The Walking Dead: The Television Series

[Angrist]

Originally Posted by Swan

Governor has been cast for third season already.

I have no idea who that Governor guy is, but 2 episodes ago Shane saw a guy walking through a field. That guy looked like a Governor (or a Baron) to me.
But it was probably just a random walker.


Anyway, about 'setting the mood' etc... This whole season they've been on the farm, and what really happened? They lost a girl and found her zombified. Carl got shot and recovered. They went to town a few times and got attacked. They met part of another group. They were about to hang a guy.
And that's about it. 11 episodes built on just that. I think it's time to move on, leave the farm and make something happen. Winter is coming.

[The Germanator]

Originally Posted by Angrist

I have no idea who that Governor guy is, but 2 episodes ago Shane saw a guy walking through a field. That guy looked like a Governor (or a Baron) to me.
But it was probably just a random walker.


Anyway, about 'setting the mood' etc... This whole season they've been on the farm, and what really happened? They lost a girl and found her zombified. Carl got shot and recovered. They went to town a few times and got attacked. They met part of another group. They were about to hang a guy.
And that's about it. 11 episodes built on just that. I think it's time to move on, leave the farm and make something happen. Winter is coming.

I completely agree with this. Having this entire season on the farm as been a total drag. It seems like they're stuck there for whatever reason. I had hope that they would go to Nebraska, in that "Nebraska" episode, but nah..just more milling around..

Again, I like this show, but I feel like it's been put in the wrong hands. I feel like if you gave this same idea to someone who really knew how to write, pace, and hire decent actors for a serialized drama, it could have been one of the greatest shows of all time....Now it will be some slightly forgettable if entertaining show I watched.

[Vampyr]

Originally Posted by The Germanator

Again, I like this show, but I feel like it's been put in the wrong hands. I feel like if you gave this same idea to someone who really knew how to write, pace, and hire decent actors for a serialized drama, it could have been one of the greatest shows of all time....Now it will be some slightly forgettable if entertaining show I watched.

Exactly how I feel. Imagine if Joss Whedon was handling this show. The characters would be so good.

One thing the show really lacks is comedy. It doesn't need much of it, but there should be some comic relief here and there, it really helps to set off the serious moments.

[Typhoid]

Clear your schedule:

Why don't they just get Michael Bay to just make the show. He'll speed the pace up for you guys who think it's too slow. He can definitely write one-liners, because The Beef had a ton of horrible ones in Transformers. So that's also got the "more jokes" covered.

I personally think the shows pacing is beautiful. Enough happens to get your heart going, and there are long enough lulls where you get just complacent enough to forget it's a zombie show (right now, anyhow), which is probably the goddamn point.

--------
I do have a question for you hyper-critiquers with some [okay, a lot] tongue-in-cheek anger thrown in there. For personal entertainment, not for actual anger. Keep that in mind.
So what that they haven't gone anywhere? "The Honeymooners" was set in one apartment for a fucking decade. Where'd they go? To the moon! That's where.

Okay, but rly - how is the value of a show's worth tied into where the fictional characters travel to within that show and how frequently they travel?

I feel almost like some of you guys are entirely missing the show because you're just like "Fuck, why cant this hurry up and get to the sweet parts I liked from the comics, goddamnit. I want the Governor. I want another City. Why cant they move! The characters were better written in the comic when I was doing their voices and pacing the words out myself, in my own brain!"

They don't know they're doing this for your entertainment. They are acting [more or less] like real people in a crisis. They're not superheroes. They're not comic book characters. They're people who are collapsing into a shell of themselves when faced with a huge mental obstruction. Would you rather live a nomadic life, traversing zombie-laden cities 24/7 - sleeping in trucks and cars until you get somewhere that isn't where you currently are? Would you expect the entire world to turn into fucking Rambo at the first sign of the apocalypse?

But what then? Say the writers listen and do as you all ask and get them to travel from the farm. Where do they go? Another farm full of zombies? Another building in the middle of a city full of zombies? Another government building surrounded by zombies? Maybe they can just drive on the highway scattered with zombies until they all die - like the Migrant Fleet of cars, but with zombies. But yes, okay - say they leave this farm - and get to magical point D you're all waiting for. What if that doesn't go how it did in the comics (which it wont, because nothing has if your collective complaints ring true). Where will you all be begging for them to travel to next?

Why is it so ridiculous for these imaginations of real people who are trying to hold onto humanity in the middle of an incomprehensible catastrophe stay in one spot?

Ask yourself; If you had seen countless people that you know die, and already been to many buildings covered with zombies, and the only government building you thought would save you turned out to be a lie - and then you finally get to a farm in the middle of a huge field with no (or very few) zombies - would you say "Well, this was a nice vacation, but it's time we get back to being constantly terrified of the abominations of shambling human corpses that have been re-animated to try and kill us. Let's get going gang. Women and children first. Especially my pregnant wife there. Come on, honey. Let's go run from some zombies."

