The Walking Dead (AMC) [**Spoilers**]

Grim.

lol so im not the only one crazy enough to stay up and watch this :P

Richard Dower

Big fecker...2.4GB.

Töpher

Nice, not in work till tonight, and the RSS feed kicked in overnight, currently 1min 28secs until watchable. Awesome! That's my morning planned!

[edit]

That was pure epic! F'cking hell!

Tristram

Reasonably strong opener. Enough so that I will be watching again next week.

Duggy747

Definitely will be watching this again tonight in HD.

Just hit me the other day how Mondays are good days for me:

Boardwalk Empire
The Walking Dead
Dexter

Though with the way Dexter is going I might be calling it quits with it.

Richard Dower

I think this thread needs a zombie inspired poll...mods?
Ep. 1 - 1h 6m....right off the bat i wanna say i'm not usually a fan or even watch zombie or horror based tv/movies. On a very basic level:

The Walking Dead = 28 Days later, but it was much better then that UK flick, i want to first praise the sound quality and audio mixing, amazing....those gunshots blew my room apart!

The pacing i thought was pretty bang on, as was the editing, that early scene of the two cops talking in the squad car seemed overly long and didn't make sense at first, but it's important later on as we find out the wife is having an affair the the other cop dude, i don't know character names yet so bear with me.

Lennie James was fantastic, great acting, same goes for the male lead. I liked it alot, the final scene with the hoards of zombies and the tank and the final shot as the camera pulls out....ace!

Very solid opener, i predict record ratings for AMC, i'm calling 3.2 million.

Mr E

No point in doing a poll unless we do a thread per episode, and that generally isn't done unless a show has its own forum.

Richard Dower

Mr E wrote: »

No point in doing a poll unless we do a thread per episode, and that generally isn't done unless a show has its own forum.

An overall poll, excellent = zombietastic etc.!

Mr E

What if the next 5 episodes are worse than the first one (seriously doubt it, but what if....)
Then the poll would be very misleading.

No poll until it gets its own forum, so start campaigning now.

Tristram

Mr E wrote: »

What if the next 5 episodes are worse than the first one (seriously doubt it, but what if....)
Then the poll would be very misleading.

No poll until it gets its own forum, so start campaigning now.

All new forums are on hold, I think.

Richard Dower

Mr E wrote: »

What if the next 5 episodes are worse than the first one (seriously doubt it, but what if....)
Then the poll would be very misleading.

No poll until it gets its own forum, so start campaigning now.

Then end the poll after 6 weeks.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s135/the-walking-dead/news/a284721/recap-the-walking-dead-days-gone-bye.html#article_continue

Sneak peek for ep. 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiWnqezc0K8

This poll rates it awesome: http://www.spoilertv.com/2010/11/poll-what-did-you-think-of-walking-dead.html

opr

Pretty rare for something to live up to the kind of hype this show has been getting. It delivered and then some that was fan****ingtastic!

Opr

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

dear jesus christ, that was fantastic

not very happy with myself for watching it tonight though, i should have waited until the entire six episodes were aired then I wouldn't have to wait week by bollocking week

C_Dawg

Awesome first episode. Should be having some end of the world nightmares tonight.

Sarn

Very enjoyable. It was set up very nicely and the effects were well done. Added to my list of shows.

Think I might have to take a trip over to the zombie survival forum and brush up on those zombie survival skills. Maybe the mods over that part might be willing to have individual episode polls (or sub-forum) as two zombie related forums might be a bit much?

Magic Eight Ball

I enjoyed it. Didn't find it amazing or ground breaking.
It seems the premiere was the most watched show in AMC history.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/zombie-tastic-walking-dead-ratings-34098?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+live_feed+(The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Live+Feed)&utm_content=Twitter

Kur4mA

That was a special opener. I was completely sucked in and glued to the telly! The intro was great and what an ending with the tank. You're thinking there's no way he can end it here... then the radio crackles to life. Fantastic stuff!

opr

Magic Eight Ball wrote: »

I enjoyed it. Didn't find it amazing or ground breaking.
It seems the premiere was the most watched show in AMC history.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/zombie-tastic-walking-dead-ratings-34098?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+live_feed+(The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Live+Feed)&utm_content=Twitter

Not a big person for numbers as when a show I like is bringing in enough viewers to keep it on air I am happy but those figures are incredible. Looks like the last time I will ever need to worry about them in regards this show.

The premiere brought in 5.3 million viewers. The Mad Men finale drew 2.44 million viewers

Opr

Kylo Ren

Unreal first episode. Loved it.

