I can't even remember why. Maybe it's because I was kind of bored by most of LOTR, though I'm not sure it was even that. People would bring it up and I would mostly say meh i don't care about that shit.

After enough people whose taste I trust kept telling me to give it a shot, I threw on the first episode, and it probably took me 2 weeks to get through the first half. Finally I started over and tried to pay attention. By the end of the first episode i was hoooked and ripped through the first 2 seasons.