It was a really bad choice to open the first episode with Steven, the worst actor in the main cast, and that black lady, possibly the worst actor in the entire series, having a long, stilted conversation with each other. I can't blame people for being turned off.
They can take the basic setup of people being there to record paranormal phenomena, but everything else would have to be new. i guess they could focus more on the dreamy atmosphere of the novel and the way people seem to go in and out of different "possessions" affecting their mood in subtle ways.
Kind of unfortunate that they took all of the names, scenes, character traits, and plot elements and mad libbed them around the entire show. That hypothetical season 2 would be a retelling of the novel without any of the content, basically. The really unfortunate part is that most of the things that they took out of context from the novel and put into the show (names, cup of stars, etc) didn't really add to the show, and could have just been new content. They pretty much kneecapped their ability to do an adaptation of the novel without it feeling like a weird retread. Eleanor from the novel is a great character, but everything about her was chopped into pieces and distributed evenly throughout the show.I don't think they need to go the anthology route. if anything, season 2 can focus more on the actual books story in which Dr Montague (Nell's Shrink in the show) tries to debunk Steven's book, rents hill house out and invites fellow patients who have had so called paranormal experiences.
Would probably end up being less Drama focused though which could be a negative.
They can take the basic setup of people being there to record paranormal phenomena, but everything else would have to be new. i guess they could focus more on the dreamy atmosphere of the novel and the way people seem to go in and out of different "possessions" affecting their mood in subtle ways.