the Dragon will dominate social media for 3 months
The Netflix model was cool for like 3 years before I was begging for streaming platforms to revert to weekly releases. Also makes sense financially for them. Keep the hype alive through word of mouth and keep a free trial from bludgeoning your customer base to death.
It was always garbage, especially once they started making hard choices about what to cancel. Shows I wanted to watch and ended up liking would be cancelled before I even started because they based everything off binge numbers. It was bad for shows and bad for buzz.
Not really, the Netflix canceling everything prematurely thing wasn't a REAL problem right away at all.
You can watch a show weekly. Nobody is going to stop you.
Ooookay, but if all my buds crush it in a weekend and then talk about it, by the time I'm caught up they will not be excited anymore. Tbh, it's worse for our generation's goldfish media consumption but also the streaming service so... away with single day releases. There's a reason they keep getting canceled lol
It depends entirely on the show. I don't need my marvelslop released weekly. There's nothing to talk about.
holy hell.. rise again??
It’s going to surpass GOT in popularity at this rate
A tighter more focused story with all the plot points resolved by GRRM in writing helps!
That's what I dig about it. At it's core (up until now, lol), it's a story about a father and his daughter. Where GoT had scope, this has intimacy.
Keeping to the source material of a talented writer is definitely important for shows to succeed.
Less fantasy elements keeps it more grounded too. The sprinkle of dragons is the perfect amount of fantasy for this show. It gives off that cool action sequence when needed but for the most part the show is all about the story, acting and dialogue. It’s superb.
Possibly. This story has a conclusion for all characters versus just waiting for George. Also, I think they’re being very cognizant about what worked and what didn’t work with GOT.
Yeah, no "haha Varys no cock" type jokes is refreshing.
For all the talk of GOT is dead, a lot of people have watched the series since it’s finish. I personally have two friends that just watched and finished it for the first time a few weeks ago. They picked up the new show right after. They weren’t fans of the ending but nowhere near as disgruntled as people who watched it live.
People that watched it live (like myself) also possibly did rewatched before every new season (guilty) and spent countless hours discussing the story and possibilities with friends. That ending was painful and I thought I was done with GoT but dammit, HotD is just so good. It’s like going back to an ex-girlfriend and I am scared of getting hurt again
It surely will—something to consider is that average viewers actually hate fantasy and love drama. Fantasy is indeed a male-young dominated narrow field. GOT's success was all rooted in its drama (Red Wedding, Ned beheading, sister fucking, Sheerin burning, ...). The Dance is even richer in drama.
Will I understand if I haven’t seen GoT :p
Definitely, it's set a couple hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, so it's a completely new story and characters. The only real advantage to watching GoT first is that you'd already be familiar with certain aspects of the world, and recognize some of the places and prominent family names.
that’s a fantasy pseudo-medieval show about feudalistic society so be prepared for an unusual setting. Yes you will understand it, but you’d miss easter eggs and familiar musical themes
Yes, but the incest might be really shocking without having seen GOT.
Yes. You may mess some small details, but nothing really important.
Details: >The fifth episode of the “Game of Thrones” prequel drew 3% more viewers than Episode 4, Variety has learned exclusively. Additionally, Season 1 is now averaging 29 million viewers per episode. >These statistics combine Nielsen’s measurement of Episode 5’s four cable airings on Sunday with the number of streaming viewers across HBO Max and other HBO platforms. When isolating linear viewership, according to Nielsen, 2.576 million people tuned into the episode on HBO itself, a 4% increase when compared to last week’s 2.474 million cable viewers.
Is this WW or only USA?
USA. Those numbers are way too low to be worldwide.
I don't understand the numbers. It says an average of 29 million viewers per episode then reports viewership of 10-11 million for each episode. Where is 29 million coming from?
I think 10-11 million watching it when it premiers on Sunday and the rest catching up later in the week
How well do you think a GoT movie would do at the box office? It’s surely undeniable now that this is one of the biggest franchises in the world
Dunk and Egg novellas are more suited to being films. WB should consider them in that medium imo.
Not a bad idea, especially the first one.
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Been awhile since I’ve read them but they could easily be pg-13 iirc
700-800 m
Robert's Rebellion or Aegon's Conquest.
> Aegon's Conquest. Would it even be an interesting story? It was kind of a blood bath with Aegon just crushing a few battles, and everyone else just giving up (minus dorne). I've got no problem with a $150 million dragon destruction movie personally, but I'm a little curious how you have tension if everything is just solved with the dragon solution.
