What show are you watching right now?

[Hastur]

Wasn't the last seasons of Breaking Bad more watched than the first couple seasons as well? Also, probably true for many tv shows. It grows in popularity or dies off. I wonder if say 6 million people "watched" an episode on cable/satellite/dvr/hbogo/ondemand etc. then how many streamed it illegally? Another 6 million in the course of a week or two. Its tough to get reliable figure on anything in music or tv industry nowadays.

I would like to point out that just because people watched something doesn't automatically mean that they thought it was any good.

A whole lot of people buy food from McDonald's, too. Sales != Value.

Yup. More people went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest than to The Curse of the Black Pearl.

[StCapps]

My argument is not that the show wasn't better in the early seasons than it was this season, my argument is that the first three seasons were less watched than the latter seasons, and if you thought popularity equals quality, then you're a dunce. Breaking Bad didn't get the ratings until late in it's run, but that wasn't because the show had a ridiculous jump in quality at the end, popularity and quality are completely unrelated phenomenon when it comes to movies and TV. I didn't attempt to invoke the popularity of the show to boost my argument about the show getting worse over time, that was Grumpy who did that, and the stats don't back his assertion up, so why he brought it up in the first place is beyond me.

You guys have no idea what my position actually is regarding GoT, you guys are arguing against a strawman Capps, because that's the only way you convince yourselves you bested me in this thread. If y'all argued against the real mccoy, then you'd have no chance, but whatever helps y'all sleep at night. This season wasn't as good as last season, I just have legit reasons for hating on the show, especially this season, while many of the rest of you don't and have to reach to slam the show, so I call you guys out on that, but it's not my fault you guys don't have your best arguments in order and I do. You need to pick your battles better, and realize that most people hate the point A to point B travel shit, for damn good reasons, adding more of that is about the dumbest thing GoT could ever do. Complaining about them skipping over shit they should have skipped over more in the beginning, that's just a stupid argument, straight up.

Big spectacle in the first season:
The main character gets beheaded

Big spectacle in the second season:
Battle of Blackwater

These are the events of the first two seasons that most grew the shows popularity, in case y'all forgot, even from the beginning big spectacles drove the ratings.

[K@th]

I just have legit reasons for hating on the show, especially this season, while many of the rest of you don't and have to reach to slam the show, so I call you guys out on that, but it's not my fault you guys don't have your best arguments in order and I do.

Hubris much?

Pro tip - there are no "invalid" reasons for liking or not liking something where opinions are completely based on subjective criteria.

And get off the thought that we all want to watch a solid hour of a character on a horse riding through the countryside. You fail to see the point, you refuse to try to see the point and therefore you will never see the point. Your inability to understand the point doesn't invalidate the point.

[StCapps]

And get off the thought that we all want to watch a solid hour of a character on a horse riding through the countryside. You fail to see the point, you refuse to try to see the point and therefore you will never see the point. Your inability to understand the point doesn't invalidate the point.

You all fail to see the point that the show is better when it tries to be more like a television show, with episodes and shit, and less like a series of novels/73-hour movie. That's the problem. Too much jumping from character to character and location to location inevitably leads to less character development, that's how TV works, and you all want more of it?

Like I said, most suggestions I'm hearing about "this will make the show better" will actually make it much worse, because most dummies making the suggestions are bitching about it deviating from the source material, which is not the problem at all.

[K@th]

You all fail to see the point that the show is better when it tries to be more like a television show, with episodes and shit, and less like a series of novels/73-hour movie. That's the problem.

I don't believe season 7 was better than season 6. The reasons are irrelevant, and not limited to the time travel.

[StCapps]

You all fail to see the point that the show is better when it tries to be more like a television show, with episodes and shit, and less like a series of novels/73-hour movie. That's the problem.

I don't believe season 7 was better than season 6. The reasons are irrelevant, and not limited to the time travel.

I think season 6 was better too, see what I said about arguing against a strawman to feel like you are winning an argument when you most definitely are not? Whatever helps you sleep at night Kath, but I never once said Season 7 of GoT was better than Season 6. You can continue arguing against StrawmanCapps if you want, or you can join me in reality and have a real discussion.

[K@th]

I think season 6 was better too, see what I said about arguing against a strawman to feel like you are winning an argument when you most definitely are not? Whatever helps you sleep at night Kath, but I never once said Season 7 was better than Season 6. You can continue arguing against StrawmanCapps if you want, or you can join me in reality and have a real discussion.

Either it's better this year because they did it like a tv show or it's not better this year. You are talking out of both sides of your mouth. You can't think it's both better and worse than season 6 at the same time.

This should be obvious?

[StCapps]

I think season 6 was better too, see what I said about arguing against a strawman to feel like you are winning an argument when you most definitely are not? Whatever helps you sleep at night Kath, but I never once said Season 7 was better than Season 6. You can continue arguing against StrawmanCapps if you want, or you can join me in reality and have a real discussion.

