Ratings Climb a Notch

[BlackTalon]

Cressen's death, introducing Stannis...

more time, or even just a little cleverness ...

how hard would it have been to have Cressen tell Davos sth along the lines of " It was me who raised the Baratheon boys when they had to watch their father drown in that shipwreck, I am the only one who loves Stannis!" That would have explained sooo much.

[Padraig]

To be honest, if they are going to focus on characters, they really should focus on characters who are around for more than 5 minutes. :)

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.)

There probably is a lot of reasons behind the decision to keep to 10. Its not just one thing or the other. Its budget. Its time. Its resources. Sure, they could throw more money at it but then we are back to the budget issue. Another thing to note is that GoT does work as it is, despite our gripings. Nobody is going to rush to change things on a winning ticket. If D&D are comfortable with the current arrangement then they will go with that.

Although, they do seem to be taking longer to film book 3, so some of our concerns may be rectified in that.

[eupfhoria]

the only thing that could draw away my interest in this show is if they resurrected Deadwood

[I'll pay the iron price]

I love the show and eagerly wait for each weeks episode

[OzorxOron]

I've been slightly disappointed with season 2, but I'm still enjoying it a lot. I'm happy to see the show is doing well, and hope it becomes even more successful.

[J_Crews]

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.

Actually, time-wise, it's not that far off from other premium cable shows. I've been re-watching the Tudors on Netflix and almost every episode is 52-54 minutes and more than a few have only been 49 or 50 min.

[J_Crews]

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

I think we're safe for a while anyway, barring a catastrophic drop in viewership next season. Everybody freaks because of HBOs history of cancelling shows like Rome; but they have said many times, in retrospect, that they regretted doing that. They cancelled it before they knew what a killing they were going to make on the DVDs, and have since said it was a mistake and that DVD sales would have made-up all the shortfall in the budget.

[boojam]

I think we're safe for a while anyway, barring a catastrophic drop in viewership next season. Everybody freaks because of HBOs history of cancelling shows like Rome; but they have said many times, in retrospect, that they regretted doing that. They cancelled it before they knew what a killing they were going to make on the DVDs, and have since said it was a mistake and that DVD sales would have made-up all the shortfall in the budget.

You know, and I don't know where one would find it, but I never saw anything beyond that first day 350 K .

No world wide figures, no monthly figures.

Have a feeling they did good on GOT S1 DVDs.

[salt]

Actually, time-wise, it's not that far off from other premium cable shows. I've been re-watching the Tudors on Netflix and almost every episode is 52-54 minutes and more than a few have only been 49 or 50 min.

The Tudors isn't trying to cram a doorstopper like ACOK into 10 episodes. Trying to cram it into ten hours is hard enough, not using the full ten hours but having enough time for 5 minute whore spanking scenes is absurd. If its an issue of budget, I would much rather have longer shows and less CGI for something like Blackwater.

[J_Crews]

You know, and I don't know where one would find it, but I never saw anything beyond that first day 350 K .

No world wide figures, no monthly figures.

Have a feeling they did good on GOT S1 DVDs.

I imagine they made an absolute killing.

[J_Crews]

The Tudors isn't trying to cram a doorstopper like ACOK into 10 episodes. Trying to cram it into ten hours is hard enough, not using the full ten hours but having enough time for 5 minute whore spanking scenes is absurd. If its an issue of budget, I would much rather have longer shows and less CGI for something like Blackwater.

I agree with you; I'm just saying that the episodes aren't necessarily shorter than their supposed to be. They're on par with other premium cable shows. People seem to forget that, although premium cable channels don't have commercial breaks during shows, they do run their own advertising in between. If they used the whole hour, GoT would fade-out just in time for the 10 o'clock show to fade-in. It's never going to happen. HBO isn't stupid; they're going to capitalize on the nearly 4 million people watching to advertise HBOGo and their other shows... just like every other channel does, and just like the show before GoT ends a few minutes early so they can put similar adverts in front of the audience that's tuning-in to wait for GoT to start. You're essentially asking them to completely revamp the way the industry does business so that we can get 5 extra minutes of our show --- 5 extra minutes that no fan of any other show gets. It ain't gonna happen.

[salt]

Not quite. Eight minutes of previews are unnecessary- an hour long show on non-premium cable will often only have 12 minutes of ads.

The first season had a few short episodes, but most were more than 55 minutes, with some clocking 58 minutes, 59 minutes, and the first episode at more than an hour. This season, under 55 minutes seems to be the norm, which is odd since ACOK was a substantially larger book than AGOT.

[J_Crews]

Not quite. Eight minutes of previews are unnecessary- an hour long show on non-premium cable will often only have 12 minutes of ads.

The first season had a few short episodes, but most were more than 55 minutes, with some clocking 58 minutes, 59 minutes, and the first episode at more than an hour. This season, under 55 minutes seems to be the norm, which is odd since ACOK was a substantially larger book than AGOT.

It's because it's getting nearly 4 million viewers per episode. Season 1 peaked at just over 3 million and that was for the finale after all the buzz "Baelor" caused. Before that, the highest-rated episode drew 2.7 million. Season 1 averaged, all-told, just north of 2.5 million viewers per episode. Season 2, so far, is averaging just south of 3.8 million. That's an increase of nearly 50% --- they'd be fools not to advertise more. But all of that is actually beside the point. The fact is it's normal practice; that was my point. The episodes being longer last season was the exception to the rule, not the rule.

