Column: 'Game of Thrones' May Be the Last True Water-Cooler Show. Is That Such a Bad Thing?

Game of Thrones fans are sure to witness many deaths in season 8, but rumor has it that the show’s most painful casualty will come after the series finale. As Netflix firehoses content and cashed-up streaming services keep emerging to transform media giants’ intellectual property into profit, critics like me have been fretting over the seemingly inevitable demise of television as mass cultural event.

Game of Thrones fans are sure to witness many deaths in season 8, but rumor has it that the show’s most painful casualty will come after the series finale. As Netflix firehoses content and cashed-up streaming services keep emerging to transform media giants’ intellectual property into profit, critics like me have been fretting over the seemingly inevitable demise of television as mass cultural event.