'Childhood's End' Was A Little Flat And Lightweight

The first 90 minutes were not bad, but the whole thing felt a little off and insubstantial.  I'm not a fan of the fact that they are keeping the same actors for the whole story and compressing the timeline into a single generation.  That's a huge mistake--plus you waste Chief O'Brien if you don't keep him along with everyone else, as Meaney seemed to be having the most fun.  If the three day, two-hour broadcast time each episode thing was the plan all along, then it would have been much better to make the show essentially three 90-minute movies, each with its own cast, director, and part of the complete story.  That would have made it a bit easier to add some substance to the momentous changing supposedly taking place during the story.  I get that it was a risk to adapt the book at all, but the whole enterprise looks a little flat and rushed on the screen.  Plus, Tywin's Karellen is waayyy too human-looking in the face.  I get that they didn't want to bury Charles Dance under a shit ton of make-up or prosthetics, because then why bother getting Charles Dance, but too human made Karellen look more like a bad costume or Tim Curry.