Something that occurred to me while reading the article, was the claim that TV audiences need to be invested in their characters, and although it is not specifically stated there is the inference that Ned should have been kept around.
Well it depends on what kind of show you are watching. There are other shows around at the moment (and have been in the past) that are connected to other popular works of fiction and to me there are two different types.
There are the 'based on' shows, and as a modern example I'll use The Vampire Diaries. I presume the CW pay a sum of money to the author for the rights to her works and then turn it into a show that has elements of the books, but had no real connection to the novels other than the inclusion of various characters and the core premise of Vampires, Werewolves, witches and romances and whatever, and then run off in their own direction. (At least that's how Mrs Perp sees it, I haven't been lucky enough to read the books.)
Then there is the adaptation, like The Game of Thrones The key word being adaptaion that HBO has been quite happy to use, inferring that the series is directly adapting the books for the visual medium, which to me at least, indicates that they are trying to tell the story that GRRM intended, not changing it for a TV audience.
It seems strange that this has caused a slight stir when other adaptations seem to do what is intended without any serious backlash - (In this instance I'm thinking of the Harry Potter movies, but perhaps the fact that they do not need the so called investment of a TV series so they can get away with daring to stick to the authors story).
Although when changing medium for a story there have to be changes to accommodate a range of different things, from budget, to time, to effects, but the key points have to be met, and as shocking as it is Ned's death is it has to be a key point if not the key point in the first book. Removing it and letting him live, would not only invalidate what GRRM has written, but would change everything that is to come, in which case it would no longer be an adaptation, but 'based on'.
When there adaptations of the classics, there would be an outcry if something was changed simply to please the 'TV crowd', if say Mrs Haversham's death in Great Expectations was changed so she lived.
The title itself of the piece: HBO stands by controversial recent episode of hit series Game of Thrones HBO stands by controversial recent episode of hit series Game of Thrones seems odd, it is not controversial, they are just telling the story as is was intended to be told.
