Game of Thrones
This sprawling epic of mystery and strategy is a perfect metaphor for the intrigue of global politics. But "Game of Thrones" has done more than offer easy hooks for headline writers; it's become something of an international football. The show is routinely one of the most pirated series in the world. The premier of the third season set a single-day piracy record with more than one million viewers worldwide downloading the episode, a fact that led America's ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, to castigate his host nation for being one of the "worst offenders" when it came to downloading the series. "For those who aren't already fans, it is a great epic chronicling the devious machinations of rival noble houses fighting for supremacy," Bleich wrote on his Facebook page. "Unfortunately, nearly as epic and devious as the drama, is its unprecedented theft by online viewers around the world."
