[quote name='crunchb3rry']That's why HBO's greatest show, IMO, "The Wire" didn't have nearly as much public appreciation as they did critic appreciation. For viewers, they either watched it and loved it, or couldn't get past the first few episodes and gave up.[/QUOTE]
The first few episodes of each season were exposition, with little going on. That didn't help much. The show also made clear that there are no "good guys," and that there were no sacred cows (i.e., anyone could die at any time). So you really had to pay attention early on to understand/enjoy the program, and they took the typical protagonist/antagonist silliness and threw it out the window. Sure, you may have liked McNulty, but he wasn't the "good guy" anymore than D'Angelo Barksdale was a "bad guy."
If you watched the show, you knew that the "main character" was Baltimore, and everything revolved around that city as a living, breathing organism that will go on, day after day, with or without you as a part of it.
Man, still the best show on television. I wish I liked "Treme" a quarter as much.
Game of Thrones is similar(ish). The Iron Throne is the main character in the series that everything revolves around - a thing, not a person. Everyone's story ebbs and flows, but that's the central piece that ties it all together. There are no formal protagonists or antagonists - I think the television program is slow in moving in that direction (i.e., to most viewers, the show's central conflict is "Stark vs. Lannister"), but it is moving in that direction. After reading the first book, I thought "wait, the Starks aren't the 'main characters' in this, are they?" - the show certainly wouldn't have led me to that conclusion.
thebob, now that there's an HBO contract to honor, that fire *is* lit to finish the series. Prior to the show, he had only himself to please, yes? Or just demanding fans? With a television program, there are deadlines, and therefore I'm confident HBO will ensure that constant progress is made. With that much money on the line, it will get done. Informal pressure has been replaced by formal.