“Game of Thrones” 11.7 million viewers on HBO itself (17 mil across all HBO platforms) was a Game-changer for the network.

Both “Barry” and “Veep,” which follow at 10pm and 10:30pm, had huge increases because of “GoT.”

“Barry” shot up from around 424,000 viewers the previous week to 1,775,000. Yikes! And “Veep” went up from 473K to over 1 million.

Of course, “Barry,” the subtly hilarious show about a hit man, is a broader experience. When the “GoT” viewers got to “Veep” they witnessed deft political satire and a character– Amy– who had an abortion, and then went back to work. I don’t know if HBO planned it that way, but the timing of the “Veep” episode was excellent. “GoT” gave them a much bigger audience.

Meanwhile, even Showtime’s “Billions” held its own against “Thrones.” They still managed 751,000 viewers, down just 100,000. So we’ll see how DVR viewing went over the next couple of days. I did have to DVR “Billions,” but it was worth it.

At last! Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown of “This is Us” is finally starting to step away a little from that treacly series. He announced yesterday on Twitter that he’s doing a guest arc on Amazon’s Emmy winning comedy, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Rather than endure endless deaths and sobbing on the NBC show, Brown has decided it’s time for some laughs. In “Mrs. Maisel,” Rachel Brosnahan is a divorcee pursuing a career in stand up comedy circa 1961. Maybe Sterling will play a comic. He’s the most talented actor on prime time TV and he’s ready for a Denzel-like breakout.

I’m beyond excited to share some pretty marvelous news… #MrsMaisel, I’m coming for you!🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿 @MaiselTV @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/0QCVhJSgSJ

— Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) April 15, 2019

Georgia Engel has died at age 70. She is famous and beloved for playing Georgette, Ted Baxter’s much put upon girlfriend and then wife on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” She was also featured on “Everyone Loves Raymond.” She was nominated twice for  Emmy Awards on “MTM” and three times for “Raymond.” She also had a recurring role on “Coach.”

It’s funny to think that Engel was only 70. Ted Knight, who played Ted Baxter, was twenty five years her senior. Everyone on the show was much older, but Georgette– thrown into that pool of Emmy winners just as Valerie Harper was leaving to start “Rhoda,” held her own with everyone from Ted to Lou Grant, Phyllis and Murray. She seemed naive on the outside and blissfully unaware of what was going on around her, but Engel imbued Georgette with strong underpinnings. Her highlight was Georgette performing “Steam Heat” at the Teddy Awards (the local Emmys.)

Engel comes in at 16:00.

 Georgia Engel was such a delight. Condolences to her family. But she lives on in clips.

“Game of Thrones” season 8 premiere was a winner any way you see it.

The HBO swords and boots opera brought in a whopping 17.4 million fans across all venues including HBO Go and HBO Now. I see now where all those “NCIS Los Angeles” viewers went last night.

On just HBO, “Game of Thrones” pulled over 11 million viewers, which is less than the 12 million for the Season 7 premiere. But it didn’t matter. HBO is simply offering too many ways to see the show. Listen, if you can get 11 million people to sit down and watch a cable show at 9pm, that’s an insanely good accomplishment!

As for the actual episode, Jon Snow doesn’t seem to still get the news that he’s Dany’s nephew or cousin, and that he’s sleeping with her. Maybe by next week, he will have figured it out. And maybe it was only me, but I really liked the dragon rides!

This episode, “Winterfell,” was good at re-establishing everyone and setting up the ending. There should be some cliffhangers coming up. Me, personally? I think Peter Dinklage will sit on the throne. For some reason, he’s the only I can’t imagine dead. But I know NOTHING. Really.