AMC The Walking Dead

[BlueJay]

Think Merle will be killed off at seasons end anyway. It's sort of like what they did with Andrea, separate story line. Enter Tyreese.

The shit with Rick seeing and hearing his wife, is getting old. How soon before they kill the last convict lol.

[Fuhgeddaboudit]

So many people I know watching this show that said they thought the episode was weak. I didn't see it as weak at all. The beginning was awesome, had a bit of action, and then they progressed the episode with a few character changes that were okay.

[josh]

I dont like the whole insanity thing with Rick, and I think some of the scenes could have been half as long (discussion of Michonne/Daryl going to prison, Woodbury citizens trying to leave). Was there only 1 zombie killed in the episode?

 

People want the show to be crazy every single week, espcialy after the long delay, but it will be fine. This episode seemed to have a lot of secondary character conversations, and for those just watching for the slaughter, this could get frustrating.

I'll have to re-watch before I really understand the entire episode.

[Phil]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-spoilers-robert-kirkman-420204

 

THR: How will the group respond to seeing Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) outburst?

 

Kirkman: Things are going to be somewhat more out in the open. Everyone saw that and was wondering what the heck was actually going on there. It seemed like part of the wall was making faces of him! (Laughs.) People are going to be really wary of him, moving forward and what's exactly is going on with Rick. If you see the undercurrent of this episode, you see that forces are moving in Woodbury and there's definitely a confrontation ahead and it's happening at the exact wrong time. This is a guy who's clearly going through some stuff and having a bad time with it. People are going to be unable to look at Rick as a leader at a time when they need him most.

 

THR: Besides Hershel, does the rest of the group agree that Tyreese (Chad Coleman) and company should stay?

 

Kirkman: As Rick has said in the past, this isn't a democracy so if Rick risk is saying they have to go, they have to go. That was a clear decision being made at the end of this episode. There may be some argument here and there but he's trying to take bull by horns and make the decisions for the group. That may lead to some conflict inside the prison while there's conflict coming from outside the prison. So things could get even more dangerous and crazy.

 

THR: Will Merle and Daryl's travels be addressed? How will their relationship evolve?

 

Kirkman: It'd be a disservice to have those guys off the table for too long. We're definitely going to follow Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Merle's (Michael Rooker) journey and see the interaction between those two. We haven't really seen very much interaction between them aside from a vision in the second season. These are characters that have changed very much while they were away from each other. Now that they're back together, they're almost two completely different people. Daryl has always been more subservient to Merle, who is more of an overbearing individual. He was clearly lost without him a bit in the first season. Now that Daryl has had time to become his own man and find himself, it's a question of whether or not he's going to wash away that progress and go back to the status quo or if he's going to use the progress to try and affect Merle.

 

THR: How will Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie's (Lauren Cohan) torture at the hands of the Governor change them? Could Glenn be the threat to Rick inside the prison?

 

Kirkman: Glenn's evolution and change has been jumpstarted by the Governor. We've seen him already be more confrontational than we have in the past, and that's going to continue and is going to creep into his relationship with Maggie. Coming out of their encounter in Woodbury, these two have a lot to deal with. Whether or not they're going to deal with it together or allow it to drive them apart, that's what we're going to find out.

[Ranger Lothbrok]

The show has lost its creepiness factor, which is part of what made it so enjoyable. Like, think about the first episode, with Rick wandering around the hospital. The bolted door that said, "DON'T OPEN DEAD INSIDE," lighting the match in the stairwell, all the bodies outside, and then that one zombie he sees crawling on the ground with half a body. Now look at it: Governor drama, Woodbury drama, Merle and Daryl drama, Michonne/Andrea drama, Glenn/Maggie drama, Rick drama, etc. Get back to what the show should really be about: zombies!

[josh]

The show has lost its creepiness factor, which is part of what made it so enjoyable. Like, think about the first episode, with Rick wandering around the hospital. The bolted door that said, "DON'T OPEN DEAD INSIDE," lighting the match in the stairwell, all the bodies outside, and then that one zombie he sees crawling on the ground with half a body. Now look at it: Governor drama, Woodbury drama, Merle and Daryl drama, Michonne/Andrea drama, Glenn/Maggie drama, Rick drama, etc. Get back to what the show should really be about: zombies!

