I can't disagree with that.
I suppose it comes of there being nobody 'nice' in the entire story. The less-then-evil evil ones seem enormously virtuous by comparison. It always looked like Targaryen madness was a real possibility. Maybe they should have played on that descent into madness a bit more. Let her get on that throne and start shouting "Burn them all."
Also, because they liked Daenerys and she was a popular character, they IMHO tried to make her more likable. Same with Tyrion. I can't tell any particularities, because I don't remember now, but when I first watched the series I had the books pretty well in my memory and I remember feeling as if they somewhat lessened the ambiguity of the characters and tried to turn them into "heroes".
(Actually, I recall one instance - in the books Tyrion lies to himself about Shae, making himself believe she's actually in love with him and then murders her in a fit of jealous rage when he finds her in his father's bedchamber. In the show she actually tries to stab him, IIRC and he kills her in self defense - that's quite a shift, methinks).
It was the opposite with Stannis - D&D all but admitted they really didn't like the character, so they turned him into "a villain of sorts." Shame, cause he was (and still is) one of my favourite characters in the book. While not really a pleasant character (and he's flawed like everyone), he is the most well-read of the Baratheon characters (which, BTW is almost always a hint from Martin) who indeed thinks of his duties and gets a fiendish devotion from most of his subjects, which starts to make sense as you go throughout the books. And he hasn't burnt his daughter so far in the books (and it's pretty inconceivable from his current state of mind, I'd say, but I might be mistaken).
Like, I get it you must streamline it a little if you want it to fit a TV show... but sometimes it's downright retarded, like with the books vs. show approach to religion. Now, Martin is himself an atheist/agnostic and he show's all faiths mostly warts and all, reeally ugly in places, but he also shows the war-ridden, broken world where mostly the corrupt and sleazy patricians are mostly fine whereas the peasants bear the brunt of it all - which gives to rise in the more cathegoric, fundamentalist movement of the Sparrows and reconstruction of Faith Militant.
The show brought this down into an always-evil, pseudo-Catholicky/alt-righty heteronormative crusade. Not surprising, but still stupid.
Also, just look how Ned's death (which is a rather small ripple in the grand scheme of things) turns the whole kingdom into chaos and how consequences of that execution still have their payhoff three books/seasons later. In contrast, blowing up what the writers perceive to be a Vatican of sorts
including the main root one of the most popular Westerosi houses (Tyrells) has
no repercussions? No reaction whatsoever? In this pseudo-medieval society?
Also, effin' Dorne.
Dorne. Behold and weep:
There's more but I got to go "break my fast" with wifey and son. I might comment on this later. Just wanted to put this here - maybe someone already did, I'm too lazy to check but this is, like, the most accurate assessment of the show I've seen so far
