The Game of Thrones writers have finally addressed the criticisms that last season moved too quickly and that characters were just flying around Westeros like it wasn’t supposed to be ENORMOUS.
A decent response from writer Bryan Cogman: “We made a choice to ‘just get on with it’ last season. You can sit at home and do the math on how long it took to get the boats from Point A to Point B and whatever that was, yeah, that’s what it was. There’s always something everybody has got to graft on to and I guess that outrage was better than others, so I’ll take it.”
A bad response from showrunner Dan Weiss: “We don’t read a lot of that stuff. If somebody says, ‘I don’t like the way you do this,’ I have no idea what percentage of the people watching that opinion actually represents. If that opinion happens to surface louder on the internet, I still have no idea — it could be 1 percent of people that becomes an internet thing for 10 minutes and then it just seems like it’s more than 1 percent. But there’s no way of telling — nor am I interested in finding a way of finding out — how accurate those thoughts represent the broad spectrum of people watching. If you start thinking about that you’ll drive yourself crazy.”
UH, DAN, IT WASN’T JUST 1 PERCENT OF VIEWERS WHO HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE FACT THAT THE CHARACTERS WERE IN KING’S LANDING FIVE MINUTES AFTER BEING BEYOND THE WALL WHEN IT TOOK 3 EPISODES TO GET FROM WINTERFELL TO KING’S LANDING IN THE FIRST DAMN SEASON. COME ON.
~takes a deep breath, removes nerd hat, steps off of soapbox~
You could win tickets to the Game of Thrones premiere and after party! (… If you have several thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket.)
You could also win your own Iron Throne! (… If you are willing to wander around the woods, looking for it.)
HBO released the run times of the first two episodes of Game of Thrones, and they are 54 minutes and 58 minutes respectively, which we kinda already knew.
Here are the best parts of a bunch of Game of Thrones interviews. No one reveals any spoilers, of course, but if you want to read about how emotional everyone was at the end of the series, here you go.
The correct answer is Joffrey. Or Ramsay. Ramsay is also an acceptable answer. I, for one, would enjoy being stuck in an elevator with Cersei.
Here’s how Game of Thrones burns so many people without anyone getting hurt:
Finally, here’s a very long piece about Kit Harington and playing Jon Snow and it’s very actor-y if not particularly revealing.
Stephen Colbert canceled a surprise trip to New Zealand that was scheduled for this week in the wake of last week’s terrorist attack.
It turns out President Twitter and Judge Jeanine go way back.
Paul Ryan is joining the board of directors of Fox News, terrific.
The Good Place writers talk about how the sausage gets made and it involves Wikipedia.
Oh, hey, Saturday Night Live is being accused of stealing more sketches. COME ON, YOU GUYS. STOP THAT.
Trump is still trying to defund PBS because we have to pay for that unnecessary tax cut somehow.
From last week:
Oh my God, our President is Kevin from The Office.
Mike Judge is probably going to end Silicon Valley after this upcoming season, but it’s OK, he just signed a deal with HBO, so he’ll come up with something new.
Netflix is going to be doing a lot more interactive programming.
The White House had its first press briefing in 42 days last week.
Sarah Isgur Flores, Jeff Sessions’ former spokeswoman, will not be a political editor at CNN after all. Instead, she’ll just be a contributor.
That Covington Catholic High School student is suing CNN for defamation and asking for $275 million.
David Fincher wants to move away from the half-hour and hour-long formats for TV, which is only doable when you’re not talking about commercial television.
20% of American homes have cut the cord.
Congratulations to Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez.
The Beverly Hills 90210 reboot will find a way to honor Luke Perry even though he wasn’t going to be a part of it to begin with. But OK.
There is not going to be a Friends reunion, part 1,429.
This happened in the same episode of Wheel of Fortune last week:
In Development
- Wayward Children has been acquired by Syfy to be turned into a series.
- Sliders might return as a series at NBC.
From last week:
- A new Orphan Black series is in the works at AMC (!!!!!!!!!).
- All the Light We Cannot See is being developed as a limited series at Netflix.
- Poisonwood Bible is being produced by HBO by Amy Adams.
- Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation has been greenlit at History.
- Dragon’s Dogma and Gods and Heroes are being developed at Netflix.
- The Flash is getting a new showrunner.
Casting News
- Miranda Richardson has joined the cast of the Game of Thrones prequel.
- James Corden is going to be your Tonys host.
- Anders Holm, Tika Sumpter, and Arica Himmel are going to star in the black-ish spinoff about Bow’s childhood. Also joining the cast are Gary Cole, Christina Anthony, Ethan William Childress, and Mykal-Michelle Harris.
- Lauren Graham and Sterling K. Brown are in talks to appear on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
- Marg Helgenberger will star in the CBS pilot, Courthouse.
- Rachel Bilson and Steve Kazee will star in the Fox dramedy pilot Lovestruck.
- Ryan Hansen will star in the Fox comedy pilot Adam & Eve.
- Donna Brazile has joined Fox News as a contributor.
- Remy Hii is going to star in Jane the Novela. Ivonne Coll, Benito Martinez, and Holland Roden have also been cast.
- Alvina August is joining the Nancy Drew pilot at The CW.
- Raymond Ablack, Michael Cassidy, Taylor Dearden, and Ana Villafañe have been added to the cast of CBS’s comedy pilot To Whom It May Concern.
