I kind of drove me a little nuts, though not as much as Frodo did. I was more of a Merry and Pippen fan. Not sure what you meant by a "little less screen time" as the movies were pretty well split between the two (three) groups after the first movie. It just seems that the Trio in Rohan parts move much quicker as there's more exciting parts (mostly fighting) versus Frodo, Sam, and Gollum/Smeagol in Mordor where there's still more walking from point A to point B.