60 Million Dollar Show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ixEWrTLiZg

HBO executes a game plan that has been highly effective for quite some time. Their high budget series, usually executive produced by someone whose name will ring enough bells to generate viewers, are almost always brutally addictive. Whether it be The Sopranos, Sex And the City, Six Feet Under, or Summer Heights High, HBO is able to consistently produce series that immediately capture attention. The newest craze is Game of Thrones, a dungeons and dragons-esque show revolving around a fictional country undergoing a civil war. As someone who has never found these shows or subject matter to be of my particular interest, HBO is able to glamorize the show enough to make you invested in its characters, many of which share qualities of over-aggression, a tendency towards sexual abuse, and a laundry list of other undesirable traits. It seems to share similar artistic and aesthetic qualities to Rome, which was once HBO’s most popular series. Research shows that the show costs a pretty penny, with the first season budgeting at about 50-60 million according to Wikipedia. Are these shows truly worth the financial devotion they receive? Although there is an obvious fanbase for the genre, should we really be prone to putting out shows with budgets that could cure many of our economic issues. It seems our obsession with prime time television has driven networks to the point of no return, where high budgets equal high ratings, in many instances minus any real material. Although Game of Thrones is highly entertaining, watching every minute of the episode makes me feel like I’m sitting in an obnoxiously large house with overly priced furniture, and it makes me uncomfortable knowing that this is what our media culture has become. - C.S.