Lets talk about the writers ...

[Quiksilver]

Core:

- Rafe Judkins (e01,e08 + showrunner all episodes)

- Celine Song (e05 + staff writer all episodes)

- Michael Clarkson (e03 + story editor all episodes)

- Paul Clarkson (e03 + story editor all episodes)

Guest:

- Amanda Kate Shuman (e02,e07)

- Justine Juel Gillmer (e06)

- Katherine B. McKenna (e07)

- Dave Hill (e04)

 

 

Episodes 4 and 7 seem to be the highest rated, while episodes 1, 5 and 8 seem to be the lowest rated.

 

Notably 4 & 7 were written by guest writers while 1,5,8 were written by core writers.

 

One solution is to remove the core writing team and ask Amanda & Dave to step in and write season 2 until a suitable core writers team can be assembled for future seasons.

 

I think with Rafe/Celine/Clarkson Twins involved, we will get more of the same going forward.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Quiksilver

[SingleMort]

4 hours ago, Quiksilver said:

Core:

- Rafe Judkins (e01,e08 + showrunner all episodes)

- Celine Song (e05 + staff writer all episodes)

- Michael Clarkson (story editor all episodes)

- Paul Clarkson (story editor all episodes)

Guest:

- Amanda Kate Shuman (e02,e07)

- Justine Juel Gillmer (e06)

- Katherine B. McKenna (e07)

- Dave Hill (e04)

 

 

Episodes 4 and 7 seem to be the highest rated, while episodes 1, 5 and 8 seem to be the lowest rated.

 

Notably 4 & 7 were written by guest writers while 1,5,8 were written by core writers.

 

One solution is to remove the core writing team and ask Amanda & Dave to step in and write season 2 until a suitable core writers team can be assembled for future seasons.

 

I think with Rafe/Celine/Clarkson Twins involved, we will get more of the same going forward.

Not sure about replacing the all the writers, they probably couldn't even if wanted to. But I think whether you are overall happy with the show or not most people would agree that the 2 weakest episodes were 1 and 8. Not only is that pretty bad because that will form the first and last impressions people have of the show but they are also the 2 written by the main showrunner

Edited December 28, 2021 by SingleMort

[Ralph]

8 hours ago, Quiksilver said:

Core:

- Rafe Judkins (e01,e08 + showrunner all episodes)

- Celine Song (e05 + staff writer all episodes)

- Michael Clarkson (story editor all episodes)

- Paul Clarkson (story editor all episodes)

Guest:

- Amanda Kate Shuman (e02,e07)

- Justine Juel Gillmer (e06)

- Katherine B. McKenna (e07)

- Dave Hill (e04)

 

 

Episodes 4 and 7 seem to be the highest rated, while episodes 1, 5 and 8 seem to be the lowest rated.

 

Notably 4 & 7 were written by guest writers while 1,5,8 were written by core writers.

 

One solution is to remove the core writing team and ask Amanda & Dave to step in and write season 2 until a suitable core writers team can be assembled for future seasons.

 

I think with Rafe/Celine/Clarkson Twins involved, we will get more of the same going forward.

Sorri I believe you have misunderstood

 

Celine Song and the Clarkson are "core" bc they are also involved in every episode not as writers

 

AK Shuman is a director as well, and Rafe described her as his right hand woman throughout

 

Rafe and AK wrote two eps each, Clarksons Celine Dave Hill and JJG one

[Brytac]

I thought E1 as a TV show (for none book readers) was ok.

 

Thought 8 was among the worst.

 

7 probably the best for me.

[ilovezam]

Rafe's two episodes are by far and away the worst ones, really says something doesn't it.

[Lethira the second]

I'm not really comfortable calling out individuals and individual episodes. Surely the overall arc was presented to each person as well as a summary of what was to happen in the episode.  They are pretty tight constraints.

[Raal Gurniss]

26 minutes ago, Lethira the second said:

I'm not really comfortable calling out individuals and individual episodes. Surely the overall arc was presented to each person as well as a summary of what was to happen in the episode.  They are pretty tight constraints.

