467 replies to this topic

[Robviously]

cdexchange, on 09 December 2010 - 12:57 PM, said:

That's weird.  Huge hit, great ratings, money rolling in, so fire all the writers?

The show is a big hit because of the concept (which is great, and the only reason I keep watching) and the strong pilot episode.  The actual writing has been terrible.

Can anyone relate to any of these characters?  Officer Rick just wanted to find his wife and son...and then he did....and then he abandoned them one episode later to go back into a city with millions of zombies.  Andrea's only personality trait so far is that she really likes pointing a gun at other survivors, along with the baffling decision to hang out with her dead sister until she came back to life as a monster so that she could shoot her in the head.  Merle, his brother, and Ed are all southern white guys so naturally they were all various degrees of racist hillbillies who hit women.  T-Dog is a black guy so the only personality trait the writers could come up with for him was to have him named "T-Dog."  They gave the black woman character about 1 line per episode before randomly having her decide she didn't want to live anymore.  Oh, OK.

Then there's the part where nothing on the show makes sense.  A bunch of hispanic guys decided to pretend they were gang members so that they could protect an old folks home in the middle of a city full of millions of zombies???  And somehow they're doing fine but the military was completely overrun?  That big zombie attack on the campsite where the younger sister died -- did every character on the show forget they were living in a post-apocalyptic zombie nightmare?  They were all just sitting around a campfire waiting to get attacked.  Also, the first couple shows made a big deal about how sound attracts more zombies but the writers apparently forgot about that a few shows later.  None of the gunshots from the campsite zombie attack seemed to attract any more zombies, nor did Andrea idiotically shooting her sister in the head the next day.  And none of the characters even expressed any concern about that noise.  Oh well.

Lastly, this show may have finally ruined slow zombies for me.  I know they went out of their way to not have the running zombies from the 2004 Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days/Weeks Later but the zombies on this show are so slow that it's impossible to imagine them overrunning any law enforcement or military group.  We saw some military guys bite it in the flashback at the start of the season finale when one guy was standing with his back to a door that a zombie burst through (he then accidentally shot his friends when attacked).  Assuming the rest of the world's military is smart enough not to stand with their backs to doors in buildings full of zombies, I think I'd put my money on the living.  At least running zombies make a rapid outbreak/fall of society seem plausible (see opening to 2004 Dawn of the Dead or all hell breaking loose in 28 Weeks Later).

Maybe the new writers can make this thing work.  The first batch definitely didn't.

[PASabreFan]

SNR,

It was also odd how the old dude didn't seem to care about saving the black lady before the "air caught fire."

Re: Andrea and her sister. Andrea felt guilty about missing so many of her little sister's birthdays/special moments in general. So staying with her made sense. If she hadn't, we would have missed the one scene so far that really creeped me out: when Andrea appeared to be willing to let her zombie sister bite her face off.

I think these "yell at the TV" moments are deliberate, meant to get us emotionally involved and tuning in.

The one scene I really hated was when a walker was being, uh, incapacitated and some goo splashed onto the camera. Not sure why you'd want your viewers to be reminded that it's just a movie.

I wonder if the producers would think of this first season as basically an extended pilot. Now that it's been picked up for a full season, we might see some improvements in writing, storyline, production, etc.

[Assquatch]

7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly)

Whew~!

Quote

Plus, if we look at zombies as a species, they are pretty much designed for failure. Their main form of reproduction is also their only source of food and their top predator. If they want to eat or reproduce, they have to go toe to toe with their number one predator every single time. That's like having to fight a lion every time you to want to have sex or make a sandwich.

[cdexchange]

Assquatch, on 09 December 2010 - 05:47 PM, said:

7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly)

Good stuff.  

#1 is exactly what I was talking about, but all 7 are pretty much right on.  

[bunomatic]

cdexchange, on 09 December 2010 - 12:57 PM, said:

That's weird.  Huge hit, great ratings, money rolling in, so fire all the writers?

