Game of Thrones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on HBO

[Kelthaz]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Keep in mind that the vast majority of people don't subscribe to HBO and Nielsen ratings don't matter in any way for HBO. DVD sales are king for HBO shows.

My prediction is that we'll see A Clash of Kings and no further. I'd be happy with just Game of Thrones if that's what it comes to. If nothing else, at least one of the novels got adapted.

That's about what I expect too. I understand that HBO doesn't care as much about ratings as other networks, but a 1.6 rating has to be alarming. A low number of viewers typically won't result in high DVD sales. Hopefully the ratings will pick up later in the season.

You do understand that this is HBO............right?

Yes, I understand that this is an HBO show with a huge budget and plenty of advertising getting about 1.9 million viewers while True Blood pulls in close to 5 million.

 

[timothy]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

will this be hulu or is it to graphic. I don't have HBO.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

I liked the first episode. But pacing issues are going to become perhaps the most negative issue for the show to overcome. Especially later on when various characters split up going their own ways and we get six or seven character vignettes per episode with no connecting tissue. This is not Harry Potter or The Lord of Rings, where our heroes(and villains) are going to be tied together in some school or on some quest. Daenarys being off in her own little world is the first example of this.

But I am looking forward to seeing how the writers combat this problem.

And as a fan of books, it is both entertaining and frustrating to see the groundwork being laid for stuff that will not be paid off for years if they hold to the chronology of the books(and HBO gives them enough seasons).

Oh, and I was underwhelmed by the soundtrack as well, it was fine for what it was, but I would have loved to see what someone like Bear McCreary would have done with individual character themes and the like, instead of the sort of sonic wallpaper the show has currently.

All the proper check boxes were hit in terms of characters though.

Like Tyrion, Arya, Bran, Jon, Ned, Jorah.

Neutral on Catelyn, Daenarys,

Dislike Cersai, Jaime, Robb, SANSA(and that hate will grow!).

Whats wrong with Robb? The other three I can see, but Robb?

 

[Kelthaz]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

I suppose I should give my review of the episode, but it'd just be fanboyish gushing. I might have to give it some time to allow my brain to do some nitpicking, but I honestly can't think of a single thing I disliked at the moment.

 

[KB24]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

I didn't watch the premiere but caught the first episode tonight. I'll have to catch up on all the hype I kept unspoiled from now and go back and read this thread. My quick thoughts this thus far is that GOT looks all over cold shoulder Camelot.

 

[od0_ital]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Yes, I understand that this is an HBO show with a huge budget and plenty of advertising getting about 1.9 million viewers while True Blood pulls in close to 5 million.

One episode of a brand new series compared to a show that has had three years to build its audience. Not really fair, is it?

To be honest, I didn't start watchin' True Blood 'til well after the first season was over, and all the episodes became available via HBO on Demand before the second season started.

So, again, the multiple ways that ya can catch HBO programs comes into play, ensurin' that ratings don't really matter.

 

[JD]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

I'm kinda shocked at how bad the ratings were. Yes, I know you said ratings don't matter for HBO, but it's still disappointing. I don't know about anybody else, but with all of the hype and promoting I was expecting this to be a big hit. Hopefully it'll do well on DVD. It sounds like there are alot of ASoIaF fans out there, so hopefully more of them are eagerly awaiting the DVDs like I am.

will this be hulu or is it to graphic. I don't have HBO.

None of the premium cable channels ever put their stuff on sites like hulu, that would kinda defeat the whole point of them being premium cable channels. I'm pretty sure the only reason Starz let Netflix put their stuff up is because that's a subscription service.

There have been a few shows that originally aired on premium channels on Hulu, but they weren't added until years later, and after they had already been shown on basic cable.

 

[watermelony2k]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

that's still higher than true blood's ratings on its pilot episode.

 

[Venardhi]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Also remember HBO airs the show about 15 times this week.

I didn't much care for the credits personally, which seems to set me pretty far apart from the majority. While I thought it would be the translation from book to screen that bugged me most, it turned out I was irked most by purely production things like music, acting choices, the aforementioned credits(which to me seemed at odds with itself with the toylike appearance of the conceptually cool clockwork map vs. the firey gold ring stuff. If the aesthetic of the latter were used somewhat in the former it would have worked better, especially with a more powerful theme song.), some of the production design, editing, etc.

Still excellent, but the production is a definite step down from Deadwood and Rome and the like. I am reminded of Sean Bean's comment in one of the early promotional videos where he says "there is a sort of playfulness to it all." and indeed that playfulness I had hoped was his own bad PR judgment is indeed here at times when I feel it hurts the tone.

I have no doubt that I'm analyzing this to an anal level, but as a big fan of the books (obsessive some might say) I am genuinely surprised that most of the added scenes and character alterations didn't bother me much (though some of the lines and cut scenes did).

Nitpicking complaints, that only the book fanatics such as myself will bite back growls about:

While performed capably and even impressively at times, Mark Addy's Robert doesn't strike me as a man who ever commanded a rebel army through essentially the force of his battlefield skill and irresistible charisma/animal magnitude. They didn't even bother to make him physically imposing at all with lifts or the like.

The Kingsguard aren't introduced -at all-. Much of the history in general seems to be lost, and what was there was a bit clunky.

The barely 'grey area' as it is of Dany's wedding night from the books becomes clear-cut rape with only a modicum of hesitation from Drogo. The "No." scene is taken completely into a different direction. In the book it is a request, in the show it is a command.

"The things I do for love" is said without an ounce of regret or even serious consideration, he barely even looks at Bran as he pushes him out the window. That whole scene in fact felt off.