- Lilah Richcreek is joining the cast of the Leslie Odom Jr. comedy pilot at ABC.
- MaameYaa Boafo has been cast in the Bluff City Law pilot at NBC.
- Elizabeth Alderfer and David Walton are joining the cast of The Us Project, a CBS pilot.
- Kyle Schmid and Joe Tippett are joining the cast of Patsy & Loretta at Lifetime.
- Jessica Stroup has been cast in ABC’s pilot Heart of Life.
- Alba Baptista, Toya Turner, Lorena Andrea, Emilio Sakraya have been cast in Netflix’s Warrior Nun.
- Nasim Pedrad, Jason Mitchell, Anna Camp, and Robbie Amell have been cast in the Netflix film Desperados.
- Israel Johnson, Shelby Simmons, and Scarlett Estevez are joining the cast of Bunk’d at Disney.
- Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn are set to leave Star Trek: Discovery after the second season.
From last week:
- Clayne Crawford will star in the June episode of Into the Dark on Hulu.
- Tom Payne is going to star in the Fox pilot Prodigal Son. (And not Finn Jones as I posted yesterday.)
- Lucy Hale will star in the Katy Keene pilot at The CW.
- Joy Bryant will co-star in the untitled ABC legal/family drama.
- Tisha Campbell-Martin will co-star in the Fox pilot Geniuses.
- Jayne Atkinson will co-star in the NBC pilot Bluff City Law.
- Camryn Manheim, Michael Ealy, and Mark Webber will star in ABC’s pilot Stumptown.
- Jason Kirk will star in Under the Bridge, CBS’s drama pilot. Reggie Lee is also joining the cast.
- Otmara Marrero, Toby Sandeman, Anna Enger, MC Lyte, and Octavio Pizano have been added to the cast of ABC’s New York Undercover pilot.
- Siena Goines, Jasmine Kaur, and Shane Paul McGhie have been cast in the Fox pilot, Deputy.
- Mo McRae is joining the cast of the Fox pilot Sisters.
- J. Alex Brinson has been cast in CBS’s pilot Courthouse.
- Christian Coulson is joining the cast of Until the Wedding at ABC.
- Gerardo Celasco is joining the cast of neXT at Fox.
- Haley Kilgore has been cast in ABC’s Leslie Odom Jr. comedy.
- Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Norm Lewis, Mélanie Thierry, and Jasper Pääkkönen are joining Da 5 Bloods at Netflix.
- Frank Whaley will recur on Interrogation on CBS All Access.
- Bailey Chase and David Andrews are joining the cast of Queen of the South on USA.
Mark Your Calendars
- Chilling Adventures of Sabrina returns on Netflix on April 5.
- Gentleman Jack will premiere on HBO on April 22.
- Black Summer will debut on Netflix on April 11.
- You vs. the Wild will premiere on Netflix on April 10.
- The 2019 Miss USA Pageant will air on Fox on May 2.
- One Nation Under Stress will debut on HBO on March 25.
- Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta premieres on CNN on April 13.
- The Real Housewives of Potomac returns on May 5.
- Farscape comes to Amazon today.
- Ghost Bait will return on Travel Channel on April 4.
- T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle will return on VH1 on April 15.
- Accident, Suicide or Murder will debut on Oxygen on March 23.
From last week:
- On My Block will return on Netflix on March 29.
- You Me Her returns on AT&T Audience on April 9.
- Kevin Hart: Irresponsible will stream on April 2.
- Mom & Me will debut on HGTV on April 6.
- Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell will return on Adult Swim on May 3.
R.I.P.
Mike Thalassitis, Love Island contestant
WATCH THIS
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Teddi and Lisa Vanderpump ruin Camille Grammer’s birthday party. 8 p.m., Bravo
Mental Samurai: In this new competition, contestants “navigate an obstacle course … OF THE MIND!” Series premiere. 8 p.m., Fox
The Village: In NBC’s latest attempt to recapture that This is Us lightning in a bottle, this new emotional drama follows the lives of the residents of a Brooklyn building. Series premiere. 9 p.m., NBC
Amy Schumer: Growing: Pregnant Amy Schumer tells jokes. Premiere. Netflix
Late Night:
- Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Kobe Bryant, Aidy Bryant, Natalie Morales, Fletcher, Mick Fleetwood
- Late Night with Seth Meyers: Jordan Peele, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Action Bronson
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Chris Hayes, Nico Parker
- The Late Late Show with James Corden: Ben Schwartz, Tim Roth, Leon Bridges
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: Sen. Kamala Harris, Mark Hamill, Judah & the Lion
- The Daily Show: Will Packer
- Conan: Isla Fisher, Mark Normand
- Busy Tonight: Taye Diggs
- Watch What Happens Live: Teddi Mellencamp, Maren Morris
| TUES. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | American Housewife (new) |
The Kids Are Alright (new) |
black-ish (new) |
Splitting Up Together (new) |
The Rookie (new) |
| CBS | NCIS (new) |
FBI (new) |
NCIS: New Orleans (new) |
| CW | The Flash (new) |
Roswell, New Mexico (new) |
Local |
| FOX | MasterChef Junior (new) |
Mental Samurai (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | Ellen’s Game of Games (new) |
This is Us (new) |
The Village (new) |