Elder_Haman

Yeah. But that wasn’t the opening scene. The opening scene was Moiraine getting dressed. It was … uninspiring.

I do love the prologue. But it would have been a terrible opener for the show. Gitara’s prophecy should have been an easy choice.

Yeah. But it seems that if you’d opened with Gitara’s prophecy and allowed the audience to know that Rand was the Dragon, they would have saved themselves a lot of headaches.

I’ll say this: I rewatched season one. Virtually everything that was bad about it stemmed from the decision to make the identity of the Dragon a mystery. Once they got out from under that poor choice, everything improved.

That’s a pretty thin reed

No, season 4 hasn’t been announced yet. But there is no reason to think Season 3 won’t be completed. But as I said before, Sanderson has been calling it bluntly from the beginning. You’re grasping at straws.

And that he knew it would be way different.

I think everyone is aware of that at this point. Though I find it curious how people wrap themselves in the mantle of “supporting RJ against the show” as if they have any idea of what RJ’s opinion of the show would have been.

I didn't. You said: ...which lead to my comment that you seem genuinely upset by the fact that someone might have good things to say about the show. Which you then reinforce... So in your view, it is impossible for someone to genuinely enjoy the show. They have to search to find good things to say in order to bolster their own private desire to see the show completed. But, it is not impossible. I genuinely enjoy the show (although there were some moments of cringe in S1 that I wish hadn't been there). I especially enjoyed season 2 (which you haven't bothered to watch, but still want us to pay attention to your opinion), where the writing started to elevate to match the performances of the actors. Anyway, you're not interested in having a conversation about the series, just in bashing it. So I'll be on my way.

Oh no! Not people who have good things to say! Anything but that!

Has viewership “tanked”? I don’t think that’s true. Season 2 was well received compared to season 1.

I’m sorry you dislike it so much. Obviously, your feelings are not shared by everyone here.

Yeah.

It certainly doesn’t have a place in the zeitgeist the way GoT did. At the same time, we are 6 months out from the end of season 2 and probably a year away from the start of season 3. It’s like the time between the NFL draft and the start of training camps. Just not much to talk about.

But it's really hard to gauge any of that in the age of streaming. For example, "The Boys" isn't on that list. Are we pretending that's not a huge show for Amazon? What about "Mrs. Maisel"? How many of the minutes "Man in the High Castle" is getting right now are from people who were steered to it by the algorithm because they watched another show in the same genre and because there's nothing out there right this minute that is hitting that spot? My wife was one of those people who binged "Suits" randomly, years after it dropped. We still go back and rewatch our favorites too. I'm not trying to say WoT is some sort of mega hit. Clearly it isn't. But at the same time, it's hard to read much into things dropping on and off of the Nielsen list when they aren't running. It may pop back onto the list a few months from now.

What are some of your favorites?

Are there any shows you actually like?

Why is a lack of Nielsen ratings 8 months after the series aired “telling”?

This is absurd. You don't get to judge whether someone else is a fan.

What leads you to that conclusion? Sanderson has been calling it like he saw it from day one. These statements don't particularly stand out as ominous in any way.

This is interesting speculation... Why do you think that? [As an aside, I have to say one of the things they've done very right is the villains. They've been great.] This is spot on.

Let’s not pretend that insults and gatekeeping are exclusive to one side or the other of this argument.

I don’t know what you’re trying to say here. I’m not speaking in generalities. People are arguing that the writers are bad and that it’s easy to write a story that hews closer to the original. Those people vastly underestimate the complexity of the task. That’s not some sort of cop out. It’s the truth.

So you are arguing that it would be literally impossible for a more faithful adaptation to be made? Come on, man! That’s not at all what’s being said. The claim here is that it’s more complicated than the masses think it is. Is it possible to write a more faithful adaptation? Of course. But these are scripts by committee. There are myriad different tensions and agendas at work. And there are power dynamics that make it impossible to say no to bad ideas. So ultimately, the idea that you can just “put the book on film” is just naive. Is this a good way to create great art? No. It’s awful. But it’s what we’ve got.

This is my point. The burden is on people who are claiming that Harriet secretly hates the show to prove those claims. Just saying, “she’s got an NDA” isn’t proof of anything.