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Upcoming 2022 TV shows - trying to be "the next Game of Thrones"


The Dragon Demands

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19 minutes ago, jurble said:

I think the "next Game of Thrones" in terms of absurd worldwide popularity - most pirated show, etc - is going to be House of the Dragon.  I don't think the ill-will generated by the last few seasons has overwritten the affection people have for the series overall. Moreover, the most ardent detractors of the show's final seasons - like Reddit's /r/freefolk - are exactly the sorta nerds that will tune into it the first day anyway.   So if the show is actually *good*, I think it's a slam-dunk.

 

And how will it not be good, with, you know, dragon-duels galore?   Unless we spend the entire season just setting up the Dance of the Dragons.  I guess they could take it slow and end the season with when that one prince flies to Storms' End and 

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gets killed by his cousin.  I think that's the most dramatic opening moment of the Dance and maybe a good cliff-hangar to end the season on, if they wanted to?  I don't know if they've cast someone compelling as *googling...* Lucerys whom the audience would care about if he died.

Also, do we need spoilers for Fire & Blood stuff?

 

I'll be surprised if it has anywhere near the pull. I think the GoT's characters, and the performances of the actors playing them, were a large ingredient in its insane popularity. The likes of Ned Stark, Tyrion, Arya etc really grabbed the hearts of the audience, plus characters people loved to hate, like Joffrey, plus really unique characters like Varys.

I haven't read Fire and Blood yet; I read the Princess and the Queen, I just don't see the characters featured in the Dance of Dragons being as iconic. 

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Ah, GRRM himself has just remarked on House of the Dragon topping IMDB's list of ten most anticipated new shows of 2022:

Quote

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2021/12/29/most-anticipated/

The new year is almost at hand, and with it will come all manner of new television shows, on network, cable, and streamers.

I have got to confess, I was chuffed to read that the most anticipated new show, according to IMDB, was…

(drum roll, please)

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON!

https://movieweb.com/house-of-the-dragon-imdb-most-anticipated-original-tv-series-2022/

That’s a hell of a list to be at the top of, too.   Amazon’s new Tolkien series?   Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN?  Marvel shows?   STAR WARS shows?

Good company.

I am anticipating HOUSE OF THE DRAGON pretty eagerly myself, for what it’s worth.   Okay, I am hardly objective.   And I know a lot of what you will be seeing.  (I, um, wrote the book).   Also … mum’s the word now, don’t tell anyone… I’ve seen a rough cut of the first episode.   And loved it.   It’s dark, it’s powerful, it’s visceral… just the way I like my epic fantasy.

Ryan and Miguel have done an amazing job, and the cast… just as with GAME OF THRONES, most viewers will only have heard of a few of the actors, but I think you are going to fall in love with a lot of them.   (Only to have your heart broken later when… but no, that would be telling).

I think the Targaryens are in very good hands.

Anticipate away.   I do not think you will be disappointed.

 

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Ah...also interesting, for cross-reference: 

the list of the Top Ten Most Pirated TV Shows in 2021:

https://gizmodo.com/wandavision-steals-the-mandalorians-crown-as-2021s-most-1848282843

  •  1 - WandaVision (Disney+)
  • 2 - Loki (Disney+)
  • 3 - The Witcher (Netflix)
  • 4 - The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)
  • 5 - Hawkeye (Disney+)
  • 6 - What If...? (Disney+)
  • 7 - Foundation (Apple TV)
  • 8 - Rick & Morty (various)
  • 9 - Arcane (Netflix)
  • 10 - The Wheel of Time (Prime Video)

Or more succinctly, "all five Marvel TV Shows", plus The Witcher and the Wheel of Time...plus Foundation, Rick & Morty, and Arcane.

I haven't really been following Arcane, though like Rick and Morty that's animation. And Foundation has been a letdown...I think it was pirated so much because people didn't really want to pay money to check out its first season. Well the darndest thing is casual audiences seem to like the scifi fluff, even though it's pretty much abandoned trying to tell Asimov's story...though maybe that was just because they felt the need to jazz up the "Prelude to Foundation" era stuff before getting to the Seldon Crisis (probably not). 

