I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A different way of telling a story

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Nice to see a Grantland-esque studio set up and running again. They provide play by play recaps of the episodes and pepper in analysis and background info on characters. They show where scenes are happening on the world map, this actually helps a lot. But the overall feel is weird. This might be mean but I feel Greenwald and Chris Ryan have zero pull when it comes to being on screen outside of podcast recordings on Youtube. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of them as people, I read their recaps on Grantland all season last year and they were the best. Everyone from the Ringer/Grantland including Simmons himself is far better in print.

The problem with "After the Thrones" is that it seems that they're just trying too hard and the result is this stilted, awkward mess of a show. The constant game of "how many pop culture references can we shoehorn into the show" is very tiresome as is the incessant one upsmanship on display.It might be unfair to compare AtT to "Talking Dead", which is the gold standard of after shows, but because of the nature of the format, the comparisons are inevitable. AtT suffers from not having the same level of access that TD has. There are no show runners, cast members or writers as guests and because of a lack of access, the show's time slot is pushed to the next evening which is kind of pointless. These types of shows are essentially post game shows and who exactly is going to watch a post game the day after the game aired? Everything has already been chewed over and discussed. You have to be bringing something REALLY special to the table to make a day after show a worthwhile watch.I must say that the "Who the Fcuk was That?" segment is very useful and brings insight to the audience. Mallory Rubin is also another standout, but even she sometimes comes off as trying too hard to be "one of the guys." I can also do without the cringeworthy sports references. I'm a big sports fan and I get that the show started out at Grantland, but I do not tune into this type of show for ham-fisted Rajon Rondo references. They also need to scrap the "Who Won the Week?" segment. It comes off as filler from some third-rate ESPN afternoon opinionfest.I really wanted to like this show and gave it a fair shot, but after four episodes, my watch has ended.

The tone is lighter than the actual show, and no it's not The Talking Dead which is a moderated discussion of the show and comparing it to that isn't necessarily correct IMO. Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald show their enthusiasm for the show, and they've helped in trying to organize the vast ouvre of this universe. The segments: "Who The That" helps figure out people who have not been in the forefront of the narrative "Who Won The Week" is a fun look at which character did well for themself. The argument that they're giggly and all that stuff is a matter of preference, as someone who listened to "Watch The Thrones" on Grantland I'm really happy to see these guys do their thing under HBO and I hope to see them til the end. Mallory Rubin has been awesome and we need more Jason Concepcion. The people complaining about this show doesn't like the tone but the content is fine.

For all the hype surrounding this segment, I found After the Thrones to be extremely dull and at times annoying to watch. The program is the latest extension of Bill Simmons' Ringer/HBO dealings which seem to be driving Bill's focus away from what he does best as a writer/analyst.After the Thrones began with Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan discussing Jon Snow's death, but they failed to give any interesting or in depth perspectives about a potential comeback. The remainder of the show was basically a recap until Mallory Rubin showed up late straight from what I only can guess must be a Women's Studies class. Every opinion she had was somehow related to how the female characters are mistreated in the series and how happy she was that feminine leaders were emerging. The tirade about Brienne of Tarth finally coming into her element because she was no longer protecting a male character was idiotic. Note to Mallory, Brienne of Tarth has always been in her element in this series! Almost every man that has laughed at her has been butchered or maimed in some manner. She along with Ayra Stark are symbols of physical female strength in this series. In fact every facet of the show is now ruled by female characters bar the Boltons and Knight's Watch. King Thommen is simply a puppet of either Cersei or Margaery, depending on the day of the week. It's a shame and a waste of time. I thought once ESPN let Bill Simmons go he would push out unfiltered NBA and NFL content for once in his career. His unabashed writing with a small hint of pop culture references is what made Bill popular in the first place. Unfortunately, he's switched these priorities around and this focus on awful pop culture garbage is eating up his time to produce sports content. I'll be avoiding the Ringers' non-sporting related activities from now on. I'd suggest that anyone that doesn't want to hear a bunch of 30 or 40 year olds gossiping about E Entertainment topics like school girls should do the same.Stick to sports Bill this is just embarrassing.