Tonight the Season 4 finale of GAME OF THRONES on HBO.

Longest episode of the season.  One of the things I love about HBO is that you can take as long as you need to tell your story, you're not locked into the rigid 46-minutes-and-change-to-the-second of the broadcast networks.  This one will go 1:16, it says.  Cool.

credit: Helen Sloan/ HBO

Strongest episode of the season?  Might be.  Clearly David and Dan think so, since they've chosen "The Children" to represent GAME OF THRONES in the writing category of the Emmy Awards.  We've had a LOT of powerful episodes this season, so that says something.  I have not seen the episode myself yet, but I am looking forward to it.

credit: Macall D. Polay/ HBO

Oh, and it's on Father's Day as well.  How… ah… special.

Anyway, it's hard to believe that season four is over so soon.  Still wish we had three more episodes to look forward to.

credit: Helen Sloan/ HBO

(I am closing comments on this post.  Some of you refuse to believe me when I say that I don't want discussion of the series here.  Please take your comments and reactions to Tower of the Hand, Westeros, Winter Is Coming, and the myriad TV sites.  Thanks, appreciate that).

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Hey, hey, hey.

We're number one.

For the details:

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/06/05/game-of-thrones-sopranos-ratings/

I loved THE SOPRANOS.  But I gotta admit, it's good to be the king.

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Did you say seven million?

Yep.  Ratings for GAME OF THRONES continue to climb, week after week.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/05/06/game-of-thrones-ratings-surge/

Congratulations to David, Dan, Bryan, our amazing directors, and the best cast in television.

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Sibel Kekilli meets Woody Allen at the Carnegie Deli in NYC.

Sibel looks stunned, and no wonder.  That sandwich has defeated me on several occasions

(This was taken last month, after the season four fan screening in Brooklyn).

I am pleased to report that in the end, Sibel was triumphant… though she did require help.

It was a great evening.  We have the best cast in television, and Sibel is a big part of that.

(No spoilers in comments, book readers).

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HBO has renewed GAME OF THRONES for a fifth season.  Great news.  But hardly surprising.  I mean, it wasn't official, but everyone and his brother pretty well knew that we would get a fast renewal for season five.

But HBO has also renewed GAME OF THRONES for a sixth season, and that one is surprising.  I don't think even David and Dan suspected that was coming.  I certainly did not.  HBO never orders more than one season at a time, not in recent memory.  So this is pretty unprecedented.  And pretty great.

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/game-of-thrones-renewed-for-two-more-seasons-1201154239/

The renewal comes on the heels of record ratings for the premiere episode of season four.  "Two Swords" translated to more than six million viewers.  (Just imagine if we'd had three or four or five swords!!).  The episode netted the highest rating of any HBO show since the finale of THE SOPRANOS, which is pretty amazing, considering all the great television that HBO has aired in the intervening years.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/04/07/game-of-thrones-premiere-ratings-4/

The reviews have been pretty extraordinary as well.  Especially this one:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-game-of-thrones-review-20140406,0,3119045.story#axzz2yJSBkpOY

So… what can one say?  It has been a pretty extraordinary week.

My congratulations to David Benioff, Dan Weiss, our incredible directors, our amazing crew, and the best cast in television.

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Okay, okay, we broke the internet AGAIN.  Sorry about that.  I'm not to blame this time, it was HBO GO… and all you people who have HBO GO and keep trying to watch the episodes on your computers instead of on your television sets.

Anyway, the internet has been fixed, they tell me, and "Two Swords" has come and gone.  How about Maisie and Rory?  Was that great, or what?

Of course, there were lots of other great stuff in the episode too.  (Yes, I know, I'm prejudiced).  Tyrion, Tywin, Jaime, Cersei, Shae, Sansa, Jon and Sam, the return of Ser Dontos, an amazing introduction of the Red Viper and his paramour.   But that last scene kicked ass.

Anyway, hope you all saw it, hope you all liked it.

(But no, please DON'T discuss it here, I prefer you take discussions, debates, recaps, and analysis to Westeros, Winter Is Coming, Tower of the Hand, or Television Without Pity).

Next week: "The Lion and the Rose."

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… is almost at hand.

Tonight's the night.  Did I mention that?  Oh… I did…

 "Two Swords."  Episode one of season four, written and directed by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.  It's a helluva season episode.  I've seen it three times now, at various premieres, but I'm looking forward to seeing it a fourth time this evening.

 And next week, "The Lion and the Rose," the episode I scripted myself.  I haven't seen that one at all, but various folks I trust tell me it came at well, so I'm looking forward to seeing it for myself.

 Anyone doing anything special in the way of premiere parties?  We're partied out ourselves, after the New York, Brooklyn, and Santa Fe premieres, so we're staying home, gathering round the tube, and laying in some ribs and pulled pork and brisket from Whole Hog.

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HBO unveiled another trailer for season four tonight, just before the finale of TRUE DETECTIVE.  (And what a helluva series that was).

For those poor souls who do not have HBO, as a public service, here you go:

<lj-embed id=”413″/>

I loved it, myself.  But I'm hardly an objective audience.

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