I just finished watching the 3 episodes of Reacher and the final season of Jack Ryan. Which leaves me more confused at the state of show production at Amazon.
Reacher so far has been great, he's not ever belittled or sidelined for a woman to take the spotlight (in fact his nickname is 'the big guy' and a running joke is not to mess with him as he'll hit you like a freight train)
Jack Ryan was more questionable in the beginning, first season was good in proof of concept though that UAV pilot sidestory was unnecessary, 2nd season was weakest with Venezuela. 3rd season really improved from secret Soviet Union plots, using NATO to bait WW3, coup and false flag nukes. 4th season that I just watched would probably be something everyone here would like since the bad guys are NGOs using their fame as cover to run drug, exploitation and terrorist operations with the help of corrupt US officials in Government and CIA. Then we have something like Invincible too which haven't caught the second season yet but heard it's good.
Now I try to counter that with something like Rings of Power or the Wheel of Time and now you get where I'm confused. How can a company that can bring an audience to niche franchises flop SO hard with established well known franchises? The reason I'm MORE concerned than ever is because of this that there finally seems to be movement on a 40k production with Cavill as a producer but if the same people that did Rings of Power are involved, this might be used to bring in the worst thing imaginable: Female space marines..
Is it just which team is working on it as it sounds like after Rings of Power, that team has been largely demoted or how the contracts for adaptation are in place? I've not watched Netflix ever since Cuties was on there but they seem to be sticking a lot closer to the author's intentions with things like One Piece and Quiet on the Western front and been more successful for it so is that the main thing to look out for?
Sorry for long post just TDLR; trying to know how Amazon makes stuff so I know if 40k gets Rings of Power treatment or is actually good.
Its the cost and control. Grand Toure is ending because the creators are too old to really continue. Its been a great show because the executives could be trusted to make a great show that would bring in viewers. If something cost too much, they stopped doing that the next season, for example the tent moving around everywhere.
Rings of Power cost a ton, and the creators weren't trusted, so they put in a lot of extra executives. These committee types were the ones demanding woman power and other ideas because they wanted to get as many viewers as they could. It was really dumb, but committees full of crazy people are like that. Its especially obvious the creators didn't actually understand Tolkien and his works to really continue. Add in a lot of ego and you have this result.
The shows you mentioned are way cheaper, have a fairly easy concept to understand, and people who want to make that. Way less committees and ego.
The reason why Disney fails is the same reason why Rings of Power failed. They love committees and meetings, have egos, and the cost means looking at every detail. This is why the movie or hotel is generic but specific details are amazing.
Add in a bit of weird funding problems like esg and you have a product for no one that's supposed to be for everyone.