Here's something that always bugs me about all these zombie-apocalypse movies/shows: there is no freaking way that a bunch of zombies, no matter how many there are, could overrun and defeat our military on any large scale.  I can't think of any possible scenario where that makes sense.  It doesn't seem like it would be all that difficult to set up secure zones and guard the perimiters 24/7 with snipers.  They could easily transport personel/supplies/ammo in and out via armored trucks or even tanks.  Hell, just outfit trucks with battering rams and plow right through the sumbitches.  I know it's a plot device but it's totally unrealistic to think that zombies could ever wipe out 99.9999% of the population, there's just no way.

no disrespect intended but for starters we are talking about zombies which don't exist which makes this a fantasy/sci-fi/horror series which has absolutely no basis in reality so to argue that zombies couldn't over run your military is about as crazy as the plot. Nothing makes sense and everything makes sense,its escapism and its really not meant to make you think. Of course the Zombies could over run your military because the writers wrote that into the plot. Take Merle for example. He cut his hand off to escape the Zombies but he can't get past the zombies at the rooftop door so how does he get off the 10 story building? Does he climb down with his one good hand and his stump?

[cdexchange]

bunomatic, on 09 December 2010 - 10:49 PM, said:

no disrespect intended but for starters we are talking about zombies which don't exist which makes this a fantasy/sci-fi/horror series which has absolutely no basis in reality so to argue that zombies couldn't over run your military is about as crazy as the plot. Nothing makes sense and everything makes sense,its escapism and its really not meant to make you think. Of course the Zombies could over run your military because the writers wrote that into the plot. Take Merle for example. He cut his hand off to escape the Zombies but he can't get past the zombies at the rooftop door so how does he get off the 10 story building? Does he climb down with his one good hand and his stump?

Yeah of course I know that, it was more of an observation than a criticism.  Just fun to talk about in an (obviously) hypothetical sense.  I still like the show and am looking forward to the second season.  Anybody know when it is slated to return?

[X. Benedict]

bunomatic, on 09 December 2010 - 10:49 PM, said:

no disrespect intended but for starters we are talking about zombies which don't exist which makes this a fantasy/sci-fi/horror series which has absolutely no basis in reality so to argue that zombies couldn't over run your military is about as crazy as the plot. Nothing makes sense and everything makes sense,its escapism and its really not meant to make you think. Of course the Zombies could over run your military because the writers wrote that into the plot. Take Merle for example. He cut his hand off to escape the Zombies but he can't get past the zombies at the rooftop door so how does he get off the 10 story building? Does he climb down with his one good hand and his stump?

They only show the slow Zombies in Walking Dead. In England the Zombies are much faster. Atlanta has slower Zombies. They talk slower there too. It's more polite. We can't assume all Zombies are like Atlanta Zombies.

[Robviously]

bunomatic, on 09 December 2010 - 10:49 PM, said:

no disrespect intended but for starters we are talking about zombies which don't exist which makes this a fantasy/sci-fi/horror series which has absolutely no basis in reality so to argue that zombies couldn't over run your military is about as crazy as the plot. Nothing makes sense and everything makes sense,its escapism and its really not meant to make you think. Of course the Zombies could over run your military because the writers wrote that into the plot.

The problem is that the show's logic doesn't work in its own universe.  You know it's a show about zombies going in, so if you're watching it, your brain is not going to reject the idea that zombies could be real.  But once you're watching it, you'll notice the zombies are all extremely slow and your brain is going to point out that these zombies really couldn't take over the world.  

So the show wants us to buy that zombies destroyed most of the world and killed most of its population, but then they gave us zombies that really don't seem up to the task.  

TV shows don't need to be realistic to be good, but they do need to make sense.

[bunomatic]

cdexchange, on 09 December 2010 - 11:11 PM, said:

Yeah of course I know that, it was more of an observation than a criticism.  Just fun to talk about in an (obviously) hypothetical sense.  I still like the show and am looking forward to the second season.  Anybody know when it is slated to return?

I agree. I'm also looking forward to the second season and it'll be interesting to see where they go with the plot. It's a lot better than watching all the reality crap thats thrown at us.

