I'm very much enjoying House of the Dragon season 2 so far, but haven't been able to shake the feeling that the near two-year gap between seasons has indeed hurt the show in some way. Ratings for the show are strong, but not as good as season 1 - the season 2 premiere was down around 22% compared to the season 1 premiere. Google Trends data shows it hasn't matched the same spike of interest as season 1's release. But mostly I'm talking anecdotally here: there are so many people I know who loved Game of Thrones and watched House of the Dragon season 1 when airing, but who "haven't got round" to season 2 yet, or didn't even realize it was back. I don't think it's hurt the show's quality, but it has stalled the momentum around the series. Game of Thrones worked because it came back so reliably the same time every year, and when it did have longer gaps later on, it was so big it had the same guaranteed audience waiting, a luxury HOTD does not have. And when so much of the fun comes with di

Donald Sutherland has sadly ed away at the age of 88, but he leaves behind an indelible on-screen legacy. From comedy to drama, horror to fantasy, Sutherland stands as an absolute titan of the industry. There are so many performances of his worthy of discussion, from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (where one facial expression alone is truly iconic) to the mysterious Mr. X in JFK, where he arguably steals the whole movie in just one (long) scene. For me, I'd have to give mention to President Snow in The Hunger Games series - especially Catching Fire. As a fan of the books, he so brilliantly brought the villain to chilling, captivating life. The other I'd go for is Ordinary People, which is one of the most layered, emotional performances that I've seen of his, and should have received an Oscar nomination, but there are at least a dozen more that could be named.