The moment Game of Thrones jumped the shark

[Shermann]

For me, it was the death of Myrcella in Season 5

The show started off by scattering the families of the various houses around Westeros. It was a slow burn, and the prospect of joyful reunions was always dangled over our heads. But in Season 5 I became a bit skeptical that there would ever be any such payoff. When Jamie and Myrcella were on the boat, I was thinking to myself: how will she die?? An arrow fired from the beach? A shark? Drowning? DOH so it was poison lipstick. It occurred to me that the show had become predictable. The whole deal with this show was that it was totally unpredictable, but that was no longer the case in Season 5. Seasons 6 - 8 were a slide into mediocrity, but the slide started with that moment in Season 5 in my opinion.

[Polly Hennessey]

1. For me it was the Red Wedding.

[The Blue Flower]

2. I started reading the books after a recommendation

Before it was on the screen. Midway through the third or fourth book (don't remember which) I realized the author had no idea where he was going with his characters, he was just cranking out one event after the next, continually raising the shock level. At that point I stopped reading, and I never watched the show.

[Doc Sportello]

3. It lost its way when the show got out ahead of the books

Martin is a great storyteller. The showrunners not so much - although they seemed to think they were. They turned it into a sort of super heroes story, especially with them all coming together like a Marvel movie. Then they did an amateurish finale by having the best actor "explain" why Bran Stark was the chosen one - a sure sign the showrunners were not up to finishing it with a true ending.