SPOILERS Just as President Obama is asking Congress for permission to declare war on ISIS, another Isis is about to buy the farm. The charming golden Labrador retriever that appears beside Lord Grantham in the opening shot of “Downton Abbey” does seem to be preparing to meet her maker. Poor Isis. Robert is so clueless that Isis is not being rushed straight to a veterinarian.

Shades of Sybil and her death in childbirth because the Crawleys are so removed from reality. Isis is lying on the floor in the main parlor, listless, and someone suggests she might be pregnant. Even Robert is smart enough to know this isn’t possible. Isis is about to join Sybil and Matthew in Julian Fellows’ heaven, perhaps this evening between 9 and 10pm.

SPOILER It will be revealed that Isis indeed has cancer. Eventually Robert takes her to the vet but they decide against treatment. Isis will expire in the main bed chambers.

And Isis, the terrorist group? If only Fellows could dispatch of them so easily. But I do say, having just caught up with last week’s episode on the PBS app, “Downton” is the best written show (besides acting, directing, cinematography, production) anywhere. Laura Carmichael doesn’t get as much press as Michelle Dockery. But Lady Edith’s grief and her story arc about the baby are extraordinary. Joanne Froggatt just won a Golden Globe, I think for her work last week when she realizes Bates is innocent. And I really love Mr. Moseley– Kevin Doyle. On to tonight and putting on– or down– the dog.

EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE Don’t get too attached to your favorite “Game of Thrones” characters. The biggest surprise at the Writers Guild West Awards last night was the appearance of  George R.R. Martin, whose  best selling epic fantasy novels, “Song of Ice and Fire” are the basis for HBO’s mega hit, “Game Of Thrones” He doesn’t come to LA much and was treated like royalty at the event.

Martin has a warning about the upcoming season. “People are going to die who don’t die in the books, so even the book readers will be unhappy. So everybody better be on their toes. David and D.B. (David Benioff and D.B. Weiss co-creators of ‘Game Of Thrones) are even bloodier than I am.”

Martin was pretty much the most popular person at the WGAW awards. I asked him how it feels to be such a rock star author.

Martin:“It has good and bad aspects to it frankly. As a writer, you start out you’re obscure at first. You publish short stories and maybe a few hundred people read them, if you’re lucky a few thousand. You dream of great success. Sometimes your dreams come true. You get great success. It has wonderful things about it, but also has some drawbacks. You have to deal with it. It is what it is.”

How many more seasons are there to this wildly popular show?

Martin replied: “ Not really certain yet. This is the fifth season, the sixth season HBO picked up last year. We will have a 7th, 8th or 9th, no one knows. They only renew one or two seasons at a time. After we do season 6, maybe we’ll get a renewal for 7th and 8th. That all depends, Television is a very changeable medium.”

Even though it’s the hottest show on TV?

“Yeah, it’s the hottest show on TV now, but will it be the hottest show on TV two years from now? Hot shows come and go and television changes, and I’ve lived through that before. I certainly hope that we get to tell the entire story. Because whatever happens with the show I’m going to finish the books, it will be seven books. But each of these books are 1500 pages long and they each have enough material in them for several seasons. I have two more books, the one I’m writing right now, ‘The Winds Of Winter,’ and after that the last book, ‘The Dream of Spring,’ so those will be the two final books. But we’re talking 3000 pages of material. How many seasons that translates too? That’s up to D.B. And David.”

Lisa Kudrow proved to be a deft awards show host. The night was more bouncy, fun and casual than the usual Hollywood awards shows since it was not televised. Shonda Rhimes, who received the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award told the appreciative crowd, “You giving me this award is maybe a polite way of telling me to stop as if Thursday nights are not enough. I take the fact that being powerful and bad ass is just my right.”

Presenter Cheryl Hines said, “I don’t know why writers are such a big deal. I was on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ and we just made that shit up.”

Ben Affleck received the Valentine Davies Award for his charitable work. Self-deprecating Ben remarked, “They told me to write something to accept this. You shouldn’t tell that to a writer/actor like me. So it’s 150 pages, but it reads like 120.” Ben went on to explain that, “People of often skeptical of celebrities who engage in philanthropic work. I used to be one of them. We need to come to grips with the media glamorizing celebrities every choice, every tweet. I find it disingenuous to give somebody a microphone and then tell them you don’t want to hear them talk.” As Ben went on to tell his heartfelt reasons why giving back is important to him, he quipped, “Now I see how some of this could be cut.”

The most moving moment of the night? When the late Harold Ramis’s family accepted the Screen Laurel Award on his behalf.