Television

If you're not having fun talking about it, nobody's making you... But, you can make your own decisions.

There's always that tension between creatives (artists) and the profit motive. It's true for show runners, just as it is for small Etsy artists. Part of the artistry is pretending one wants to do what must be done, in order to recover a sense of genuine expression without losing the means to continue. Maybe that's the difference between amateurs and professionals. A good showrunner must humble themselves in both directions at once - to the suits, and to their audience - and even then they will fail, unless they can convince us that's what they wanted to do all along.

When mistakes are made and you lose your audience, it is all too easy to blame them for not liking it. A good comedian doesn't argue with a crowd that isn't laughing, obviously the only opinion that matters is theirs. You dig yourself out of that hole by admitting it and moving on. That's what's unprofessional (in the sense stated earlier) of the GoT team - not to take any criticism onboard. It will only limit their future creative to have that mindset. That's the part that matters, who cares if it was profitable to the suits?