10 TV Shows That Had To Fail So We Could Get Game Of Thrones

Game of Thrones feel like a bound forward in phantasy television . But no television receiver show emerge from a vacuum , and for Game of Thrones to succeed , a number of innovative and brilliant TV display had to break apart and burn , to light its path . Here are 10 telecasting shows that failed , but helped pave the way for Game of Thrones .

1. Twin Peaks (1990-1991)

When it comes to shows that feature plenty of weirdness , moody and complicated case , and a sense of mouse foreboding , Twin Peaks always deserves the first citation . David Lynch ’s bizarre murder enigma about an FBI agent in a minuscule town was a immense hit in its first season , but after the slaying was work , military rank nosedived — thus proving , maybe , that a show needs to keep people hooked with a central questionmark .

2. Doorways (1992)

Unlike the other show on this list , this is n’t one that actually air out on TV — but this is unquestionably a show whose nonstarter made Game of Thrones potential . George R.R. Martin spend year pitch a show about people who travel to alternate universes , and ostensibly even filmed a pilot — but the show never beam . ( We ask him about ithere . ) And if his show had get on the air , then Martin never would have fled Hollywood to save his unconventional fantasy epos .

George R.R. Martin Answers Our Toughest Song of Ice and Fire Questions

3. American Gothic (1995-1996)

This Sam Raimi - produced show only air for one season , but it stay influential even if it ’s not passing well known among the public at large . American Gothic postdate the evil Sheriff Buck ( Gary Cole ) as he intrigue and corrupts the great unwashed in a small town . You want to let the cat out of the bag about show feature nasty the great unwashed who you trust will suffer a deserts , but you ca n’t look aside ? American Gothichad that in jigaboo . Not to mention dotty plot of ground twists , dozens of complicated morally gray characters , and a sense of the supernatural creeping into a realistic man .

4. Profit (1996)

Around the same time , this show starring Adrian Pasdar as a scheming business executive who was raised by a television set set inside a shipping boxwood ventilate for one season on Fox . It ’s kind of knockout to believe something this crazy and subversive ever vent on television — but its glorious failure definitely helped chip at out a space for Game of Thrones , years later . Like Gothic , this show had an amoral protagonist who does ugly thing while we ca n’t look away . But also , it did the thing of being loosely based on literal history days before Thrones , because the whole affair is a pastiche of Richard III . Oh , and the incest . Jim Profit was seduced by his stepmother — Fox execs would n’t let her be his actual female parent .

5. Carnivale (2003-2005)

This is one of the appearance most often mentioned as a precursor to Thrones , and as one which might have flourished more well in the current epoch of bounty cable . Carnivale publicize on HBO and featured the kind of complex supernatural storytelling , with a confusing mythos , that few audience were ready for 10 yr ago . As Rick Paulasexplains in The Awl , this show was so complex and challenging that fans had to analyze every word out of Godhead Daniel Knauf ’s mouth and pore over every promo for the show for clues to its light - vs - grim mythos . In a time before HBO was airing both True Blood and Thrones , this show lit a lantern .

6. Kingdom Hospital (2004)

Here ’s another show that it ’s hard to believe bare on meshing television system . Stephen King produce an American version Lars von Trier ’s The Kingdom , about a stalk hospitalriven by faculty politics . King ’s version lead off with a man being hit by a van while jogging , and then being stupefy in the infirmary , where some horrible ogre animal is coming . Apart from the creepy-crawly supernatural weirdness this show had in spades , there ’s also the fact that this is a context where the insular scheming and power grabs take center level , while the supernatural lurks menacingly in the background . Episodes are as probable to be about someone taking cite for someone else ’s research as the climax of Anubis .

7. Deadwood (2004-2006)

This challenging HBO westerly series was such a unmortgaged harbinger to Thrones , there ’s evena mash - up Tumblr . Deadwood was critically acclaimed , but the hype was pulled after only a few seasons . Criticscomparethe show ’s treatment of sexual urge workers try on to escape exploitation with Thrones intervention of Ros and other characters . This show may not have been a huge hit for HBO , but it helped pioneer the impression of a sweeping political series , with tons of players and an evolving political landscape , as the town of Deadwood rise out of almost nothing .

8. Rome (2005-2007)

This is the showmost often mentionedas a forerunner to Game of Thrones — HBO ’s massive diachronic epic was shoot oversea , had a huge budget , and featured grownup themes around a story of dynastic taking over . And , from a strictly virtual stand , Rome helped show Thrones what not to do in some areas , according to creator Bruno Heller , whotells EW : “ They learned a lot from a byplay commercial-grade sense , what not to do . Rome was the first show HBO shot out of land with gravid budget that was menses . The mistake we made are the mistakes Game of Thrones learned from . ”

9. Kings (2009)

We adore this NBC show about an alternate New York where a scriptural struggle for the throne is taking place — but it might have just been too weird and lackadaisical for web hearing . But in the social rank of shows that explored complicated and fell political maneuverings alongside faith and the supernatural , Kings has a special berth . Plus this show presume to have a cheery main character , long before King Renly .

10. Camelot and The Borgias (2011-2013)

And finally , there are the display that competed against Game of Thrones , and lost . Camelot was a plush Arthurian saga , star Jamie Campbell - Bower as Lancelot , produce by Doctor Who scribe Chris Chibnall for the BBC and Starz , which die after just one brusque season . And The Borgias was another huge - budget historic epic , airing on Showtime , which got axed after three seasons because it was just too expensive . Both shows launched in April 2011 , around the same prison term as Game of Thrones , and if either of them had been a bigger hit , they could have cannibalized the popularity of Thrones — or even require its crown .

Additional reporting by Katharine Trendacosta .

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