starman9000

I didn't know that about ESPN3. So I can just sign up for ATT email?

Sorry to derail the thread.

sven

Yes you can.

Osiris3657

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister








His older brother Denis Leary

Osiris3657

He also looks like Aaron Eckhart now that I think about it

MoviePage

Lord Ned looks just like an older version of that dude from Lord of the Rings, too.

wmansir

I started watching this yesterday but got bored and stopped it. I will definitely give it another go, I just wasn't in the right mood. Just now I realized I stopped it at the same place I stopped in the audiobook, when the wife catches Mr. Bean polishing his sword in the woods.

Josh-da-man

Now that you mention it, the dwarf looks just like Peter Dinklage.

NORML54601

Wolf359

Sorry for the thread bump, but I just watched the first two episodes and thought they were great!

Is each season adapting one novel? I now want to read the series.

sven

Yeah that is the plan for now. We'll see later on when the books get even bigger though.

pinata242

Or if season three happens. This is HBO, after all.

mgbfan

Exactly. I've seen people mapping out 7 seasons, worrying if Martin will finish in time. That's putting the proverbial cart WAY ahead of the horse.

MikahC

I don't think HBO is unusually quick on the cancellation trigger. If the ratings warrant, they'll keep it going. People just aren't reasonable about these things. Yes, I'd love to have more Deadwood and Carnivale (and to a lesser degree, John from Cincinnati), but on the other hand, they gave me what they did in the first place. They let Sopranos and Six Feet Under run just fine because the ratings warranted it. True Blood is still going. Rome was originally supposed to just be a miniseries, and they brought it back for a "Season 2" despite how expensive it was. From The Earth To The Moon... The Pacific... Now HBO is bringing is this literary work that was previously thought to be unfilmable, and we still look at them sideways? Does HBO really deserve our disdain?

MoviePage

I haven't sensed any disdain. Just a realistic lack of extreme optimism.

MikahC

Rather than debate "disdain" I'll say this...

The comment was... "This is HBO, after all." That implies HBO is somehow quicker on the trigger than other networks. I don't think that's fair, especially considering the risks they've historically taken to bring us exceptional (and sometimes exceptionally expensive) entertainment. I have more faith in HBO to continue this series than I'd have in any other network.

Josh-da-man

One difference between HBO and most other channels is that they aren't beholden to advertisers, so, unless "Carnivale" or "Deadwood" are actually causing people to cancel their subscriptions, they could keep them running.

pinata242

Just my experience with HBO. Yes, I wanted to cancel when they axed Carnivale, I didn't then. Yes, I wanted to cancel again when they killed Deadwood. I did then.

My point is that this show won't keep gaining viewers week after week. The production will get bigger as the story expands and the destruction and battles ramp up. The actors age, kids especially. Not knowing the timeline of the series, I don't know if that'll be an issue, but it's something to consider.

There's a diminishing return on investment here. HBO hasn't committed to anything but season two at this point and while they may have done that unprecedentedly quickly, it's no guarantee they'll do any more.

This is HBO, after all, not New Line committing three 3-hour movies for Lord of the Rings up-front.

superdeluxe

They just renewed Treme for a 3rd season, and its ratings are really bad.

sven

I'm betting its also really cheap like The Wire.

MikahC

What you say is true, but it doesn't change the underlying reality. Whether on network TV, basic cable, or premium cable, a show has to be profitable to make and distribute (in rare cases, there are other goals). The fact that HBO gets money "directly" from subscribers (via cable company) is just a matter of revenue source. At the end of the day, it's still the same equation... how much does it cost me to provide the product versus how much I earn from the product. If GoT is an earner, HBO will continue to make/air it. If they lose money on it, it'll likely get cancelled. But that's pretty much the same for just about any network.

Exactly. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but I've seen enough commentary that I really think a segment of the readership either doesn't know or forgets that it isn't about how good a show is, how it's ratings compare to other shows, or anything other than how much THAT show costs as opposed to how much THAT show brings in revenue. There are other factors, but profit is the primary one.