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17 hours ago, JEORDHl said:

I think the gallery of rogues that comprises The Black Company could fit the bill. And the Taken?

whew 

Last I heard Eliza Dushku and her [or some other] company picked it up for production, but it hasn't gone anywhere in years.

I suspect that died a death and the rights reverted to Cook years and years ago.

The Black Company is a very weird, hard sell as an adaptation, mainly because what the series starts of as - a hardbitten military fantasy revolving around morally dubious protagonists - is not what it is just a book or so later (a weird modern fairy tale/fable with occasional eruptions of dark military fantasy). I really don't think it's easily doable, as well as being monstrously expensive.

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5 hours ago, The Dragon Demands said:

Ah, GRRM himself has just remarked on House of the Dragon topping IMDB's list of ten most anticipated new shows of 2022:

 

George isn't very critical of his own properties though so I'm not sure how to take his review. Nothing wrong with that as I see him as trying to be a positive and supportive figure for younger writers and content creators/adaptors, but he's obviously not an impartial judge. I'm skeptical personally about this show since I haven't read Fire and Blood because its more like a history chronicle as opposed to an engaging story which I think creates more work for the writers (which may or may not be a good thing).

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15 hours ago, Werthead said:

The Black Company

Now that you mention Cook -- who was somewhat 'inspired' for this via Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company and its prequel, Sir Nigel -- could make for a very nice television series.  Some really great battles and other fighting, as well as occasional quite broad comedy.

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15 hours ago, Werthead said:

I suspect that died a death and the rights reverted to Cook years and years ago.

The Black Company is a very weird, hard sell as an adaptation, mainly because what the series starts of as - a hardbitten military fantasy revolving around morally dubious protagonists - is not what it is just a book or so later (a weird modern fairy tale/fable with occasional eruptions of dark military fantasy). I really don't think it's easily doable, as well as being monstrously expensive.

Perhaps. Financial commitment going forward would depend upon the strength of the pilot and market assessment, of course.

I started rereading a few days ago, something I do with this series every few years, and I think cutting it off after The White Rose would put paid to most of the issues you’re hinting at here. And while there's moral ambiguity, there's also a lot of lovable and occasionally hilarious characters, imo. I laugh just thinking about Howler.

Ran and I briefly discussed it elsewhere, but even an Arcane like treatment of The Black Company?

Take my money.

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21 hours ago, WarGalley said:

George isn't very critical of his own properties though so I'm not sure how to take his review. Nothing wrong with that as I see him as trying to be a positive and supportive figure for younger writers and content creators/adaptors, but he's obviously not an impartial judge. I'm skeptical personally about this show since I haven't read Fire and Blood because its more like a history chronicle as opposed to an engaging story which I think creates more work for the writers (which may or may not be a good thing).

I think George is fairly level-headed about this kind of thing: he'll gush about something he genuinely likes, but if he's not keen on something and he's involved or his friends are, he'll shut up and just say nothing about it.

Which doesn't mean he's not wrong on occasion, or maybe he's optimistic about something then others are. I recall him saying how much he wanted Tamzin Merchant to stay as Dany, but almost everybody from HBO's head honcho down to Benioff and Weiss and further seemed to agree she wasn't right and needed to be recast.

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On 12/29/2021 at 5:08 PM, jurble said:

I think the "next Game of Thrones" in terms of absurd worldwide popularity - most pirated show, etc - is going to be House of the Dragon.  I don't think the ill-will generated by the last few seasons has overwritten the affection people have for the series overall. Moreover, the most ardent detractors of the show's final seasons - like Reddit's /r/freefolk - are exactly the sorta nerds that will tune into it the first day anyway.   So if the show is actually *good*, I think it's a slam-dunk.

 

And how will it not be good, with, you know, dragon-duels galore?   Unless we spend the entire season just setting up the Dance of the Dragons.  I guess they could take it slow and end the season with when that one prince flies to Storms' End and 

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gets killed by his cousin.  I think that's the most dramatic opening moment of the Dance and maybe a good cliff-hangar to end the season on, if they wanted to?  I don't know if they've cast someone compelling as *googling...* Lucerys whom the audience would care about if he died.

