I agree with Marduk on points 1 and 2.
“Dooku and greivous are both terrible characters.”
I agree with this too, sort of. The problem I have with these characters (and Maul) is that there are just too many major villains in the prequels, so none of them get enough screen time to come across as anything but cartoony. Compare this to the original trilogy, where we have only three major villains (Vader, The Emperor, and Jabba), all of whom get enough character development for us to know who they are and some bad things they’ve done to our heroes, and feel some catharsis when they die. All the other villains are relatively minor characters, who exist to give the major villains someone to deliver exposition to, and take the fall when the villains’ plans fail.
If only a script editor had convinced Lucas to leave one of the major villains out of the prequel films, that would have left more narrative room to develop the other two. For example, the cyborg character that was Grievous in the prequels makes sense in the Clone Wars, but his cartoonishness is discordant in live-action films. Imagine if the character referred to as “General Grievous” (or some other pseudonym) had been revealed to be the cyborg Maul that turns up in the Clone Wars series. This would have given Obiwan a much more powerful motive for killing him (revenge for the death of Qui Gon) when he realizes who the infamous “General Grievous” really is, as well as nicely foreshadowing the Sidious tactic of using droid tech to keep his apprentices alive. It would have given “Grievous” a back story, which he really doesn’t have in Ep 3, he just turns up, chews some scenery, and gets killed in a ridiculously overdone battle (for a live-action film, would have been a great sequence in Clone Wars!). Compare this to how Boba Fett dies, a character we actually know and have significant reason to hate on when he gets taken out.
All of this is just another example of “you can’t polish a turd”, and so is the way Lucas’ script under-utilizes Dooku. I actually like Dooku as a character, and when you trim out the silly acrobatics, and some of the cornier dialogue, Lee’s performance adds some much-needed gravitas to the sequels (as does Max von Sydow as Lor San Tekka in Ep 7). Sadly, in the prequals he’s not much more than a puppet to hang plot points on; a troublemaker fronting the Separatists so Sidious can stay in the shadows, a boss fight at the end of Ep 2, and someone for Anny to kill at the start of Ep 3. Removing Grievous from Ep 3 could have allowed more development of Dooku’s character. He could have been a much more morally grey character, someone who maybe really believed in the Separatist cause, that the Jedi and the Republic were corrupt, and thought he was doing the right thing, as Anny does when he saves Palpy because he thinks it’s necessary to save his wife.
For example, Dooku’s death could have come much later in the third film, some time after the scene where Anny (accidentally) helps Sidious kill Windy. Having him turn to the dark side right then feels too rushed to me, there were no witnesses and Palpy could have manipulated him into covering it up, leaving him struggling with his conscience for a while. Killing Dooku could serve as the point where Anny finally gives in, and replaces the man he’s just killed as Sidious’ apprentice (thus foreshadowing Sidious trying to get Luke to do the same in Ep 6). Maybe by the time that happens, Dooku could have started questioning his loyalties, wondering if maybe he was wrong to turn against the Jedi and ally himself with Sidious. That way, by the time Anny kills him we could have been hoping he would be redeemed (foreshadowing the redemption of Anny himself at the end of Ep 6). Maybe Dooku is confronting or even trying to kill Palpatine when Anny takes him out, so Dooku is kind of redeemed, making us feel some sympathy for him and mixed feelings about his death as we did with Vader (despite all the expectations set up in Ep 4-6).
All that said, fan editors have to work with what they were given in the theatrical, disc, and streaming releases. I take the AGB editor’s point about Grievous being mentioned a lot as a MacGuffin, and I agree there would be a frustrating hole left if he never appeared at all. Unless there was some way to retcon that “General Grievous” is actually a code name for Count Dooku, so all the Grievous stuff could be removed, and some of the (non-cringy) Dooku stuff could be put back in the space left?