Piff Perkins
Veteran
Seems like that transition from True Blood to GoT is when it really started looking bad. Yea GoT had many years where it was a good show, and the popularity was insane...but I never viewed it as a premier show like Sopranos or The Wire. It felt like a better True Blood...something that was more pop culture and mainstream, the blockbuster show that brought the dollars in. They never balanced it out with a truly great show. There was True Detective S1 which was truly great...but that momentum didn't continue with the next season.
They have all these trivial comedies now, I don't get it. I've heard Succession is good but the little I've seen feels like a semi-serious Arrested Development. That vibe isn't for me. I agree they need some type of crime drama. One thing I will say about GoT, as a big fan of the books: it followed in the footsteps of previous HBO shows that subverted expectations. It was a fantasy show yet wasn't truly a "fantasy" show (well, until the last shytty seasons). Just like The Wire wasn't really a cop show, and The Sopranos wasn't really a mafia show. They need to tap into that again.
I think this next GoT show is gonna be a disappointment btw. They picked the right era/theme for a prequel (Aegon's Conquest, leading up to the Dance Of Dragons) and yes there will be a looot of dragons and Targaryens...but it will miss the deep characterization that GoT had.The characters of GoT made it a smash hit, not just dragons. Whereas there isn't a whole lot of written characterization of the characters we will see in the prequel. We know who Aegon Targaryen and Bloodraven and Lyonel Baratheon are, and there are great stories about them in the books...but it's mainly lore. It's not chapter after chapter of deep characterization, quotes, emotions, etc. I don't trust HBO writers to nail that or flesh out those characters. Will it be as bad as D&D? Probably not. But still...
They have all these trivial comedies now, I don't get it. I've heard Succession is good but the little I've seen feels like a semi-serious Arrested Development. That vibe isn't for me. I agree they need some type of crime drama. One thing I will say about GoT, as a big fan of the books: it followed in the footsteps of previous HBO shows that subverted expectations. It was a fantasy show yet wasn't truly a "fantasy" show (well, until the last shytty seasons). Just like The Wire wasn't really a cop show, and The Sopranos wasn't really a mafia show. They need to tap into that again.
I think this next GoT show is gonna be a disappointment btw. They picked the right era/theme for a prequel (Aegon's Conquest, leading up to the Dance Of Dragons) and yes there will be a looot of dragons and Targaryens...but it will miss the deep characterization that GoT had.The characters of GoT made it a smash hit, not just dragons. Whereas there isn't a whole lot of written characterization of the characters we will see in the prequel. We know who Aegon Targaryen and Bloodraven and Lyonel Baratheon are, and there are great stories about them in the books...but it's mainly lore. It's not chapter after chapter of deep characterization, quotes, emotions, etc. I don't trust HBO writers to nail that or flesh out those characters. Will it be as bad as D&D? Probably not. But still...
what? HBgOat ran 2019.
