So I finally got around to watching the first episode and I thought it was great. Left a better impression than the series' premiere did. The pacing was a bit slow but that's because they need to set things up for the audience that's not familiar with the story. I really loved the scenes with Cersei & Tyrion and then with Cersei & Petyr (latter is completely made up and I thought it worked great).
I do have one complaint, though. Please, make Ros (the whorehouse chick) die in a fire. She is just atrocious, I'm tired of the sexposition, and her character is completely useless. Well, actually, I think I know what they're going to do
But maybe I'm wrong and the character is just some sort of inside joke for the producers