Reality vs Perception: Graph TV charts the popularity of every Game of Thrones episode
By Dan Selcke
Game of Thrones Season 5 is well and truly behind us, and while we wait for Season 6 to grace our television screens, it’s as good a time as any to look back on the whole series and do some number-crunching. And if we can use visual aids along the way, all the better.
Enter Graph TV, a wonderful website that aggregates the popularity of any given TV show by looking at the IMDb user ratings for each individual episode and visualizing the overall arc in an easy-to-read graph. Of course, IMDb isn’t the final arbiter of an episode’s quality, but these graphs still provide an interesting way to analyze how any given show is perceived by the viewing public. Check out a sample graph.
Each season is coded with a different color. Notice how ratings for episodes of The Simpsons seem to slack off around Season 10, and how there are a lot more lowliers in the later years of the show. This tracks with the popular opinion that the series began to decline around this time. Whether you agree with that opinion or not, it’s fun to have a visual representation of it.
So, does Graph TV reveal anything about the quality of Game of Thrones? Bring on the visual aid!
Click to blow this graphic up for a closer look.
First, a couple of notes:
- The highest-rated episode of Game of Thrones among IMDb users is “Hardhome,” which tracks with how awesome it is.
- Invariably, people seem to enjoy each season of Game of Thrones more as it goes on. This makes sense, as the show often saves its climactic moments for later in the year.
- The lowest-rated episode of the series is Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, which tracks with how angry people were after it aired. Still, the 7.2 rating isn’t abysmal, at least not compared to the lows reached by some other shows.
I think the most interesting thing about this graph is what it says about Season 5, which is something of a critical contradiction. That season was called out by many fans, including fans who write for this website, as being the weakest year of the show, mainly on account of the plot holes, pacing, and perplexing departures from the source material. And yet, the show pulled in a record number of viewers, and if Graph TV can be trusted, the quality remained roughly consistent with past seasons.
Again, it’s helpful to remember that IMDb ratings don’t necessarily reflect reality. For example, most of these ratings were likely turned in right after the episode aired—a cooling off period might have resulted in different numbers. Also, just because people on the internet say something is good (or bad) doesn’t make it good (or bad). This graph is a tool, not a mirror.
But it’s a fascinating tool, and I wonder if future seasons won’t make us look at some of the plots we found questionable in Season 5 in a different light.
But that’s a question for another time. Until then, feel free to discuss what, if anything, you get from this, and to enjoy Graph TV. Just be cautious: if you love TV, you can end up wasting way more time on this than you intend.