'Game of Thrones' Ratings Hit Season High, Now's the Time to Watch

When HBO's "Game of Thrones" arrived on the scene, there were questions as to whether or not it was going to work. After all, it's tough to introduce a TV audience to an entirely new fantasy world with tons of characters and intricate political intrigue in just one hour a week.

But "Game of Thrones" has proven over time that quality wins out over the general public's short attention span. The show has continued to rise in its ratings up to Sunday night's episode, which marked an all-time high for the series thus far.

The first airing of "Game of Thrones drew in 2.7 million viewers with another 900,000 tuning in for the repeat later that night. That makes the combined numbers for Sunday a healthy 3.6 million, up around 12 to 14 percent over last week. Overall, "Game of Thrones" has increased its audience by 22% since the premiere.

That sort of trend isn't always the case with TV shows, as viewers will often tune in for a premiere and lose interest as the season continues...especially in the case of shows as complicated as "Game of Thrones."  But it seems that word of mouth and positive critical response has aided the show in becoming a hit for HBO. By comparison, "True Blood" averaged about 4.97 million during season three, and that's HBO's most-watched show since "The Sopranos."

But there's also the fact that things are actually starting to happen on "Game of Thrones." Without dropping too many spoilers, there's a big fight brewing, betrayals left and right, and a touch of some creepy supernatural stuff starting to happen. For weeks, "Game of Thrones" has been building up to the point where conflicts boil over into violence, and now we've gotten there. Now is the time to be watching this excellent fantasy series.