Why Paul Reiser refuses to watch Game Of Thrones

Game of Thrones is one of the most popular shows of the past few decades, but there are plenty of folk who never watched it. They have their reasons:

For years, Game of Thrones was the most popular show on television, but even the most popular shows aren’t watched by everyone. Just take Paul Reiser, best known for the ’90s sitcom Mad About You he co-created and starred in with Helen Hunt (it recently returned for a new season on Spectrum), and appearances on shows like Stranger Things. The A.V. Club asked him about “the pettiest hill you’re willing to die on,” and he brought up HBO’s mega-hit.

“Well, I just won’t watch Game Of Thrones,” Reiser said. “It doesn’t come up that often. Nobody’s lobbying me to watch it. But there are certain things that I have learned that I just am not interested in. No matter how many times you tell me it’s good, I can’t.”

"I think it came up last year, last December, Helen [Hunt] and I went on Jimmy Fallon. I didn’t mean for it to be public, but he said, what are you doing for Christmas, and Helen said, “I’m going to go home and watch the new Star Wars movie.” And Jimmy said, “What about you?” And I said, “Here’s the truth. I’ve never seen one.” And the audience gasped like if I just said I strangled a puppy. I said, “I’ve seen pieces. I know what they look like. But it’s not for me.” I’m not degrading it. They’re clearly very good. But I’m gonna skip it."

It is funny how it can feel scandalous to learn that someone isn’t watching or reading something that everyone else in the world is talking about. Because of course, the idea that everyone is talking about it is an illusion; as widely popular as Star Wars and Game of Thrones are, there are a whole lotta people in the world, and most of them have never seen either…although you figure that number gets smaller among Hollywood types.

But like Reiser says, sometimes you just know you’re not gonna enjoy something. In Reiser’s case, it sounds like the incest and the violence turned him off. “Maybe if it’s from having kids or old age, whatever, but I literally shield my eyes now if I don’t want to watch something,” he said. “Like I was watching Creed 2, and I kept shielding my eyes when he got punched. It’s a boxing movie, there’s going to be punching! I know, I just don’t want to see it. I’m too sensitive to it or I’m relating to it, like, ‘That’s got to hurt.’ Maybe I’m such a good audience member that it hurts me.”

He’d probably be blind after watching the fight between the Mountain and the Viper.

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