The farm is safe. Why should they leave? Because the show isn't progressing? If you say the show isn't progressing, then we're definitely not watching the same show - because these characters are miles from where they started at only a year ago. Fuck, a lot of them have died. What do you want? New Scenery? Really? Really?


Edit: Now after all that I'm going to say the kicker of:

It's not that I'm against the idea of the show changing setting, I would embrace it like I've embraced everything else the creators of the show have chosen to do, unless it's give that horrible suicidal-actress more fucking lines. This thread has told me to expect someone named the Governor who is a pivotal evil character, in a separate location. So I'm aware a shift in setting is coming, and I'm not against it (or for it). I just think there are a lot of ridiculous complaints about the show, when it's clearly a great show because everyone is watching it.

[The Germanator]

Haha, Michael Bay? Are you serious? I've never even seen a Michael Bay movie since The Rock when I was 10 years old. I wouldn't know what you're inferring there.

I don't think it's about if they travel, it's just the fact that the farm is boring. In my opinion it's a crappy spot that the writers have dug themselves into. I want them to move somewhere so SOMETHING HAPPENS and that the show can actually get better!

You talk about "realism", but I don't watch a show to watch some terrible philosophers hemming and hawing about "what life is like now" or that "the world is not the same anymore." We know! You've told us about 50 different times in the last few episodes.

I understand what you're saying about "realism", but this isn't reality TV. This is a fictional show and it's supposed to entertain me. Is Breaking Bad always realistic? No, but is it usually entertaining? Almost always. You can't say the same for The Walking Dead. If you're enthralled by Dale's speeches or Lori's idiocy, or T-Dog's, umm...nothing, then good for you, but I'd personally rather be entertained, and Hershel's farm isn't conducive to that.

And no, it doesn't have to be fast-paced or whatever. The Wire is one of the best TV shows of all time and it's conflict is all within one basic setting and it's relatively slow-paced. If the things Rick and Shane were ever more than one-note "my way or your way" conversations, then maybe it would be better.

I understand it can't be zombies all the time and it shouldn't be, but the parts that aren't zombies shouldn't be completely uninteresting, and for the most part, they are. I guess I've just accepted the kind of crappy acting at this point, but it probably would help the show if that weren't part of it.

I have not read the comics, so none of this is coming from unrealistic expectations. I just honestly feel that it's not that great of a show about 50% of the time. It can be great at times, but that's still not a great average.

Anyway, just as you can't seem to accept why we complain about it, I'm just as shocked that you want to defend it so much.

[Angrist]

Hey, I've never read the comics either, so don't act like the comics are to blame.

In a way it's like Terra Nova (is it cancelled yet btw?). Instead of focussing on the potential (dinosaurs! survival!), they try to make it a family drama. And clearly it doesn't work. The acting is terrible, the stories are boring... it's worse than just not getting what you expect.

The Walking Dead isn't just about zombie action, we know that. I wouldn't like the show if there would be 2x as much action. It's just that the show is trying stuff that doesn't work. All the women constantly arguing about the laundry... or people trying to kill themselves...

The second-last episode proved that they CAN get drama right. The parts with Shane and Rick were awesome. Very well acted, just intense enough without getting annoying. And combined with some logical action. And guess what: it wasn't on the farm, it was in a new area.
I wish they would learn from themselves and write more scenes like that.

[Vampyr]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

Clear your schedule:

Why don't they just get Michael Bay to just make the show. He'll speed the pace up for you guys who think it's too slow. He can definitely write one-liners, because The Beef had a ton of horrible ones in Transformers. So that's also got the "more jokes" covered.

I personally think the shows pacing is beautiful. Enough happens to get your heart going, and there are long enough lulls where you get just complacent enough to forget it's a zombie show (right now, anyhow), which is probably the goddamn point.

--------
I do have a question for you hyper-critiquers with some [okay, a lot] tongue-in-cheek anger thrown in there. For personal entertainment, not for actual anger. Keep that in mind.
So what that they haven't gone anywhere? "The Honeymooners" was set in one apartment for a fucking decade. Where'd they go? To the moon! That's where.

Okay, but rly - how is the value of a show's worth tied into where the fictional characters travel to within that show and how frequently they travel?

I feel almost like some of you guys are entirely missing the show because you're just like "Fuck, why cant this hurry up and get to the sweet parts I liked from the comics, goddamnit. I want the Governor. I want another City. Why cant they move! The characters were better written in the comic when I was doing their voices and pacing the words out myself, in my own brain!"

