107 replies to this topic

[Westeros]

Great news! The latest episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, “The Ghost of Harrenhal” has not only climbed a tenth of a point to a 1.9 share and 3.9 million viewers, but it also tied the NBA playoffs to lead Sunday night cable. Adding the second airing that night pushes it to a 4.7 million final on the day.

It’d be terrific to see it crack 2.0, 4 million, and 5 million respectively by the time we see the season’s final episode, “

Visit the Site!

[Fez]

Westeros, on 01 May 2012 - 08:25 AM, said:

It’d be terrific to see it crack 2.0, 4 million, and 5 million respectively by the time we see the season’s final episode, “

I can't see that not happening soon, the 2.0 and the 4 maybe as soon as next week.

[A Shadow]

I have not seen any recaps. Was there any buzz about Renly getting killed?

Edited by A Free Shadow, 01 May 2012 - 12:08 PM.

[boojam]

My hunch , which counts for zero, was that episodes 1 and 2 put off some new viewers.
But episodes 3 and 4 , which had the drops, also had the new surprises. Leading me to think regular fans buttonholed those who did not watch and say "you missed some of the best stuff".
Or maybe everybody guessed there would be a dragon in E5!

[The Monkey]

That's a series high, isn't it? Great news!

[Mendoza]

I'd like to think the Shadow Baby cliffhanger caught people's interest.

[The Anti-Targ]

Excellent news.I think season finale is going to get a lot of midweek viewers tuning in. I can't see it merely achieving a 2.0 / 4.0 on the first screening, it will blast through those ceilings.

[boojam]

Forbes calls for 90 min. episodes:

http://www.forbes.co...t-of-harrenhal/

Edited by boojam, 01 May 2012 - 06:33 PM.

[Crown]

If the ratings keep growing like this, the future of the series is save.

[salt]

boojam, on 01 May 2012 - 06:33 PM, said:

Forbes calls for 90 min. episodes:

http://www.forbes.co...t-of-harrenhal/

90 minutes?  How about just 60 minutes?  Most of the episodes this season have been around 52-55 minutes.  Add in the episode recaps, opening sequence, and end credits, and you're talking about episodes under 50 minutes long.

Try to fit Clash of Kings into 10 hour long episodes and you need to use the whole hour.  If that means more story at the cost of a little less CGI for the shadowbaby or Battle of the Blackwater, we'll survive.

[boojam]

salt, on 01 May 2012 - 11:36 PM, said:

90 minutes?  How about just 60 minutes?  Most of the episodes this season have been around 52-55 minutes.  Add in the episode recaps, opening sequence, and end credits, and you're talking about episodes under 50 minutes long.

Try to fit Clash of Kings into 10 hour long episodes and you need to use the whole hour.  If that means more story at the cost of a little less CGI for the shadowbaby or Battle of the Blackwater, we'll survive.

No. 10 full 60 min. episodes would still be too little time to stuff all of CoK into one season. HBO already shows movies that way beyond 90 min. regularly. So it does not seem to be a scheduling problem.
Budget wise it is more uncertainty about future success than actual dollars spent of production. Plus I don't know how D&D would feel about expanding production, it is pretty large as it is. But me thinks ROME had a bigger production staff. Now Heller and his five other producers did have a few years to produce the first 12 episode season, but by dang, Heller , et. al., were ready to go with a new 12 episode season for ROME before HBO lost the support of the BBC. I think release of the 2nd season of ROME would have trailed , by a little, what GOT is doing but no matter it would have been worth it.
I think this is first time I have run across a print media writer who is familier with the SoIaF books and is noticing the 'rushed' narrative drama.
Look! I understand the necessity of adaptation to a teleplay, the condensation, loss of characters, but from the get go it was George's story quality that could not be trumped.
I think two 10 episode seasons for CoK and two for SoS would have been great, but one is pushing the old viewer fatigue threshold or limits, because one would still have to have at least two more seasons to finish the story which kind of remains a mystery right now.
So subtract 10 min. off of 90 to give you 80 that almost 30 min. more than they have to work with right now.

Edited by boojam, 02 May 2012 - 03:12 AM.

[boojam]

By the by with what a lot take as carping , instead of constructive criticism... I just want to note... that there is no other show on TV that I watch Sunday night, and despite some problems this seasons, this is my favorite show and will continue to be as long as it runs.

Edited by boojam, 03 May 2012 - 04:48 PM.

[salt]

Of course that would be great, but its an issue of budget.  We may not get as much time as we would want, but at very least they should be using the full hour they have rather than making 50 minute episodes.

[BlackTalon]

I can´t seem to find the ratings and numbers for episode 4 anywhere ... somehow everybody seems to have skipped that one???

