We still have months to go before Game of Thrones returns to our TV screens. In the meantime, what other shows can fill the gap? We give you some of our picks here. Tell us yours below!
DAN: If you’re missing Game of Thrones, HBO’s towering work of fake historical fiction, I recommend Rome, HBO’s smaller work of actual historical fiction.
In many ways, Rome is a direct precursor to Game of Thrones. It’s a big, splashy spectacle full of elaborate costumes, huge crowd scenes and small-scale perspectives on major political events. A BBC coproduction, the show ended after its second season because the BBC, working under a two-year contract, didn’t have the resources to keep making it. Now consider that Game of Thrones also began life as a BBC coproduction and thank your lucky stars that the BBC pulled out before the show got off the ground, or Game of Thrones could have met a similar fate.
But the two seasons of Rome that got made were lavish, and should satiate fans’ desire for historically-inspired eye candy. Also, because the two shows shared the same casting director (Nina Gold), there’s a lot of cast member carryover. Ciarán Hinds (Julius Caesar) went on to play Mance Rayder, Tobias Menzies (Brutus) was cast as Edmure Tully and Indira Varma (Niobe) portrays Ellaria Sand.
No, Rome doesn’t have dragons or White Walkers or anything magical. But it does have the backroom politics and warring factions that keep Game of Thrones grounded in reality. And even though it’s about history, it’s not that concerned with historical accuracy, always putting entertainment value first. No, a centurion named Titus Pullo didn’t impregnate Cleopatra with a baby she then passed off as Caesar’s to cement her position as queen, but isn’t it fun to think so?
COREY: So I’m going to go way back and recommend Babylon 5 as my go-to Game of Thrones time passer. For those unfamiliar with the show, Babylon 5 was a science fiction drama that debuted in 1994. Conceived by J. Michael Straczynski, the series bears many similarities to Thrones (except for nudity — it was on basic cable). There’s an overarching plot that unfolds throughout the seasons, a rising mythical threat returning after a long absence (the Shadows), a hero who perishes and is reborn, and various factions (in this case alien races) rising and falling as they vie for power.
The special effects certainly aren’t on par with what we get from HBO, but Babylon 5 was nonetheless an excellent series. Like David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Straczynski said from the start that he had a certain number of episodes in mind, and a grand narrative with a beginning and ending planned.
Like Jon Snow, hero John Sheridan is the one who primarily fights the Shadows, Babylon 5’s White Walker analogue. And like Jon Snow, he dies and is brought back to continue the fight. All kinds of subplots develop over the course of the show while the Shadows lurk on the periphery, but we are treated to an ultimate showdown in the final few seasons. Hopefully we get the same on Thrones.
And with that said, I’m hoping American Gods can help fill the Game of Thrones void when it debuts in May. I’ve never really watched a series on Starz before — they never seems quite up to the standards of HBO’s shows, but I am very excited for American Gods. I’ve just begun to read the novel, but from what I understand the television series will not stick exclusively to the source material. It looks a bit more magical/mystical than Game of Thrones, and I am very intrigued.
RICHARD: Great choices, Dan and Corey. I’m going to recommend Oasis, a sci-fi pilot currently in the running to become an original TV series on Amazon. You have to be an Amazon Prime member in order to watch, but Amazon has sometimes made their shows available to view for free on other platforms like Facebook and You Tube. Amazon’s pilot program has generated some fantastic stuff — I’d also recommend their adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s alternate history The Man in the High Castle.
Bezos and company aren’t messing around, by the way. These productions are well-heeled and lush. Business Insider reports Amazon is sinking over 3 billion dollars into their slate of pilots this year. And they appear to let their creators have at it without much interference. If you love unique, swinging-for-the-fences TV, these shows may well be worth the cost of an Amazon Prime membership (along with free shipping).
Based on the novel The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber, Oasis follows the journey of an ecumenical space priest named Leigh (Richard Madden, GoT‘s ill-fated Robb Stark) who travels to a struggling space colony where weird things are happening and people are dying, lured to their deaths by intense visions. The pilot gets a bit clunky in places (as all pilots do), but it offers up some great mystery and acting. What really caught my attention are the religious and ethical questions it is prepared to ask. Plus, the ending is a mic dropper.
As an added GoT treat, Mark Addy (King Robert) also has a big part in the pilot. Haley Joel Osment (the “I see dead people” kid from The Sixth Sense) has a leading role, his cherubic face undiminished by a heavy brown beard. Oasis feels part Solaris, part 2001: A Space Odyssey and part 1940’s gumshoe murder mystery, and the result is a show I believe, if given the chance by voters, could easily launch something fantastic.
KATIE: The obvious choice, I think, would simply be to watch Game of Thrones again. With around sixty hours’ worth of episodes (not to mention special features), a rewatch could fill the gap between now and season 7 considerably, if not entirely.