[Claude_Verret]

SilverNRed, on 10 December 2010 - 12:01 AM, said:

The problem is that the show's logic doesn't work in its own universe.  You know it's a show about zombies going in, so if you're watching it, your brain is not going to reject the idea that zombies could be real.  But once you're watching it, you'll notice the zombies are all extremely slow and your brain is going to point out that these zombies really couldn't take over the world.  

So the show wants us to buy that zombies destroyed most of the world and killed most of its population, but then they gave us zombies that really don't seem up to the task.  

TV shows don't need to be realistic to be good, but they do need to make sense.

I won't ruin it, but that spoiler thread over on the stadium wall gives some information that could clear up why 'slow' zombies could take over and even defeat a modern military.

[frisky]

After watching those shows like Life After People on NGC and stuff, looks like it would be hard to avoid the other catastrophes as a result of the end of the world, let alone zombies. Like about 10 days after people disappear, without anyone to tend the nuclear reactors of the world, apparently, they would melt down spewing radioactive material in the air and all over. Zombies are easier to avoid than radiation sickness from everything that's covered in it. Sounds like a worse way to go.

[cdexchange]

Claude_Verret, on 10 December 2010 - 01:13 AM, said:

I won't ruin it, but that spoiler thread over on the stadium wall gives some information that could clear up why 'slow' zombies could take over and even defeat a modern military.

oooh, now I'm really intrigued...

must...resist...spoiler...temptation...

[Spndnchz]

http://news.yahoo.co...-162603736.html

Quote

NEW YORK (AP) — As every fan of  "The Walking Dead" is well aware, this zombie-apocalypse drama will  return for its much-awaited second season on Oct. 16. But AMC is  announcing news that should bring delighted chills to any "Dead"  devotee.

For starters, the season premiere won't be just an hour, but 90 creepy minutes.

[dEnnis the Menace]

spndnchz, on 01 September 2011 - 02:11 PM, said:

http://news.yahoo.co...-162603736.html

I cannot wait for this to come back.  I may go pick up the comics (graphic novels) to start reading.

[LGR4GM]

"Remember, the whole reason hunting licenses exist is to limit the number of animals you're allowed to kill, because if you just declared free reign for everybody with a gun, everything in the forest would be dead by sundown. Even the trees would be mounted proudly above the late-arriving hunter's mantles. It's safe to assume that when the game changes from "three deer" to "all the rotting dead people trying to eat us," there will be no shortage of volunteers.

Read more: 7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly) | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.c...#ixzz1WjfTw461"

OMG HILARIOUS!!!! winning.


Which brings me to my next point: Anyone ever play Nazi Zombies on Call Of Duty... that game is addictive

[Spndnchz]

Back this Sunday at 9PM.  Love this show!

[bunomatic]

Just finished a great season of breaking bad and fall right into a new season of walking dead. I love my AMC.

[dEnnis the Menace]

spndnchz, on 13 October 2011 - 08:38 AM, said:

Back this Sunday at 9PM.  Love this show!

I won't lie...I'm pretty excited.  The previews for this season look pretty darn good

[Claude_Verret]

Looking forward to this, especially after Breaking Bad just ended.  If you aren't watching Breaking Bad you are missing what is unquestionably the best show on TV right now.

[d4rksabre]

Claude_Verret, on 13 October 2011 - 09:32 AM, said:

Looking forward to this, especially after Breaking Bad just ended.  If you aren't watching Breaking Bad you are missing what is unquestionably the best show on TV right now.

Hands down the best show currently. It might be one of the best tv shows ever.

[HurlyBurly51]

bunomatic, on 13 October 2011 - 08:48 AM, said:

Just finished a great season of breaking bad and fall right into a new season of walking dead. I love my AMC.

And now it's all finally in HD on DirecTV:thumbsup:

[wonderbread]

HurlyBurly51, on 13 October 2011 - 11:15 AM, said:

And now it's all finally in HD on DirecTV:thumbsup:

Can't wait. I just finished season 1 ready to move on to season 2 this sunday.

[drnkirishone]

I just got done watching season 1 this past 2 weeks and gotta say looking forward to season 2

[wjag]

Damn you all...

I was going along blissfully unaware of this.  Now I have completed the season 1 marathon and the season two premiere...  I'm hooked.  That's all I need is to get hooked on another series.