RolandIRL

Brilliant, just brilliant. glad i waited for the better quality version. totally worth the wait, and was not disappointed.

@Sir Digby...There's no way that i could have waited 6 weeks for this to end. it's better watching week by week. more anticipitation for the next episode. find i don't appreciate tv shows as much watching it in one go

Richard Dower

The ratings are nothing short of MASSIVE, 5.3 million!!

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/11/01/the-walking-dead-lives-large-for-amc-5-3-million-viewers-a-3-2-adults-18-49-rating/70366

RolandIRL

:eek: for once, Richard isn't the first person to post ratings

Richard Dower

whiteman19 wrote: »

:eek: for once, Richard isn't the first person to post ratings

It's not just overall viewers, the crucial adult demo is enormous, 3.7....that's epic for cable. BUT...this now spells DOOM for Rubicon, it's gone....AMC don't have the resources to have four shows going at once, even if Rubicon is the cheapest to make. I think very quickly we'll see AMC order a second season, probably Tuesday of next week, 13 ep. ordrer, Summer 2011.

JohnK

Am I missing something here? Surely these numbers mean absolutely nothing other than they had one hell of a good advertising campaign that got so many people to tune in? Its not like anyone was watching it based on the quality of the show since they'd never seen it before. Would it not be that next weeks numbers are the key figures that'll show how many people actually thought it was worth coming back for and a much better indicator if it deserves a second season?

RolandIRL

I wonder how much the premiere cost? There was so many special effects and it was all top-notch.

Just rewatching some of the scenes there. i'm loving the score to it. some of the music is just creepy and brilliant at the same time. it's really appropriate imo.


btw are we now allowed to post without spoilers since the first episode has officially aired or will we tag it for people watching it on FX this friday?

Burkatron

That was awesome!!! The sleep deprivation will be worth it

pixelburp

I caught it last night & yes that was an epic, adult show. I'd say a fair number of curious viewers would have been completely put off by the gore - particularly

the crawling torso, jesus that was gross

- but anyone who stuck through it would have seen a very personal, human story amid the zombie carnage.

My only complaint (and I haven't read the comics so I've no idea how it compares) is that Grimes seemed to take the presence of zombies in his stride. There wasn't much denial or attempt to rationlise it all.

And what a cliffhanger - very "oh sh1t!"

Basq

whiteman19 wrote: »

btw are we now allowed to post without spoilers since the first episode has officially aired or will we tag it for people watching it on FX this friday?

Good point.. I'll make some amendments to the thread title and first post to allow untagged spoilers from now on.

Rewatched the first episode last night in glorious HD.... loved it even more!

Lennie James really was a scene-stealer in that opener.

This show will be massive I'd say... even my girlfriend (who didn't want to watch it as she's not a horror / zombie fan) absolutely loved it, and was pissed off to learn it's only a 6 episode first-series after the first one ended.

J-blk

Loved it, really well done. Some pretty big departures from the comic already, but so far they are for the better (e.g Morgan and Duane get a lot more development here than in the comic - and Lennie James was fantastic as Morgan) but on the other hand, they recreated some scenes to perfection ("bicycle girl" zombie, riding the horse into Atlanta) while subtly changing others slightly (the Dead Inside doors, walking down the hospital stairway).

Andrew Lincoln did a great job as Rick and really carried the episode very well on his own - I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the cast next episode, as we only got glimpses of just some of the other main characters near the end.

Richard Dower wrote: »

The Walking Dead = 28 Days later

Other than the main character waking up in hospital, they pretty much have nothing in common. Pretty happy to see The Walking Dead as a TV show, if it had been optioned as a movie instead, it probably would have become a 28 Days Later clone...

Richard Dower wrote: »

i want to first praise the sound quality and audio mixing, amazing....those gunshots blew my room apart!

+1 - the sound in general (or rather the lack of in most cases) really added to the eerie atmosphere...

Basq

Richard Dower wrote: »

The Walking Dead = 28 Days later

J-blk wrote: »

Other than the main character waking up in hospital, they pretty much have nothing in common. Pretty happy to see The Walking Dead as a TV show, if it had been optioned as a movie instead, it probably would have become a 28 Days Later clone...

Yeah, I also don't really get the '28 Days Later' comparison at all!

Duggy747

I love when people call it a 28 Days Later rip-off. That film didn't come up with the whole "wake up from a coma and there's an apocalypse going on".

Day of The Triffids, anyone? :pac:

Jaxxy

Absolutely loved that. Enjoyed it more than any other series premiere I've watched in a long time. Hopefully the next installment will keep me on the edge of my seat just as much as the first one did.

