[Cyphon]

WhiskeyJackDaniels, on 18 April 2011 - 07:16 PM, said:

Am I the only one that is a little peeved that they cut out some of the best lines in the book? I'm talking about Brann and Ned's conversation after the beheading, when Ned explains why he had to swing the sword himself and Brann asking if a man can be brave when he's afraid. And then between Jon and Tyrion during the feast, 'Not all bastards need be dwarves'. I think that one actually bothered me more because they said the first half of it and then just left it hanging.

But they did have, "All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes."

I agree about the Brann/Ned quote though.

[Werthead]

Overnight ratings: GAME OF THRONES got 4.2 million viewers on Sunday night across just the initial showing and the two repeats that immediately followed it. This was a huge improvement after initial reports that it might have been down below 3 million.

The 4.2 million figure does not include DVR, HBO On-Demand viewings or the Monday night repeats.

This compares very well to most HBO shows, though Boardwalk Empire's September debut of 5 million just for the premiere (twice THRONES') has scared a few commentators. But compared to almost every other show in HBO's history, GoT has started off respectably, in fact possibly above expectations (I'd heard HBO had been projecting something in the mid-3s aggregate, and has gotten to 4.2 without even counting all the repeats let alone the online and timeshifted stuff). On top of that, HBO was surprised to find it could charge a lot more for this series than any other in their history: they made back $25-30 million of the estimated $60 million budget just in foreign sales alone.

So, great news. I suspect we'll be hearing about a second season sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile in the UK Thrones has done even better. It debuted on the new Sky Atlantic channel (started airing on 1 February this year), where the best-performing show is Boardwak Empire, which got 400,000 viewers for its premiere and immediately dropped half of them for Episode 2. Contrast that to Sky One, a much better-known and longer-established channel (since 1990), where BSG got 200,000 viewers on a good week and was counted a decent success. LOST getting 400,000 viewers a week on average and 600,000 for the finale was counted as a huge hit.

So how did THRONES do? 750,000 average ratings for the first hour, and again this was not including DVRs, timeshifting, repeats etc. SFX have suggested that the figures could go 50% higher with those figured in. This makes GoT not just Sky Atlantic's biggest-ever show by far, it almost makes it a huge smash hit even by Sky's most optimistic standards. RESULT.

[Werthead]

And THRONES has been renewed for a second season already.

FISTPUMP.

[Ceda Cicero]

YES!

THE KING IN THE NORTH! THE KING IN THE NORTH!

[Bauchelain the Evil]

WOHOO!

I was always worried they might have stopped at 1st season. I'm really happy.

[Skinner]

Briar King, on 19 April 2011 - 04:13 PM, said:

I know Im stoked about this. after only 1 epi....

I love the books so it was great to finally see this on TV. Visually everything was great and casting was spot on in most cases.

I thought the first episode was good but too short. There is so much content, material and detail to convey to the TV audience that I hope it gets adequately communicated. 10 episodes for the first book? 10 mini-series episodes would do more justice!

If they can flesh out the characters and give them enough depth on screen then hopefully the series will have a healthy following and not get prematurely cancelled.

Looking forward to seeing:
- Gregor Clegane "the Mountain that rides" (biggest, baddest, meanest mf'ker around)
- Tywin Lannister
- Petyr Baelish
- The Red Viper of Dorn (if the series continues that long)

If they can also add more flash backs and history in later episodes that would help explain the lingering fueds and the bad blood between the houses.

I also think some of best dialogue from the book was left out (so far), but maybe it will be used later on. Still early days yet....

[Cyphon]

Well I got my flatmate to watch. Despite some sniggering at the dothraki characterisation, he says he wants to watch the next episode, which is only a good sign.

This post has been edited by Cyphon: 20 April 2011 - 08:36 AM

[Abyss]

Werthead, on 19 April 2011 - 03:06 PM, said:

Overnight ratings: GAME OF THRONES got 4.2 million viewers on Sunday night across just the initial showing and the two repeats that immediately followed it. ...

The fuck WOW!

Easily double what i was expecting for the initial digits. Was certain it would make a huge leap with reruns and on-demand, but WOW.

Curious to see how the ep 2 drop-off plays out next week.

Werthead, on 19 April 2011 - 03:18 PM, said:

And THRONES has been renewed for a second season already.

FISTPUMP.

Never doubted it. AMC did something similar with WALKING DEAD. I think cable cos want to re-assure fans that a show is not going to just vanish after six eps.


Excellent news.