This one is beyond twisted.  You people are sick...

                  

They seem appropriate....

[Spndnchz]

Best kill?

I'm going with the arrow through the skull.  Sweet.

[wjag]

spndnchz, on 17 October 2011 - 08:42 AM, said:

Best kill?

I'm going with the arrow through the skull.  Sweet.

Screw driver to the .... repeatedly....

[DontPatTheGerbe]

Aside from the twist ending ... I thought the season premiere was pretty boring.  Not much going on.  Usually season premieres and season finales are huge plot changing (or plot setting) episodes.  This one felt kinda hum-drum like a mid-season episode to me.

I'll keep watching though :-D.

[cgang]

DontPatTheGerbe, on 17 October 2011 - 08:59 AM, said:

Aside from the twist ending ... I thought the season premiere was pretty boring.  Not much going on.  Usually season premieres and season finales are huge plot changing (or plot setting) episodes.  This one felt kinda hum-drum like a mid-season episode to me.

I'll keep watching though :-D.

+1.  Seemed slow at times but maybe I was just expecting the same kind of drama as the opening last year.  

Interesting... I saw shades of Stephen King's "Cell" in there.  Either King got inspiration from the Walking Dead print series for his book "Cell" (about the Phone Crazies flocking behavior) or the Walking Dead writers got inspiration from King in giving the Zombis some "flocking" characteristics displayed in the highway scene last night.  Not sure if this will be a kind of re-occuring or growing theme in the series (I did not read the Walking Dead books b/c I want to be surprised about how everything turns out).

[bunomatic]

I thought the show was good. With the missing girl and the fallen boy and the different faction ready to split off from the group I think episode two is set up to be pretty cool. My thoughts on this are the girl will be found with the group of 'humans' that shot the buck/boy. Maybe the a$$ that had to cut off his hand in the first season leads the second group of 'humans' that may or may not materialize in episode two?  And obviously I've never read these books either. I like the suspense.

[DontPatTheGerbe]

bunomatic, on 17 October 2011 - 09:23 AM, said:

I thought the show was good. With the missing girl and the fallen boy and the different faction ready to split off from the group I think episode two is set up to be pretty cool. My thoughts on this are the girl will be found with the group of 'humans' that shot the buck/boy. Maybe the a$$ that had to cut off his hand in the first season leads the second group of 'humans' that may or may not materialize in episode two?  And obviously I've never read these books either. I like the suspense.

Ahh.. good call.  I had completely forgotten about the assholde who cut off his hand to get out of the cuffs.  I agree with your "guesses"... let's see :-).

[Matty Ice]

bunomatic, on 17 October 2011 - 09:23 AM, said:

I thought the show was good. With the missing girl and the fallen boy and the different faction ready to split off from the group I think episode two is set up to be pretty cool. My thoughts on this are the girl will be found with the group of 'humans' that shot the buck/boy. Maybe the a$$ that had to cut off his hand in the first season leads the second group of 'humans' that may or may not materialize in episode two?  And obviously I've never read these books either. I like the suspense.

I really hope Meryl Dixon returns this year.  Michael Rucker owns every scene his in.  Daryl Dixon is becoming the single most awesome character on TV.  

The premier had its ups (the zombie herd was unreal), and downs (TWO Jesus confessionals...really?).  Overall though, I am still invested in this show.  I can't wait til next week!

[Matty Ice]

spndnchz, on 17 October 2011 - 08:42 AM, said:

Best kill?

I'm going with the arrow through the skull.  Sweet.

Even though the actual kill wasn't too special, the Zombie autopsy was pretty crazy.

[dEnnis the Menace]

Matty Ice, on 17 October 2011 - 09:42 AM, said:

Even though the actual kill wasn't too special, the Zombie autopsy was pretty crazy.

I'd have to agree.  I found Rick's expressions to be amusing the whole time Daryl was cutting away.  

Overall I liked the premiere.  I was on the edge of my seat when the herd was going through, as I thought that was a really cool scene.  I also like the character development and evolution that's been taking place.  

I can't wait for next weeks show!

