Deniable Plausibility

Some years ago, back when it was announced that  The Witcher was coming to TV, fans of Sapkowski’s books gave showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich some very blunt advice: if you want to succeed, don't fuck around with the source material. She told fans not to worry. When the first season dropped, casual watchers were pretty happy. Fans of Sapkowski were...also pretty happy. I thought the critics got it right - 68% feels pretty fair. I didn't mind the show. I wasn't exactly in love with a lot of the group combat scenes, and it felt a bit too much like a soap opera masquerading as a fantasy saga. Definitely had room to improve, but still, overall it wasn't bad. Unfortunately Hissrich's second season was not received well by fans.   I'd just like to highlight the massive disconnect between the professional critics and reality here. The fans definitely weren't fooled. In this season, Hissrich really started cooking Sapkowski's lore to shit. Bone-headed writing. T

  Attention studio bosses! Would you like to   make a shit TV show or movie sink an existing franchise lose a metric fuckton of money, your audience, your credibility, and have everyone giggle at your expense?    You would? Great! All you need to do is follow contemporary Hollywood's tried-and-tested formula: STEP 1 Create and air a show that leans HARD into identity politics, gender-swapped and/or race-swapped characters, and girlboss feminist bullshit. Bonus points if it's in a genre with a predominantly male audience i.e. sci-fi, fantasy, action. Regardless, make sure your white male characters are villains, comic relief, and/or weak and ineffectual STEP 2 When your audience baulks at your show's dumb content, immediately denounce  them as toxic woman-hating bigots. Ignore the fact that they're paying customers STEP 3 Claim that your show is a massive hit. Recruit media shills to help sell this obvious lie - spin, spin, spin! STEP 4 Renew your attacks on anyone who