Westeros Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 A bombshell has fallen in the small world of television reviewing: HBO has stopped screeners for critics for season 6 of Game of Thrones. This is largely the result of well-publicized leaks from previous seasons—particularly the last season, in which the first four episodes were leaked weeks before the premiere—but for many critics the practice of receiving episodes early allowed them to spend more time considering and crafting their reviews. Now all the critics—at least, so far as we know—will have to write their reviews after episodes air. read on >>> Visit the Site! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arthur Smith Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 It's a good decision from HBO. I don't want HBO's production and quality to go downhill after the piracy last year and save myself from being spoiled and desperation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruhail Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 I dont really blame em' after last year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Not Appearing Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Can't blame them and, to an extent, I prefer an initial gut reaction that more closely resembles my own than a well considered and crafted lookback that maybe lacks context of the moment and/or includes context of future episodes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbent87 Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 This is the first time I've considered the intricacies of how these screeners obtained these episodes, is anyone aware of this process? Being that "screeners" can be all over the world were they really just receiving a file of the episodes to view from their computers? If so no wonder all of those leaks came about. Even if the files were "protected" putting any of this stuff out there before it airs must have made HBO extremely anxious. If this is not how it works and screeners had to show up to Location X to view these then maybe that's a little different. But I doubt in 2016 that's what was happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Frasier of House Crane Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Good. Not only is it ridiculous that people can't be entrusted with screeners enough to not leak them onto the Internet, but Game of Thrones doesn't really need screeners. It's an extremely popular show in its sixth season, on the heels of Emmy victory, and there really isn't a whole lot that critics can do to really bolster that to require screeners. They can watch the show with the rest of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masha Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 For me it was a big surprise that it was such a surprise for most reviewers. From the moment as that I heard about 4 episodes being leaked last year, I knew this would be the reaction, I mean what did they expect HBO to do? After spending the whole year having actors proclaim "Jon Snow is dead" and "dead is dead" and raise expectation, then just send episodes to same reviewers and risk the same person leak again? (Since they never exactly find out who did last year) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Meh. TV reviews aren't the same as movie reviews, so I don;t see any reason why TV reviewers need to see episodes in advance, except for the first 5 or so episodes of the very first season of a series. You want to get the sense of a movie before deciding to see it, because for the most part it's a one time thing, and you have to directly spend money to see it. So reviewers being able to post reviews before or on the day of a movie's release is important to people thinking about seeing it on opening weekend. If you're not already invested in a series, then early reviews of season X (where X>1) aren't going to bring you in. If you are invested then you're going to watch the new season regardless of reviews. TV show reviews are all bout people talking about the show and what happens next after they've watched it. I also don't like the creation of A-list and B-list reviewers where some reviewers get advanced views of each episode, and others have to watch it on regular TV. It basically creates unfair competition, and likely biases towards reviewers who are more favourable to a show. So it's good that HBO have axed that practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Only a matter of time before this happened. People just can't be trusted apparently ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Drunkard Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Fair enough, but damn. I enjoyed watching half the season in one go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ummester Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 18 hours ago, The Drunkard said: Fair enough, but damn. I enjoyed watching half the season in one go. Be patient and wait until the whole season has aired before watching any I know some people who are waiting until the whole series is finished before they watch it. Re not handing out the screeners, I think that is a good thing. As Ser Frasier noted, GoTs doesn't need the approval of 'critics' to generate interest, so why should these critics get treated any differently to anyone else. Now all GoTs needs is a global electronic release format so that everyone can pay and watch at the same time, cutting out all of the distributors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasta11 Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 2 hours ago, ummester said: Be patient and wait until the whole season has aired before watching any I know some people who are waiting until the whole series is finished before they watch it. Re not handing out the screeners, I think that is a good thing. As Ser Frasier noted, GoTs doesn't need the approval of 'critics' to generate interest, so why should these critics get treated any differently to anyone else. Now all GoTs needs is a global electronic release format so that everyone can pay and watch at the same time, cutting out all of the distributors. I would be in favor of that if HBO (well, Bell actually, long story) had a streaming service that was actually worth a damn here in Canada. As it is I have to jump through hoops if I want HBO Now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodor's Aunt Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 They did what they announced last year they would do after that leak. No surprise here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj4iy Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 HBO has nothing to gain and money to lose by sending out review copies. Not surprising in the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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