I definitely can't think of the show as WoT and derive any enjoyment from it, and I'm guessing that fact is here to stay for the duration.  That said, I always knew this would be a hard adaptation for a variety of reasons and was prepared to take that mentality before episode 1. 

The channeling and shadowspawn turned out absolutely fantastic IMO.  I really dig the diversity that was introduced; it felt natural to me and not just that they were simply checking a box.  I can (mostly) roll with the punches regarding changing of details of character backstories and motivations, in the name of making an admittedly long-winded story more concise for the screen. 

That said, I think they overcorrected in making it concise for the first season as the world did not feel like it was well set up; it was hard to care about many of the characters because we knew so little about them.  Meeting Loial should not have felt as anticlimactic as it did, and I think that is in part due to the fact that we didn't even know Ogier existed until one was on-screen, and we still know practically nothing about them as of the end of season 1 except this one was around and can conveniently read old writing.

I could also seriously wish that so many of the changes didn't feel arbitrary, and that they will not better serve the story than the original content in any medium, screen or otherwise.

To be honest, the fact that saidar and saidin were not specifically called out in the show didn't even register with me until I started reading some reviews on this forum; I think I just subconsciously thought that, given they didn't talk about the 5 different elements of power (air, earth, fire, water, spirit), that they simply planned to delve into the meta of the One Power in season2. Many folks on here seem to be pretty upset about the apparent removal of gender specificity from the power, and I share in the frustration there, to a degree, given that the separation of powers is so central to the story itself and the show's apparent intention to avoid gender-specific powers makes little sense in practice.  

In the show they still identify the 100 companions as all male, and that as a result men can't touch the source without going mad.  In the books, Aran'gar provides a legitimate premise for women touching saidin (and presumably vice versa) that could be easily adapted to accommodate a modern perspective and sensibilities regarding the LGBTQ+ community.  Given those facts, why all the smoke and mirrors about saidin vs saidar?  I really hope that we learn a lot more about the Power in season 2 and that the writers do a better job than they have so far of fabricating arbitrary nonsense that will put the story back on something resembling the correct track.

This story is massive to put it lightly and so there is plenty of time yet for some redemption for the show (without regard for its namesake, at least), but I'm afraid I am officially burying any hope of seeing a true-to-story adaptation of WoT in my lifetime so that any surprises are pleasant.  This is close enough that no one else will want to mess with it, but too far from the books to be satisfying for most of the reader audience.  We can only hope this story goes the way of Golden Compass and that and folks who actually read and love the WoT books take a pass at it one day and do it justice, a la Dark Materials.

I recently reread the series and figured I'd finally join up, and this is certainly my first order of business... For me, this answer is simple:

Rand, being the only living being to truly understand the nature of the world's existence (something he learned as he realized the Dark One was never the enemy), realizes that the Aiel actually got one correct in that life IS the dream, and as such he can treat it accordingly.  I'd guess that anyone with his level of enlightenment could do such things, just as anyone in tel'aran'rhiod can potentially control the dream regardless of their "Dreamer" status,  but since attaining that enlightenment requires quite a journey (one seemingly only the Dragon is reborn to take) then that is an ability relegated to Rand only in this particular age.

Of all the other characters in the books that might possibly approach this level of enlightenment, my money would be on Herid Fel (or would be had he not woken from the dream prematurely).