They don't know they're doing this for your entertainment. They are acting [more or less] like real people in a crisis. They're not superheroes. They're not comic book characters. They're people who are collapsing into a shell of themselves when faced with a huge mental obstruction. Would you rather live a nomadic life, traversing zombie-laden cities 24/7 - sleeping in trucks and cars until you get somewhere that isn't where you currently are? Would you expect the entire world to turn into fucking Rambo at the first sign of the apocalypse?

But what then? Say the writers listen and do as you all ask and get them to travel from the farm. Where do they go? Another farm full of zombies? Another building in the middle of a city full of zombies? Another government building surrounded by zombies? Maybe they can just drive on the highway scattered with zombies until they all die - like the Migrant Fleet of cars, but with zombies. But yes, okay - say they leave this farm - and get to magical point D you're all waiting for. What if that doesn't go how it did in the comics (which it wont, because nothing has if your collective complaints ring true). Where will you all be begging for them to travel to next?

Why is it so ridiculous for these imaginations of real people who are trying to hold onto humanity in the middle of an incomprehensible catastrophe stay in one spot?

Ask yourself; If you had seen countless people that you know die, and already been to many buildings covered with zombies, and the only government building you thought would save you turned out to be a lie - and then you finally get to a farm in the middle of a huge field with no (or very few) zombies - would you say "Well, this was a nice vacation, but it's time we get back to being constantly terrified of the abominations of shambling human corpses that have been re-animated to try and kill us. Let's get going gang. Women and children first. Especially my pregnant wife there. Come on, honey. Let's go run from some zombies."

The farm is safe. Why should they leave? Because the show isn't progressing? If you say the show isn't progressing, then we're definitely not watching the same show - because these characters are miles from where they started at only a year ago. Fuck, a lot of them have died. What do you want? New Scenery? Really? Really?


Edit: Now after all that I'm going to say the kicker of:

It's not that I'm against the idea of the show changing setting, I would embrace it like I've embraced everything else the creators of the show have chosen to do, unless it's give that horrible suicidal-actress more fucking lines. This thread has told me to expect someone named the Governor who is a pivotal evil character, in a separate location. So I'm aware a shift in setting is coming, and I'm not against it (or for it). I just think there are a lot of ridiculous complaints about the show, when it's clearly a great show because everyone is watching it.

For the 1 billionth time, I haven't even read the comic. Neither has Germanator, or Angrist.

We don't want more action, we want more interesting stuff. We want good dialogue and good character development.

The show has *some* of that. The parts with Rick and Shane over the last couple of episodes have been really good.

Pretty much every scene with Andrea has been garbage. She is such a poor character. The suicide episode made her look like a hypocrite instead of hardened and extreme, like they were going for.

Ever seen a Joss Whedon production? Probably less action than the Walking Dead, but the characters and dialogue are amazing. Nothing feels like filler.

Most of the Walking Dead feels like filler.

Is it still a good show? Sure, I enjoy it. But they had an opportunity to make something really amazing, and it's just 'OK'.

[Typhoid]

Haha, Michael Bay? Are you serious?

Not even remotely.

You talk about "realism", but I don't watch a show to watch some terrible philosophers hemming and hawing about "what life is like now" or that "the world is not the same anymore." We know! You've told us about 50 different times in the last few episodes.

I know where you're coming from. I wasn't saying dialogue-heavy is what I really want or anything like that. But...real life is pretty boring and mundane. We may not hum and haw about philosophy in our daily lives, but on a daily basis most people do a whole heap of sweet fuck all. I imagine if zombies were around in the real world, all regular people would do is find a place to get safe with a group of likeminded people, so they can sit around and do a whole heap of sweet fuck all in safety.

Anyway, just as you can't seem to accept why we complain about it, I'm just as shocked that you want to defend it so much.

The reason I can't seem to accept it is because there are far more complaints than positives for the majority of you, or at least close to 50/50. I'm also including other sites into that. I just see so much negativity towards the show, and very little positive feedback (aside from ratings). It's almost like I can never talk about what I like in the show, because someone somewhere (Again, I don't really mean this forum) will tell me why that scene sucked to them, or why it was better in the comic, or how they could have done it better. (I'm aware I'm just doing the opposite of that, haha). I always feel the need to defend the little guy, that's why I'm usually in the minority of all discussions. I may not always completely agree with whatever I'm defending, but I think everything at least deserves a fair look from every perspective, you know.

