I think Peter Dinklage plays the role of Tyrion brilliantly in the TV series of Game of Thrones. He's captured the character perfectly. Then again, most of the characters in the series are exactly as I imagined them to be; it's probably one of the few adaptions of a book that I enjoy watching. I really need to find a website to find season 2 online though!
I agree with you about LOTR being like a textbook at times. The amount of work Tolkien put into his fictional world is phenomenal, I just need to finish the darn series!
At the moment I can't think of all the fantasy series' I've read, mostly because I've been reading some non-fantasy books at the moment so that I can open myself to more genres, but many of my favourite fantasy series are the ones I read during my childhood. The Chronicles of Narnia were lovely to read when I was younger, I used to read each book several times.
Have you read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King? I've only read his book It, which wasn't really my type of book, so I decided not to read any more of his novels, until I realised that he'd written a fantasy series! I'm tempted to give them a go and see whether I can get into his style of writing more in a genre that I love.
Another series I loved reading as a child was the Bartimeaus series. Most of my favourite fantasy series' stem from my childhood, so I am trying to get into more grittier stuff; thanks for your suggestions, I'll give some of them a go! Like I said though, at the moment I'm trying to open my mind a little and try out some classics. Have you read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxay by Dougles Adams? It's very popular, and I've finally managed to get the time to start reading it from where I last finished off. Are you reading anything in particular at the moment? Or has any book caught your eye?