@Teresa Edgerton
Using:-
en.wikipedia.org
as a list of High Fantasy:-
Piers Anthony's Xanth series (Really enjoyed)
Terry Brooks's Shannara series (but never finished the series see LOR)
Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician series (Really enjoyed)
C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series (Enjoyed both times as a child and again as an adult)
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (Good, but the endings were always poor IMO)
Roger Zelazny's Amber series (Excellent)
I couldn't find the Witch World series listed under High Fantasy but I also enjoyed them.
In truth I'm more of a SF than Fantasy fan.
One thing that puts me off a book/series is when the cover makes claims in comparison to LOR as in:-
"This is the best fantasy series since Gandolf sliced Orc"
I belived it once with Shanara and although I did read a few in the series, I fell by the wayside.
Following the enjoyment of reading the Black magician series, I went mad and bought all three of the
"Priestess of the White" trilogy.
I think I paid well over twenty five of our English pounds (a kings ransom at the time). These were the worst book purchases of my life as, after wading through over two thirds of the first book, I gave up in despair and threw them all in the bin.
Making LOR shorter? Yes I believe an abridged version would give it a new lease of life.
As for Who, I haven't bothered watching those for many a year.