[wjag]

Matty Ice, on 17 October 2011 - 09:40 AM, said:

I really hope Meryl Dixon returns this year.  Michael Rucker owns every scene his in.  Daryl Dixon is becoming the single most awesome character on TV.  

The premier had its ups (the zombie herd was unreal), and downs (TWO Jesus confessionals...really?).  Overall though, I am still invested in this show.  I can't wait til next week!

Running from zombies constantly is going to get old.  You can only splatter so many brains before it becomes routine.  They are going to have to keep losing people to keep the show rolling.

[Matty Ice]

wjag, on 17 October 2011 - 09:51 AM, said:

Running from zombies constantly is going to get old.  You can only splatter so many brains before it becomes routine.  They are going to have to keep losing people to keep the show rolling.

That was always my big question with shows like "Walking Dead", and "American Horror Story."  How can they sustain the pace of the pilots.  So far both shows are doing fine.  But like you said, brain splattering (even though it is awesome) eventually becomes routine.  Really interested to see how they develop the characters, because in the end, the conflicts between the characters will make or break either show.  

My DVR is filling up pretty quick with TWD, AHS, and SOA.

[wonderbread]

Matty Ice, on 17 October 2011 - 10:05 AM, said:

That was always my big question with shows like "Walking Dead", and "American Horror Story."  How can they sustain the pace of the pilots.  So far both shows are doing fine.  But like you said, brain splattering (even though it is awesome) eventually becomes routine.  Really interested to see how they develop the characters, because in the end, the conflicts between the characters will make or break either show.  

My DVR is filling up pretty quick with TWD, AHS, and SOA.

The beauty of TWD is in the characters. In order for the show to "keep it up" they will continue to expand on the individual characters.

[wjag]

wonderbread, on 17 October 2011 - 11:33 AM, said:

The beauty of TWD is in the characters. In order for the show to "keep it up" they will continue to expand on the individual characters.

So this is why I think it will not succeed long term.  There just isn't enough room for creativity in a show like this.  So what inevitably happens is entire shows become about one character.  Some deep dark secret gets exposed and they spend 60 minutes on it.  What is right about the show at the moment is characters come in and characters go out.  The zombies have to win a few or it gets boring real fast.  The attack on the camp where some characters were lost, folks decide to "opt out", the group splinters.  That is what will keep it interesting.  What will kill it, IMHO, is 60 minutes on why some character is afraid of the dark.  And that day is inevitably coming.  It always does...

[dEnnis the Menace]

wjag, on 17 October 2011 - 01:21 PM, said:

So this is why I think it will not succeed long term.  There just isn't enough room for creativity in a show like this.  So what inevitably happens is entire shows become about one character.  Some deep dark secret gets exposed and they spend 60 minutes on it.  What is right about the show at the moment is characters come in and characters go out.  The zombies have to win a few or it gets boring real fast.  The attack on the camp where some characters were lost, folks decide to "opt out", the group splinters.  That is what will keep it interesting.  What will kill it, IMHO, is 60 minutes on why some character is afraid of the dark.  And that day is inevitably coming.  It always does...

just out of curiosity, have you read the graphic novels?  I haven't yet (buying a couple of the volumes tonight on my way home) but from what I've heard, people should avoid falling in love with any one specific character.

[wjag]

dEnnis the Menace, on 17 October 2011 - 01:44 PM, said:

just out of curiosity, have you read the graphic novels?  I haven't yet (buying a couple of the volumes tonight on my way home) but from what I've heard, people should avoid falling in love with any one specific character.

No I haven't and won't until it has run its course.  I can see the sheriff and his family hanging around, but everyone else should be a 3-5 show character.  And some of them should be Zombie main courses.

I've really like the plot so far...

[dEnnis the Menace]

wjag, on 17 October 2011 - 01:52 PM, said:

No I haven't and won't until it has run its course.  I can see the sheriff and his family hanging around, but everyone else should be a 3-5 show character.  And some of them should be Zombie main courses.

I've really like the plot so far...

I agree, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the plot.  I'm anxious to see where it's going!  I don't have many other shows that i am into as much as this one.