Unloyal Bannermen

I think they mainly made the tournament so violent to have the contrast with the child-birth, but I think they did some things to somewhat justify it getting as violent as it was, with the king not being present, long times of peace, decadence, etc. This is very odd however, and could have been at least mentioned in some inbetween dialougue at a council meeting.

It's gonna be fun to see whether the show-runners change something entirely and use the "it's a history book it could be bullshit" excuse to justify it at a comic-con or something

Yeh agree. Never got the impression that people really wanted those Bran scenes compared to Kings' landing stuff. The plotting, twists, shocks always seemed (from what I saw) to be the main interest draws from the show. I think what made dragons popular in a sense is that were part of the storyline of one of the most popular characters on the show, rather than their mere existence being why they were so liked (though I am sure there are people who do just like dragons) 20 Million really is a great number, saw a graph somewhere that compared it to some of the disney plus shows and the difference is gigantic, albeit the first episode I doubt HBO could have hoped for much more (as IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes seem quite positive as well)

The way how this was done makes me seem like that wont be done, since he wants Rhaenyra to be his heir. Especially since it appears they will focus more on it in the coming episodes (from the hbo episode, havent read leaks). Butmaybe thats bad faith on my end

First episode was solid! For sure more to like than to dislike. Just hope (since the what's to come video by HBO kinda hinted at it) that this won't become a story about the Targaryens (or more so the Blacks) being the destined saviors to the world, especially since they won't be doing any saving in this story, and it seems a bit cheap to me to make Rhaenyra the hero of the story because of this. Also think the complete 180 that Viserys makes on his daughter seems a bit odd, could have given that some more time to breathe (or at least a bit more scenes). I get they are trying to press the issue in the council, as they want to avoid Daemon getting it, so maybe I am nitpicking a bit. Loved the council meetings and to have Westeros back on tv is always a plus. Reaction seems very positive online, so they certainly seem to have gotten it right for the most part.

I doubt HBO think they can reboot GOT any time soon. Sure, the last season sucked, but the rest (even season 7 surpringly) was still more liked than disliked from what I found online, with many (from what I have read) considering the first 4 among the very best in television history. So essentially you would be going through the same things, with the only things you can change in the earlier years being adding more characters and thus costs, to a story that anyone who wants to see it, will have seen (they just added higher quality episodes on MAX awhile ago). Just seems like a big money risk when, if this goes well, you could just further the spin-offs. I would watch, sure, but I doubt it's worth reworking such a big, expensive project that did so much right. Let alone recasting the popular characters for a show that was beloved and that even new viewers will probably watch now after seeing HOTD, can't imagine that going over well so quickly after it. But down the line, they could, for sure. Especially if they don't acquire some other IPs and Game Of Thrones remains among their best.

The one bit of criticism that is really worrying to me is about the dialogue. From conversations with other people, the show was always considerd a tad slow but the dialogue made up for this, as it meant that the shwo could still be interesting without the storylines progressing quickly. If this isn't the case for HOTD, where they will probably have to stretch out more of the story, that could become an issue that might lead to people tuning out. I was always quite confident that this was the best pick for a spin-off and it could do well, much more than the bloodmoon show, the Jon Snow thing or really any other. It really makes you wonder what HBO would do if this show isn't a success, especially since Game Of Thrones is (regardless of what people think of season 8) one of the best IPs that they have. This show has almost every thing that made Game Of Thrones a hit (plotting, schemes, twists, shocks, etc) so I still think it should do really well despite the mild reviews (which might just be playing it safe). One thing that is really odd though is the obsession from the marketing team with dragons. It almost makes you think that they actually believe a piece of CGI is gonna make this show a hit lol. Doubt anyone genuinely cares much about them, and I don't really see the source material giving the dragons a status that is worthy of where they have been in terms of promotion.

t I think if there was enough material to release a volume it would have been released by now. Just think of how many people watched season 8 of the tv show and went "man, that sucked, I should give the book a shot". If then, or at any point since then, there had been indication of a book being released it would have done wonders in sales. Now of course with the HOTD show, that might revive some of it but I don't think they will reach close to the peak that they could have had in 2019/

Whilist I agree with your point in regards to character changes without proper explanation (and heck, Jaime is probably a part of that) for it, I never understood the fuss about that line from Jaime. He (IIRC, and I haven't watched it back, I prefer to watch back the good stuff) clearly said that to get himself out of the situation and justify going back to King's Landing. Perhaps I am missing something however, just never quite got the fuss about that line.