Is Game of Thrones the last communal TV show viewing experience?

Vulture

"What current scripted series besides Game of Thrones has the power to move and enthrall viewers so viscerally, and in such great numbers, all at once? None," says Matt Zoller Seitz. He adds: "It feels much more like a bridging series, more emotionally and creatively attuned to TV’s past than to its present and future. 'We' are still doing things together, but rarely at the same moment. The experience of watching TV has become more like reading a novel or listening to music on headphones (or perhaps seeing a film in a theater with only one or two people in it). We’re aware that others are experiencing the story, but they aren’t physically or virtually with us as the plot unfolds. We watch new episodes of favorite shows when we get around to them. We discuss them when we’re able, and try to avoid spoilers in the meantime. After the battle, massacre, double-cross, or conflagration that brings the curtain down on Martin’s world, an era will have ended in Westeros. And as goes Westeros, so goes TV. Game of Thrones may be the last show we all watch together the way we used to, on such a tremendous scale."