Also, do we need spoilers for Fire & Blood stuff?

 

I'd love for the show to be popular (though not nearly as much I want it to be good). but at best it can be decently popular. It sure as hell won't ever be big as GoT used to be. 

And I think you're completely off-the-mark in your assessment of the general feeling about GoT.

Going by what I have seen - not in GoT lovers spaces, but a more general TV audience that posts online - from what I see on Twitter, Tumblr, or the crowd that chats every day on Spoiler TV, - there's been almost no buzz for House of the Dragon, and that's entirely due to 99% of people being deeply disappointed with the final season of GoT. There was a lot more buzz and excetement and talk for months ahead of the premiere of The Wheel of Time. But barely anyone even mentions HotD, and when you see some posts, half of them are to the effect of "I don't know if I'd want to watch anything else GoT related". 

On the other hand, I will tune in, but that's because 1) I'm a fan of ASOAIF and I liked the story in the novellas and other supplementary material, and 2) D&D are in no way involved in the project. But the more general audience that only knows it's something related to GoT, a show that really disappointed them and that's now always mentioned as a show with one of the worst endings ever? Good luck with that.

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On 12/30/2021 at 1:47 AM, jurble said:

I think that most-pirated list is heavily skewed by the fact that no one wants to get Disney+ due to its general lack of content.

And Netflix shows are heavily disadvantaged in any pirated list, because most people who want to subscribe to any streaming service, subscribe to Netflix.

ETA:  Speaking of which, this is also why GoT being the most pirated show in the world at the time doesn't necessarily mean it was the "most popular"  - many people who can watch a bunch of other shows will pirate HBO shows because they don't want to subscribe to it, while many other shows are available on broadcast/basic cable. And let's face it - the most internationally popular shows in terms of sheer number of people watching them were almost certainly some telenovelas or other soaps etc. They always are. GoT had a different type of popularity that combined viewership, geek appeal (which also means cons, action figures and other merch), critical acclaim, awards, media hype and online buzz. It was a pop culture phenomenon (while not necessarily the most popular show in the usual sense).

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HotD had a biiiig spike when the trailer came out, according to Google Trends. It had double the Youtube views that WoT's trailer released the same month had. I fully expect it to open with very big numbers. The main reason people aren't talking about it as there's really no news about it just yet other than GRRM recently having seen a rough cut.

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3 minutes ago, Ran said:

HotD had a biiiig spike when the trailer came out, according to Google Trends. It had double the Youtube views that WoT's trailer released the same month had. I fully expect it to open with very big numbers. The main reason people aren't talking about it as there's really no news about it just yet other than GRRM recently having seen a rough cut.

I didn't see much excitement when there were news either. But we'll see. There are probably a lot more people who are curious about it, rather than those who are hyped to watch it  and going "oh my god, I must see the next show from the GoT universe!" I've seen very little of the latter.

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On 12/25/2021 at 12:08 AM, The Dragon Demands said:

This is a list I've been making trying to assess "genre" shows trying to be "the next Game of Thrones" - a question that kept going around in late 2019. Not just limited to science fiction and fantasy, but "popular binge-worthy TV" in general. Things that could COMPETE with House of the Dragon, the type of thing that, for example, YouTube channels following Game of Thrones have switched to covering during the Interregnum (i.e. The Witcher, Wheel of Time, etc.)

Please suggest any updates you have on what might be 'Shows to look out for in 2022", and I'll update the list.

I break it down by what I call "clade" - by which streaming service they're on, by extension what media corporation owns them; these days not many major shows air on broadcast networks anyway, but for example, "ABC" is owned by Disney thus if there was another Lost-scale show on ABC it would go under "Disney+" (I count Hulu as a subdivision of Disney+ ever since they got bought out).  After Round 1 of the Streamer Wars, there are SEVEN major streaming platforms: Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Warner-Discover's "HBO Max", and then to a lesser extent NBC's "Peacock", CBS's "Paramount+", and Apple TV+.  After that you've got a handful of smaller outliers: AMC comes to mind, though these aren't the glory days of Breaking Bad/Mad Men/early Walking Dead (one of the reasons HBO greenlit GoT in 2008 is because AMC was humiliating them with a slate of "new classics" that everyone assumed would be on HBO, and they needed a hit fast).  Also doesn't include crossover British TV like Doctor Who or Peaky Blinders, etc. - these are outside the seven major clades and I list them as “other”. 