[Fez]

boojam, on 02 May 2012 - 03:10 AM, said:

No. 10 full 60 min. episodes would still be too little time to stuff all of CoK into one season. HBO already shows movies that way beyond 90 min. regularly. So it does not seem to be a scheduling problem.
Budget wise it is more uncertainty about future success than actual dollars spent of production. Plus I don't know how D&D would feel about expanding production, it is pretty large as it is. But me thinks ROME had a bigger production staff. Now Heller and his five other producers did have a few years to produce the first 12 episode season, but by dang, Heller , et. al., were ready to go with a new 12 episode season for ROME before HBO lost the support of the BBC. I think release of the 2nd season of ROME would have trailed , by a little, what GOT is doing but no matter it would have been worth it.
I think this is first time I have run across a print media writer who is familier with the SoIaF books and is noticing the 'rushed' narrative drama.
Look! I understand the necessity of adaptation to a teleplay, the condensation, loss of characters, but from the get go it was George's story quality that could not be trumped.
I think two 10 episode seasons for CoK and two for SoS would have been great, but one is pushing the old viewer fatigue threshold or limits, because one would still have to have at least two more seasons to finish the story which kind of remains a mystery right now.
So subtract 10 min. off of 90 to give you 80 that almost 30 min. more than they have to work with right now.

Its not a question of budget (although it is possible HBO would balk), the producers have come out and said that 10 hour long episodes is already pushing them to their limits, particularly in terms of writing, and that they don't want to expand any further since they wouldn't be able to ensure the quality remains consistent.

Having said that, I'm sure they do film some stuff that they cut and so going from 50-52 minutes up to 55-56 minutes should be possible, but that'd be about as far it goes.

[boojam]

Fez, on 02 May 2012 - 07:05 AM, said:

Its not a question of budget (although it is possible HBO would balk), the producers have come out and said that 10 hour long episodes is already pushing them to their limits, particularly in terms of writing, and that they don't want to expand any further since they wouldn't be able to ensure the quality remains consistent.

Having said that, I'm sure they do film some stuff that they cut and so going from 50-52 minutes up to 55-56 minutes should be possible, but that'd be about as far it goes.

Then answer me this how were Bruno Heller ,John Milius, William J. MacDonald, Frank Doelger, Anne Thomopoulos and John Melfi able to plan in 2006 and be ready to execute a second season of ROME , at 12 episodes? Alas HBO cut to 10, because the BBC withdrew its money. I would say ROME may have been an a little bigger production than GOT, done in Rome (an added expense by the way).
If HBO was able to put up the money do you think D&D would not want to expand the production , add more in-line people, to accommodate 12 episodes. It could be their choice, I respect that and can live with it.
What I am saying is it can be done just more bucks and the work would have to be spread around to more people ...

The kicker is money, the show would have to really punch the ratings for such a production out of the water... no sure it can do that.

Edited by boojam, 02 May 2012 - 07:25 AM.

[Fez]

boojam, on 02 May 2012 - 07:22 AM, said:

What I am saying is it can be done just more bucks and the work would have to be spread around to more people ...

Exactly, and they don't want to do that. David and Dan have a huge workload already and it would be impossible for them to add to it, however they don't want to farm out the work either since quality control becomes more difficult. Also I suspect its not incredibly efficient in terms of writing either since the plots of each episode are so intricately woven to each other that you really need to know about everything going on; there's a reason only 1 episode each season has been written by someone other David and Dan, Brian Cogman (the story editor), or GRRM himself.

Rome had lots of show runners, Game of Thrones has two.

Edited by Fez, 02 May 2012 - 07:43 AM.

[Faint]

BlackTalon, on 02 May 2012 - 06:52 AM, said:

I can´t seem to find the ratings and numbers for episode 4 anywhere ... somehow everybody seems to have skipped that one???

3.7 million for the initial airing. The second season low to this point.

[boojam]

Fez, on 02 May 2012 - 07:42 AM, said:

Exactly, and they don't want to do that. David and Dan have a huge workload already and it would be impossible for them to add to it, however they don't want to farm out the work either since quality control becomes more difficult. Also I suspect its not incredibly efficient in terms of writing either since the plots of each episode are so intricately woven to each other that you really need to know about everything going on; there's a reason only 1 episode each season has been written by someone other David and Dan, Brian Cogman (the story editor), or GRRM himself.

Rome had lots of show runners, Game of Thrones has two.

Well would like to ask them why. I mean they could stay in complete and total change if they chose their captains carefully and they sure are intelligent enough to do that.
(Added advantage would be to take the work load off them, and they could still stay in total control.)

[dreamcatcher]

Twelve 60-minute episodes would be perfect. I understand that David & Dan have a huge workload, but I don't imagine it's that difficult to find some excellent script-writers who are also fans of the novels and who wouldn't screw things up?

There are some scenes that needed lengthening badly (the whole Melisandre story seems a bit under-told, Cressen's death, introducing Stannis... ), also Jon's story lack a thing or two, and I just can't imagine how they'll introduce new story-arcs (there are loads of them in AFFC/ADwD) with this little time

Edited by dreamcatcher, 02 May 2012 - 07:11 PM.