
Why Game of Thrones is the best thing on television - evo_9
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/06/why-game-of-thrones-is-the-best-thing-on-television.ars
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lukifer
Here's the primary reason it's not: There is currently no way for me to pay
for a digital copy until the DVDs come out. I know they're angling for
subscribers, but they're still leaving money on the table for all those like
me who've cut the cable cord entirely. Get with the times, HBO.

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dolvlo
What about HBO Go?

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ktusznio
If I'm not mistaken, HBO Go requires an HBO subscription.

Edit: Which requires cable.

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atambo
Just so everyone knows, Game of Thrones is based off of the first book in the
A Song of Ice and Fire series:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire>

So if you like the tv show you'll probably love the books.

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jseliger
I'm not convinced. The show is pretty good, the books less so, for reasons I
wrote about in detail here: [http://jseliger.com/2011/04/17/people-like-a-
game-of-thrones...](http://jseliger.com/2011/04/17/people-like-a-game-of-
thrones-the-novel-i-mean) .

I suspect this is a case of _The Godfather_ and other book-to-movie
adaptations I can't recall off the top of my head: the adaptation transcends
its source material.

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pavel_lishin
_Fight Club_ is my go-to example of a film that was better than the original
novel.

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Tycho
I was hooked after the first ten minutes of the first episode. Also, best
opening credits and theme music probably since the X-Files.

That said, I find the show distasteful at times (the use of 'sexposition'),
and sometimes it mishandles morality, making it hard to sympathize with any of
the characters if you evaluate their decisions objectively. I suspect that
like The Wire (and it's probably in that sort of league) it's weakest point
will be unrelenting naturalism - constantly trying to show us how terrible and
pointless life is, not offering much to aspire to.

But heck, it's mostly just outrageous fun.

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dkl
I rate the GoT and Fringe themes as tops. I love the visuals of the GoT intro,
too.

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Indyan
Absolutely agree with you. G0T's theme song is unusually long. Yet, I haven't
forwarded past it even once.Same with Fringe (I love the little changes they
make based on the episode's universe or timeframe). The retro theme song was
absolutely nerdgasmic. I also used to be quite fond of Rome and Prison Break's
(chiefly because of the music, which is also composed by the music director of
GoT) opening sequences.

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wccrawford
As the name suggests, it's all about politics.

I tried reading the book, and by the end of the preview on my Kindle app, I
hadn't yet managed to care about any of it.

I tried the TV series and liked it even less.

And I -wanted- to like it. All my friends like it. I just can't.

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dstein
Spoiler Warning!!

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mcphilip
I love the first book and like the HBO show, but I'm curious what people who
haven't read the books think about the plot. Does it make sense? Is it just a
jumble of characters that don't seem to have any depth?

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mike_organon
It's complex and there are a lot of characters to follow, but many of them are
developed very well - which is rare on TV and wonderful to see.

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yanw
It's not strictly a topic for HN but I concur.

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fourk
I would disagree. From the guidelines on what is acceptable for HN: "If you
had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies
one's intellectual curiosity."

I have not had my intellectual curiosity challenged by a television show like
this in years.