[Cougar]

I'm by no means at all bothered in general about the changes they have to make for a screenplay - I'm not a purist for purity's sake, but I was a little underwhelmed (apparently you can be whelmed only in Europe) by it. I though the changes they had made were puzzling, indeed the prologue sequence was absolute nonesense, with seemingly change for changes sake and only the appearance of the wraiths, not the fantastic scene where Ser whatshisface fights and is overwhelmed.

The other thing was they seemed to have paid a great deal of attention to some stuff, but completely neglected others - for one bad dye jobs on the hair, but no coloured contacts made no sense to me. The actors chosen to play Snow and Robb where strange too, while they went to great lengths to get elements of the appearance of the Targaryen kids right, they paid seemingly little attention to how Jon should look.

There were a lot of stuff that bothered me. Of and in itself it was OK, nothing more. Thing is, I'm not even that much of a fan of the books - I find they plod a bit - but I thought they dropped the ball a little.

I did like the interaction between Bean and Mark Addy, as a northerner myself I thought there was a genuine affection between the two characters. That said Mark Addy doesn't look a jot like he could ever have been anything but a fat little man, much less a heavily muscled young giant with a huge hammer.

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 21 April 2011 - 04:10 PM, said:

I did have one grip other then not having the Targ eyes....and that is I wished the pups could a been focused on more. Getting their names and bonding and what not.

Yeah, i had that reaction too, but the logistics of animal performances pretty much ensure we won't see a whole lot of dire wolf action.

That said, in the books the wolves have been a fairly subtle presence, which was something i liked in how GRRM handled them.

[QuickTidal]

Cougar, on 21 April 2011 - 09:35 AM, said:

The other thing was they seemed to have paid a great deal of attention to some stuff, but completely neglected others - for one bad dye jobs on the hair, but no coloured contacts made no sense to me. The actors chosen to play Snow and Robb where strange too, while they went to great lengths to get elements of the appearance of the Targaryen kids right, they paid seemingly little attention to how Jon should look.

See, I care less about hos Jon looks than if he can be the guy that will one day lead the Wall....and as far as I heard they casted for acting ability and not looks. That said, I actually don't mind Jon looking as he does at all and I think Robb totally looks the part. But the kid who plays Bran steals the "closest to my imagination form the book award".

[End of Disc One]

Briar King, on 21 April 2011 - 11:11 PM, said:

Yeah I say Bran and Arya really look how I pictured them from reading.

Dinklage is so awesome in here also but once again they left the eyes off the character. What he has one black and one green I think?

I've definitely seen clips from an interview where he had a green and black eye. I didn't pay attention to it in the premiere though...maybe they decided to do away with the contacts for him too.

[Ceda Cicero]

Tyrion is meant to have a green and black eye, but I recall reading something a few months back on winter-is-coming.net that they weren't going to do contacts for him, or for the Targaryens. The same article took on the topic of the Kingsguard armor not being white. From what I understand, these were all decisions based on complex filming/lighting issues that are way too technical for me to fully understand.

This post has been edited by Neocount Cicero: 22 April 2011 - 12:21 AM

[EsotericForest]

So for the losers that don't get HBO, is there any estimate as to when the episode will be available for download from Itunes, or anywhere?

[Tyr]

EsotericForest, on 23 April 2011 - 04:18 AM, said:

So for the losers that don't get HBO, is there any estimate as to when the episode will be available for download from Itunes, or anywhere?

Warez are usually up about an hour or so after the episode. Torrent a little more than that. As for iTunes, no clue, they are not consistent at all.

[QuickTidal]

EsotericForest, on 23 April 2011 - 04:18 AM, said:

So for the losers that don't get HBO, is there any estimate as to when the episode will be available for download from Itunes, or anywhere?

Usually HBO won't put up any episodes legit on iTunes until the season is done and aired and the DVD/BluRay set is coming out....this is because it's not normal TV, and is a subscription service people PAY to watch specifically...so it would be unfair to ask people to subscribe the the channel if others could only get it on iTunes for $2.99 an episode as it aired.

That said, should you be jonesing you could always find them on the torrents....or do like me...my best friend ordered HBO specifically for it, so I go there and watch on Sunday nights.

[EsotericForest]

Alright thanks, I'll see if I can find it haha

This post has been edited by EsotericForest: 23 April 2011 - 03:09 PM

[Garak]

Hmm, anyone have any idea if we'll get to see GREGOR in this season? I'm really curious about how they'll make the mountain that rides.

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

It's on Sky Atlantic, if anyone has that, on Mondays.

[End of Disc One]

Garak, on 24 April 2011 - 01:34 PM, said:

Hmm, anyone have any idea if we'll get to see GREGOR in this season? I'm really curious about how they'll make the mountain that rides.

Yeah he's at the tournament, just like in the book. He's not 8 feet tall though, more like 7.