Do you think people will still be watching "Game of Thrones" thirty years hence?

Human beings have a morbid fascination with gloom and doom. People have been saying the same things throughout recorded history - and probably before that, off the record. Growing up in the 80's I remember how many people were convinced we would destroy ourselves soon. Well I never believed it then, and I don't believe it now. Humanity has faced some daunting challenges in the past and always manages to adapt and overcome. You being okay I can't guarantee. Me being okay I can't guarantee. But I'm quite confident the human race will be okay, and our descendants (however much they may change) will be around for a very very long time. Come back a million years from now and you'll be greeted by a truly awe inspiring civilization. I pretty much guarantee it.

Yet, my sister's kid, who just turned six, adores "The Wizard of Oz." Why? I have no idea. Some films just have that "it" factor; others don't. Who would have thought "The Dark Crystal" didn't have that "it" factor for some? People today would never think "Game of Thrones," with its surfeit of CGI dragons and breasts, would fall out of favor with adolescent boys. And yet, kids of tomorrow, could, unthinkably, regard "Game of Thrones" with the same hatred your brood regards "The Dark Crystal" now.

Please tell me though that they like "Labyrinth." I can forgive an aversion to "The Dark Crystal" (though it's not easy) ... but "Labyrinth"?

But people still read serials even after knowing how they'll end. The serials Dickens wrote have enthusiasts to this day. Ditto Dumas, whose magnum opus,"The Count of Monte Cristo," is, I assure you, as fun to read the third time as it is the first.

I guess serials work better in some mediums than they do others.

"The X Files" functioned as both a serial and an anthology-of-sorts (only with two, instead of one, crypt keepers as your guides -- much more telegenic guides at that). I never got much into the serial aspect of "Files --the conspiracy episodes dragged on and on for seasons even though it was apparent early on they were going nowhere . The stand-alone episodes, on the other hand, I adored. They weren't fleshened with soapy elements like the serial ones were; instead, at their best, they were lean, mean and wholly inspired.

It always gobsmacked my father how quickly "Dallas" fell out of favor once its run concluded. He assured me that as hard as it may be to believe now "Dallas" was most assuredly "The Game of Thrones" of its day ... and then some.

<< Dallas was the serial everyone watched thirty years ago. twenty years ago it was x files. Ten years aga it was Lost. >>

Never saw DALLAS, never saw more than the first 2 episodes of LOST. Never saw more than a handful of X-FILES episodes (and the movie). Not everyone who watches TV is a TV Connoisseur.

If a show wasn't someone's cup of tea when it first came out, or they weren't around for it, I don't imagine they know how the story wraps up. Besides which, for a lot of people it's the overall concept of the show, and the actors and how their characters unfold, that's engaging...not the overall arc. I personally don't care at all how GoT ends...it's how they get there that's entertaining.

(But, that's just me...)
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