Harry Potter TV Series (8 Viewers)

[Optimus Prime]

They just have to be faithful to the novels

Don’t add new characters or subplots to ‘surprise’ loyal fans

That very rarely works out

They may be able to get away with one stunt/gimmick casting (actor from films) any more than that I think would be distracting

 

[tenordas]

It gives me pause too, but this is the Harry Potter series. One of the only pop culture phenoms that actually managed to stick the landing and have a satisfying ending. (Hermoine belongs with Harry, but I digress.) Lots of other shows, think of GoT specifically, didn't have the full story with the proper ending. And word is that HBO wanted to keep going for more seasons despite the cost, but the Davids wanted to move on so they wrapped it up too quickly.

If any show can be sustained for that long, making enough money to pay for itself, it's the Harry Potter books. Even with all the stuff surrounding Rowling, the video game was a huge financial success and there are two very crowded theme parks based on it.

Yeah, I disagree a bit on sticking the landing perfectly on the ending. It worked, but there were issues with it.
I probably shouldn't offer my opinion as I don't particularly care for the books very much (don't like her writing style, really hated the constant red herrings through the first four novels, was annoyed by the mistakes in the sixth novel, and was absolutely done with Voldemort being the main villain by the end of the fourth book - I really wanted to be done with him and have another villain take over because he'd become just tiresome), but I will offer it and flame away if you must.

I'm certainly not saying the ending was a mess like GoT or Lost, but there were parts I found disappointing:
1. The films were better than the books for me, but the final film left out most of the explanation for Snape's actions and I feel that was an error; that was the one thing done better in the books than the films.
2. I know I complained about red herrings, so maybe it was jus another one all along, but while she's never admitted it, I believe she changed what happened to Dumbledore before writing the seventh book because "too many people had figured it out." She did admit in an interview once that she changed a few things "because too many people had figured it out" and I feel like Dumbledore not returning has to have been one of them. With his bird being a phoenix, it was all too obvious that he, too, was to rise from the ashes and be part of the climax, but that didn't happen, just a silly exchange in Harry's mind ("who's to say what is real?") instead, very much a let down IMHO.
3. Speaking of Dumbledore, and nothing could be done about it, obviously, but the loss of Richard Harris after the second film hurt the series for me. Michael Gambon was a good actor, but his Dumbledore didn't ever have the gravitas of Harris' portrayal. He was rather cardboard in comparison. I admit it's a ridiculous thing to ask someone to be as good as one the top 5 actors of the twentieth century, but there it is.
4. As others have mentioned, Hermione and Ron; Harry and Ginny. Neither couple made any sense in any way. It was downright weird, honestly. I'm not saying Harry necessarily should have ended up married to Hermione, which Rowling said she should have done, but these two couples she put together shouldn't have been couples. Neither of them worked.

Other than that, yes, it was a pretty satisfying ending.

I'm on the fence for this series. Not sure what the point is in retelling the story again. If it's to insert a lot of the extraneous stuff from the books, then I'd say don't do it at all. Those were good cuts.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I think one of the underrated reasons the films work so well is the cast continuity

I think other than a couple minor exceptions all the actors were the same

I hope the series is able to do the same

I know HBO doesn’t do 22 episode seasons but I expect each book to be 8-10 episodes

That for 10 years is still a long time to keep an entire cast together (especially of mostly kids)

Stranger things have happened

 

[Cage1]

I will die on this hill. Even Rowling admitted it and that Hermoine and Ron made no sense.

Nothing after book 4 made any sense.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Some of y’all have never been to the country where you’ll regularly see fine *** women with complete doofus men
Hermione and Ron make sense- he is a source of goofiness and comfort (2 things she lacks entirely) and of course someone she can ‘fix’
Harry doesn’t need a GF, he needs a peer - he can’t get comfortable, he needs to be pushed/challnged
As a relationship H/H compliment what the other is already good at
Hermione and Ron make each other better
Ginny offers Harry a more comforting version of Hermione, but with the added sense of home/family that Harry always lacked and yearned for

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I will die on this hill. Even Rowling admitted it and that Hermoine and Ron made no sense.

Saying Rowling supports your position is not as firm a ground as you assert

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Nothing after book 4 made any sense.

