‘House of the Dragon’ kicks ass over ‘Rings of Power’

nypost.com:

House of the Dragon” vs. Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” It’s such fun, isn’t it? Warner Bros. and Jeff Bezos ruthlessly vying for our attention and money like we’re the hottest girl in school.

Sure, Jeff, you can carry my books to class!The TV tete-a-tete is as tactical as Cersei Lannister grabbing the Iron Throne. The big-budget series premiered within two weeks of each other; both put much of their focus on beautiful platinum blond people with British accents; they have large-scale battles and a gagillion characters with dumb names we will all struggle to spell.They’re also debuting at a highly opportune moment when there is a drought of major film releases.

The next huge franchise movie is “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” a long way off in November. “Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon” are dueling to quench our thirst for expensive fantasy.

But in terms of sheer quality and, I suspect, audience reaction after Thursday night at 9 p.m. when “Rings” premieres, the war is over. “Dragon” scorches “Rings.” Some in the culturati will calmly tell you that these are two very different shows that cannot be compared.