Dany's horse is given a little lip service, but she only gets on it as prelude to a forced consummation. Drogo's gift and in fact his entire character felt nearly emotionless, digging the writers into an even deeper hole than their 'love story' was in originally.

We still don't know how the deserter got south of the wall. which is even more glaring here seeing as he specifically says he didn't go back to the watch and as far as we know they're pretty much the only way through.

Jon and Benjen (and Arya to a lesser extent) look like Starks, Ned does not. Robb looks much more like Ned's son than Jon does, when the reverse is true in the books and part of why Cat is so spiteful towards Jon, being more Stark-y than her 'trueborn' sons.

HODOR!. . . . ?

I really did like it though, and I was able to turn off the fanboy sectors of my brain while watching which says a lot.

 

[Harvey]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Yes, I understand that this is an HBO show with a huge budget and plenty of advertising getting about 1.9 million viewers while True Blood pulls in close to 5 million.

True Blood is also in its third season (with a fourth in production). As others have pointed out, it has had time to build an audience. Notably, it premiered with an audience of 1.44 million viewers, a half million less than Game of Thrones.

The show is almost guaranteed a second season renewal (and probably one that will come soon). Beyond that, we'll see.

 

[Shurik]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/19/game-of-thrones-sky-atlantic-ratings?CMP=twt_gu

Brits are cool.

 

[Caliburn24]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Whats wrong with Robb? The other three I can see, but Robb?

I'm not really sure why I dislike Robb, he came across as a bit of an arrogant ass I guess. It is silly of course to judge characters and actors by a couple of lines at most, but with so many people crammed into the show that is the way it is for now.

I'll probably grow to like him, he is one of the main heroes after all, and I don't mind him in the books. Although even in the books he has never been one of my favorite characters.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Overall they did an excellent job, especially given the rather enormous amount of exposition they had to deal with. On the negative side: the music is okay, but forgettable. If there's a weak link in the acting chain it looks to be Sophie Turner as Sansa, although it's early days and she may improve. Dany's wedding scene fell well short of the kind of scale and power it needed, demonstrating exactly how difficult it is for a TV show to deliver expansive production values, even with a very high budget. The one scene I wish they had left in is the all Stark children getting and naming their direwolf pups.

Those issues aside, the production values were mostly excellent. I found the episode fast-paced and most of the performances were engaging. Sean Bean is excellent, as is Mark Addy (particularly in the scene where he's talking about Lyanna). Emilia Clarke is excellent as Dany, portraying the horror and sadness of her situation very well. She's so tiny next to Jason Momoa that it made an effective contrast in spotlighting her vulnerability.

I was worried that Lena Headey, although a very good actress, was miscast as Cersei, but I thought she did an excellent job, although the character is a little softer so far than in the books. The same goes for Michelle Fairley as Cat - she's very good, but the character is softer and more matronly than in the books. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's accent is a bit distracting at times, but he's suitably charismatic as Jaime. Tyrion and Arya look to be standouts, with Dinklage in fine form and Maisie Williams bringing Arya to life with gusto.

As to the ratings, HBO will release the full numbers (including those from repeat viewings) later today. The initial report isn't an audience of 1.9 million viewers. It's a household rating of 1.9. That should translate to about 2.7 million viewers for the initial primary timeslot.

 

[backstept]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Good show.
I have no idea who's who, but I liked it

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Ratings news from James Hibberd at EW:

The heavily hyped debut of Game of Thrones couldn’t come close to the premiere of HBO’s last big drama series, Boardwalk Empire, yet it still turned in a solid number Sunday night.

The first episode delivered a decent 2.2 million viewers for its premiere airing, then a rather strong 1.2 million for its first encore (the NBA playoff game between the Celtics and Knicks might have pushed some viewership to the second airing), and another 800,000 for the third telecast for an overall healthy total of 4.2 million. HBO then aired Thrones six times across all its channels Monday night, and those numbers will be added to this post later today.

Thrones first telecast was down 54 percent from the premiere of 2010′s Boardwalk (4.8 million) which received an immediate second season renewal. Yet HBO always takes into account what Sunday show was used to ramp up viewers to the new program’s premiere, and Thrones had a weak platform — Mildred Pierce, which averaged around 1 million viewers, a number Thrones more than doubled.

What’s perhaps the closest ratings comparison to a fantasy series like Thrones is HBO’s other genre drama, True Blood. A prestigious crime drama Boardwalk is much more in the traditional HBO viewership wheelhouse. Compared to the vampire show, Thrones did really well. Blood only opened with 1.4 million viewers, and similarly had no real platform to launch from, but then went on to grow week after week into a major hit for the network.

So what does all this mean for Thrones? The premiere number is good, not great. HBO would have loved for the first airing of Thrones to have been in the 3 million range, but will definitely take anything in the 2s. The next question: How many viewers will stick around next week?

Edit to add: HBO has renewed the show for a second season! That was a near certainty, but it's great to have it confirmed.

 

[Shurik]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Great news about the renewal!
Not that anyone had any doubt.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Here's a 1080p YouTube clip of the intro sequence, if anyone still hasn't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN8PKcNGcuI

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

James Hibberd has updated his story with the following news:

Also, and this is important, in the UK the premiere did really well — Thrones set a Sky Atlantic ratings record with 750,000 viewers, beating the previous record holder, which was … Boardwalk Empire.

 

[Lt. Trull]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

This will be as successful as the sword of truth series and just as accurate.... I thank god that I have never read or listened to the books so I will not be as disappointed as I was with the difference between the screen play and the books.

 

[Venardhi]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

This is actually quite a good translation considering the problems with adapting such a story. My nitpicking aside, there were several scenes pretty much word for word and page-perfect.