Game of Thrones

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Wife and I finally took the plunge and signed up for HBO Now to give it a go. Heard SO much for so many years, figured we'd check it out.

I'm only three episodes into the first season and overall my reaction is - meh. As in, yeah, whatever.
It's all right. I just don't get what the fuss is all about.
 

Kyle

ULTRA-F###ING-MAGA!
PREMO Member
Anything that gets a mass following I usually steer clear of... They’re often poorly written, thought out or cast.

Of course the shows I like are normally canceled season 1.
 

mAlice

professional daydreamer
I felt it was over-hyped. I don't remember how far into it I got before I lost interest, because I was watching with hubs. I was kind of along for the ride.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
Wife and I finally took the plunge and signed up for HBO Now to give it a go. Heard SO much for so many years, figured we'd check it out.

I'm only three episodes into the first season and overall my reaction is - meh. As in, yeah, whatever.
It's all right. I just don't get what the fuss is all about.

Those are probably some of the most boring episodes. I watched the first one and didn't find it interesting until I was somewhat forced to watch the entire first season about 3 years later and got so invested in it I went through season 5 within a month.

The first episodes of season 1 are more interesting the second time around though, there are so many different characters I was like oh #### there is the guy who.... later.
 

mAlice

professional daydreamer
Those are probably some of the most boring episodes. I watched the first one and didn't find it interesting until I was somewhat forced to watch the entire first season about 3 years later and got so invested in it I went through season 5 within a month.

The first episodes of season 1 are more interesting the second time around though, there are so many different characters I was like oh #### there is the guy who.... later.

Ya' know what bothers me, A LOT, about a lot of these new shows on tv. The never ending boinking scenes. Thankfully, I stream, so I can fast forward through them, but one has to ask, is this the best the screenwriters could do? Did they run out of ideas? Just gratuitous? I suspect it's just gratuitous, but dang, so much of it.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Ya' know what bothers me, A LOT, about a lot of these new shows on tv. The never ending boinking scenes. Thankfully, I stream, so I can fast forward through them, but one has to ask, is this the best the screenwriters could do? Did they run out of ideas? Just gratuitous? I suspect it's just gratuitous, but dang, so much of it.

Apparently enough people like it that they keep getting renewed. Probably the same folks who slobbered all over 50 Shades of Gray, who need to get a sex life of their own and stop having to live vicariously through actors and actresses playing make-believe.
 
RedBox had Season 1 on DVD, so I binged watched it. Didn't make it to the final episode, and really have no interest in continuing. Just didn't catch my attention.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Ya' know what bothers me, A LOT, about a lot of these new shows on tv. The never ending boinking scenes. Thankfully, I stream, so I can fast forward through them, but one has to ask, is this the best the screenwriters could do? Did they run out of ideas? Just gratuitous? I suspect it's just gratuitous, but dang, so much of it.

Almost as much as I don't like weak character development scenes that waste screen time.
I once read an article about story telling where it showed that while writers like Joseph Conrad would over indulge
in telling you a person is a jerk - Hemingway would SHOW it by actions in a single sentence.
TV writing ought to be that way - don't talk to me about characters - SHOW me characters.

Another is common on cops shows and other dramas - it's the final few minutes where everyone is silent, they
play music in the background while people react to the scene. LOTS of shows do this. The CSI shows used to do
this a lot - show the bad guy getting arrested while they played some song over it. No dialogue.

I don't like overlong denouement. As Joe Bob Briggs used to say on MonsterVision - "Monster dead - movie over".

I guess like you, I'm overexposed to titillation scenes that I just want to skip it unless there's some nugget
of vital story telling there.

I've watched a few more. It IS getting a little more interesting, but oddly enough, I *LOVED* "The Last Kingdom" much more,
and it is based on actual history.

And I don't know what to say about "Lost". I did love it - until towards the end, when it seemed, dammit, just end already.
But I do think "Lost" did an outstanding job of creating uniquely distinct characters. One of the things that often bothers
me about shows where everyone is 20-30 and perfect - is they all look the same. When I see any of those actors in something else,
I think, oh, it's Hurley, from Lost. I've seen far too many other actors and realize - geez - they were in a half dozen shows I've
watched - how come I don't recognize them?
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
We made it though all of them some time back. Admittedly, it does get easier to follow and the stories get more interesting.

But I wanted to mention something I touched on in my last post - that a good ensemble series works when the characters
are distinctive enough that you can always remember them - and when they have names that you can remember.
Ned Stark. Jon Snow. Easy. Ones that LOOK different - a dwarf - a platinum blonde - a redhead - a blondish evil queen - and so on.

When they LOOK a lot different, you can tell them apart easily. Sometimes I think TV writers assume that you're as vested
in their show as they are, so you'll remember everything. I've lost interest in other shows with large casts because when
a character who's been missing for several episodes re-appears, they look so much like everyone else, I can't remember who
the hell they are.
 
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