Earlier this afternoon, Game of Thrones asked fans of the show to “join us today on Facebook Live” at 2 p.m. EST for the reveal of the season seven premiere date, which was trapped inside a giant block of ice. That’s an interesting way to make an announcement, especially for something as innocuous as when a show is returning. What could go wrong? As it turns out, one big thing: it takes awhile for ice to melt. Even with flamethrowers.
Whoever came up with the ice block idea — which involved Facebook fans commenting with the word “fire”; every time the meter went all the way around, the flamethrower(s) would go off — didn’t account for this, and anyone turning into the feed spent an hour watching the darn thing melt. Or more to the point, not melt. It was madness, it was hilarious, it was… a lot like the wait for The Winds of Winter, actually. ( It was also super successful: over 130,000 people tuned in.) Now, I’m not saying George R.R. Martin is in charge of HBO’s marketing, but I’m not not saying it, either.
At least it gave everyone time to make “season 7 is coming… eventually” jokes.
In the era of #PeakTV, the #GameofThrones date announcement has us literally watching a block of melting ice… Help.
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) March 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/jowrotethis/status/839914531316981761
Welcome to 2017, where over 100,000 people are watching a live stream of ice melting to reveal the premiere date for #GoTS7 #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/d6MmMMjRGt
— Allyson Punderland (@ReallyAlly) March 9, 2017
Is this the strongest block of ice in the history of ice blocks? Good god season 8 will come out by the time it melts #GameofThrones
— Brett Herskowitz (@bretther) March 9, 2017
Westworld’s Season 2 premiere date will come to us in the form of a dusty wind gust actually making a tumbleweed in real time.
— Matt Fowler (@TheMattFowler) March 9, 2017
HAHAHA more #GameofThrones live ice block melting issues. UGH. pic.twitter.com/Lud5nZuCMK
— Jelli Oswald (@thisisjelli) March 9, 2017
Waiting for #GameOfThrones Season 7 release date on their FB like: pic.twitter.com/oSUcOlu3MR
— Michele Boyd (@micheleboyd) March 9, 2017
"What are you up to today?" "Well, right now I'm literally watching a block of ice melt" #gameofthrones
— Jessica Roy (@jessica_roy) March 9, 2017
Sorry, I keep typing "VINYL" into that Game of Thrones thing and it's making the ice freeze back up.
— Rob Wesley (@eastwes) March 9, 2017
I hope some intern just walks out in front of this block of ice with the premiere date scribbled on a piece of cardboard.
— Brian Grubb (@briancgrubb) March 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheFienPrint/status/839924650926678016
https://twitter.com/carolineframke/status/839914789191155712
https://twitter.com/tvoti/status/839924751271239680
https://twitter.com/tvoti/status/839931366363955200
A HBO exec right now: "For season eight we should make them watch paint dry, I bet they all will."
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) March 9, 2017
The premiere date was finally announced, over an hour later. It’s July 16. Hooray.