I see the confundus charm worked

 

[Cage1]

Saying Rowling supports your position is not as firm a ground as you assert

It's like John Carpenter saying Wang Chi is the hero of Big Trouble in Little China. I respect your opinion as the creator, but it's objectively false.

 

[Loco Hornet Fan]

It gives me pause too, but this is the Harry Potter series. One of the only pop culture phenoms that actually managed to stick the landing and have a satisfying ending. (Hermoine belongs with Harry, but I digress.) Lots of other shows, think of GoT specifically, didn't have the full story with the proper ending. And word is that HBO wanted to keep going for more seasons despite the cost, but the Davids wanted to move on so they wrapped it up too quickly.

If any show can be sustained for that long, making enough money to pay for itself, it's the Harry Potter books. Even with all the stuff surrounding Rowling, the video game was a huge financial success and there are two very crowded theme parks based on it.

I don’t think it was just the show runners wanting to move on though, the cast seemed drained and ready for it to be over with too.

Kit Harrington has admitted that the end of the show was probably rushed but that he didn’t see an alternative because they were all exhausted and ready to move on. Another season just wasn’t going to happen.

That’s my main concern with the planning on 10 seasons for this show.

 

[tenordas]

Kit Harrington has admitted that the end of the show was probably rushed but that he didn’t see an alternative because they were all exhausted and ready to move on. Another season just wasn’t going to happen.

I wonder if that statement explains GRRM's inability to finish book six (much less the entire series). Maybe he just became exhausted from the intricacies of the story he'd written and can't get anything further out of his brain when he tries to go forward.

 

[St. Widge]

Saying Rowling supports your position is not as firm a ground as you assert

I mean, sure when she gets involved in stuff she knows nothing about, but when it's about a world she created, can you think of a better source?

 

[St. Widge]

Some of y’all have never been to the country where you’ll regularly see fine *** women with complete doofus men
Hermione and Ron make sense- he is a source of goofiness and comfort (2 things she lacks entirely) and of course someone she can ‘fix’
Harry doesn’t need a GF, he needs a peer - he can’t get comfortable, he needs to be pushed/challnged
As a relationship H/H compliment what the other is already good at
Hermione and Ron make each other better
Ginny offers Harry a more comforting version of Hermione, but with the added sense of home/family that Harry always lacked and yearned for

I have been to America.

You can create justifications all you want, but the fact is that Ron is an idiot and nobody as smart as Hermoine would want to deal with him long term. If they make sense as a couple, then it's a couple that gets divorced in a few years realizing that neither is fit for the other and they actually hold each other back from being who they are.

Harry and Hermoine compliment each other. Hermoine is brilliant but lacks confidence and a real sense of adventure. Harry comes close to her in intellect, occasionally challenging her, and gives her the courage, confidence, and sense of adventure that she needs to be great.

Beyond all that Harry and Ginny just make no sense. They aren't similar and he's not the type of guy she had gone for in the past. The only way it could make sense is that she fell for him after he saved her life and he feels obligated to continue protecting her. She want to be saved and he needs to save people. But, that co-dependent basis of relationship is doomed to fail or at best result in a cold, loveless marriage.

 

[St. Widge]

I wonder if that statement explains GRRM's inability to finish book six (much less the entire series). Maybe he just became exhausted from the intricacies of the story he'd written and can't get anything further out of his brain when he tries to go forward.

I think he legitimately was not sure what a satisfying ending would be and when the one he gave to HBO was so widely panned, he became terrified of writing a terrible ending to the books that would be just as widely panned.

That and I think he's afraid that if he finished the books people won't pay attention to him anymore.

 

[St. Widge]

I don’t think it was just the show runners wanting to move on though, the cast seemed drained and ready for it to be over with too.

Kit Harrington has admitted that the end of the show was probably rushed but that he didn’t see an alternative because they were all exhausted and ready to move on. Another season just wasn’t going to happen.

That’s my main concern with the planning on 10 seasons for this show.

Sure, but big fat checks from Time Warner could have made those actors be okay with one more season. It's not like any of them have really gone on to great careers after GoT.

 

[Cage1]

I mean, sure when she gets involved in stuff she knows nothing about, but when it's about a world she created, can you think of a better source?

See, e.g., John Carpenter re. Wang Chi as the Hero in Big Trouble in Little China, discussed supra at p. 5, #68.