IMDb's Most Anticipated Shows of 2022

"Most Anticipated Shows of 2022" can be subjective by critic, but last week before Christmas IMDb put out two lists of most anticipated shows based on SITE TRAFFIC to specific pages - which seems a little more informative. The two lists are for "new series" and "returning series":

IMDb's Most Anticipated New Shows of 2022:

  • 1 - House of the Dragon (HBO Max)
  • 2 - Lord of the Rings Second Age Prequel (Amazon)
  • 3 - Pam + Tommy (Hulu) (actually a one-shot miniseries)
  • 4 - The Sandman (Netflix)
  • 5 - The Last of Us (HBO Max)
  • 6 - Obi-wan Kenobi (Disney+)
  • 7 - She-Hulk (Disney+)
  • 8 - Ms. Marvel (Disney+)
  • 9 - Peacemaker (HBO Max) (first DC Comics TV show)
  • 10 - Moon Knight (Disney+)

Boba Fett wasn't included due to the quirk of airing on December 28, but I sort of see it as an extension of "The Mandalorian"...leading us into the list of top ten returning shows:

IMDb's Most Anticipated Returning Shows of 2022:

  • 1 - Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
  • 2 - Bridgerton (Netflix)
  • 3 - American Horror Story (FX)
  • 4 - Peaky Blinders final season (BBC America)
  • 5 - The Mandalorian (Disney+)
  • 6 - Shadow & Bone (Netflix)
  • 7 - Stranger Things (Netflix)
  • 8 - Rick & Morty (Adult Swim/HBO Max)
  • 9 - The Crown (Netflix)
  • 10 - The Boys (Amazon)

So I'm cross-referencing that with my pre-existing list going by the seven "clades" in the Streaming Wars:

Disney+

  • Marvel shows (collectively) - She-hulk, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, Loki Season 2, etc.
  • Star Wars shows (collectively) - Mandalorian, Boba Fett, Obi-wan Kenobi, Andor, etc.
  • Willow TV series - might not be very anticipated, but another Fantasy genre show

Pam & Tommy is a one-shot miniseries, would not compete with HotD at Emmys, and while Handmaid's Tale might only have one final season in it on Hulu, starting February 2. The awards shows do like it - but it won't have another season until after 2022

Similarly, I'm greatly looking forward to The Dropout, premiering on Hulu on March 3, about the Elizabeth Holmes Theranos scandal.

HBO Max

  • House of the Dragon - TBA
  • The Last of Us (video game adaptation)
  • The Gilded Age (successor to "Downton Abbey") - January 24
  • Peacemaker (first DC Comics TV show) - January 13
  • Euphoria Season 2 (January 9) - very popular with the kids these days
  • Raised by Wolves season 2 (8 episodes starting February 3) - a hot mess mixing a bunch of leftover Ridley Scott ideas. Utterly insane, people can't stop watching.
  • Westworld Season 4 (Late 2022) - this show is winding down and did not live up to the hype generated by Season 1, but people will watch it end

The "Dune: The Sisterhood" TV series is coming, but probably after 2022. They just hired a new showrunner in July, and I suspect it was only the recent success of the movie which gave the project a shot in the arm. If we haven't even heard casting yet it's not coming in 2022.

JJ Abrams' next huge project "Demimonde", which he's been working on since 2018.  On the one hand, he's a big producer and been working on it for a long time...on the other hand, it might simply be in Development Hell. So is it taking so long because it's going to be huge, or because it's falling apart? Either way with no casting news, it's not coming in 2022. 

Also honorable mention to the third and final season of His Dark Materials, coming out in late 2022.

