After the Thrones

Nice to see a Grantland-esque studio set up and running again. They provide play by play recaps of the episodes and pepper in analysis and background info on characters. They show where scenes are happening on the world map, this actually helps a lot.

But the overall feel is weird.

This might be mean but I feel Greenwald and Chris Ryan have zero pull when it comes to being on screen outside of podcast recordings on Youtube. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of them as people, I read their recaps on Grantland all season last year and they were the best. Everyone from the Ringer/Grantland including Simmons himself is far better in print.

I like the way that the show seems detached from GoT even though it has the network's imprimatur. Thankfully, there are no actors or directors as guests, which would turn the discussion into a mere celebration of the show. In fact, "After the Thrones" avoids evaluating the show at all. At its best, the show offers a helpful focus on themes and "big ideas." (In this respect, it's better than the weekly discussions of GoT on TYT's "What the Flick," for example.)

The two hosts are amateurs who are unlikely ever to get another show, and this makes them likable. Their willingness to be corrected by GoT expert Mallory made them sympathetic at first, but after a few episodes this repeated format gets annoying. Other aspects of the format that seem forced are the "Who Won the Week?" discussion, as though they were forgetting that the show is fiction and not a sports contest.

The two hosts and two guest experts are likable, although they try too hard to steer a middle ground between being too geeky on the one hand, and too cool on the other; their references to "bros" and sports figures feel like forced attempts at sophistication. There's an annoying tendency to play everything for laughs.

The best parts of the discussion are when the hosts play their roles as really smart English majors and take a stab at synthesizing the big ideas. Hearing that kind of discussion is thought-provoking. It's harder to come up with an argument than with a ton of sophisticated pop-culture references. Stick with the big ideas rather than the fireworks.

The problem with "After the Thrones" is that it seems that they're just trying too hard and the result is this stilted, awkward mess of a show. The constant game of "how many pop culture references can we shoehorn into the show" is very tiresome as is the incessant one upsmanship on display.

It might be unfair to compare AtT to "Talking Dead", which is the gold standard of after shows, but because of the nature of the format, the comparisons are inevitable. AtT suffers from not having the same level of access that TD has. There are no show runners, cast members or writers as guests and because of a lack of access, the show's time slot is pushed to the next evening which is kind of pointless. These types of shows are essentially post game shows and who exactly is going to watch a post game the day after the game aired? Everything has already been chewed over and discussed. You have to be bringing something REALLY special to the table to make a day after show a worthwhile watch.

I must say that the "Who the Fcuk was That?" segment is very useful and brings insight to the audience. Mallory Rubin is also another standout, but even she sometimes comes off as trying too hard to be "one of the guys." I can also do without the cringeworthy sports references. I'm a big sports fan and I get that the show started out at Grantland, but I do not tune into this type of show for ham-fisted Rajon Rondo references. They also need to scrap the "Who Won the Week?" segment. It comes off as filler from some third-rate ESPN afternoon opinionfest.

I really wanted to like this show and gave it a fair shot, but after four episodes, my watch has ended.

....then watch this drivel one second longer. Their voice...their intonation...their ridiculous pop culture references. I hate with a red hot fiery passion everything about them. They come across as smug Ivy League know it alls...who really no nothing. When I see their faces, I want to vomit green goo. I would rather lay on a bed of nails then watch this show. I'd rather handle rattlesnakes. I'd rather be eaten by ravenous wolves. I'd rather have Hannibal lecter remove my cranium and eat parts of my brain. I'd rather jump from plane with no chute. I'd rather be raped by 10 gorillas then watch 2 more seconds of this show. Why HBO would you unleash such evil upon this world?

The tone is lighter than the actual show, and no it's not The Talking Dead which is a moderated discussion of the show and comparing it to that isn't necessarily correct IMO. Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald show their enthusiasm for the show, and they've helped in trying to organize the vast ouvre of this universe. The segments: "Who The That" helps figure out people who have not been in the forefront of the narrative "Who Won The Week" is a fun look at which character did well for themself.

The argument that they're giggly and all that stuff is a matter of preference, as someone who listened to "Watch The Thrones" on Grantland I'm really happy to see these guys do their thing under HBO and I hope to see them til the end. Mallory Rubin has been awesome and we need more Jason Concepcion. The people complaining about this show doesn't like the tone but the content is fine.