Edit: Another +1 to the sound and score. Really added to the experience.

Basq

JohnK wrote: »

Am I missing something here? Surely these numbers mean absolutely nothing other than they had one hell of a good advertising campaign that got so many people to tune in? Its not like anyone was watching it based on the quality of the show since they'd never seen it before. Would it not be that next weeks numbers are the key figures that'll show how many people actually thought it was worth coming back for and a much better indicator if it deserves a second season?

With viewing figures like that, it bodes very well for it though..

I mean even if half of the people who tuned in for the premiere tuned in for the second episode, it's viewing figures will be on par with 'Mad Men' and considerably higher than 'Breaking Bad'.

I'd say viewing figures will definitely drop next week.. but by how much is what needs to be determined. Even with a 20% - 30% drop, it'll still be enough to greenlight a second season.

The only thing is that I'd imagine the budgets for 'Mad Men' and 'Breaking Bad' would be considerably lower than 'The Walking Dead'.. so they'll need decent figures to justify the budget or it might be short seasons.

I don't think AMC typically greenlight shows for a further season until their current season has finished airing though, so I wouldn't be suprised if we heard nothing about a second season until this one has finished.

vibe666

Duggy747 wrote: »

I love when people call it a 28 Days Later rip-off. That film didn't come up with the whole "wake up from a coma and there's an apocalypse going on".

Day of The Triffids, anyone? :pac:

didn't someone else mentioned that the comics for TWD were out long before 28 days later was conceived? so if anything, it should be the other way round.

Basq

Interesting post on the topic of '28 Days Later' Vs 'The Walking Dead' here:

Yes, both 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead begin with a character waking up in a hospital some time after a zombie outbreak. Being that Walking Dead is just coming into the public's eye, 7 years after 28 Days Later, people are confused and believing that Walking Dead is ripping off 28 Days Later. Well first off, The Walking Dead "only" resembles 28 Days for this one reason. After this, the Walking Dead is more of a Romero kind of storyline.

Here's what it boils down to. The Walking Dead comic book hit stands in October of 2003. 28 Days Later, while released in Britian in April of 2002, didn't hit U.S. shores until June of 2003. It is possible that Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore saw the film before American audiences but I really believe this was a strange coincidence. Haven worked in the comic industry, I can tell you that comics are produced months in advance. The time it takes the writer to develop the world, characters and so forth, then the artists doing preliminary drawings, then pitching the idea to the publishers, then the process of writing and rewriting and then the artists pencilling, then inking the comics, then handing it over to a colorist and then a letterer, an editor going over it and asking for changes, marketing going to work and the final book being put together, then it going out to be ordered by comic shops and other markets and then it finally hitting newstands is usually a very long process. Most comics are written and drawn in advance so there is no problem with the creators meeting the monthly deadlines. Sometimes a comic book can have more than 5 issues completed before they are ever released to the public. Being that the comic was released on October also makes me think that that was on purpose to capitalize on the Halloween season. It is almost impossible that The Walking Dead ripped off a movie that was released so closely. Sometimes these things just happen.


..

It is highly unlikely that Walking Dead ripped off the whole waking from a coma thing--it's not that original of an idea really. In Walking Dead it was a means to seperate Rick from his family. The first few issues are all about Rick's journey to find his wife and son. I can assure you that the ONLY thing the two pieces have in common is this little element of how it all starts. If you are a fan of zombies...you will kick yourself if you don't tune in to The Walking Dead because I for one think it's the best zombie story I've ever experienced. I love it.

Richard Dower

pixelburp wrote: »

I caught it last night & yes that was an epic, adult show. I'd say a fair number of curious viewers would have been completely put off by the gore - particularly

the crawling torso, jesus that was gross

- but anyone who stuck through it would have seen a very personal, human story amid the zombie carnage.

My only complaint (and I haven't read the comics so I've no idea how it compares) is that Grimes seemed to take the presence of zombies in his stride. There wasn't much denial or attempt to rationlise it all.

And what a cliffhanger - very "oh sh1t!"

I thought the gore was a BOLD move from AMC, it is like watching R rated tv, blowing a little girls head off...that's hardcore for basic cable!!

Basq

It was quite gory for a show rated TV-14...

.. equivalent shows on network TV with a TV-14 rating: 'House', 'Glee', 'CSI', 'Hawaii Five-0', and 'Grey's Anatomy'.

