HBO's Game of Thrones: Season 3 (1 Viewer)

[mattCR]

Yes, I am really looking forward to this season... I have high hopes. I'm hoping they divide book 3 into two years.. otherwise we're going to quickly get through the books that are out there and Martin won't have another.. at this rate, they will be on Dance with Dragons too fast

I'm hoping they split the season, and there is an ideal cliffhanger/season ender here..

Spoiler

End with the Red Wedding... which is my most anticipated moment this season

 

[Jeff Cooper]

It's already been confirmed that book 3 is going to be split over 2 seasons. No word yet on when the spit will happen though.

 

[Sam Favate]

Two bits of news today, as excitement builds to the premiere:

Dinklage says don't expect a lot of Tyrion in Season 3:

http://www.blastr.com/2013-3-29/sorry-thrones-fans-dont-expect-whole-lot-dinklage-s3

New York Times review, which isn't that great:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/arts/television/game-of-thrones-begins-season-3-on-hbo.html?ref=television

 

[mattCR]

Two bits of news today, as excitement builds to the premiere:

Dinklage says don't expect a lot of Tyrion in Season 3:

http://www.blastr.com/2013-3-29/sorry-thrones-fans-dont-expect-whole-lot-dinklage-s3

New York Times review, which isn't that great:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/arts/television/game-of-thrones-begins-season-3-on-hbo.html?ref=television

Review written obviously by someone who has never connected with the books. I grant his right to an opinion, but I get the gut feeling he's not remotely the target audience.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Definitely take the New York Times review with a grain of salt. It panned the first two seasons, as well. The paper's television reviewers mix an ignorance of the fantasy genre with a measure of resentment that the millions spent on this show aren't being spent on "proper" programming like "Mad Men" and "Boardwalk Empire."

On the first season, the New York Times said: "If you are not averse to the Dungeons & Dragons aesthetic, the series might be worth the effort. If you are nearly anyone else, you will hunger for HBO to get back to the business of languages for which we already have a dictionary."

On the second season, the New York Times scratched its head why the show would kill of Ned, the only compelling character, and stated: "The new season of this dense medieval fantasy set in a land called Westeros serves up a whole bunch of wartime posturing, a seemingly endless number of would-be rulers and the usual sex and (sometimes in the same scene) violence. But it sure doesn’t give viewers much to latch onto."

In all three reviews you can sense the sneer behind the writing. On one hand, the reviewers admit to not paying attention to the story and getting lost, on the other hand, it's fantasy so it must be disposable trash.

 

[TravisR]

Review written obviously by someone who has never connected with the books. I grant his right to an opinion, but I get the gut feeling he's not remotely the target audience.

After all the praise that the show has gotten, it's time for people to say "It's not good as it used to be". That train is never late.

And next year, those same people will be the saying how great the first 3 years were and S4 isn't as good.

 

[Citizen87645]

Feeling a little disgruntled with the impending premiere.
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[Yee-Ming]

Definitely take the New York Times review with a grain of salt.

Grain of salt?? Based on those snippets, I'd say two massive handfuls is more like it...

Critics, eh?

 

[Josh Dial]

My only worry going into this season has to do with my favourite character from the novels, Jaime:

Warning: major book 3 spoiler!

Spoiler

I'm worried Jaime won't have his sword hand cut off by the Brave Companions. He'll have to either have a CGI stump, or his real hand obscured for a lot of scenes, until he reaches King's Landing.Hopefully the show goes through with it, though.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I think I only liked the Kahleesi subplot in the opening episode for this season.

 

[Josh Dial]

Strong premiere episode, though it mostly served to catch viewers up and re-set the stage for the coming season. The exchange between Tywin and Tyrion was great, as was the entire Margaery sequence.

As always, the opening credits were great--I especially liked the Harpy at Astapor and the smoke in Winterfell.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Yes good start. So many characters. So little screen time available for each of them. Joffrey staying inside his coach looking at through the slats was hilarious.

 

[Jim_C]

Yes good start. So many characters. So little screen time available for each of them. Joffrey staying inside his coach looking at through the slats was hilarious.

