This show has been hyped up beyond belief, I’ve had people call it the best show ever period.
I watched the first two episodes, and while its not bad it isn’t grabbing me. I think it is the combination of the setting being so generic and how serious the show takes itself that pushes it over the edge. I mean I liked Legend Of The Seeker which was also pulp fantasy but it didn’t take itself seriously, GOT seems to think it is high art or something.
The production values are excellent as is usual with HBO, but the setting is so damn generic medieval euro fantasy. I just found myself not giving a fuck about the setting or the characters, I didn’t want to learn more about the world or anything.
The boobage was appreciated, and I’m wondering if that is what people are really watching for.
I did not like the first episode myself, but kept watching anyway. (That timeslot used to belong to Big Love, and I programmed my cable box to auto-tune to HBO every week at that time. Big Love is over, but I was too lazy to reprogram the box.) Anyway, I hated the first episode… thought Ned Stark was a major league bonehead, instantly disliked the Targaryens, Cersei, Jaime, King Robert, and nearly all of the other major characters. Honestly, the first and second episodes just stank of “backdoor pilot that we’ll patch together and call them a movie if the series doesn’t get picked up”.
Kept watching, though… and it started to suck me in. Pretty soon I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next week, and now it’s one of my top 5 favorite shows.
I watched the first season and absolutely loved it. So much so, I then read all the books, ( I still want all those hours of my life back, but that is a different thread). I couldn’t wait for the second season to start, but never made it past the second episode. I lost any interest in it. I’m not exactly sure why, it just didn’t hook me in again.
I’m pretty meh on the TV show, despite being a big fan of the books. The TV adaptation does about as good a job as can be done with the material, but the stuff I like about the books just doesn’t really translate to the screen.
I’m not enjoying Game of Thrones, for a number of reasons:
Don’t have HBO in the first place
If I did, would deliberately avoid this series, because
Hi Opal!
I refuse to read the books. George, I’m glad for your success in this regard, but I enjoyed your Wild Cards books first. Thus, it’s those I want, not this.
Nice to know that no matter how high the quality, or deep the premise there’s always someone on Straight Dope who thinks its bad or boring…
Some people like lighthearted things (no Breaking Bad for you), can’t parse slang language (no The Wire for you), want something which suits their political views (no 24 for you) or wants complex politics described instantly in first episode (no Game of Thrones for you). I can do a few more, perhaps don’t like shouting (no The Shield), don’t like cartoonish violence (no Spartacus for you, thats me) or thinks cartoons are for children (no Family Guy or South Park for you, a lot more probably for those).
Nobody likes everything. This is amply shown here.
If I did, I’d probably watch an episode just to see what the fuss is about. I have a ton of friends who rave about it, and I know the first thing they’d say: “You can’t judge it from one episode! You have to keep watching!”
Hi Opal!
I had no idea there were books based on the series.
I’m not a bitter curmudgeon as I am not a fantasy fan. Doctor Who is as far as I get in the genre.
The only complaint I have is that there are seemingly no end to the number of characters.
It is almost impossible to remember them all and it can be very confusing to follow the plot.
But, if you take the time to try, I think you will find that it just may be the best TV show ever produced.
But, that is up to you to decide. I would have to say it is the best TV show I’ve ever seen and I just hope for some of you who find it too confusing to follow that you will try. I believe you will feel rewarded if you watch most episodes a 2nd or 3rd time.
It is really a shame that anyone does have to watch it multiple times to follow the plot. That is indeed a real criticism. But, if you give it a try, I think you will feel rewarded in the end.
I haven’t read the books, but I watched most of the first series up until Ned being killed. At that point, the only sympathetic character (for me) was gone. I learned from the SDMBs that other characters in future books became sympathetic and then also got killed, and I saw no reason to continue watching.
I do like fantasy/sci-fi, but I don’t like stories about unlikable, immoral, irredeemable people. I stopped watching THE SOPRANOS for the same reason, after season 2 maybe, when it became clear that there was no one there that I cared whether they lived or died. We’re watching season 2 of THE BORGIAS, but I’m watching to please my wife – I’m not really paying attention. Same reason.
You don’t think Arya is a sympathetic character ? Or Tyrion ?
For that matter, if you unironically liked Ned how can you not like Jon Snow ? Stannis Baratheon (I don’t remember if they showed much of him in season 1 though) ?
There are quite a few of moral characters in GoT. Whether they’re likable is another story ;).
I understand what C K is saying. I am of the opinion that everyone in Westros is a dick–all the way down to the smallfolk-- and I used to hope Dany would burn down the whole damned continent with her dragons. And now I think Dany’s a dick too.
