The long-gestating “Lord of the Rings” prequel series “The Rings of Power” finally arrives on streaming service Amazon Prime Video at 9 p.m. Sept. 1 surrounded by question marks.

Can this series become Prime Video’s “Game of Thrones?”

Will “Rings of Power” live up to Peter Jackson’s 2001-03 “LOTR” movie series?

And can this “Rings” rise above Amazon’s past, lackluster efforts in the fantasy genre (“The Wheel of Time,” “Carnival Row”)?

With just two episodes of “Rings of Power” made available for review, it’s tough to come up with definitive answers, but early indications are this could grow into Amazon’s best fantasy series yet – if viewers can stick with it long enough to get through a tremendous amount of setup and throat-clearing in the slow-moving first episode.

It takes 17 minutes until the show’s title arrives – only “The Good Fight” can pull that off — and before then it’s a narration-filled, exposition bonanza that covers decades and could be a multi-year series itself (a future prequel to this prequel perhaps?).

Viewers better-versed in the lore of author J.R.R. Tolkein’s stories will have an easier time figuring out how/where this particular story fits into the timeline – it’s the Second Age of Middle-earth, for what that’s worth — but it appears much of the story is newly invented.

The setup is this: The elves were content until Sauron burned down their happy tree and they fled across an ocean – visualized with a “GOT”-style map, though Jackson’s “LOTR” probably did this first — to Middle Earth to fight Sauron’s orc armies.

Once “Rings of Power” catches viewers up to the present, the show jumps around soap opera-style to disparate storylines:

Elf Galadriel (Morfyyd Clark) leads a squad in search of Sauron, but only she is a true believer that he exists somewhere in hiding. A proto-hobbit named Nori (Markella Kavanagh) is on the receiving end of a meteor that crashes near her harfoot village, delivering a shock. A younger version of the elf Elrond (Robert Aramayo) from the “LOTR” movies, who seems to have a crush on Galadriel, gets tasked to assist an artist (Charles Edwards) of dubious intent. Silvan Elf watchman Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) manages a forbidden love with a human woman, Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi).

Written by series showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne (a writing team with few produced credits and no showrunning experience), that first hour is a slog punctuated by the occasional battle with a Ray Harryhausen-esque snow troll.

The second episode, written by Gennifer Hutchinson (“Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul”), proves more satisfying, particularly the introductions of the dwarf Dorin (Owain Arthur) in Khazad-Dum and the scoundrelly human shipwreck survivor Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) who Galadriel meets while swimming through the Sundering Seas.

The underground dwarf city, in particular, proves a visual feast. More of that, please.

Just a few weeks ago, Amazon announced the first two episodes will stream on the premiere date, which is smart considering episode two is a big improvement on the narration overload in the premiere. After this week, one episode will stream weekly beginning at midnight Friday.

While “Rings of Power” is certainly more family-friendly than HBO’s “House of the Dragon” – I’d rate “Rings” a PG-13 to the TV-MA for “Dragon” – this “LOTR” series is less involving in its first episode.

Where “House of the Dragon” dispensed with its setup with brisk efficiency, “LOTR” goes on and on. Where “House of the Dragon” began with a focus on one family, “LOTR” jumps all over the place, much the way the original “Game of Thrones” did at its outset.

There’s certainly room for both shows, but judging by early installments, “House of the Dragon,” already renewed for a second season, immediately grabs viewers by the throat and dares them not to watch. “Power of the Rings” takes a more lackadaisical route that lacks urgency or demands to be seen.

Steelers on Amazon, WPXI-TV

With Amazon taking over national telecasts of the NFL’s Thursday night games for streaming on Prime Video beginning Sept. 15, viewers may wonder what that means for the Sept. 22 Steelers game against Browns that will stream on Amazon.

As reported in this week’s Pittsburgh Pop podcast, in addition to streaming on Amazon, these Thursday night games will also find a home on a broadcast channel in the home market of each team playing every week. For the Steelers’ game on Sept. 22, that home is WPXI-TV at 8 p.m.

The only downside: That’s the same night of a three-way, interconnected crossover for the season premieres of NBC’s “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU” and “Law & Order: Organized Crime.” Those episodes will now air at the same time as the Steelers game, 8-11 p.m. Sept. 22, on MeTV, Channel 11.2 over the air.

Kept/canceled

Apple TV+ renewed comedy “Trying” for a fourth season.

Netflix renewed “Umbrella Academy” for a fourth and final season, but canceled “Resident Evil” after just one season.

E! canceled “Daily Pop” and “Nightly Pop.”

Channel surfing

NBC is considering turning its 10 p.m. hour back over to affiliates, who would likely use it to program cheap-to-produce local news, but a final decision has not yet been made. … Beginning Sept. 19, next-day streaming episodes of NBC series, including “Saturday Night Live,” will move from Hulu to Peacock. … “Law & Order: SVU” star Kelli Giddish will leave the show during the upcoming 24th season. … Michael Fishman, who played D.J. on ABC’s “The Conners,” will not return for the show’s fifth season, having apparently been fired from the series. … When season 10 of ABC”s “The Golbergs” premieres next month, patriarch Murray (departed cast member Jeff Garlin) will have been dead for several months. … Part one of the fourth season of former NBC drama “Manifest” comes to Netflix Nov. 4. … Filmed-in-Western Pennsylvania Netflix movie “The Pale Blue Eye,” starring Christian Bale, will open in select theaters nationwide on Dec. 23 and stream on Netflix Jan. 6.

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