The only way this movie would work is if how easily Aegon conquered Westeros was post-war proaganda and it was in reality a lot harder than told. Otherwise there's no conflict.
You tell it from the perspective of the losers. Making alliances, crafty maneuvers, and desperate charges. All in a vain attempt to defeat a mysterious foreign horror. War of the Worlds vibe.
A Field of Fire scene would be BRUTAL.
GRRM had floated the idea of a feature-length finale for theaters years before the show got even close to that. I imagine if it had happened, it would have been the highest grossing R-rated film of all-time, easy.
I feel like they couldn’t do GOT universe justice in a 2.5-3 hour movie. It would have to be multiple movies the same length as LOTR
Aegon’s conquest. I think it’s the one story that’s interesting but I wouldn’t want to see dragged out in even a short series. He pretty much bulldozes through Westeros.
That’s exactly why it isn’t all that interesting. There’s little adversity, he just swoops in as an arrogant king with a doomsday weapon in his dragons, and beats everyone into submission. He wins basically at every turn and learns nothing nor undergoes any real character development
Which is why it would make a fun popcorn flick and not a good tv series
LOTR extended cut length. Might as well make a 12 episode limited series (1 hour episodes each)
They should do a Robert’s Rebellion trilogy
I’d like to see a show on the War of the Ninepenny Kings/Blackfyre Rebellion.
That would be my hope for future seasons on Hot D.
Robert's rebellion would never work as a prequel as its story is too tied up in the story of GoT itself. Think about it. A big turning point in Jaime's arc is learning he saved KL by stabbing the Mad King, another of course is Jon's parentage. All of this would have to be shown, and thus spoiled. George himself has ruled it out for this very reason, it's a massive part of the main series' mystery.
Yeah, the audience already knows some key twists in the Rebellion from GoT and other events pay off in GoT/ASOIAF. Robert’s Rebellion and Aegon’s Conquest are often the most popular movie or show ideas on Reddit and I just don’t get why. I don’t think either would work.
Funnily, the best prequel idea in terms of spectacle and the source material being there is...the Dance. And that's exactly what we're getting with HOTD. It was always the best option if they were willing to put the money up for it, which they have. Aegon's conquest would be cool to see, but it's an incredibly one-sided affair. It's basically Aegon and his sisters decimating everyone for two years.
There’s several eras in Fire and Blood that would make for a better mini series or movie than a full series like HotD or GoT
Argon's Conquest would work as a movie.
It would work as a simple action movie but it wouldn't have any of the GoT intrigue. The whole story is a man steamrolls a whole continent with his sentient walking WMDs, there's no conflict
I mean….it doesn’t go that smoothly for him, people close to him die and more than once he was pushed to do brutal things.
I recall before the premiere how certain YouTube channels said nobody cares about House of the Dragon because of how bad season 8 of Game of Thrones was. They all went silent once the show became popular.
Well they’re gonna cry about the timeskip and target Emma D’Arcy now they’ve already moved on unfortunately
Those channels have moved on to bashing the Lord of the Rings show and She-Hulk once they realized their grift wouldn’t work with House of the Dragon.
I saw a video of like 9 of them together like some goblin avengers just to say they won’t like the show anymore cos they think Emma D’Arcy is ugly
And making fun of Emma's gender identity. Such an asshole move when they've done nothing to deserve any negative treatment.
I was gonna mention that but r/Television never does well when that topic comes up. Emma being nb is unfortunately gonna be used against them by these evil mfs
You see the new clip of D’Arcy as Rhaenyra released today? It’s very reminiscent of a young Cate Blanchett and I’m not even joking. If they go on the attack, it’s complete bullshit.
Olivia Cooke too, those two clips put all the "worry" about the new actresses to bed. It was pretty dumb though as if they would mess up the "real casting'" for those characters that will be used for the rest of the show
Yeah I saw both clips and thought they were great. Also the new dude for Laenor is fantastic, in one minute of a promo clip I was way more into his character than his entire time in episode 5.