 

Yeah... like the opening scene from this season? I wish we saw the zombie-drama that ensued between season 2 - start of season 3. Seems like the cut out the "constant run for your life/zombie apocalypse". Not sure if they freaked out because viewers didnt care Sophia was missing or what...

[Phil]

The show has lost its creepiness factor, which is part of what made it so enjoyable. Like, think about the first episode, with Rick wandering around the hospital. The bolted door that said, "DON'T OPEN DEAD INSIDE," lighting the match in the stairwell, all the bodies outside, and then that one zombie he sees crawling on the ground with half a body. Now look at it: Governor drama, Woodbury drama, Merle and Daryl drama, Michonne/Andrea drama, Glenn/Maggie drama, Rick drama, etc. Get back to what the show should really be about: zombies!

 

Four things:

 

1. Record ratings says otherwise.

 

2. You also have to remember, they've lost two showrunners since that first season. There's a reason the show is different now. It's being run by it's third show-runner in as many seasons.

 

3. The focus on zombies was veered from, slightly, because AMC couldn't afford the cost associated with the short first season. Remember the scene where Rick shoots the crawling zombie in like episode four? That scene, alone, cost something like $22M to produce. One scene, within an entire episode, cost a small television network $22M to produce. The money belt was tightened big-time since then, for good reason.

 

4. The show is called The Walking Dead because the reference is to the living, not the dead. It's based on a comic book series that does the exact same thing. This show was never about zombies. It was about survivors, living in a zombie-infested world.

[Ranger Lothbrok]

Four things:

 

1. Record ratings says otherwise.

 

2. You also have to remember, they've lost two showrunners since that first season. There's a reason the show is different now. It's being run by it's third show-runner in as many seasons.

 

3. The focus on zombies was veered from, slightly, because AMC couldn't afford the cost associated with the short first season. Remember the scene where Rick shoots the crawling zombie in like episode four? That scene, alone, cost something like $22M to produce. One scene, within an entire episode, cost a small television network $22M to produce. The money belt was tightened big-time since then, for good reason.

 

4. The show is called The Walking Dead because the reference is to the living, not the dead. It's based on a comic book series that does the exact same thing. This show was never about zombies. It was about survivors, living in a zombie-infested world.

 

Huh. You'd figure with the "record ratings" that the budget would INCREASE, and we'd see more of the stuff we saw in the first season, rather than less of it.

 

And as for what the comic books do, what's the point of having a zombie-infested world if you de-emphasize the zombies? It's called the Walking Dead, not Melrose Place v2.0.

[Phil]

Huh. You'd figure with the "record ratings" that the budget would INCREASE, and we'd see more of the stuff we saw in the first season, rather than less of it.

 

And as for what the comic books do, what's the point of having a zombie-infested world if you de-emphasize the zombies? It's called the Walking Dead, not Melrose Place v2.0.

 

Again, it's called the Walking Dead in reference to the LIVING, not the dead. The whole thing is a play on words. It's a focus on life in an apocalyptic zombie world.

 

Fact is, their ratings have increased despite them not spending millions on single scenes, so why should they go back to doing that? Ratings go up when they show less, yet you're insinuating that should mean they should show more? This is illogical.

 

I can't put enough emphasis on the play on words, though. The Walking Dead is not a zombie show. It's a show about survivors of a zombie world.

[Phil]

Jury is still out on how the new show runner will handle this new season, but Kurt Sutter, I remember, had really nasty things to say about Glen Mazzara being let go:

 

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/kurt-sutter-amc-glen-mazzara-the-walking-dead/

 

AMC is run by small-minded, bottom-line thinkers who have no appreciation or gratitude for the effort of its creative personnel. Time and time again we see events like what happened today with Glen Mazzara. They continue to disrespect writers, shit on their audience and bury their network. Mazzara took the work-in-progress that was “Walking Dead” and turned it into a viable TV show with a future. Without him, that future is dim. Showrunners are not development executives, we’re not cookiecutter douchebags that you plug into a preexisting model. TWD will suffer. Even Zombies need consistency. “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” will be gone soon. So will AMC. I hope their f*cking stock takes a dive and the shareholders line up (Josh) Sapan, (Charles) Dolan and (Charlie) Collier and shit in their open hands. C*nts.

