New Series High

[ckal]

Per Deadline, ratings were down this past episode to 6.4 million. Possibly a result of Mother's Day.

Non book readers finally found out Dany won't be coming to Westeros any time soon.

Ratings drop.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Re the series reaching a new high, take a look at the comments here--freakin' hilarious!

http://www.deadline.com/2014/05/game-of-thrones-draws-7-2-million-viewers-on-sunday-silicon-valley-veep-hit-highs/

At the bottom: "Who the f is Michael?" :lmao: That whole comment thread is brilliant.

[Old Man River]

Non book readers finally found out Dany won't be coming to Westeros any time soon.

Ratings drop.

Yeah but they'll have Meeren fighting pits with topless female gladiator scenes pretty soon.

[boojam]

I looked at previous years' ratings and there's always a dip at Episode 6 or 7.

500,000 who watched episode 5 for a rape and didn't get one!

Now there are half a million disillusioned!

O well, ~6.4 mill makes GOT still the highest rated that night.

[Caerl Targaryen]

Whether the show has 6.4 million viewers or 7 million viewers, it's still doing extremely well for HBO. I don't think they're too concerned.

Yeah but they'll have Meeren fighting pits with topless female gladiator scenes pretty soon.

Not to mention lots of awesome things that the Meereen plot leads to.

[sj4iy]

Whether the show has 6.4 million viewers or 7 million viewers, it's still doing extremely well for HBO. I don't think they're too concerned.

Not to mention lots of awesome things that the Meereen plot leads to.

I have a feeling that Mother's Day played into it. We'll see what happened next weekend.

[Caerl Targaryen]

I have a feeling that Mother's Day played into it. We'll see what happened next weekend.

Yeah, I agree. Mother's Day is the likely culprit. I'm really not too concerned either way. The show is still doing quite well even with the drop this week.

[sj4iy]

Yeah, I agree. Mother's Day is the likely culprit. I'm really not too concerned either way. The show is still doing quite well even with the drop this week.

Exactly. Every show has its ups and downs. I wouldn't be surprised to see the series break its own record at least one more time this season.

Personally, I wonder what would happen to the ratings once the show surpasses the book (if it does).

[Alia Atreides]

Well this week is the Snow Castle, Moon door and only Cat :).

[Seneti]

Non book readers finally found out Dany won't be coming to Westeros any time soon.

Ratings drop.

This. Looking through the "what your non-reader friends and family thought" threads, there was always one unifying theme: "When is Dany finally coming to Westeros?" I bet there were a lot of really, really badly disappointed show watchers after episode 5.

I have a feeling that Mother's Day played into it. We'll see what happened next weekend.

And this.

[Frey Pies]

This. Looking through the "what your non-reader friends and family thought" threads, there was always one unifying theme: "When is Dany finally coming to Westeros?" I bet there were a lot of really, really badly disappointed show watchers after episode 5.

And this.

They're not going to stop watching due to Dany. To have watched it this far, one is probably invested in more than one storyline.

It was definitely mother's day.

[Khal-a-bunga]

Dany deciding to stay in Meereen to learn how to rule has, surprisingly, been very well-received by the non-readers I know personally who watch the show. In fact, a couple of them think this is the most interesting development that has happened in her story line since the dragons were born. I think a few of them are assuming that she'll unify "her continent", and lead a huge force against Westeros.

[Caerl Targaryen]

Dany deciding to stay in Meereen to learn how to rule has, surprisingly, been very well-received by the non-readers I know personally who watch the show. In fact, a couple of them think this is the most interesting development that has happened in her story line since the dragons were born. I think a few of them are assuming that she'll unify "her continent", and lead a huge force against Westeros.

I've always liked this development in the books. I like that Dany realizes she made mistakes with her approach to liberating Slaver's Bay and actually tries to take responsibility in her own way. I've never understood why this decision is so (seemingly) widely hated by book readers. It's the logical direction for the character to head in at that point in her development.

[Khal-a-bunga]

I think it all comes down to people wanting the two story lines to converge, so as to make Dany's story feel less like an addendum to the plot, as a whole. Either that, or they simply dislike Dany and/or Essos.

Personally, it's something I've never had a problem with. I've always felt that by the time Dany travels to Westeros, the story will be firmly within end-game territory, and I enjoy the story so much that I'm somewhat reticent for it to be over.

My personal theory is that Dany arriving on the shores of Westeros and the Wall coming down will be events that occur towards the end of The Winds of Winter. I don't see her ingratiating herself within the story lines of Westeros, as they currently exist, as some others seem to believe. In her own way, she will be just as destructive of a force to the characters we've come to love so much as the White Walkers will be.