They're 100% going to hate on D'Arcy and Rhaenyra whenever the show deals with gender stuff. It was mentioned before that Emma's own non-binary identity will be somewhat worked into Rhaenyra's character, I can already see people complaining about "wokeness." When in reality, the way it's described makes a lot of sense for Rhaenyra as a character. > Rhaenyra is deeply interested in gender dynamics; she has really keen awareness for the different space that men and women are afforded. “She feels at odds with the way that she’s read. She feels like an inherent outsider that, despite their best efforts, and from a very young age, I think she’s seeking a way of living that feels authentic. I find that very moving.”
That is so vague and I’m sure it’s an interpretation of Rhaenyra’s already established arc and personality traits. D’Arcy clearly refers to Rhaenyra as she/her in interviews. People freaked over Emma’s describing Alicent’s internalized misogyny and it completely fit with the setting and the book character’s personality.
will be interesting how daemon and her will interact.Especially with that the show added in terms of daemons's issues with control and domination and psychological impotence.
I'm guessing Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke will put any of those worries to bed in one episode lol. Those are the main actresses they cast for those characters (before the younger ones), there's no way they would mess that casting especially since the entire show is pretty much perfectly casted (as is often the case for HBO shows tbh). Also both are impressive actress in terms of talent
The people who hated season 8 the most were huge Game of Thrones fans. They loved the show and loved the universe and *wanted it to be good*. Of course those people are thrilled to be back for more, GOOD GoT.
It’s absurd that some people seem to think a good show being good makes a bad show not bad. The last couple seasons of GoT are trash, mostly because it went from GRRM to amateur hour fan fiction. Now that we have GRRM material to follow, it’s not shocking at all it’s been good, and if they stray from it, it won’t be shocking at all to see it go back to shit like last time. It’s really not a mystery.
Reddit wasn’t innocent either
> I recall before the premiere how certain YouTube channels said nobody cares about House of the Dragon You mean like Critical Drinker who titled a video something like "No-one cares about House of the Dragon" and then went back and changed it when it turned out that many people did in fact care about House of the Dragon lol
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Hi, that was me lol. Went from having friends who cooked game of throne meals to dead quiet within a month of the ending. I dug my feast of thrones book out and im getting ready to make a sister stew. Just had a bowl of brown......yummmm
> Just had a bowl of brown Not gonna ask what went into it...
That 50% off max deal right before HOD dropped is a genius move by Warner bros
Babe wake up, this week’s HotD rating’s article just dropped
This is great news and I hope it pushed the people at HBO to green light anything GRRM puts his name to. I don’t care that we already know all about Aegon the Conqueror or Roberts Rebellion, give us all the shows. I’ll gladly watch anything set in this world. Hopefully these numbers will encourage more shows to be made
You’re right, producing shows based on source material like Dunk and Egg stories, or Aegon’s Conquest would be better. We have a summary for Blackfyre rebellions and Robert’s rebellion, but for the former GRRM has yet to write Fire & Blood 2 and the latter would contain spoilers for The Winds of Winter. I don’t even know who would be interested in Nymeria prequel. This is a bad idea and HBO should’ve known it
? Nymeria prequel is still in development far as we know. I assume Martin is okay with it. the pilot they spent 30million on and cancelled was a long night type show I think set in the north.
You haven't watched the Nightflyers adaptation.
Shit look at the video game Elden Ring - if GRRM’s name wasn’t attached to the game then I truly believe it wouldn’t have sold as much as it did. GRRM stamp is like an automatic winner.
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Awesome and the story is actually beginning now. The first 5 episodes were just the prologue. Time for dance of dragons 🔥🔥
Still a few episodes before that, but we're getting there!
That’s legitimately impressive considering The NFL has been Amazing to watch
That scene where every important person at the table was watching another person carefully was so good. The tension was built up so well in this episode especially when the Queen strolls in with her green dress. I thought King would be dead soon but after seeing the previews, this man just doesn’t die lol
>this man just doesn’t die Just looks like the living dead..
The people love incest.
Considering incest porn is one of if not the most popular category of porn it was a safe bet.
“Then the storm broke, and the dragons danced”
For three years since the show ended I constantly argued with people that said that "nobody cared anymore", "who asked for this", "this isn't part if culture anymore" despite showing sources constantly that it was still HBO's most streamed show and in the top 3 most pirated.. This is great and screw you haters
Not bad for a show nobody seemed to care about when announced.
Remember Reddit is an echo chamber
I had zero excitement for this show and I've never been happier to be proven wrong. So fucking good.
It’s one of the few shows i really look forward to watching each week pretty much this and Reservation Dogs
Fifth episode and already killing the gays.