Game of Thrones pulled some nonsense this past week when HBO put out a Facebook Live feed meant to reveal the date of the season 7 premiere.
In an attempt to be poetic (or something, I don’t know), HBO had fans type “fire” in the comments to supposedly create bursts of flame that would help the ice melt to reveal the season’s premiere date. And with more than a hundred thousand fans on the edge of their seats, HBO ended the stream without any conclusion and simply tweeted the date out.
There’s nothing wrong with using an over-the-top method of revealing a premiere date — some might even call it a great publicity move. But this was just an embarrassing gaffe.
On top of all of this, Game of Thrones has a release date that is in the distant future, July 16. HBO drew in fans to watch its ridiculous spectacle only to cut the stream and Tweet out a disappointing premiere date. And you know what didn’t lose any fans? Game of Thrones.
It feels like HBO is trying to see how far they can go before they start pissing people off to the point that they won’t watch anymore. At one point, Isaac Wright, the actor who portrays Bran, comes on part of the Facebook Live stream to deliver some cringe-worthy lines including “I’ve had some seriously bad experiences with ice” and “that Night King is up to no good.”
The people in charge of this stunt must have noticed the ice was barely melting and ramped up the efforts, saying that if you instead type “Dracarys,” there will be two blasts of fire.
It is unclear whether technical difficulties were behind the stream cutting out, or HBO suddenly realized “this is incredibly dumb and we’re testing one of the most dedicated TV fan bases out there.”
This disaster was soon followed by a teaser trailer that was much more satisfying and along the lines of what Game of Thrones fans would want. It had quotes from past seasons, the story of the houses interacting shown through fighting sigils and a good bit of foreshadowing for “The Great War” to come. All of this could be speculated or over-analyzed in YouTube reaction videos and outlets pushing Game of Thrones stories they know will rack up the clicks.
HBO did the basketball equivalent of pulling up from half-court and turning around before you can even see if the ball went in.
It didn’t. In fact, it air balled; but we, the loyal fans, will keep cheering them on. And that’s all HBO cares about.
