Last January, the day after HBO screened advance footage of 'Game of Thrones' for critics, I sat down with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the show's executive producers, to interview to them about the process of adapting George R.R. Martin's fantasy novel for the small screen.

The much-anticipated drama finally debuts April 17, but the process of getting it on the air was a long one. More than five years ago, Weiss and Benioff, both of whom have written novels and films, began the process of convincing HBO that the pay-cable channel should delve into fantasy, a genre that made executives "nervous" at first, Benioff said. Once the series was green-lit, they had to figure out how to subdivide Martin's novel, a saga that takes place in several locations with a large ensemble of characters, into 10 episodes of television that were shot last year on location in Northern Ireland and Malta.

Those may well have been the easy parts. Now Benioff and Weiss have to convince TV viewers -- or at least HBO subscribers -- that a tale featuring knights, swordplay, mysterious creatures and palace intrigues is something they should try.

Though 'Lord of the Rings' was a hit at the box office, as Weiss noted, there's a "preconception that fantasy as a genre is the province of 13- to 15-year-old boys."

Sick of waiting for Guillermo Del Toro to adapt 'The Hobbit' for the big screen? This news might help tide you over: HBO has officially picked up fantasy series 'Game of Thrones' for a 10-episode season.

The show is based on George R. R. Martin's best-selling 'A Song of Ice and Fire' novels, which, admittedly, I have never read. Still, I'm excited about the possibilities for this series. HBO did family drama right ('Six Feet Under'), reinvented the Western ('Deadwood'), gave us a wonderfully quirky vampire show ('True Blood'), and the greatest police drama of all time ('The Wire'). I can't wait to see what an epic HBO fantasy series will look like.

Gosh, Amanda Peet sure is busy these days. Not only is she starring as NBS president Jordan McDeere on NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but she is also newly pregnant. And, this past weekend, she became a newlywed. Tomorrow she will be announcing the cure for the avian flu (as usual, just making sure you're paying attention).

Peet married screenwriter David Benioff on Saturday after a year engagement. This was the first marriage for both (which surprises me in today's 'married today, divorced tomorrow' Hollywood society) and it took place at Friends Seminary, the Quaker school that Peet attended while a teenager. Last week, on The Late Show with David Letterman, Peet revealed that she was pregnant and was due early next year.

In addition to her current role on the Aaron Sorkin drama, Peet has starred in Syriana and The Whole Nine Yards, with Studio 60 co-star Matthew Perry. Benioff is currently working on Wolverine, a spin-off of the X-Men movie series starring Hugh Jackman.