The Walking Dead

[shmenguin]

Yeah but it's not just this episode. It's EVERY episode. Come on people. Not every episode is going to be a homerun. I remember lots of people saying how crappy the mid season finale was. What more do you want?

they ask us to suspend our disbelief that there are zombies running around everywhere. that's ok, we're all on board. but they can't make that same request for the human interactions that they vomit out. it's too much to ask.

i think people are hard on it because it simply isn't very good at the moment. but there's enough history that we still watch it. so when you have a show that isn't good, but still has a lot of viewers, you're gonna see a lot of negativity.

[viva la ben]

I still enjoy TWD.

[Digitalgypsy66]

I'm also bitter that they canceled Rubicon for the Walking Dead.

[Hockeynut!]

I think people expect more from this show than any other show in TV history.

Not at all. I just expect a show with someone decent writing/characters to go along with the zombie carnage.

I love horror. I own well over a thousand horror movies. I'm extremely forgiving to horror and I watch and rewatch a lot of crappy horror. I'll keep watching TWD but it seems like every episode is just a rehashing of what we've already seen. The group gets in a fight, people die, there's lots of bad dialogue and acting, repeat. Rick either isn't a good enough actor or isn't well written enough to carry this show. The only characters I like are Daryl, Glen, Hershel and Maggie. I really would like to see everyone else get eaten and those 4 go off on their own. I think it would be a much more interesting show. Maybe bring Carol along too, but the other pathetic excuses for characters... off with their heads.

Do you watch Supernatural? It's a fluff show, but the writing is infinitely better than TWD. Even throwaway characters that are only in a couple episodes have personalities, dimension, etc. On TWD, so many of the group are just stereotypes and dull as dirt. That's what is hurting the show, imo. I'm glad Mazzara is gone. Maybe next season will be better.

[newarenanow]

So TWD is the Star Wars of telivision? Great concept, great story line, some excellent episodes that keep people attached, but for the most part, crappy acting and writing?

[JeffDFD]

I still like TWD and I do agree that people look for too much from it...but I also agree there are some fairly rough spots that deserve criticism.

I think there are many things impacting it though, that are unfortunate. There were stories I read about season 2 and how AMC wanted to keep the budget down (maybe why the season went slow and stayed at the farm for so long - causing people to get frustrated). They also lost their showrunner going into season 2. Now it looks like they are losing another showrunner after season 3. I don't know exactly what that means, but it isn't necessarily good news.

Then, of course, if you stay on the farm all season you have to reach a bit with your writing and that in turn can make you hate the characters a bit as it stretches how good their talents may be.

Then there are the times when an actor wants to leave for whatever reason and that can impact things. I believe I read that Dale wanted off the show (in part due to the lost initial showrunner) so they had to kill him on the farm instead of him surviving longer.

Maybe one day everything will stick together and be better, but I am happy with the entertainment that it providers for now...despite Rick's random delusions and odd dialogue and the obvious lack of talent shown by any "extras" (seriously...that woodbury revolt scene was just baaad acting).

[nocera]

So TWD is the Star Wars of telivision? Great concept, great story line, some excellent episodes that keep people attached, but for the most part, crappy acting and writing?

Hmm. Rick has been consistently awesome. Same with Darrell and Hershel. This is one of the best written and acted shows on television. Not every episode will have tons of action because this series has NEVER been afraid of slowing down action in favor of character development. It's a character based show that happens to be set in a zombie apocalypse.

[DelPen]

If the rest of the season continues the weird plot lines from last night I can see why they dumped Mazarra.

And Michone has no back story. She just shows up and is pretty much the same way in the comics. Kirkman did a special issue 7 years after she was introduced to fill in the blanks. But her character is probably the closest to the comic book of anyone.

[Malkamaniac]

If the rest of the season continues the weird plot lines from last night I can see why they dumped Mazarra.

And Michone has no back story. She just shows up and is pretty much the same way in the comics. Kirkman did a special issue 7 years after she was introduced to fill in the blanks. But her character is probably the closest to the comic book of anyone.

I personally think it just doesn't fit with what they've done with the TV series as compared to the comics, especially when they've said they don't want to follow a lot of what the comics did.

[Hockeynut!]

I don't even care that we don't know Michonne's backstory, but right now she's just such the stereotypical angry black woman that it's hard to watch. Maybe they should only show her in episodes where she gets to kick some zombie ass, because otherwise, she's just standing around glowering like a 4 year old having a temper tantrum and it's beyond annoying.

[DelPen]

Honestly, there is no character development in the comic besides how they deal with killing zombies. Reading a decades worth of comics in a week exposes this. It's pretty much the same story with different characters that die and is repeated.

Spoiler:

Carl is the only one really who has any depth. But he has no history, he's a kid growing up in the ZA, this is his story.

Darabont tried t make this character driven and Mazarra did a 180 but Mazarra was much closer to the source than Darabont. If you didn't like last episode then you won't like the comics, there is little progression from the recent story arc. It's frustrating.

[newarenanow]

Finally got to watch the latest episode. While not the strongest episode, I don't think it's as bad as some people made it out to be. And just watching some of the scenes, I expected something totally different than the way people described it on here.

I think it will build and get better. I think after a long break, people were pumped up for a homerun type episode, and it wasn't.

[Spangler]

Expecting a true season opener caliber episode was unrealistic. If the show wasn't so popular, the season never would have been broken up, and the episode would have felt like just another episode.

[Hockeynut!]

