History YMMV / TheWatch2021

* BrokenBase: The show seems to have divided Discworld fans into two camps: those who are willing to take the series on its own merits and treat it as a separate entity to the main Discworld franchise and those who openly loathe the series for [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks not being the faithful adaption]] that they have waited years for.

* WTHCastingAgency: The casting announcements for the BBC series based on the Watch were contentious at best, with many fans on a scale between "scratching their heads" and "livid."
** Of particular note, Vetinari, Cutting Me Own Throat Dibbler, Doctor Cruces, and Lupin Wonse have all been gender swapped (and had their backgrounds/motivations altered - for example, CMOT Dibbler is now referred to as "Throat" and is a gang leader, rather than a simple opportunistic merchant). And Sybil Ramkin, described in the books as an older and rotund woman, whose primary hobby is raising swamp dragons, has been cast as a young, attractive woman who moonlights as a vigilante, not to mention the ~20 year age difference between Lara Rossi and Richard Dormer. About the only casting decisions fans seem to agree with are for Vimes and Carrot[[note]]although their opinion of Vimes's character quickly [[LargeHam turned negative]] [[ChewingTheScenery after the show's release]][[/note]]. Fans are particularly baffled after the spot-on casting of other Pratchett adaptations, like ''Series/GoodOmens2019'' and ''Hogfather''.
** Then there's the rather thorny issue of Cheery, who is now played by a non-binary actor of "normal" height (about six feet tall) and is beardless[[note]]In the books, ''all'' dwarves - males and females alike - have beards, to the point where two individuals who are courting don't know the gender of the other person until their families have a private meeting[[/note]], when in the books she retained her beard and much of the general dwarven aesthetic, only slightly modified to emphasize her gender. Read [[https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-watch-controversy-discworld-changes/ here]] for a proper explanation.

** It would be nice to say that it's a good show on its own... but at least we can say that the citypunk aesthetic is nice and the actors are good. The casting, scripts and humor?

** Of particular note, Vetinari, Cutting Me Own Throat Dibbler, Doctor Cruces, and Lupin Wonse have all been gender swapped (and had their backgrounds/motivations altered - for example, CMOT Dibbler is now referred to as "Throat", is a gang leader, rather than a simple opportunistic merchant). And Sybil Ramkin, described in the books as an older and rotund woman, whose primary hobby is raising swamp dragons, has been cast as a young, attractive woman who moonlights as a vigilante, not to mention the ~20 year age difference between Lara Rossi and Richard Dormer. About the only casting decisions fans seem to agree with are for Vimes and Carrot[[note]]although their opinion of Vimes's character quickly [[LargeHam turned negative]] [[ChewingTheScenery after the show's release]][[/note]]. Fans are particularly baffled after the spot-on casting of other Pratchett adaptations, like ''Series/GoodOmens2019'' and ''Hogfather''.

* BrokenBase: The show seems to have divided Discworld fans into two camps: those who are willing to take the series on it's own merits and treat it as a separate entity to the main Discworld franchise and those who openly loathe the series for [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks not being the faithful adaption]] that they have waited years for.

* BrokenBase: The show seems to have divided Discworld fans into two camps: those who are willing to take the series on it's own merits and treat it as a separate entity to the main Discworld franchise and those who openly loathe the series for [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks not being the faithful adaption]] that they have been waiting so patiently for.

** Then there's the rather thorny issue of Cheery, who is now played by a non-binary actor of "normal" height (about six feet tall) and is beardless[[note]]In the books, ''all'' dwarves - males and females alike - have beards, to the point where two individuals who are courting don't know the gender of the other person until their families have a private meeting. Though Cheery isn't a dwarf on this show, but rather human.[[/note]], when in the books she retained her beard and much of the general dwarven aesthetic, only slightly modified to emphasize her gender. Read [[https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-watch-controversy-discworld-changes/ here]] for a proper explanation.

** Then there's the rather thorny issue of Cheery, who is now played by a non-binary actor of "normal" height (about six feet tall) and is beardless[[note]]In the books, ''all'' dwarves - males and females alike - have beards, to the point where two individuals who are courting don't know the gender of the other person until their families have a private meeting[[/note]], when in the books she retained her beard and much of the general dwarven aesthetic, only slightly modified to emphasize her gender. Read [[https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-watch-controversy-discworld-changes/ here]] for a proper explanation.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The show is widely derided by Discworld fans, many of whom outright refuse to recognize it as a real adaptation, due to the extreme liberties taken with the source material. Creator/NeilGaiman and Creator/RhiannaPratchett both pointed the show is essentially an InNameOnly adaptation at best.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** Throat claims she doesn't sell Slab. Cue captions pointing to the five boxes of the stuff in the background.
** The Goblins getting confused about the notion of unions in episode 2.
** In "The What?", after Vetinari indirectly orders Vimes to continue pursuing the dragon case and is walking away, Vimes flips him off. Even without turning around, he somehow knows he's doing it and asks if there's something wrong with his hand.
*** In the same episode, the gold song being used for their band audition. Crosses over with SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic, because Cheery manages to make it sound utterly epic!
** Death, in a conversation with Sybil, getting huffy about how nobody cares about ''his'' opinion.
** Twilight Canyon's Anti-Violence Mechanism: If, for any reason, anyone in the retirement home starts fighting, all the exits are sealed and... a disco ball descends from the ceiling, and "Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)" starts playing, and everyone is forced to dance to it. Meaning Vimes and Carcer, and Lupin and Sybil.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In "The What?", after Vetinari indirectly orders Vimes to continue pursuing the dragon case and is walking away, Vimes flips him off. Even without turning around, he somehow knows he's doing it and asks if there's something wrong with his hand.