[sj4iy]

I've always liked this development in the books. I like that Dany realizes she made mistakes with her approach to liberating Slaver's Bay and actually tries to take responsibility in her own way. I've never understood why this decision is so (seemingly) widely hated by book readers. It's the logical direction for the character to head in at that point in her development.

I want to see the stories finally converge and come together. Whatever her motivations, it's always the idea that she will finally take her dragons and go kick some ass in Westeros that keeps me interested in her story. The longer it is drawn out, the harder it is for me to care what happens. I know that there is supposed to be 'character development', but it doesn't really feel like Dany's character is growing, but is instead regressing.

It just became a chore to read her chapters instead of fun.

[boojam]

Non book readers finally found out Dany won't be coming to Westeros any time soon.

Ratings drop.

The ratings dropped because .5 million heard there was rape in episode 4 that they missed.

Tuned into episode 5, no rape, "screw it, I am not watching any more."

[Born Sinner]

The ratings dropped because .5 million heard there was rape in episode 4 that they missed.

Tuned into episode 5, no rape, "screw it, I am not watching any more."

You got stuck in this rape thing, huh? It also doesn't make any sense since the rape was in episode 3.

[Caerl Targaryen]

I want to see the stories finally converge and come together. Whatever her motivations, it's always the idea that she will finally take her dragons and go kick some ass in Westeros that keeps me interested in her story. The longer it is drawn out, the harder it is for me to care what happens. I know that there is supposed to be 'character development', but it doesn't really feel like Dany's character is growing, but is instead regressing.

It just became a chore to read her chapters instead of fun.

It sounds like you just aren't very invested in the character then. I've never found a chapter in GRRM's books to be a "chore" or boring. There's a lot more to Dany than her kicking ass. It's that kicking ass that gets her into trouble in the first place. The show has simplified the character significantly and cut out the bulk of her development (post-season 1). Season 1 actually did a pretty good job developing her in the time they had. Since then Dany has mostly been reduced to kicking ass, and that's disappointing. I'm hopeful that the Meereen arc will give the character some much needed depth again.

The above isn't intended as a dig. Not everyone needs to love everything about ASOIAF. If Dany's chapters don't work for you, then they don't work for you. I guess I just read the books expecting something different out of them. I read them for the characters, world building, and plot. The character development is what makes all the big events in the series so rewarding. Without that, it's unlikely we'd get invested in the story or world, and the terrible things happening would just be random acts of violence. Understanding how Dany gets to where she is and how she tries to overcome it is vital to understanding where she's going next.

[sj4iy]

It sounds like you just aren't very invested in the character then. I've never found a chapter in GRRM's books to be a "chore" or boring. There's a lot more to Dany than her kicking ass. It's that kicking ass that gets her into trouble in the first place. The show has simplified the character significantly and cut out the bulk of her development (post-season 1). Season 1 actually did a pretty good job developing her in the time they had. Since then Dany has mostly been reduced to kicking ass, and that's disappointing. I'm hopeful that the Meereen arc will give the character some much needed depth again.

The above isn't intended as a dig. Not everyone needs to love everything about ASOIAF. If Dany's chapters don't work for you, then they don't work for you. I guess I just read the books expecting something different out of them. I read them for the characters, world building, and plot. The character development is what makes all the big events in the series so rewarding. Without that, it's unlikely we'd get invested in the story or world, and the terrible things happening would just be random acts of violence. Understanding how Dany gets to where she is and how she tries to overcome it is vital to understanding where she's going next.

Actually, I was invested then lost interest.

Victarian Greyjoy and Quentyn Martell are two characters I never had any interest in at all, for comparison. Jon Snow and Sansa are characters that I didn't care much about in the beginning and then grew to like a lot.

I would say that my biggest problem with ASoIaF is that not all of the characters are even, and stretching the narrative out just leaves weak points that threaten to collapse the entire story. The first book and the third book I couldn't read fast enough...the second book was okay, but I still liked it. The last two books just felt like some of the story had ground to a halt and it was a struggle to get through parts of it. The same thing happened with me in LotR and Les Misérables...some parts of the story are just not as good or compelling as other parts and it becomes an uneven read.

Does the show do this, as well? Yup, but not to the same degree simply because it doesn't have the luxury to do such a thing. This isn't to disparage Dany, it's just how I felt about reading her chapters in the last book.

[boojam]

You got stuck in this rape thing, huh? It also doesn't make any sense since the rape was in episode 3.

You didn't watch episode 4 and the action at Craster's Keep?