Yes…But there were additional constraints that were intentionally done that definitely spoiled things.

 

Not going into detail with them, frankly they wouldn’t be received kindly, besides everyone already knows or at least suspects what they are.

[fra85uk]

I imagine myself as Aria Stark repeating their names before going to sleep...just joking eh!

 

Seriously, I don't see any trends between guests and core. 

 

Ep.7, which is the best is from a guest, but also Ep.6 which is very weak for me is from guest...so I really don't see a difference, apart from the fact that those from Rafe are the worst.

[SingleMort]

3 hours ago, Lethira the second said:

I'm not really comfortable calling out individuals and individual episodes. Surely the overall arc was presented to each person as well as a summary of what was to happen in the episode.  They are pretty tight constraints.

I definitely don't think anyone should be fired or attacked in any way. At the end of the day it's just a fictional TV show and no one who worked on it should be made to feel any pain or distress from working on it. 

 

But I also think areas of improvement need to be pointed out and feedback taken onboard. At my job we offer training and mentoring to help people who might be struggling with their workloads they would need to do something incredibly bad to be summarily dismissed. I'm not saying the writers and showrunners need training in how to do their jobs but maybe some refreshers about the lore and the rules of the world. I don't care if the makers and actors of the show are superfans so long as they understand the characters, the lore and the rules of the world. In many ways its such a shame RJ isn't still with us as I'm sure he could have provided some valuable input towards doing this. I'm sure GRRM was very helpful to the makers of GoT as that show only started to decline when it left the books behind. Just my opinion anyway

[JenniferL]

It’s fine to discuss the individual strengths and weaknesses of the writing team. Just keep in mind A) they are unlikely to read this forum B) season 2 is already written and being filmed. 
 

Approach this discussion the same way you might a discussion of Hemingway vs Fitzgerald in a classroom. Unless someone produces a time machine, anything we say here is not going to affect the series. 

[WoTwasThat]

4 hours ago, Lethira the second said:

I'm not really comfortable calling out individuals and individual episodes. Surely the overall arc was presented to each person as well as a summary of what was to happen in the episode.  They are pretty tight constraints.

 

Agreed. For me it isn't about being "comfortable" so much as it just seems silly to try slicing and dicing this based on who wrote an individual episode. The problems with this series don't come down to twists and turns being decided by one particular writer in one particular episode. This isn't a game of "Pass the Story." That's not how this works. The overall plot points - and massive deviations from the books - are being decided by Rafe and his whole inner circle. Doesn't really matter who is writing the specific dialogue.

[WoTwasThat]

18 minutes ago, JenniferL said:

It’s fine to discuss the individual strengths and weaknesses of the writing team. Just keep in mind A) they are unlikely to read this forum B) season 2 is already written and being filmed. 
 

Approach this discussion the same way you might a discussion of Hemingway vs Fitzgerald in a classroom. Unless someone produces a time machine, anything we say here is not going to affect the series. 

 

Agreed. There's no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. We're not getting back to a more faithful adaptation at this point. Whomever is still on this bus is just gonna ride it to wherever Rafe and crew is taking it.

[WoTwasThat]

Anybody know if Sarah Nakamura has done any in-depth interviews since Season 1 finished airing? Granted, I'm not sure how much stock we can put in any public comments; she has devoted the past couple of decades to positioning herself to being involved in this production, and she won't do anything to jeopardize that. But boy would I would be fascinated to buy her a few drinks and really get her unvarnished opinion of this "adaptation."

[Sabio]

11 hours ago, SingleMort said:

Not sure about replacing the all the writers, they probably couldn't even if wanted to. But I think whether you are overall happy with the show or not most people would agree that the 2 weakest episodes were 1 and 8. Not only is that pretty bad because that will form the first and last impressions people have of the show but they are also the 2 written by the main showrunner

Amen, 1 and 8 were the worst. 7 was best.  2 wasn't good because the pacing was horrible, 3, 4, 5, were ok, but seemed like so much time was wasted.  6 started to give me hope, then episode 8 dashed that hope.  