[Ranger Lothbrok]

Right. I got the whole play on words thing the first time you mentioned it. Come to think of it, how could you have a show ABOUT zombies? What would you do? Follow one around in its every day life?

 

What I'm getting at is: if it's a show about survivors in a zombie world, shouldn't the zombies be at least somewhat important? Otherwise, how is the show different from anything else?

 

And by the way, I love the show and it doesn't remotely affect my viewership. Just thinking aloud.

[Phil]

Right. I got the whole play on words thing the first time you mentioned it. Come to think of it, how could you have a show ABOUT zombies? What would you do? Follow one around in its every day life?

 

What I'm getting at is: if it's a show about survivors in a zombie world, shouldn't the zombies be at least somewhat important? Otherwise, how is the show different from anything else?

 

And by the way, I love the show and it doesn't remotely affect my viewership. Just thinking aloud.

 

No, honestly, they're not.

 

Zombies are just the post-apocalyptic type. If you had a show about life after a nuclear blast, are the effects of the nuclear blast that important?

 

I know what you are saying, and it's not an unreasonable request. You'd like a little more zombies in the show, but ultimately they're not at all the focus of the show, despite what a lot of people might think.

[Ranger Lothbrok]

No, honestly, they're not.

 

Zombies are just the post-apocalyptic type. If you had a show about life after a nuclear blast, are the effects of the nuclear blast that important?

 

I know what you are saying, and it's not an unreasonable request. You'd like a little more zombies in the show, but ultimately they're not at all the focus of the show, despite what a lot of people might think.

 

Gotcha. I know ratings disagree with me, which I'll partly chalk up to word of mouth and growing popularity/advertising budgets (I see the commercials on EVERY channel now, never used to see them), but I think the show was better in Seasons 1 and 2. Like, one of the most moving episodes was the whole scene at the CDC. Where they're watching the currents running through a brain and see the difference between living and dead. Like that, and the opening episodes, I haven't seen anything like recently.

 

I know all of the reasons for it: budget constraints, change in showrunners, what the viewers want/ratings, etc. I just think, personally, that the show was better in the beginning.

[Phil]

Gotcha. I know ratings disagree with me, which I'll partly chalk up to word of mouth and growing popularity/advertising budgets (I see the commercials on EVERY channel now, never used to see them), but I think the show was better in Seasons 1 and 2. Like, one of the most moving episodes was the whole scene at the CDC. Where they're watching the currents running through a brain and see the difference between living and dead. Like that, and the opening episodes, I haven't seen anything like recently.

 

I know all of the reasons for it: budget constraints, change in showrunners, what the viewers want/ratings, etc. I just think, personally, that the show was better in the beginning.

 

I don't completely disagree, but you have to remember that they are accounting for a progression in story line as well. The CDC stuff, even in the comics, from what I'm told, doesn't last nearly as long as the farm and the prison. The prison, especially, dominates the story, and the televised version of the show doesn't veer that far from the main script of the story lines from the comics. In a lot of ways, they're painting by numbers, so your complaint should be with the fact they're staying somewhat true to the original, not that they're not showing more science and zombie stuff specifically.

[Tonybologna]

Right. I got the whole play on words thing the first time you mentioned it. Come to think of it, how could you have a show ABOUT zombies? What would you do? Follow one around in its every day life?

 

What I'm getting at is: if it's a show about survivors in a zombie world, shouldn't the zombies be at least somewhat important? Otherwise, how is the show different from anything else?

 

And by the way, I love the show and it doesn't remotely affect my viewership. Just thinking aloud.