* EndingFatigue: In the Season 1 finale, by the time the Watch solve the Dragon issue and [[spoiler:Carcer is erased from existence by his pissed off bosses]], there's still about a third of the episode to go.
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In "The What?", after Vetinari indirectly orders Vimes to continue pursuing the dragon case and is walking away, Vimes flips him off. Even without turning around, she somehow knows he's doing it and asks if there's something wrong with his hand.
* SoOkayItsAverage: Many who have been willing to watch the show and weren't turned off by the major changes or never really read ''Discworld'' in the first place feel that it's a reasonably fun and watchable show, but doesn't really don't do much to stand out and is often wildly inconsistent.

* WTHCastingAgency: The casting announcements for the BBC series based on The Watch were contentious at best, with many fans on a scale between "scratching their heads" and "livid."
** Of particular note, Vetinari, Cutting Me Own Throat Dibbler, Doctor Cruces, and Lupin Wonse have all been gender swapped (and had their backgrounds/motivations altered - for example, CMOT Dibbler is now referred to as "Throat", is a gang leader, rather than a simple opportunistic merchant). And Sybil Ramkin, described in the books as an older and rotund woman, whose primary hobby is raising swamp dragons, has been cast as a young, attractive woman who moonlights as a vigilante, not to mention the ~20 year age difference between Lara Rossi and Richard Dormer. About the only casting decisions fans seem to agree with are for Vimes and Carrot[[note]]although their opinion of Vimes' character quickly [[LargeHam turned negative]] [[ChewingTheScenery after the show's release]][[/note]]. Fans are particularly baffled after the spot-on casting of other Pratchett adaptations, like ''Series/GoodOmens2019'' and ''Hogfather''.

* BrokenBase: The heavy modifications made to the series seem to have divided the Discworld fanbase into two factions:
** Those who are willing to take the show on its own merits and view it as a completely separate entity to the novels.
** Those who feel that the numerous changes made to the series have robbed them of the faithful adaptation that they have wanted for many years.

* BrokenBase: The heavy modifications made to the series seems to have divided the Discworld fanbase into two factions:

** Those who feel that the numerous changes made to the series has robbed them of the faithful adaptation that they have wanted for many years.

* BrokenBase: The series seems to have divided the Discworld fanbase into two factions:

** Of particular note, Vetinari, Cutting Me Own Throat Dibbler, Doctor Cruces, and Lupin Wonse have all been gender swapped (and had their backgrounds/motivations altered - for example, CMOT Dibbler is now referred to as "Throat", is a snitch for the Watch, and has a gang of henchmen). And Sybil Ramkin, described in the books as an older and rotund woman, whose primary hobby is raising swamp dragons, has been cast as a young, attractive woman who moonlights as a vigilante, not to mention the ~20 year age difference between Lara Rossi and Richard Dormer. About the only casting decisions fans seem to agree with are for Vimes and Carrot[[note]]although their opinion of Vimes' character quickly [[LargeHam turned negative]] [[ChewingTheScenery after the show's release]][[/note]]. Fans are particularly baffled after the spot-on casting of other Pratchett adaptations, like ''Series/GoodOmens2019'' and ''Hogfather''.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The show was widely derided by Discworld fans, many of whom outright refuse to recognize it as a real adaptation, due to what they felt were too many liberties taken with the source material.
* WTHCastingAgency: The casting announcements for the BBC series based on The Watch have been contentious at best, with many fans on a scale between "scratching their heads" and "livid."
** Of particular note, Sgt. Keel is played by a black man -- despite the books making it a plot point that he and Vimes look alike. Vetinari, CMOT Dibbler, Doctor Cruces and Lupin Wonse have all been gender swapped (and had their backgrounds/motivations altered - for example, CMOT Dibbler is now referred to as "Throat", is a snitch for the Watch and has a gang of henchmen). And Sybil Ramkin, described in the books as an older and rotund woman, whose primary hobby is raising swamp dragons, has been cast as a young, attractive woman who moonlights as a vigilante, not to mention the ~20 year age difference between Lara Rossi and Richard Dormer. About the only casting decisions fans seem to agree with are for Vimes and Carrot[[note]]although their opinion of Vimes' character quickly [[LargeHam turned negative]] [[ChewingTheScenery after the show's release]][[/note]]. Fans are particularly baffled after the spot-on casting of other Pratchett adaptations, like ''Series/GoodOmens2019'' and ''Hogfather''.

* EndingFatigue: In the season 1 finale, by the time the Watch solve the Dragon issue and [[spoiler:Carcer is erased from existence by his pissed off bosses]] there's still about a third of the episode to go.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Previews of the series were met with a major backlash from much of the ''Discworld'' fandom, who felt too many liberties were taken with the source material.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In "The What?", after Vetinari indirectly orders Vimes to continue pursuing the dragon case and is walking away, Vimes flips him off. Even without turning around, he somehow knows he's doing it and asks if there's something wrong with his hand.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In "The What?", after Vetinari indirectly orders Vimes to continue pursuing the dragon case and is walking away, Vimes flips her off. Even without turning around, she somehow knows he's doing it and asks if there's something wrong with his hand.

* EndingFatigue: After the Watch solve the Dragon issue and [[spoiler:Carcer is erased from existence by his pissed off bosses]], the Season 1 finale crosses into this.