{"id":80480,"date":"2011-04-14T08:57:57","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T14:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/?p=80480"},"modified":"2012-10-02T18:09:49","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T00:09:49","slug":"matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/04\/matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Zoller Seitz on Game of Thrones<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I don\u2019t have HBO, so I\u2019ll be waiting for Netflix or DVDs, but I\u2019m so excited to see a celebrated fantasy epic being given a slow, patient miniseries treatment, with an impressive cast and a focus on character development instead of razzle-dazzle.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Matt Zoller Seitz describes it:<\/a><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t just watch this series. You have to commit to it, the way you had to commit to \u201cThe Wire\u201d or \u201cDeadwood\u201d to appreciate them as something other than impenetrable fetish objects. Bear in mind I\u2019m not saying that \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d is a creative achievement on the same level as those other masterful HBO series, which looked, moved and felt like nothing that had come before. So far, the filmmaking is a few notches up from the standard point-the-camera-at-the-actors-and-get-on-with-it approach that dominates most of series television; Showtime\u2019s historical series \u201cThe Borgias\u201d has much less fanboy cred, but it\u2019s got a lot more visual flair, plus a sense of humor, something \u201cThrones\u201d mostly lacks. Still, this HBO show has a particular storytelling philosophy and creative process. And it\u2019s uncompromising in how it lays things out, taking a full hour to set its pieces on the chessboard and not making its first big move until the final seconds of the pilot.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t have HBO, so I\u2019ll be waiting for Netflix or DVDs, but I\u2019m so excited to see a celebrated fantasy epic being given a slow, patient miniseries treatment, with an impressive cast and a focus on character development instead of razzle-dazzle. Here\u2019s how Matt Zoller Seitz describes it:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[490,491,492],"class_list":["post-80480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-game-of-thrones","tag-george-r-r-martin","tag-hbo"],"yoast_head":"\nMatt Zoller Seitz on Game of Thrones<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I don't have HBO, so I'll be waiting for Netflix or DVDs, but I'm so excited to see a celebrated fantasy epic being given a slow, patient miniseries\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/04\/matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matt Zoller Seitz on Game of Thrones\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don't have HBO, so I'll be waiting for Netflix or DVDs, but I'm so excited to see a celebrated fantasy epic being given a slow, patient miniseries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/04\/matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Looking Closer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-14T14:57:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-03T00:09:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey Overstreet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeffrey Overstreet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/04\/matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/04\/matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones\/\",\"name\":\"Matt Zoller Seitz on Game of Thrones\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-14T14:57:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-03T00:09:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/2675c6d9f6401acd7568e32160e5374e\"},\"description\":\"I don't have HBO, so I'll be waiting for Netflix or DVDs, but I'm so excited to see a celebrated fantasy epic being given a slow, patient miniseries\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/04\/matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/04\/matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/04\/matt-zoller-seitz-on-game-of-thrones\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Matt Zoller Seitz on Game of Thrones\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/\",\"name\":\"Looking Closer\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/2675c6d9f6401acd7568e32160e5374e\",\"name\":\"Jeffrey Overstreet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14a7727373cd5b470d66842ecf5cc007?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14a7727373cd5b470d66842ecf5cc007?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Jeffrey Overstreet\"},\"description\":\"Visit Looking Closer for Jeffrey Overstreet's latest writing on art, faith, and film. 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