Darabont tried t make this character driven and Mazarra did a 180 but Mazarra was much closer to the source than Darabont. If you didn't like last episode then you won't like the comics, there is little progression from the recent story arc. It's frustrating.

I think that's my biggest problem with the series. I thought the 1st season had so much potential but it's just stagnated since then. I love slow burn dramas, but this one just doesn't seem to have enough meat on the bones. I'll keep watching it, I just need to lower my expectations.

[tfrizz]

I think people expect more from this show than any other show in TV history.

eh. they were entirely too sloppy last night. some of the crap that happened was unacceptable for any show.

Bound to happen given how underfunded the show actually is. AMC has most of their money sunk in Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and have made additional cuts to the show's funding over the past year.

[tfrizz]

Do you watch Supernatural? It's a fluff show, but the writing is infinitely better than TWD. Even throwaway characters that are only in a couple episodes have personalities, dimension, etc. On TWD, so many of the group are just stereotypes and dull as dirt. That's what is hurting the show, imo. I'm glad Mazzara is gone. Maybe next season will be better.

I used to watch Supernatural. Really enjoyed season 1 and 2 when the storyline was still in the background and it was more focused on lore and mythology. You're absolutely correct about the writing and acting in it.

[tfrizz]

Expecting a true season opener caliber episode was unrealistic. If the show wasn't so popular, the season never would have been broken up, and the episode would have felt like just another episode.

Literally every show does it to coincide with the Nielsen sweeps periods. Here's how it plays out for this TV season (2012-13)...

Fall: Oct 25 - Nov 21, 2012
The Walking Dead premiered on October 14 and broke on Dec 2.

Winter: Jan 31 - Feb 27, 2012
The Walking Daad returned on Feb 11 and runs through Mar 31.



Actually, since Hockeynut! mentioned Supernatural, they were the absolutely worst at targeting sweeps. Here is their Season 7 episode list... and it breaks down this way:

Fall: Oct 27 - Nov 23, 2011
Supernatural premiered on Sep 23 and ran through Dec 2.

Winter: Feb 2 - 29, 2012
Supernatural returned on Jan 6 and ran through Feb 17.

Spring: Apr 26 - May 23, 2012
Supernatural returned again on Mar 16 and ran through May 18.

So they essentially broke their 23 episode season into 3 parts so that they could hit fall, winter, and spring sweeps.

[Hockeynut!]

Yeah, TV has really changed over the past few years. It used to be you'd get a month of new shows, then a few weeks or reruns, back and forth from Sept-May. Now they just split the shows up. I actually prefer the "new" way of doing it.

[Digitalgypsy66]

Yeah, TV has really changed over the past few years. It used to be you'd get a month of new shows, then a few weeks or reruns, back and forth from Sept-May. Now they just split the shows up. I actually prefer the "new" way of doing it.

Yeah, Lost really suffered from the old format new-rerun-rerun-new-new and so on. I prefer 10 episodes or so in a row, a large break like over Christmas, and then finish the season.

[the wicked child]

I hate breaks of any kind tbh. I like to sit down and just watch a show. I probably would have been happier with the last 2 episodes if they were just 2 episodes in the middle of the season.

I don't hate this show by any means... the problem is that a lot of the highs were so good that it raised my expectations. It really is a shame that so many "show runners" have come and gone and AMC is cheaping out on their budget... You'd think that for as popular as the show is that they'd want to put money into it, but I guess not.'

Lost was the absolute worst with the breaks in the first couple seasons... and that was the kind of show where it was better to watch it in a row because there were so many little things that you could easily forget about when there was a 6 week break in between new episodes...

I almost want to wait to watch shows until they are done now so I don't have to wait...

[Idoit40fans]

So TWD is the Star Wars of telivision? Great concept, great story line, some excellent episodes that keep people attached, but for the most part, crappy acting and writing?

Hmm. Rick has been consistently awesome.

You lot me big time right there.

[nocera]

So TWD is the Star Wars of telivision? Great concept, great story line, some excellent episodes that keep people attached, but for the most part, crappy acting and writing?

Hmm. Rick has been consistently awesome.

You lot me big time right there.

Ha well, I enjoy him. I also enjoy when the girlfriend makes me watch Love Actually and I get to see the softer side of Rick.

[pens9192]

I am expecting the episode where Quinn Mallory and the gang from Sliders drop in and meet Rick and the crew. That would be awesome...

How about a series ending conclusion that The Walking Dead Earth is really an alternative Earth and the whole series was a story told by an unseen Slider from the future?

Ok, enough dreaming

[canaan]

I am expecting the episode where Quinn Mallory and the gang from Sliders drop in and meet Rick and the crew. That would be awesome...

How about a series ending conclusion that The Walking Dead Earth is really an alternative Earth and the whole series was a story told by an unseen Slider from the future?

Ok, enough dreaming

dear god, that would be the cats pajamas

[largegarlic]

I finally watched Sunday's episode last night, and I agree with the consensus that it was pretty weak. Maybe my opinion is skewed by having watched an episode of House of Cards immediately prior to it, but there were a lot of laughably bad dialogue and plot points in that episode. I don't really expect much from the show, though. There are really awesome scenes/plotlines that I legitimately enjoy (e.g. I thought the Rick/Shane confrontation was built up really well), and then there is plenty of stuff that I enjoy laughing at for it terribleness (e.g. the fact that it seems to be a rule that the main group can only have one black male member at a time--I love how Carl asked if Oscar made it back and I had to think, "Who's Oscar?" and then remembered he was the token black dude filling in between T-Dogg and Tyrese).