While its ratings aren’t considered particularly huge, there’s no doubt Game of Thrones is one of the most popular shows on television right now.
It’s an enormous fan favorite, and it’s already been approved for a third season. Like any great TV show that’s in the pop culture firmament, it’s the topic of conversation everywhere, and GOT’s following will probably only grow from here.
As Slate pointed out, it’s all about the subscriptions that keeps a show alive, not to mention Thrones has received strong critical notices, a bunch of Emmys, and it’s also cleaning up on DVD, where the first season sold 350,000 copies the first week.
Former talent manager Gavin Polone, who represented Conan O’Brien and Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp, even wrote in his New York magazine column, “What makes Game of Thrones the best show on TV is the desire of the producers to surprise us. Most everything else on television is just too damn predictable in both plot and incident these days, so it is really special to see something on screen that doesn’t go the way that you think it will.”
Now Variety is telling us that “Spring tends to sap the ratings strength of just about every show, but some – including HBO’s Game of Thrones – are holding up better than most.” Thrones opened second season with a series peak of 3.8 million viewers, and it’s stayed steady at that number, standing strong against elements that often hurt shows, like daylight saving time, and the spring holiday.
As writer Rick Kissell continues, “Game of Thrones achieved another impressive feat as it stood as cable’s top-rated scripted program for the week in both total viewers and adults,” actually doing better than other hit shows like Justified and Mad Men. Thrones also stood strong with the Sunday perennial 60 Minutes, which has always been a tough show to beat on the weekends.
The show has even brought in some potential romance with Robb Stark and Talisa. As Richard Madden, who plays Stark, told MTV, “We’re going to see a lot of changes with Robb’s character this year and this woman is the first big influence that takes him away from following his head. Usually his heart and his head are on the same page when it comes to decision-making and this woman takes him in a different direction… I’m keen to see how that plays out onscreen. I’d hope for them to live happily ever after, but it’s Game of Thrones, right?”