And in a thread full of (or containing) people talking about things they don't like about the show after every episode, I feel the equal need to express how I find very little flaw with it, and why - maybe that will allow other people to enjoy the show as much as I do, without thinking about it with negativity. Without looking down on it with a "Fuck, this had so much potential", and instead just enjoy the ride. To think about what may come, rather than what could have been. It just seems like so many people [outside of this thread, too - I mean] expected this to be so many things it wasn't to them. Maybe it's because I'd never heard about The Walking Dead until a week before the first TV episode aired, so I entered in entirely ignorant to everything, hadn't talked about it with anyone (Comics? Puffaw) , didn't know what to expect from anything in any way (and still really don't). And I personally love the fact that the show is slathered in metaphors, for now.

Now, of course there are things I don't like with the show. Most of it stems from horrible camera cuts, bad child acting, and that horrible suicidal chick who should have killed herself so she wouldnt ever get more lines. (I feel so bad for her that that scene will be on her acting reel. I legitimately felt embarrassed for that actress) And when I dislike something with the show, I definitely do mention it. I just really do dislike very little with the show, and it pains me that others find such subjective flaws with something I subjectively find so little in.


Edit: Oh, so thats what it looks like when I say the same thing in 4 giant paragraphs.

[Dylflon]

Without spoiling anything, the next location they end up staying in comic timeline-wise, they stay there for a long time. Out of everything created so far in the comics, I think one third of the comics is set in one location.

I'm with Sean. People would crave stability and safety over everything else. I'm sure the season will end with the farm no longer being a viable place to stay.

The first season felt like it was about reaction and a building sense of hope that they could get to the safe place, or find the guy who had the cure.

This season is about accepting that there is no going back. There's no Fort Benning where they'll be safe and protected. There's no scientists at the CDC who can make it all better. This whole season to me has been about the death of hope and coming to terms with the world as it is now, and figuring out how to behave in it.

You can't tell that story when it's a story about getting from point A to point B. Where the heck would they even go? To me the story they're telling right now is more interesting than just trying to get to the next objective.

If the show feels directionless, that might be a reflection of how the characters are feeling.


Edit: Also, I'm surprised. I feel I'm generally more critical of tv and films than most of you since I frequently bitch about bad acting/pacing/storytelling but for whatever reason I don't seem to have the same complaints everyone else does. I suppose that it's just that what I like is vastly different from what normal people like. I never have much to bitch about when I watch this show. Even my fiance was bored when the pace slowed down, but I've always been really happy with the show.

[Vampyr]

I don't think the farm is the problem, people just perceive the static location as a cause for the stagnant plot.

It isn't. Going back to a Joss Whedon example, the first 3 seasons of Buffy took place in mostly the same locations, primarily the library at the high school. That one room housed so many scenes from each episode, and it never felt dull. They kept finding new camera angles to use, and the dialogue was always perfect.

Leaving the farm and taking the show on the road wouldn't fix anything.

[BreakABone]

Damn fine episode.

[Vampyr]

Yep, best episode so far, I think.

Unfortunately the average acting ability of the show dropped several standard deviations.

[Professor S]

Vamp, I thought the same thing last night. I'm not a fan of Lincoln's portrayal as Rick. He's kind of like a pensive mannequin. Very one note so far, but Shane being his foil has really helped make him more interesting. Looking at the previews for the following week, though, hopefully the character breaks out a bit.

I'm getting the feeling the show is going to kill off a few more people next week. I see most of Hershel's family, including Hershel, biting it with Maggie being he sole survivor (saved by Glen). What's interesting is that this will leave the group relatively weak against the Governor next season unless they pick up some new characters. I'd rather they develop whoever remains, though.

One day I'd love to hear an explanation of why certain aspects of the show were changed. Example: In the book Carl kills Shane to save his father, and that is a pretty big moment in his life that you could say defines his character and sets a huge expectation for the new world everyone lives in. Having Rickkill Shane must have been a conscious decision, and I'm curious as to why they make their choices. I'm not complaining, I'd just like to know.

Also, I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet: How does zombie Randall, with a broken neck, walk or chase characters? If the disease affects the brain, and the spinal chord is severed, wouldn't the zombie be just as paralyzed as the human who died? That's my trivial complaint for the week.

[Dylflon]

Lori should just stop talking. Always causing fights. She convinces Rick that Shane is crazy (rightfully so I guess) and the result is them trying to kill each other.

Lori gives Shane a big talk this episode which reveals her ambiguous feelings about him. The result is that Shane thinks that maybe he could have Lori if Rick was gone. Then we know what happens after.

She's definitely a shit disturber.

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by Dylflon

Lori should just stop talking. Always causing fights. She convinces Rick that Shane is crazy (rightfully so I guess) and the result is them trying to kill each other.

Lori gives Shane a big talk this episode which reveals her ambiguous feelings about him. The result is that Shane thinks that maybe he could have Lori if Rick was gone. Then we know what happens after.

She's definitely a shit disturber.

Hahah

I thought I was the only one who felt that.
Like she was playing both sides, but realized both can't live in harmony.