Premise: The Return of the Condor Heroes, also called The Giant Eagle and Its Companion, is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the second part of the "Condor Trilogy" and was preceded by "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and followed by "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber". It was first serialised between 20 May 1959 and 5 July 1961 in the Hong Kong newspaper "Ming Pao".
Hypothesis: the serial did not do as well as the books because of the details in the book