It did give the warning at the start of the airing, but still quite gory. This in particular:

Richard Dower

JohnK wrote: »

Am I missing something here? Surely these numbers mean absolutely nothing other than they had one hell of a good advertising campaign that got so many people to tune in? Its not like anyone was watching it based on the quality of the show since they'd never seen it before. Would it not be that next weeks numbers are the key figures that'll show how many people actually thought it was worth coming back for and a much better indicator if it deserves a second season?

This is true, historically tv shows drop in the second week, some shows go up and keep going up, ergo Glee. But in general shows drop until they settle down and they get an average/dedicated viewership....but AMC would be stupid NOT to order a second season pretty sharpish!

Richard Dower

basquille wrote: »

With viewing figures like that, it bodes very well for it though..

I mean even if half of the people who tuned in for the premiere tuned in for the second episode, it's viewing figures will be on par with 'Mad Men' and considerably higher than 'Breaking Bad'.

I'd say viewing figures will definitely drop next week.. but by how much is what needs to be determined. Even with a 20% - 30% drop, it'll still be enough to greenlight a second season.

The only thing is that I'd imagine the budgets for 'Mad Men' and 'Breaking Bad' would be considerably lower than 'The Walking Dead'.. so they'll need decent figures to justify the budget or it might be short seasons.

I don't think AMC typically greenlight shows for a further season until their current season has finished airing though, so I wouldn't be suprised if we heard nothing about a second season until this one has finished.

IMO...i'd prefer a shorter season if it meant higher budget per episode, maybe 8-10 eps. I'd say that pilot cost around 6-10 million.

Kiith

pixelburp wrote: »

My only complaint (and I haven't read the comics so I've no idea how it compares) is that Grimes seemed to take the presence of zombies in his stride. There wasn't much denial or attempt to rationlise it all.

He's obviously read The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. :rolleyes:

Basq

Richard Dower wrote: »

IMO...i'd prefer a shorter season if it meant higher budget per episode, maybe 8-10 eps. I'd say that pilot cost around 6-10 million.

AMC typically do a 13 episode season, bar the first season of 'Breaking Bad' which only had 7.

Bit odd that there's no figures on the budget online at all... or if there is, they're not easy to find.

Duggy747

As for the length of the season I would take a short one if it meant keeping the budget high. Last thing I would want for this show is for the cinematography / scripting / zombies / general feel of the show to dip and feel sort of cheap in comparison to this 1st season.

Goddamn, waiting for this 2nd episode is nearly worse than waiting for the 1st one. I've been teased and now I want to confirm if I can really like this show :pac:

Töpher

basquille wrote: »

AMC typically do a 13 episode season, bar the first season of 'Breaking Bad' which only had 7.

That was originally planned to be 13 though was it not, and cut short due to the writers strikes at the time?

Basq

Töpher wrote: »

That was originally planned to be 13 though was it not, and cut short due to the writers strikes at the time?

According to Wikipedia:

There were 9 episodes planned for the first season but this was cut short by the writer's strike

Odd how the second season of 'Mad Men' was unaffected.

Richard Dower

Highest rated (scripted/non sport) cable show of thw week:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/11/02/cable-top-25-monday-night-football-heatceltics-the-walking-dead-top-weeks-cable-viewing/70454

Snake Plisken

Enjoyed the first show, high production values, I waited for the HD version before watching and it was well worth it, I would say there will be a second series I couldn't see such a high profile name like Frank Darabont investing so much into a show that might only be six episodes and one season long. I really hope Frank might get his hands on King's "Cell" which has similar zombie style story.

Basq

I also read this morning that Robert Kirkman (creator of the graphic novel) has written episode 4.

Sticky_Fingers

Snake Plisken wrote: »

I really hope Frank might get his hands on King's "Cell" which has similar zombie style story.

Sweet Jesus no, that book is best forgotten about, starts out with and excellent premise and then craps all over it (levitating zombies anyone:mad:).
I would much rather see him tackle a remake of The Stand, the Gary Sinise version was clunky and Molly Ringwald should be in it as the first victim of the plague just so we are sure that she is dead and won't have to cringe through her "acting".

Richard Dower

TWD totally p'wed Boardwalk Empire:

The Walking Dead (87 minutes)
- 5.345 million viewers
- 3.1/5 HH
- 2.7/7 A18-49

Boardwalk Empire (9:02pm, 52 minutes)
- 2.670 million viewers
- 1.6/2 HH
- 1.2/3 A18-49

James Howlett

hi. does anyone know when this will be screened on our side of the water? sky or channel 4?

sorry if this has been answered already but i don't want to have to scroll through 17 pages to find the answer...

I have read the graphic novels up to volume 9 (and all in the last 2 weeks I might add) so I expect a lot from this series. So many cool moments I can't wait to see transition onto screen.