Did you all think we were dealing with high art here? 'cause we never were. This is and always has been goofy elf and fairy, knights and damsels bull spit. It literally features dragons, were you expecting the greatest story ever told? FREAKING DRAGONS! Now there is a petition to remake season 8? Holy hell people, you're not owed a perfect show (as if that was even possible with you finicky phuques).
DRAGONS!
My understanding is that The Ring Cycle is usually considered to be High Art and that it absolutely features a dragon.
Though you're correct that the books and the show were always... I don't know... high production values middlebrow? Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that, but pretending that this was not the case, sure, did no one any favours.