Netflix

  • The Witcher - Season 2 JUST dropped, and it's fairly popular, but not quite Game of Thrones levels - it's not GROWING in popularity since Season 1, the way Game of Thrones got bigger every year
  • The Witcher: Blood Origin - prequel series due out at some point in 2022
  • The Sandman - adaptation of Neil Gaiman's groundbreaking comic book series
  • The Crown - perennial awards favorite, and a good historical drama (but not a "genre" thing with fan merchandise and so forth, this is an awards scale thing). Season 5 coming in November 2022.
  • Bridgerton - the crowds enjoy it for all the historical romance and sex stuff, quite popular
  • Stranger Things (Summer) - scifi, very popular, but winding down in the next season or two
  • Shadow + Bone - fantasy adaptation, but I haven't heard much chatter about it. I am openly surprised that it ranked #6 on IMDb's list of the top ten most anticipated returning shows of 2022 based on website traffic.
  • Last Airbender (TBA) - live-action adaptation of the groundbreaking fantasy animated series, probably going to premiere in November/December 2022. If it's done WELL it could indeed be "the next Game of Thrones" (the cartoon series on its own was so popular and had so much mythos that it was arguably the same level of popularity, at least among the scifi/fantasy crowd, and deservedly so). Or it could be a complete flop like the previous movie attempt at an adaptation (an infamous mega-flop). Either way, people will be scrutinizing the first season as it comes out for its "new-ness" (if it's bad, people will still talk about it, and only stop talking about season two when it happens).
  • Vikings: Valhalla (February 25)
  • Ozark (January 21) - fourth and final season, divided in two halves, first of which premieres in January 2021. More of an awards rival.
  • 1899 - from the creators of "Dark"
  • Wednesday - Tim Burton live-action Addams Family series. Could be a flop, could be interesting.

Amazon Prime Video

  • Lord of the Rings Second Age Prequel (September 2) has the potential to be good or a complete flop, we don't know. Don't assume it will be good (we're uneasy about behind the scenes staff things on it). But like Last Airbender...either way, people will be talking a lot about the first season, and if it's bad they'll only start ignoring it by season two.
  • The Wheel of Time - JUST finished Season 1, put on this list as a legacy. For both this and The Witcher, people will binge over Christmas break into January, and follow production news. I haven't been following it - people seem attracted to it because it's new, but I've seen reviews that are more mixed than The Witcher Season 1 (which was fairly popular).  I realize book readers are annoyed at stuff they condensed or changed to try to be cool, but it's at least getting a second season so maybe that'll improve (shrug) you never know. But this list is about CHATTER, what people are talking about, regardless of whether book readers think it's good, it's still "the competition".
  • The Boys - scathing socio-political commentary, very good parody of superheroes.
  • Carnival Row - never really took off in its first season, which is a shame because I liked the visual aesthetic and worldbuilding. Hit hard by the pandemic delaying its second season. But then again Breaking Bad got delayed by a writers' strike in season two, so you never know. A point going for it is that I've seen TV commercials for Wheel of Time actively promoting it for the Fantasy crowd: commercials saying "If you came because you like Wheel of Time, stay to enjoy our other Fantasy shows like Carnival Row".  So maybe that will give it a shot in the arm.
  • Good Omens - Season 2 (from Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett)

And now, the sideshows....

Paramount+

  • Star Trek franchise (collectively; Discovery, Picard, cartoons) - not really "competition" for House of the Dragon because it's very different, Scifi vs Fantasy; consistently gets good ratings but not breakout mega-hits
  • Halo TV series - trailer just came out, MASSIVE video game series with huge built-in fanbase. Whether season one is good or not, people will watch it to check it out. They INTEND to air in 2022, but apparently late 2022. We'll see what happens. 

