Tuned In+Television | 14 days ago

Video: Game of Thrones Reloads for Season 2

By James Poniewozik

Before last night’s debut (or re-debut after the December preview airing) of Luck, HBO shared another trailer for Game of Thrones, returning April 1. As usual, it’s full of tantalizing but brief snippets—glimpses of King Robert’s brother Stannis and his priestess/consigliere Melisandre, and Sansa in an uncomfortable situation with Joffrey—that are hard to infer much [...]

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Tuned In+Television | 20 days ago

Game of Thrones Season 2 Tidbits: Building Up Qarth, and Fleshing It Out

By James Poniewozik

One of the many HBO programming announcements out of the winter TCA tour that I didn’t get around to commenting on was a return date for Game of Thrones‘ season 2: April 1. Information about the second series—and judging only by the source book, A Clash of Kings, it could be a doozy—has been coming [...]

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Tuned In+Television | 63 days ago

The Morning After: Luck Jumps Out of the Gate, Another Peek from Thrones

By James Poniewozik

Last night, HBO aired the pilot of Luck, the new David Milch drama which debuts for realsies late in January. I may post some first impressions later, but not for now because: (1) I first need to handle the season finale of Boardwalk Empire, which HBO did not screen in advance and (2) HBO is [...]

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Tuned In+Television | 84 days ago

Winter Is Coming Back: Preview of Game of Thrones Season 2

By James Poniewozik

HBO has given an April start date for the second season of Game of Thrones, and this new promo video, which aired last night before Boardwalk Empire, offers a peek at how the series’ world will expand in the sophomore season, based on the second A Song of Ice and Fire novel, A Clash of [...]

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Tuned In+Tuned In | 139 days ago

First Look: HBO’s Luck

By James Poniewozik

Among the things I didn’t get around to blogging about yesterday: Before the season premiere of Boardwalk Empire, HBO screened a trailer for horseracing drama Luck, which debuts in January. (They also aired an even briefer tease for season 2 of Game of Thrones, with no footage, just a recitation of the Red Priests’ line [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 199 days ago

TCA Roundup: Is AMC the New HBO? Is HBO the New AMC?

By James Poniewozik

The TCA TV critics’ press tour (which I will be joining next week) continued with its cable round yesterday, as critics and reporters heard from AMC, a critics’ darling that has recently taken some dings in its Teflon armor over the season finale of The Killing, ugly negotiations over Mad Men and a shakeup at [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 206 days ago

Comic-Con Roundup: Cornholio Returns, Alcatraz Debuts, Thrones Takes a Bow

By James Poniewozik

Braver souls than I are in San Diego now, surfing the massive throngs of fandom and covering the panels at Comic-Con. A few reports from the first day’s sessions: * Entertainment Weekly asked Con-sters what they thought of a screening of J. J. Abrams’ Alcatraz. (The implicit question seems to be “Is it the next [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 214 days ago

Emmy Nominations 2011: The Good, the Bad and the Surprises

By James Poniewozik

The Emmy Awards are a big ocean liner that turns very slowly, and this year’s nominations, announced this morning, were no exception: a lot of familiar faces and a few new (or old but underrecognized) entries. So there were a slew of nominations for Mad Men, Modern Family and [Insert Name of HBO's Big Movie/Miniseries [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 216 days ago

The Problems of Power: George R.R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons

By James Poniewozik

Note: George R.R. Martin’s A Dance With Dragons, the fifth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series on which HBO’s Game of Thrones is based, is out in stores today. I received a review copy several weeks ago. TIME’s book critic Lev Grossman has already reviewed it. But since I’ve been covering the [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 221 days ago

Breast Practices: Too Many Boobs in Game of Thrones?

By James Poniewozik

Game of Thrones has ended its first season on HBO, but a debate rages on. Namely, if winter is coming, why don’t the women put some damn clothes on? In the Los Angeles Times, TV critic Mary McNamara used Game of Thrones, with its many female nude scenes, as a launching point to make a [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 238 days ago

Game of Thrones Watch: Rising from the Ashes

By James Poniewozik

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, get a crackling fire going and sit down to watch the season finale of Game of Thrones. I’ve always resisted the shorthand that Game of Thrones is “fantasy Sopranos.”  To me, the series has more in common tonally with a range of other HBO dramas–a mix of Deadwood, [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 245 days ago

Game of Thrones Watch: The Unkindest Cut

By James Poniewozik

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, sit down with your awkwardly uncomfortable fifteen-year-old bride and watch last night’s Game of Thrones. Well, damn. I mean, if you read this blog regularly, you know I’ve read the books Game of Thrones is based on. I knew that the ending of last night’s episode was coming [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 259 days ago

Game of Thrones Watch: Boared to Death

By James Poniewozik

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, ask your butcher for a nice venison roast for dinner and watch last night’s Game of Thrones. Like a battering ram in a siege, Game of Thrones took a while to roll into place. But now that it’s in motion, its momentum gets more undeniable week by week. [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 266 days ago

Game of Thrones Watch: Talk to the Hand

By James Poniewozik

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, fix yourself a nice juicy horse snack and watch last night’s Game of Thrones. “A Golden Crown” was the final episode of Game of Thrones I saw in advance before I reviewed the series. In that review, I quoted a couple of scenes that, for me, captured the [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 273 days ago

Game of Thrones Watch: A Little More Conversation, A Little More Action

By James Poniewozik

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, retire to your deck—overlooking a terrifying thousand-foot drop—and watch last night’s Game of Thrones. The first few episodes of Game of Thrones, because they had such a vast world to establish, involved a lot of talking: characters talking about history, about dragons, about who hates whom for killing [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 280 days ago

Game of Thrones Watch: Sons of No One, Bastards of Young

By James Poniewozik

Spoiler alert: Before you read this post, set up your DVR to record the big joust later, and watch last night’s Game of Thrones. One complaint, or at least comment, that I’ve heard about Game of Thrones so far is that the episodes are not really episodes. That is, even more so than most HBO [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 287 days ago

Game of Thrones Watch: Snow Job

By James Poniewozik

Before you read this post, have your valet being you many, many cups of wine, then settle in to watch last night’s Game of Thrones: “Winter is coming.” We know that. We’ve seen the ads, we’ve read the posters, we’ve had HBO repeat the tagline to us constantly for months. Winteriscomingwinteriscoming. And yet, when I [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 294 days ago

Game of Thrones Watch: Meet the Parents

By James Poniewozik

Before you read this post, make sure the kids aren’t getting up to any mischief, get a plate of horse jerky, then settle in to watch last night’s episode of Game of Thrones: The pilot episode of Game of Thrones set up a lot of background, characters and situations, but it also organized itself around [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 299 days ago

GRRM Interview Part 4: Personal History

By James Poniewozik

I interviewed George R. R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels on which HBO’s Game of Thrones is based, in Santa Fe last month. Parts 1, 2 and 3 posted here earlier. This last excerpt didn’t really fit anywhere in my piece on Game of Thrones, because it digresses into [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 300 days ago

GRRM Interview Part 3: The Twilight Zone and Lost

By James Poniewozik

I interviewed George R. R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels on which HBO’s Game of Thrones is based, in Santa Fe last month. Parts 1 and 2 posted here earlier. In this excerpt, GRRM talks about the learning experience of working for a decade in TV, and, yes, about [...]