Yeah, I mean, I don't expect it to be exactly like the books, but I do think it should make some sense in terms of the bones of the story. But this isn't a LOTR show. It's a fantasy-adventure, which is fine. Call it something else, just not a LOTR series. I'm not complaining though. It's a good show. I just can't really connect it to LOTR. But that's me.
And CW is terrible. There's not much worth watching there anymore outside S&L, and maybe one other show. The rest is just unwatchable.
I have zero issues connecting this to LOTR. People forget that they can't change anything so if the story is different then the Tolkien Estate is fine with it. If they are fine with it then that should be that. Oh, and with the CW, S&L and Stargirl.