Peacock

  • Wildcards TV show? (probably not in 2022)
  • Potential Battlestar Galactica reboot (probably not in 2022)

Apple TV+

  • Foundation - poorly received for basically being fanfic expanding on Prelude to Foundation. Second season might get better if it does a time skip and goes back to the books. I sympathize with David Goyer, from all his interviews it's clear that Apple would NEVER have made a straight-up adaptation of the books, he made the best one he could, but had to make too many compromises: in interviews he keeps stressing "it takes place across centuries and has time skips in it" but season one wasn't like that at all. I've seen many TV critics listing it as one of the big flops of 2022. Highly anticipated, after the "new-ness" of season one wears off, I don't think people will pay attention to Season 2 if it's just more of the same. Which is a shame. I was fired up to see Bel Riose...
  • See - returning for Season 2. Actually a pretty well-received post-apocalyptic scifi show, but it's very niche due to being on small-scale Apple TV+. I hope it keeps going, but it's kind of a fringe show.
  • For All Mankind - actually well received by critics, much like "See" it hasn't gained widespread notice. I hope it does well for the cast, even though I loathe Ron D. Moore. 
  • Ted Lasso - technically a comedy show and thus not competing against House of the Dragon

"Other"

  • Better Call Saul (AMC) - the final season (split in half, across two years?)
  • The Last Kingdom - the final season (BBCA) (February 27)
  • Outlander season 6 (Starz) (March 6)
  • Killing Eve - the final season (BBCA/AMC)
  • The Walking Dead - the final season (AMC) (other spinoffs will keep franchise alive, but it's not what it once was - though they had a good run)
  • Interview with the Vampire: the TV series (AMC) - starring Game of Thrones' Jacob Anderson. Sad that Anne Rice did not live to see this. Quite a fanbase for the vampire romance/drama franchise.
  • The First Lady (Showtime) - star-studded awards bait, following three US First Ladies: Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford, and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Rosevelt. Not very anticipated, but potential awards rival.
  • A Discovery of Witches - third and final season (Sky One) (January 7)

Animated projects

Not directly "competing" with House of the Dragon, but of honorable mention among animation fandom:

  • Rick & Morty (Adult Swim/HBO Max)
  • Harley Quinn season 3 (HBO Max)
  • The Owl House / Amphibia final seasons & potential crossover (DisneyXD/Disney+)
  • Invincible season 2 (Amazon)

I'll update this list as we proceed, please suggest any other updates and I'll put them in.

Great round up. The ones I am really looking forward to are:

  • Lord of the Rings Second Age
  • Avatar the last Airbender
  • House of the Dragon
  • Sandman
  • The Last of Us
  • Mandalorian Season 3
  • Obi Wan Kenobi
  • Andor
  • Halo
  • We own this city, the new David Simon show.
  • Tokyo Vice by Michael Mann
  • The Gilded Age
  • Outlander 6
  • The Crown 5
  • Yellowstone 5
  • Succession 4

Interested in:

  • Moon Knight
  • She hulk
  • Secret Invasion
  • Willow
  • Shantaram
  • The English
  • The Continental
  • Raised by Wolves 2
  • Outer Range
  • White Lotus 2

 

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2 hours ago, Ran said:

HotD had a biiiig spike when the trailer came out, according to Google Trends. It had double the Youtube views that WoT's trailer released the same month had. I fully expect it to open with very big numbers. The main reason people aren't talking about it as there's really no news about it just yet other than GRRM recently having seen a rough cut.

I'm pretty sure this is not true, and was only achieved by comparing the figures for one of the WoT trailer versions with HotD (HBO sensibly only issuing one video of the same trailer whilst Amazon issued five or six through different overseas affiliates plus the 3D version). When you combined all the trailer versions, it was more comparable to HotD, though HotD was still ahead by a small amount.

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  • 10 months later...

I'm probably writing a little late, but I would like to mention one animated series that is still popular even after many seasons. This is "Special Agent Archer." The thread has been around for a long time, so a lot has already been named and I don't want to repeat myself. Although many criticize this animated series for the lack of character development, but it seems to me that thanks to this stability, it remains popular. Most of all, it is loved for it's wonderful intellectual humor. At the end of August 2022, season 13 was released and the reviews about it are very good. There are rumors about the release of archer season 14, but so far it's only rumors. If you are a fan of special agents and good humor, this animated series is for you.

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5 minutes ago, Dresheld said:

I'm probably writing a little late, but I would like to mention one animated series that is still popular even after many seasons.

Don't leave us in suspense!

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