arguing, see link, that Amazon should've spent a good part of all that LotR money on their WoT show instead, since that one had more potential and could have benefited from it more. I do think you can see that Rings of Power spent a lot, in terms of production values (plus, you know, flying everyone to New Zealand), but as you and the author of the article rightly point out, no matter how much money you spend, you can't compensate for a sucky script and stupid decisions. Some indie production on a shoestring budget could've made for a better LotR show if it happened to have a great script.

Though the article has uh, some issues of its own, such as the fairly hilarious statement that, in the WoT show, 'It never felt like things were being pushed along simply for the sake of getting from point A to B, or that characters were acting in illogical ways because the plot demanded it.'