Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 33

TELEVISION "THRONES" Continued from Page 31 Who's who in 'Game of Thrones' Lord Eddard Stark (Sean Bean): Lord of Winterfell and protector of the northern edge of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, he's a man with a strict sense Jon Snow (Kit Harington): Lord Stark's illegitimate son, he's been raised with his half brothers and sisters, much to Lady Stark's chagrin. of honor and maybe a secret or two. 1L Lady Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley): King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy): A king by conquest he took the throne from the Targarayens he's less inter Mistress of Winterfell and mother of most ested in ruling than he is in fighting. but not all her husband's children, she'll risk anything to protect her family. And eating.

And drinking. etc. Tyrion Lannister 9 Sir Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj catch up with me." This being HBO, that's not the only scary thing, of course. I did promise to tell you about the sex, didn't Parents who wonder whether their fantasy-mad kids are ready for a fleshed-out version of "Game of Thrones" that lingers longer than Martin tends to on his sex scenes (and is at least as graphic in the choreography of his often far-more-detailed descriptions of violence) should know that the customs of the country seem to run to rear-entry copulation (always a boon to premium cable, which likes to keep the breasts out front where everyone can see them), and that brothels get visited pretty regularly. Much of this applies to other HBO series, but how many kids are demanding to watch, say, "Boardwalk Empire," a show about Atlantic City during Prohibition? "Game of Thrones" isn't "Harry Potter," and no one involved is pretending it is.

As Benioff puts it, "George's fantasy is not a for-children fantasy. It's sexy and it's violent and it's brutal, and none of the characters are safe. "And, truly, none of the characters. Characters that you might think are going to go on for six seasons meet an early end, and you think of all those shows that have done that kind of putting-character-in-jeopardy drama, who has done it best? It's been HBO in 'The And one of the things that was so exciting about tuning in to 'The Sopranos' or 'The Wire' is you never knew who was going to get whacked. We're not a gangster show, but it's got elements of that within it." So, winter is coming.

If you're old enough to feel a chill at the thought, you're probably old enough for this bedtime story. (Peter Dinklage): The queen's other brother is a dwarf who's smarter and funnier than both his siblings put together. The queen's It helps that there's a story worth sticking to. Unlike HBO's "True Blood," in which creator Alan Ball took a not-particularly-distinguished series about a telepath who attracts vampires and massaged it into something people who wouldn't be caught dead reading about the undead might be willing to watch, "Game of Thrones" is a show worth watching based on a book worth reading. (So far, at least.

Maybe I'll have made it through the fourth book of Martin's series by the time the long-awaited No. 5, A Dance with Dragons, is published July 12.) "One incredible luxury that Dan executive producer D.B. Weiss and I have had working on this is that we're not making it up as we go along," executive producer David Benioff told reporters in January. "We're going into it knowing that we have an incredibly well-mapped-out, well-plotted story line that's going to continue for, if we're lucky, season after season, and George has already done so much of the work for us." Martin, a longtime sci-fi and fantasy author who spent time in the trenches himself as a script writer his TV credits include, not surprisingly, "Beauty and the Beast" even wrote the eighth episode of "Games." "It had been 10 years since I wrote a teleplay or a screenplay," Martin said, "so when the time came for me to sit down and do my script, 'Boy I hope I still know how to do What do you know? I did. The biggest challenge was actually mastering the new software, because screen-writing programs had changed." "There's part of me that would love to be more involved, that would love to write several episodes per season and be there every day on the set with these guys.

On twin brother, he's an accomplished swordsman and the man who actually killed the previous king, a man he was sworn to guard. Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke): She and her brother, Viserys (Harry Lloyd), are in exile, the last descendants of the family that Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey): The king's lovely but not exactly loving bride, she comes from Westeros' wealthiest family. formerly ruled Westeros, and angling for a comeback. Ellen Gray DENISE HARPER Staff Artist the other hand, I still have the books to finish, and the books are 1,500 pages long and take me years, and I have a mob outside of my house with pitchforks and torches that are already very irritated about Book 5 being late, and after that, I have Books 6 and 7," he said. "I think I better stay where I am and finish the books because, of course, the real scary thing is if these guys Benioff and Weiss Send email to grayephillynews.com.

WATCH THIS 'Gun Fight' 'Breaking In' 'Happy Endings' 9:31 tonight ABC In this new sitcom, bride Alex (Elisha Cuth-bert, right) leaves her groom, Dave (Zachary Knighton), at the altar, sending their pals into a panic. 9:30 tonight FOX Oz (Christian Slater, right) and his team expect their latest gig breaking into an elderly woman's home will be easy, but her security system proves formidable. Cameron (Bret Harrison) meets a beautiful dentist (guest Alyssa Mil-ano) who seems unusually curious about his work. 9:30 tonight HBO In 2007, 33 people, including the gunman, died in the Virginia Tech massacre, reigniting the debate over gun control. Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple examines the issue, speaking with, among others, Temple University Hospital Trauma Outreach Coordinator Scott Charles (right).

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