Either it's better this year because they did it like a tv show or it's not better this year. You are talking out of both sides of your mouth. You can't think it's both better and worse than season 6 at the same time.

This should be obvious?

They did not make this season of GoT more like a TV show, bad writing is not exclusive to any medium, and that's the real problem. They made Season 7 more like a movie/novel, and not enough like a tv show, that's the problem. See you guys don't know the actual problems this show has, so you attack something you think is the problem, but it really has nothing to do with the problem, and when I point this out, you hide behind the shield of subjectivity, but some opinions are better than others. The best episodes of the show, this season and in every season of the show, they seemed like an episode of TV show, not some part of a 73-hour movie.

It's the 73-hour movie idea that is holding the show back from achieving it's full greatness, in some lame attempt to more closely adhere to the source material, instead of focusing in one location or one group of characters predominantly for an episode, and moving between character groups and locations less often, instead of after almost every god damn scene, not only would make the show easier to follow, but allow for much more character development. We don't need to see almost every character that is currently in play, in almost every single episode, those episodes are the worst.

All these suggestions from the book snobs about making the show more like the books, you're hurting not helping. Television has episodes, and shows ignore that at their own peril, this isn't even a problem exclusive to Game of Thrones, a lot of Netflix original shows have the same issue, because they over rely on the binge watch, so they think, who needs episodes? TV shows need episodes, enough of the entire series is just one long movie bullshit, that leads to shitty TV. Benioff and Weiss, they just don't get this, GoT would be much better if they did.

Even the best episodes of The Wire, they felt like actual episodes of a TV show, and not a just one stretch of a 60-hour movie. The whole TV show as a novel thing, popularized by David Simon, the real takeaway from that kernel of wisdom is, serialized storytelling is a unique advantage that television has over other mediums like movies, so use it appropriately. The takeaway should not be, "Episodes? Who need episodes? We'll make the entire series one long movie or novel for television, that's the ticket!". David Simon knows what an episode is, even when he's telling a larger story at the same time, other folks don't get that so much and think all they need is the larger story, fuck the individual episodes.

Who would want to watch a 73 hour movie anyway? Boring. Benioff and Weiss not the sharpest knives the drawer. Do these people even listen to themselves when they spout this bullshit? I feel like if they did they would stop themselves mid sentence, but maybe they are just a little retarded and need it to actually be explained to them. Clearly these people have not seen a lot of quality television, or if they have, they have no idea why the shows they enjoyed were good, they just know that it was good. A lot of these folks go on to make their own TV shows and emulate the wrong part of great television shows in their own work, thinking their show is good TV because they made it like another good TV show, oblivious to what actually constitutes quality TV and why that is so.

Most folks seem to blame Benioff and Weiss for deviating from the source material, as if that is the biggest issue with the show, but I blame them for not leveraging the things that television does better than other mediums because of their over adherence to the source material and this 73-hour movie idea of theirs.

Some opinions are more well thought out than others, if any of y'all wish to act like all opinions voiced in this thread are equally insightful because of subjectivity, whatever, that isn't actually the case.
/shrugs

[K@th]

People like or don't like what they like/don't like for a lot of reasons.

Is someone who hates cottage cheese because of the texture more or less right than the guy who hates cottage cheese for the taste? They are both wrong, because cottage cheese is delicious. See how that works?

Your reasons may seem uber important to you, but some of us have different reasons. You only think your opinion is the only valid one because, well, you are who you are.

There's never been a time in the years I've known you that you've said, "You know what? I see now how you think that." Your opinion is ALWAYS the most valid, says you.

[StCapps]

People like or don't like what they like/don't like for a lot of reasons.

Is someone who hates cottage cheese because of the texture more or less right than the guy who hates cottage cheese for the taste? They are both wrong, because cottage cheese is delicious. See how that works?

Your reasons may seem uber important to you, but some of us have different reasons. You only think your opinion is the only valid one because, well, you are who you are.

There's never been a time in the years I've known you that you've said, "You know what? I see now how you think that." Your opinion is ALWAYS the most valid, says you.

Some reasons are better than others, subjectivity does not render all opinions equally insightful. Not the way it works. If you come up with good reasons, I will say so, if you don't, I'll also say so. I don't just reject anyone's ideas who aren't my own simply because I criticize your dumbest arguments about subjective topics from time to time, you just get that impression, because it lets you write off my arguments that you disagree with.

When daralon has great argument about television, I tell him so, when reaches to criticize a show that he shouldn't need to reach in order to criticize it, I call him out too, we agree most of the time, but I don't give him a pass for his shittiest arguments either. If you have an issue with an argument I make, criticize accordingly, don't just say all opinions are equally valid due to subjectivity and act like that wins the argument, it doesn't, that's called ducking an argument by being intellectually lazy about subjective matters. Subjective matters can be discussed with varying degrees of insight, disagreement shouldn't end the conversation, if it does it's because you are insecure about your opinions validity.