<P> On April 3, 2011, two weeks before the series premiere aired, the first 15 minutes of "Winter Is Coming" were released as a preview on HBO's website . Wired's Dave Banks called the preview "much better than anticipated . (How's that even possible?)" Scott Stinson of Toronto's National Post noted that "you know you aren't watching a network drama when there have been two beheadings in the first 15 minutes ." </P> <P> The first episode of Game of Thrones obtained 2.2 million viewers in its premiere airing, with an additional 2 million viewers in the reruns aired during the same night . The day after the premiere HBO aired the episode six additional times, adding another 1.2 million to the viewer's figures . Reruns aired during the following week upped the total viewership to 6.8 million . </P> <P> The show premiered on HBO Canada at the same time as its U.S. premiere . On April 18, 2011, the show premiered in United Kingdom and Ireland through Sky Atlantic, gathering 750,000 viewers, a ratings record for the network . The series was broadcast throughout Latin America beginning on May 8, 2011 . New Zealand's Dominion Post noted in an article on copyright laws that the popular series was downloaded via file sharing service regularly before its release to that market . In Australia, the July 17 premiere of the series was largely overshadowed by the release of A Dance with Dragons, but according to The Sydney Morning Herald was successful "especially with women, who aren't seen as a target market for sword - fighting sagas". </P> <P> The critical response to the first episode of the series was positive . Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes surveyed 10 reviews of the episode and judged 100% of them to be positive with an average score of 8.5 out of 10 . The website's critical consensus reads, "' Winter is Coming' is an introduction to a wonderfully bleak journey that honors its source material with stellar execution and an impressive cast ." James Poniewozik from Time considered it an "epic win", and Jace Lacob from The Daily Beast deemed it "unforgettable". HitFix's Alan Sepinwall wrote that while it was too early to say if Game of Thrones belonged to the HBO pantheon with shows like The Sopranos or The Wire, it had many things in common with those shows . IGN's Matt Fowler wrote that the pilot "effortlessly takes us along, faithfully, through the book, but it also manages to capture the majestically morbid spirit of Martin's pages and turn them into thrilling television". </P>

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