The Walking Dead: The Television Series

[Typhoid]

This entire Season has lacked any serious zombie threat...and this episode they suddenly start boarding up the house. I mean, shouldn't that have been episode 2? Maybe instead of fixing the well they could have boarded up the house. I get it: Hershel wasn't planning on letting them live there. But in the case of an emergency zombie outbreak, wouldn't having a fortified house make sense?

Okay, so I'm back to nitpicking about bad writing.

Not to constantly be the defendant; but -

I get it: Hershel wasn't planning on letting them live there. But in the case of an emergency zombie outbreak, wouldn't having a fortified house make sense?

Then no, you do not get it. Hershel wasn't aware of "the outside". He thought they were curable, he didn't know they would come to his house, and attempt to slaughter him. That is the only reason he had them in the barn. That is why he didn't have his house boarded up.
That God-fearing man had no reason in his mind to board up his house to protect himself of the Walking Dead. That's why it already wasn't protected. Come on man, you're watching the show. It's like you're purposely forgetting things they spend ample time discussing in previous episodes because you're looking for something to complain about.

Of course the black guy is helping move all the shit, and "no you aren't sleeping on the couch." "Okay, masta sir!"

Why do you go and have to be racist like that. A white guy isn't allowed to tell a black guy that the couch he owns is taken, without someone who's (hopefully jokingly) looking for things to pick apart saying "lol 21st century, black man doing work for a white guy and being told what to do", where as I refute with "lol 21st century, he's allowed to help and be part of the group like any human being, and be told not to go places like every other normal person. That is equality."
When I see a writer doing things like that in a show with a black person I think "Good for you. You're not afraid of writing honestly. You're not going to walk on eggshells and not write a black actor into normal roles because you're afraid someone will make some bullshit slavery connection for no fucking reason."

Man, I don't get why people watch a show if all everyone ever says about it is always negative. In 2 seasons I've only seen/recalled maybe 5 positive posts that were not from me. and I don't mean posts that are filled with hate on the last episode, and sprinkled with a positive "but".

Here is my summary of the majority of people who watch this show commenting after every episode:

"I don't get the show. I don't like the direction they're taking _______. The acting is bad, I don't feel invested in any characters. And how did _____ get ____ without _____ knowing/thinking/seeing _____? That doesn't make sense. Why did they cast ____ as ______ anyways? He/she can't act ______ as well as I hoped that character would be acted. I'm so ________ that they're still _________. _______ is such a ______, fuck. Why can't _______ ________ _______. The worst scene of last episode was when _______ and ______ were _______ by the _______ with _____. Like _____, why can't ______ just _____. That would make _____ so much _______. Every week I watch this show my life gets significantly worse. The 48 minutes I spend every Sunday watching this glorified pile of vomit are worth it though, for the 5 minutes that I think are cool, so it's okay. I like the show, that's why I watch it."

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

Why do you go and have to be racist like that. A white guy isn't allowed to tell a black guy that the couch he owns is taken, without someone who's (hopefully jokingly) looking for things to pick apart saying "lol 21st century, black man doing work for a white guy and being told what to do", where as I refute with "lol 21st century, he's allowed to help and be part of the group like any human being, and be told not to go places like every other normal person. That is equality."

I would say you are being pedantic, but even you expressed some doubt that my comment was completely serious when you said: "someone who's (hopefully jokingly) looking for things to pick apart." That would be correct...I made that comment as a joke.

But if my comment was a joke, then where does the humor come from?

And this is where I can say you have ignored context. So far T-Dog has been nothing but a throwaway character. His existence in the series is seriously questionable, especially since his character does not exist in the comic. Add in the fact that he has very few speaking lines, no subplots, and he has a stereotypically racist name "T-Dog".....it isn't a huge leap to suggest that he is the "token black guy." And that TV TROPE does exist:

It's the "Token Minority" trope.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph.../TokenMinority

Token Minority is a character designed to get more minority groups into the plot.

And oh, guess what? On the Token Minority trope page, T-Dog is actually cited as an example of the trope!

Played painfully straight in The Walking Dead with T-Dog, who is the only major character in the series not to have any sub-plots and little dialog. Extremely apparent in Season 2 episode "Judge, Jury, Executioner" in which the group deliberates whether or not to kill Randall, the episode focuses on the opinions of every member of the group except T-Dog whose one line of dialog is cut off by Dale.

So to answer the question, "where does the humor come from when KillerGremlin makes a joke about T-Dog." The answer is that it comes from the applied context, that has already been established by anyone watching the show. Which is that T-Dog is as useless of a character as useless characters come.

So when T-Dog is featured in a scene moving shit, it is hilarious for me to make jokes like, "Yes, masta sir." Because my joke is blatantly racist, which is a nice commentary to attach to some of the implied criticisms of T-Dog's character.

So I have to strongly disagree with your observation:

Originally Posted by Typhoid

When I see a writer doing things like that in a show with a black person I think "Good for you. You're not afraid of writing honestly. You're not going to walk on eggshells and not write a black actor into normal roles because you're afraid someone will make some bullshit slavery connection for no fucking reason."

Edit: Amazingly, the Walking Dead writers were able to develop a NON token minority black guy in episode 1 of the TV show. This guy is a perfect example of a developed character:

http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/Mo...28TV_Series%29

I would love to see a follow up with what happened to him, no? I would be okay with a 10 minute flashback at the start of an episode, before cutting back to current events.