With the rise in quality TV has come a rise in quality TV criticism, and it’s long past time someone started chronicling and quantifying that shit. That someone is Rotten Tomatoes, which launched a TV ratings section of its popular review aggregate website last fall. As with Rotten Tomatoes’ movie ratings, reviews are culled from critics at newspapers, magazines, and pop culture websites (like The A.V. Club). The section is still in beta mode, but this week site launched its new system for rating individual episodes with “Two Swords,” the fourth-season premiere of Game Of Thrones. (Not surprisingly, the episode is rated 96-percent fresh.)
Rotten Tomatoes editor-in-chief Matt Atchity says he chose Game Of Thrones to launch the feature because of its large and devoted fan base, adding, “Since it’s avidly followed by its audience, Game Of Thrones is the perfect series to invite our users to check in even more frequently.” In other words, winter is coming. Gotta get them pageviews while you can.