 

I think I feel the same way as you. Do you mean you'd also like the characters to uncover more of the bigger picture in the show? That's something I would like, which is why I loved the CDC arc. The show Revolution has a lot of issues but the one area they're doing it right is giving viewers a glimpse at the bigger picture.

 

I think the viewers would be extremely interested in more zombie stuff and by that I mean more details on the outbreak, best ways to stop them, more talk about rumored safe havens/resistance groups (people actively killing zombie hordes not just trying to survive away from them).

 

Then again yes this show is based on a comic book and if that stuff isn't in the comic books it may be best if they don't venture too far from them. Most of the time movies/tv shows are better sticking to the original books' stories, especially true with manga/anime.

[High and Wide]

I think I feel the same way as you. Do you mean you'd also like the characters to uncover more of the bigger picture in the show? That's something I would like, which is why I loved the CDC arc. The show Revolution has a lot of issues but the one area they're doing it right is giving viewers a glimpse at the bigger picture.

 

I think the viewers would be extremely interested in more zombie stuff and by that I mean more details on the outbreak, best ways to stop them, more talk about rumored safe havens/resistance groups (people actively killing zombie hordes not just trying to survive away from them).

 

Then again yes this show is based on a comic book and if that stuff isn't in the comic books it may be best if they don't venture too far from them. Most of the time movies/tv shows are better sticking to the original books' stories, especially true with manga/anime.

 

Agreed. For me, the initial draw to the show was the zombie apocalypse theme. I don't mind the character drama because of the other shows I watch. However, the show should be slightly more zombie intensive when it comes to the story line.

 

On the other hand, from what I've heard about the comic, it is more character driven. I'd like to read them at some point, but I don't want to spoil anything for myself.

[Ranger Lothbrok]

On the Howard Stern channels on Sirius they have a show called Geektime, and they were replaying their interview with Robert Kirkman from when he first got the TV deal with AMC. Something I thought was interesting was that he deliberately told them to stray from the comic storyline, because he wanted people who had read the comics to be able to enjoy surprises in the show too. And he said, despite TELLING them to take liberties, that the upcoming season (Season 1 at the time) followed the storyline a little too much for his liking.

 

Kind of interesting to hear that, for once, a writer DOESN'T want the show following the books to the letter.

[Phil]

What a fuckin' episode!

[josh]

Thank The Lord they didn't save those last 10 min for next week, that ep was slooow.

[josh]

Axel took that shot in the face. How did no one hear or see the Gov and his men?

[Phil]

The real question is, how will the group forgive Merle? Because they have no choice in the matter. After Rick's fuckin' melt down the previous week that scared off Tyrese & Co. they need Merle's muscle, and his inside knowledge of The Gov.

[Drew a Penalty]

Thought it was a good episode. I kind of disliked how they just killed off Axel. He didn't play a large role, but do they intend to keep any small characters alive like they had done with T-Dog or is there no need for background characters? Personally, I would have kept him around a little bit longer instead of offing him just like that. Doesn't make much sense unless Tyreese and his group return.

 

The real question is, how will the group forgive Merle?

 

I think they will ultimately be forced to accept Merle, but it all depends on who is "in charge." Is Rick over his hallucinations and capable of making decisions because that would be a big determining factor as to how the group reacts. I think Merle will definitely stay, but I don't think it will play over well with Glenn who's the self-appointed leader. I definitely don't think the whole group will forgive Merle, especially Michonne and Glenn, but they'll have to put up with the fact that he's there and they need him and Daryl if they want to survive.

[Patrick Bateman]

The real question is, how will the group forgive Merle? Because they have no choice in the matter. After Rick's fuckin' melt down the previous week that scared off Tyrese & Co. they need Merle's muscle, and his inside knowledge of The Gov.

 

 

Tyrese is listed for 9 episodes on IMDB

 

[Phil]

Tyrese is listed for 9 episodes on IMDB

 

 

No doubt they'll return. Why give 'em this much time and spotlight if they're just gonna walk off, ya know?

 

[Patrick Bateman]

No doubt they'll return. Why give 'em this much time and spotlight if they're just gonna walk off, ya know?

 

 

maybe they join up with the governors group