TV fans have had their say on the ‘biggest’ show of the century – with some viewers believing there’s “no contest”.
The 21st century has given us so many incredible shows on both television and streaming platforms ranging from The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Peaky Blinders, Succession and many more.
Now fans have had they’re say on which one is the “biggest” of them all after a Reddit user created a thread titled ‘What do you consider to be the ‘biggest’ shows of the 21st century?’.’
They wrote: “I’ll let you interpret ‘biggest’. Obviously we could just look at viewership stats and call it a day but that’s not particularly fun.
“I’m more interested in anecdotal experiences; the shows that felt like everyone around you was watching, had the biggest cultural impact or even singular seasons of shows that peaked high, even if the show as a whole dropped off.”
After reading the post, users flocked to comment on the discussion, and it looked like one show was heavy on their minds.
One fan expressed: “Game of Thrones and it’s not even a contest. The show was so big people went to bars to watch it with dozens/hundreds of other people.
“The finale of each season could easily have gotten 4-6 months of chatter post-airing. The trailers were as big as any major movie.”
Someone agreed: “Cinemas near me aired the first episodes of seasons even. I went there and it was completely sold out. Tell me one show that ever achieved that.”
Another enthused: “For almost a decade, it defined the conversation at the workplace and in pop culture. Kids were named after the characters.
“Entire industries came up around it (tourist groups, leaker blogs, you name it). Even after it ended, the physical media sales remained high, and the show consistently ranks among the most rewatched series on HBO.”
While a fourth felt the same: “Completely agree. I think what helped GoT too is that for nearly every season they were able to release a season per year. Kept it relevant and people were always super excited for the next season.”
Despite quite a few people rallying for Game of Thrones, a few other shows cropped up in the discussion.
Somebody said: “I feel like the beginning of survivor around 2000 was one of the biggest cultural phenomenons of all time. In a way, it brought in reality tv shows to the main stream.”
A Reddit user commented: “The Office. This show is almost single-handedly responsible for boosting Netflix when it was still in its proof of concept phase to the behemoth it became.”
Game of Thrones began back in 2011 on HBO and aired 73 episodes as part of an eight-season run before ending in 2019.
The huge success of the show spawned spin-offs including prequel series House of the Dragon and the upcoming show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
All eight seasons of Game of Thrones can be streamed on NOW TV