Barring that, I would quite seriously recommend any Lifetime program or similar entertainment. Game of Thrones may be high fantasy, but at its core, it’s very much a soap opera. That’s not a bad thing, despite the negative connotations surrounding soap operas: the overwrought angst, the (arguably) subpar acting, the unbelievable plot twists, etc. But Thrones boasts just as much drama as any Lifetime movie weekend; it’s just presented in a different way. It’s taken seriously by fans where daytime dramas are often dismissed as silly fodder for bored housewives (which is an issue unto itself that I don’t have time to get into).
Let us take, for example, Lifetime’s adaptation of the Flowers in the Attic series. Author V.C. Andrews didn’t spare any dramatic flair when she penned the books, nor did Lifetime when they took on the project in 2014. While the original 1987 film cut the seedier scenes — Cathy and Christopher’s incestuous affair is perhaps the biggest offender here — Lifetime went full throttle. The premiere was so successful that the network went on to adapt the next three books in the series: Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, and Seeds of Yesterday.
While Flowers in the Attic doesn’t feature any of Game of Thrones‘ signature fantasy elements, the two share some more basic qualities. You’ve got your drama, betrayal, family dysfunction (including but not limited to plot-thickening incest), hot people doing questionable things, descents into madness, and murder. There’s a Joffrey-like character in Seeds of Yesterday who gets his due, and the White Walkers are child’s play when you meet the insufferable Bart in the penultimate TV movie. (Well, homicidal ice zombies are probably never child’s play; I just really hate Bart.)
I’ll admit that it’s not the most six-o-one comparison. Still, taking a Flowers break in the middle of your Thrones marathon might be more suitable than you’d think. Besides, Lifetime did the series such justice that it would be a shame to miss out, especially if you’re into the whole “the sins of the father are, as it turns out, definitely the sins of the son” sort of story arc.
RAZOR: I want very badly to talk about Vikings on History, but chances are that if you’re a Game of Thrones fan you’re already watching the next-best thing on television. Likewise, I would love to talk about Black Sails on Starz, but that’s also a bit obvious, and the show just had its series finale last week. Instead, I want to tell you about a little-known show on Amazon Prime called Patriot. It’s not anything like Game of Thrones, but it’s a great palate cleanser as you prepare for Game of Thrones season 7.
Patriot is one part comedy, one part spy thriller, one part action, and all parts heart. The 10-part first season just hit Amazon Prime in February (although a teaser episode was released in 2015), and it is well worth a binge-watch marathon. Patriot’s best asset is its main character, John Tavner. He’s a lost and sad man, and you want nothing more than to reach through the screen and give him a hug. But John is a company man — he’s got a job to do at the CIA, and will stop at nothing to complete his task so he can get home to his beautiful wife.
Patriot is a heartbreaking, soulful, and downright hilarious show with an all-star cast. If you have a chance, check it out on Amazone Prime before Game of Thrones season 7 kicks off in July.
SARAH: The fantasy element of Game of Thrones is not what drew me to the show — in fact, I wasn’t particularly interested in it when it first aired because the mainstream media placed so much emphasis on, as Ian McShane would say, tits and dragons. In this sense, I think the media really sold it short and continues to do so. My love for the series began after I read the first book and realized that, actually, characters are key. My interest in a show lives or dies by its characters. If I can’t connect to them, or if they feel like caricatures to me, I’m out.
So for my pick, I’ve chosen a show that at first glance has nothing in common with Game of Thrones: The CW’s Jane the Virgin, a satirical, modern take on the telenovela starring the unfairly brilliant Gina Rodriguez, who won a Golden Globe for her role in the show. The plot centers around Jane Villanueva, a virgin in her early twenties who is accidentally artificially inseminated and becomes pregnant. Then drama ensues.
Jane is equal parts comedy and romance. It has a bright, sunny tone and the lead character is a virgin — so absolutely nothing like GoT so far. However, it’s also a telenovela, and Thrones, regardless of its budget or scope, is basically a soap opera. When it comes to shock and drama, nothing is out of bounds for this show, including gruesome murder and Jaqen H’ghar-esque face changing. Yet despite its melodramatics, it’s grounded in solid reality. Both shows have a strong focus on family, both shows are excellently written, both shows are extremely emotive and both have a core set of characters who are as real and relatable as they are entertaining (including female characters who are multi-dimensional, beautifully conceived and represent strength in different ways).
Simply put, Jane will make you happy and break your heart all at once, which is basically what Game of Thrones does — but with fewer dragons.
Since a poll would basically require us to list out every TV show there is, we’re foregoing one this week. But we’d love to hear what you’re watching while you wait for season 7!
Via http://winteriscoming.net/2017/04/07/small-council-shows-wait-game-of-thrones-season-7/
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