Agreed. Gleeson did a great job of making Joffrey seem absolutely clueless about what was going on and what to do about it. He came across as the frightened child to Margery's mature adult. Loved it. Then again, I loved everything about the episode.

 

[Quentin]

Sooooo many characters now. I really hope they trim back on Bran (missing from the premiere, so good sign) and Davos/Stannis (BORING!). My only disappointment in the premiere was no Arya. But, otherwise, nice to be back in Westeros.

 

[Josh Dial]

I really hope they trim back on Bran (missing from the premiere, so good sign)

(No spoilers)

Bran's story becomes immensely interesting in the books--so much so that I had to resist the urge to skip ahead just to read his chapters. However, based on the pacing so far, I wouldn't expect his arc to get to the "good stuff" this season. You'll likely get your wish, and his role will be minor this season.

 

[mattCR]

Agreed. Gleeson did a great job of making Joffrey seem absolutely clueless about what was going on and what to do about it. He came across as the frightened child to Margery's mature adult. Loved it. Then again, I loved everything about the episode.

He is very underrated as an actor doing Joffrey. He's so good, so effortless at it that you really do hate the guy; you're waiting for the moment where you hear in real life someone goes "what a jerk" to him in public. I said the same thing about the actor who did Draco Malfoy in the Potter series.. those are roles that could have went really wrong, but the actors just grabbed on and worked with it

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The first hour was basically devoted to establishing where all (well, most) of the characters are now so that the story can begin next week. It really drove home how this show sees itself as one long story rather than induvidual hours.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

HBO RENEWS GAME OF THRONES FOR FOURTH SEASON​

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Season Three Soars To Highest Viewership Yet​

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​

LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2013 - HBO has renewed GAME OF THRONES for a fourth season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.

Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, GAME OF THRONES is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal. The Emmy(R)- and Golden Globe-winning series launched its ten-episode third season Sunday, March 31 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, with other episodes debuting subsequent Sundays at the same time.

Among the early critical praise for the third season, the Hollywood Reporter called GAME OF THRONES "addictive and outstanding," while Newsday termed the series "superb," awarding the show an A+. The Chicago Tribune hailed the show as "spellbinding" and the Washington Post described it as "masterful."

According to early data, GAME OF THRONES' season three premiere March 31 on HBO topped the series' highs, with record viewership for both the 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) airing and gross audience across the three plays. At 9:00 p.m., it averaged 4.4 million viewers, outperforming (+4%) the previous high of 4.2 million viewers from last season's finale. GAMES OF THRONES improved 13% in comparison to last season's premiere of 3.9 million viewers. Across the three plays for the night, 6.7 million viewers tuned in, surpassing last season's debut night of 6.3 million viewers by 7%. Last season, GAME OF THRONES had an average gross audience (HBO linear plays + HBO On Demand/HBO GO + DVR) of 11.6 million viewers.

For more on the series, visit facebook.com/GameOfThrones and twitter.com @GameOfThrones #GameOfThrones.

Season three credits: The executive producers of GAME OF THRONES are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield; co-executive producers, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin, Vanessa Taylor; produced by Chris Newman, Greg Spence.

 

[Sam Favate]

The season premiere was very good at setting up the season. The best moments were with Tyrion and Tywin; their conversation was devastating. I can't say I'm thrilled by the sequences with Jon Snow but I do get the sense there are important things coming. The stuff with Joffrey and Margaery was also terrific.

 

[Charlie Campisi]

Spoiler contains book events that you don't want to read if you haven't read the book.

Prediction for a deviation from the book in a death:

Spoiler

Something about how cold Tywin was to Tyrion and how wonderful Shae is to him and Sansa makes me think Shae will not abandon Tyrion for Tywin. I'm thinking that Tywin will make good on his promise to kill Shae as the next whore he finds in Tyrion's bed and that will be the impetus for Tyrion killing his father. That is, of course, unless GRRM has something planned in the last two books that somehow require Shae's death and betrayal of Tyrion to be portrayed as they were in the books.