Also, in my experience, non-premium cable shows usually run about 43-44 minutes without the ads, not 48.

[Guest]

Forbes calls for 90 min. episodes:

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

Even though I agree with this author that it's a challenge to fit all of the information into the current format, I do not agree with their suggestion for 90 minute episodes. While yours truly would lustily watch a 90 minutes episode every Sunday night, that's a serious upgrade in commitment for the average busy person both in time spent and attention span devoted. I think a much better solution would be to increase the total number of episodes per season to 12 or 13.

[salt]

It's because it's getting nearly 4 million viewers per episode. Season 1 peaked at just over 3 million and that was for the finale after all the buzz "Baelor" caused. Before that, the highest-rated episode drew 2.7 million. Season 1 averaged, all-told, just north of 2.5 million viewers per episode. Season 2, so far, is averaging just south of 3.8 million. That's an increase of nearly 50% --- they'd be fools not to advertise more. But all of that is actually beside the point. The fact is it's normal practice; that was my point. The episodes being longer last season was the exception to the rule, not the rule.

Besides the fact that HBO doesn't make money off of advertizing, the episodes, at least the bulk of them, were put together before anyone saw season 2 ratings. Certainly they wouldn't start cutting off scenes after the fact because they realized it was a good opportunity to cram in more ads.

Even though I agree with this author that it's a challenge to fit all of the information into the current format, I do not agree with their suggestion for 90 minute episodes. While your truly would lustily watch a 90 minutes episode every Sunday night, that's a serious upgrade in commitment for the average busy person both in time spent and attention span devoted. I think a much better solution would be to increase the total number of episodes per season to 12 or 13.

Yeah, 90 isn't going to happen. It's possible I'm forgetting an example, but I can't think of any television show that was 90 minutes long- for a pilot episode or a special, sure, but not regularly. Thats a lot to ask of both the show runners and the viewers. Twelve episode seasons would be awesome, though unlikely unless their is a drastic rise in ratings. I'm happy with them making two seasons out of ASOS. They could even pull 3 seasons out of a combined Feast and Dance, if only to give time for Martin's writing to catch up.

[boojam]

Yeah, 90 isn't going to happen. It's possible I'm forgetting an example, but I can't think of any television show that was 90 minutes long- for a pilot episode or a special, sure, but not regularly. Thats a lot to ask of both the show runners and the viewers. Twelve episode seasons would be awesome, though unlikely unless their is a drastic rise in ratings. I'm happy with them making two seasons out of ASOS. They could even pull 3 seasons out of a combined Feast and Dance, if only to give time for Martin's writing to catch up.

I think the 60 min. framework is an industry , well usa, businesses model to put it awkwardly.

I don't know about the 10 episode season thing, could be things have changed so much because of economics since 2008 no one can chance the bucks ROME had in 2005 and 2006 for high quality big vista dramas.

The Borgias only got 9 in 2011 , but did get 10 for 2012. GOt edges it out , especially for a cast (tho they have some fine actors , well one A lister) and good production values. I am guessing , in general, non period dramas are cheaper.)

I am glad they are not slaved to Mario Puzo's novel The Borgias, which is kind of interesting, but using other historical material, tho the have had a few wild deviations this and last year. Nice thing about alternate universe fiction is one can only fact check against the prose!

[J_Crews]

Besides the fact that HBO doesn't make money off of advertizing, the episodes, at least the bulk of them, were put together before anyone saw season 2 ratings. Certainly they wouldn't start cutting off scenes after the fact because they realized it was a good opportunity to cram in more ads.

They don't sell advertising, but they do gain viewers for their other shows by putting them in front of captive audiences. 30-minute Entourage was typically 22-25 minutes long per episode. The Tudors on Showtime was typically 49-53 minutes. Yes, last season's episodes were longer on average; and, yes, these could be a little longer too. What I'm trying to say, though, is that it isn't some outrageous thing for them to be the length they've been this season so far. Their pretty much on par with other similar shows now, regardless of what they were last season.

[J_Crews]

I am guessing , in general, non period dramas are cheaper.)

They are far cheaper. High production cost was one of the reasons they gave for the sudden demises of both Deadwood and Carnivale, both of which caused near-rioting among loyal fans (especially after Carnivale's weird-ass cliffhanger), yet shows like The Sopranos and Entourage (set in modern times -- no building of elaborate sets, creating period-appropriate clothing, etc.) got long runs.

[Maester Hodor]

They are far cheaper. High production cost was one of the reasons they gave for the sudden demises of both Deadwood and Carnivale, both of which caused near-rioting among loyal fans (especially after Carnivale's weird-ass cliffhanger), yet shows like The Sopranos and Entourage (set in modern times -- no building of elaborate sets, creating period-appropriate clothing, etc.) got long runs.

I totally agree. Carnivale had a great cliff-hanger at the end of season 2. I almost cried when I found out there was no Season 3. And I'm sure GOT costs a hell of a lot more to make than Carnivale ever did

[J_Crews]

I totally agree. Carnivale had a great cliff-hanger at the end of season 2. I almost cried when I found out there was no Season 3. And I'm sure GOT costs a hell of a lot more to make than Carnivale ever did

But, the difference now is that: 1.) GoT has a much bigger audience; and, 2.) They now know what a killing they can make off DVD sales, something they've intimated would have saved Rome if they'd known.

I too wept for Carnivale, by the way.