The show needed to be of the very highest quality all round to silence the critics.
People are evidently fed up of the woke stuff, the problem here is when they changed Tolkien's work to reflect their ideals, - not actually a problem with diversity or inclusion.. RoP isn't that woke, not by a long shot, not like Wheel of Time which is ridiculously woke. if it's race you're concerned with, i mean, so far it was just 1 black elf and dwarf - shouldn't we be more curious about how they are there, rather than criticise or hate them for being their?
so why do people have that reaction? Well watch the media /marketing campaign, and when the final product came out and it failed to impress.. well, all those other issues that people would have overlooked in a great production, now just add to misery.
What were the biggest issues in the criticism of RoP so far- it certainly hasn't been the black elf/dwarf (in fact, all those haters, generalised and labelled as racist actually have loved those two characters the most) - wooden/manspreading and just unlikeable Galadriel taken out of character, excessive male (in particular white male) villainising, inconsistent plot, tone, and expectations that don't match that off Tolkien's stories or Jackson's adaptations - the expectations were high and it hasn't lived up to the standards people expect.
As LotR tagged, the standard and bar is much higher, if this was a normal simple fantasy, it would probably have been received very well, aobove average despite the questionable things here and there, but having this title, it is put under the microscope with all it's flaws exposed. They really should have done better.
I still watch it though and likely will, i take it for what it is, an alternate timeline of fantasy, I love the scenery and the music, quite liking the dwarves, especially Princess Desa, and the black elf too - but i it's not something i'm looking forward to or waiting to see first thing every Thursday or would get up to buy merchanndise and join fan conventions etc - not even close.