IslandBeachBum

Definitely stick around...the early reviews that cover the first six episodes say that the first couple are the slowest, because they have to do more by way of introducing characters and laying the groundwork, then things start picking up by the third and fourth episodes, and the fifth and sixth are the best of the screeners. The last four haven't been made available for review, but knowing what will be coming (I've been spoiled by the books) I'm sure the last four will probably be the strongest of the season.


The initial US ratings are 2.2 million viewers, which isn't as good as it could have been, but are higher than the initial ratings for True Blood, which is HBO's most popular series now. Sky Atlantic's airing in the UK yesterday was about 743,000, which is 300,000 higher than their previous highest rated show ever. These are great numbers, and they aren't final yet.

From The Guardian (UK)


EDIT: The updated cumulative ratings are in! 4.2 million viewers watched Game of Thrones Sunday night in the US!

EDIT AGAIN: HBO Renews Game of Thrones for Season 2!

Nad

Watched the first episode today and am quite happy with how they build things up and introduced the main players. Thought the changes they've made in comparsion to the book were done well. Great choice of a scene for the (cliffhanger) ending, shold hopefully keep viewers interested.

The whole setting/look of it lived up to my expextations, very much how i pictured things from the book Also, the cast in doing as great as I expected it to do, overall it definitely lived up to my expectations

Jen, thanks for sharing the ratings - off to a good start and I don't think it's fair to compare it to True Blood's ratings yet, TB is an established show alread and didn't start off that well either back in the day).

Wonderful news about the renewal

MyLastDayWithoutYou

It was wonderful
Daenerys is my favorite

~*Echo*~

I was happy to hear that HBO's renewed the show already. One of the great things about this series is seeing all the twists and turns the story takes over time, and it's good to know that we'll have more GoT to look forward to after this season ends.

IslandBeachBum

Actually, it's something HBO compared it to, as both started off with sort of low numbers, since neither had much of a strong lead in to advertise on. They are hoping that Game of Thrones will follow the same uptick, as True Blood grew by word of mouth, and GoT might do the same thing. That's the only reason I mentioned TB (I wasn't trying to impugn the show, and I wasn't comparing it to the current TB ratings, just the first episode/pilot ratings).

I think GoT is off to a good start. It was definitely a strong cliffhanger, but I'm sure there will be plenty of shocks and surprises coming up in future episodes.

To the book readers: which scene was your favorite of the ones translated to screen? Did you want to see anything done differently?

To the non-book readers: which characters did you like the most in the first episode? Do you have any major questions about anything that happened in the eppy?

lisagslack14

Please may I be add

MyLastDayWithoutYou

best character by far DAenerys

lisagslack14

I am in complete agreement

Andie

I haven't watched the pilot yet but hope to do it over the weekend *fingers crossed* I have been really looking forward to this show.

Nad

Sorry, that wasn't meant to be directed at you, more a general observation as I had read several reviews comparing the Game of Thrones initial ratings to True Blood in general, which I found unfair since TB has been on air for a while and already had time to build a huge fan base.

Same here, I think it was a good introduction episode and the cliffhanger should keep people interested.

I particularly liked the cliffhanger as it was pretty much how I imagined it from the book and the discovery of the direwolves.

Stay to the Lights

I have the first episode of this show.. gonna try it.. not sure if I'll like it or not.

IslandBeachBum

Nad, not a problem! I think HBO just has high expectations, which is both great and scary. They gave us season 2, but my favorite book in the series would be adapted for season 3, so I'm hoping we pull in good enough ratings to get more episodes than just the first two seasons. There's a lot riding on the show, though, because if it does well, it paves the way for possibly more fantasy shows, but if it doesn't do well, no one's going to want to greenlight anything fantasy for a while.

I'm looking forward to episode 2! I can't believe it's been almost a week since the first one aired. Time has flown! The first ep is definitely well worth the watch! Andie, I hope you manage to find time to watch it this weekend (though waiting and saving up a few episodes is sometimes just as much fun, if not more ) Stay to the Lights, I hope you like the episode! If the show stays as true to the books as the critics profess, it should be an incredible storyline.

I think the end scene from episode 1 was really strong, possibly even better than in the book. I think Nikolaj Coster-Waldau really nailed the scene, and it definitely ought to have left people wanting to know what happens next. I had a bit of an issue with the Dany/Drogo wedding night because the tone in the show is completely different from the tone in the book, but I might need to see more episodes before I can figure out how the change affects the characters and their arc.

My favorite characters are the same ones I loved from the books: Arya, Jon, and Tyrion, although I have to admit that while I don't really like Catelyn in the books, so far she's come off as a more sympathetic character through one episode. I think I'll probably end up liking the TV version of Dany better than the book version as well.

~*Echo*~

Ditto. I'm really hoping we get to see book 3 on screen, so hopefully the ratings are strong enough going forward for an eventual season 3 renewal!

The cliffhanger was definitely the scene that stuck out for me as being really well translated from book to screen. I liked the way the Jon/Tyrion scene turned out as well - I realized when I was re-reading the first book last month that I really like that friendship, so I was glad to see that the actors seem to have the chemistry together to make it work on screen as well.

find something real

Agreed about the cliffhanger, I had a feeling that would be the scene they ended the first ep on and I was right haha. Even knowing what was going to appen, I still gasped and hid my face haha. It was really well done.

AtomicEmpress

I think I'm the first person who hasn't read the books who is gonna give a (mini) review of the episode. I loved it. It was very strong and didn't lead me off to boring spots at all, it kept me very interested and I didn't get confused at all, which is a big deal when your dealing with people who have and haven't heard of source material. I was personally most impressed by the actress who played the woman who married the savage guy, she expressed alot of what I felt like were undertones of emotions through her eyes and body language. Sean Bean was great he fits the role as they're showing it, very well. The cliffhanger didn't shock me as much as I think it was suppose to, and I'm not quite sure why I think maybe just because of the way the brother of the other girl (both their names escape me, the one who married the savage guy) treated her, disrobing her and touching her body,etc.

Overall I was very happy with this and intend to keep watching and will read the books.
-Pammie