I'm trying to think of anything the tv show has done better than the books, and I'm drawing a blank. Which is not to say it hasn't done some things well, or that there aren't entire print chapters I don't skim through or outright skip.
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Well besides making some storylines less boring and drawn out, and more enjoyable for television.
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I enjoyed Books 4 and 5 quite a bit the second time through them when I read them as one book together (this is KEY), and when I slowed down enought o try to find the subtleties and hints that he does so well. I think he did a real disservice to them by splitting them as he did so they run concurrently in time until about 2/3 of the way through book 5. When you read them together, you get more distance between the boringest (is that a word) chapters, you get all the characters instead of leaving out some of the best ones, and the timeline and story flow is light years better.

Plus when you approach the slower chapters with a frame of trying to learn about the world he created and trying to find all the little hints and foreshadowing, they become more bearable. But I do read faster than many people, so maybe that helps.

Bottom line though...Books 1 - 3 were great books and set up a fascinating world and had a ton of action, especially book 3. But a majority of the really interesting theories about the books come from Books 4 and 5. They are not as exciting as books 1-3, no doubt, but they are every bit as interesting if you really dive into that world.
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Not sure the show has done things better so much as some of the actors have brought the characters to life in ways that made me enjoy those characters sooooo much more in the show than in the books. Examples:

Khal Drogo: Jason Mamoa rocked that role and I became a fan of Drogo and his chemistry with Dany, whereas in the book I didn't give him a lot of thought.

Robb Stark: He seemed a minor character in the books to be honest, but I liked him MUCH better on the show.

Marjory Tyrell: Another one who did little for me in the books, but has been great on the show.

I'm sure there are others, but those came to mind first.
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A Dance with Dragons was a hell of a lot easier to read than it was to listen to. Roy Dotrice came back to narrate the audiobook (he did an amazing job on the first three) and sounded like he was either on his last legs or just mailing it in while narrating. He was calling Catelyn KATE-lyn and not CAT-lyn, among other half assedness. So bad.
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Tywin Lannister. Charles Dance absolutely crushed that role.
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Actually liked all those characters in the books. The Red Wedding, in particular, and its aftermath was and still is just freaking devastating to read, in part because I liked Robb so much.

But I think what you describe is at least in part due to the difference between print and tv: every major character on tv has the same relative weight, since things aren't broken up by PoV.
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Yes he did
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I loved the Arya-Tywin conversations.

I also preferred Robert Baratheon's character on the show. The show only "war stories" and "five v. one" scenes were standouts.
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The Iron Islands process to pick a new King was better in the TV version. Hated the long drawn out political battle of houses and backstabbing and pages and pages of GRMM describing banquets and halls.

I have liked what the TV added that wasn't in the books. Brienne and the Hound battle. Bronn and Jamie interactions. Tyrion in the TV series. He was missing for a lot of the books.

But, the TV version totally fucked up Dorne and the Sand Snakes and the Direwolfs.
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I was actually wondering about that. I haven't read the books, don't want to. But it seems in the show, the Direwolves had a significance in the beginning, but now they've all just died or faded into the background.
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I believe that's your answer.

The pacing has been far better in the show. As you've noted, you've skipped entire swaths of the books and with good reason. Martin's books are so ponderous that the story will get lost in the weeds at times.

And frankly, he's only getting worse.

I'm honestly not convinced he'll even wrap this thing up in 2 more. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he decided that the last book needed to be split into 2 more and in the end, I doubt the ending will be any more satisfying, just a lot harder to get to.
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And yes, reading the "a ball of beasts' version of 4 and 5 is a must. It takes both of those books from flat out awful to at least reasonably doable facsimiles of the 3 superior books that pre-dated them.
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The actor who plays Davos did a fucking awesome job.
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Yup. But I liked Davos in the books as well so that didn't change him much.

If anybody's portrayal of a character changed my impression of the character, it was actually the guy that played Stannis (well, and HBO allowing Lena Headey to completely bastardize Cersei, but whatever....). Tywin was already a guy that I perceived as an awe-inspiring guy that was to be respected. Stannis, OTOH, I just kinda read as a crotchety old shit; similar to how Balon was played in the series.

I feel like Stannis has been portrayed more clearly and upon second reading, television brought clarity to a character that still makes sense when you read the books. Cersei, OTOH, they've flat out fucking made up. She's just a different character and that annoys the hell out of me.
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