[TheMountain]

2 hours ago, WoTwasThat said:

Anybody know if Sarah Nakamura has done any in-depth interviews since Season 1 finished airing? Granted, I'm not sure how much stock we can put in any public comments; she has devoted the past couple of decades to positioning herself to being involved in this production, and she won't do anything to jeopardize that. But boy would I would be fascinated to buy her a few drinks and really get her unvarnished opinion of this "adaptation."

She is MIA since episode 5.

[Aimless]

Don't think the diagnosis is accurate, and therefore disagree with implication that core team should be swapped out on the basis of this diagnosis. Rafe's two episodes suffered much more due to outside factors—heavy-handed executive meddling (the 11,000 notes), drastic reduction of episode length, Barney's sudden departure, lockdown regs shanking episode 8. As much as I hated Stepin as a character, Celine's episode was setup for long-term arcs. I think most of the writers have problems with dialogue, and can't really single out anyone as being particularly bad in that respect. Think Rafe and the twins probably have the best handle on where the show's going, and what has to be done to get there—and I think they won't have to deal with as many unexpected shit-sandwiches next season. 

[Aimless]

7 hours ago, TheMountain said:

She is MIA since episode 5.

First tweet on her feed is the episode 6 watch thread?

[550456]

Last time I visited this site, the show hadn't yet aired, and I was surprised to see many people with positive attitudes towards what I thought were abysmal trailers. Now I come to this thread and it seems most people's opinions have shifted. Wild to see. 

[Mirefox]

There is a clear lack of reverence for the source material.  If you like the show that way, fine, but I don’t see how you can argue that the writers are fans of the books.  I get the impression that the writers are fans of being writers for the show.

[Khan of Shadows]

What's so perverse and more than a little sad about the finale is that Rafe clearly IS a huge fan of the books. But politics has so fully infiltrated the way we experience life that a fan can change the very story he fell in love with & convince himself it's somehow an improvement.

[Lethira the second]

As an aside, it's easy as a "writer" (sometimes) to pick something apart and think you can do better.  You read something and think 'I could improve that.'  It's how a lot of authors got into writing -though a lot of them stuck to their own lanes and published their own works. 

 

It takes a great deal of humility to realise you fell in love with the story warts and all, and if you did "improve" it, it wouldn't be the same story you fell in love with.  There are twists and turns the books took that didn't sit well with me, things I wanted and didn't get and vice-versa but when all is said and done, if I got the version of the story my head wanted, it wouldn't have been the one I love.

 

Tying this back to the show, so I don't get told off for derailing... I think the writers, Rafe included think what they're doing is making the story more relatable for the TV audience.  Personally, I don't like where they have gone with it, but I'm sure they set out to do 'good'

[TheMountain]

11 hours ago, Aimless said:

First tweet on her feed is the episode 6 watch thread?

My bad, episode 6 was when she actually went MIA. With Episode 5 she kind of skipped over most of the questions she got (she promised in a tweet to go back and answer them, but she never did). She used to tweet regularly and answer questions, but she hasn't said anything at all since Dec 10th. 

[WoTwasThat]

3 hours ago, TheMountain said:

My bad, episode 6 was when she actually went MIA. With Episode 5 she kind of skipped over most of the questions she got (she promised in a tweet to go back and answer them, but she never did). She used to tweet regularly and answer questions, but she hasn't said anything at all since Dec 10th. 

I imagine she’s in a very difficult spot.

[DigificWriter]

I have a feeling that if Sarah Nakamura were to be publicly asked for her unvarnished thoughts on the show, her answer(s) might not be what people who have issues with the show want to hear.

Edited December 29, 2021 by DigificWriter

[Lethira the second]

With the massive diversity of opinions in the show and given how vocal people are, she's probably wise to duck out of the public eye for a while.