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

Richard Dower

Season 2 not likely until October 2011: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/walking-dead-season-two-45474

Richard Dower

Ratings went UP this week, it's bucking the trend of shows going down week-to-week!

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/11/15/the-walking-dead-adds-more-viewers-in-week-three-steady-with-18-49/72080

don ramo

Richard Dower wrote: »

Season 2 not likely until October 2011: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/walking-dead-season-two-45474

obviously, why wouldnt it, it premiered on holloween as it most likey will again next year,

AMC dont have an abundance of prime shows to air so space out the 4 or 5 well known shows they have over the year,

vibe666

basquille wrote: »

Took me ages to realise where I recognised Daryl Dixon from - Murphy from 'The Boondock Saints'.

THANK YOU! it was driving me nuts!

enjoyed the episode, i'm guessing yer man found another way off the roof that they'll probably find if they follow his blood trail. good point about the saw tho. i said to the missus that it would be a lot quicker to cut off a hand than it would be to cut through the handcuffs, but didn't even think of the metal he was chained to and i'm guessing neither did he!

i hope for his sake he doesn't run into any 'geeks' (see, we did inherit the earth!) or they'll get a sniff of his stump fairly quickly and get all riled up.

the wife was apologising to him for all the stuff that went on before he got shot, and he talked to shane about their problems in the pilot but it doesn't sound like she was sleeping with shane at that time, so i guess shane just lied to her about rick being dead to get her to give up on him and eventually get her in the sack.

i was convinced shane was gonna get it from a sub-aqua zombie when he was chasing the frogs.

don ramo

Richard Dower wrote: »

Ratings went UP this week, it's bucking the trend of shows going down week-to-week!

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/11/15/the-walking-dead-adds-more-viewers-in-week-three-steady-with-18-49/72080

expect at least 10 zombie films with 20 million plus budgets to get green lit over the next 2 months,

i hate bandwagons,

madrab

don ramo wrote: »

expect at least 10 zombie films with 20 million plus budgets to get green lit over the next 2 months,

i hate bandwagons,

Feck it!, if it means world war z gets made with a decent budget then im all for it!

Also why is shane getting all the bad press? For all he knew rick was dead and he was trying to console her, she may even have had feelings for him and now is overrun with guilt that she is lashing out and blaming everything on him...or i could just be over analyzing it :-)

iguana

I hate that they've changed that in the series. It just makes Lori "innocent" and Shane villainous in a way neither was in the comics.

Richard Dower

iguana wrote: »

I hate that they've changed that in the series. It just makes Lori "innocent" and Shane villainous in a way neither was in the comics.

!00% agreed, it would have been better if Lori had been carying on with Shane before Rick was in hospital, would have made for better drama.

iguana

There was no affair in the comics either but Lori wasn't fooled into thinking Rick was dead, both so she would leave him behind and begin a relationship with Shane.

They both unwillingly chose to leave him in the hospital and began a relationship due to guilt, grief, fear, loneliness and, in Shane's case, previous desire, in Lori's, a need to have a man for Carl's protection. There was never any clear cut case of Shane as a douche and Lori as duped. They were just two people who made difficult choices and began a relationship much too soon.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i just assumed shane said that because he knew they'd be killed or zombified if they went to the hospital to get rick out and obviously didn't want to tell her the truth after they'd "escaped". Didn't read anything malicious into it, just fear and trying to do what he can for who he can.

Richard Dower

But you don't just jump into an affair, either Shame had feelings for Lori before things went to hell, or he mislead her into think Rick was dead for his own ends...i'm sure it'll become clearer as we go on.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

well it wasn't an affair since they were both pretty sure rick was dead, wotserface was told he was dead and there was really no way a normal person who wasn't the main character of a tv show would have come out of that hospital alive so it was pretty safe to start screwing.

Syferus

iguana wrote: »

I hate that they've changed that in the series. It just makes Lori "innocent" and Shane villainous in a way neither was in the comics.

I think we're all reading too much into Lori lashing out in that one scene in the quarry - I highly doubt when this shakes out all the blame will be left on Shane's shoulders.

don ramo

iguana wrote: »

I hate that they've changed that in the series. It just makes Lori "innocent" and Shane villainous in a way neither was in the comics.

i suppose though that they have to change a few things for the series,

i kinda spoilered myslef checking up somthing a few weeks ago (do not read this unless you read the comics, i didnt read tham and accidentally came across this:()

that lori dies some time after giving birth to shanes baby, i wonder will that change in the series also, i only read a caracter list but it was about who was alive and who was dead,

Caliden

I'm hoping that at some point someone gets bitten by just the head of a zombie that they have beheaded.
"Ahhhhh! He's eaten my toes!" -> zombified.

The moving head creeped me out a bit.

Orizio

Is it me or does this programme suffer from having far too many rednecks in it?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

you really think east coast liberals are gona have enough guns and ammo to survive a zombie apocalypse?

iguana

Orizio wrote: »

Is it me or does this programme suffer from having far too many rednecks in it?

Oh God Yes! And they are boring the crap out of me.:(

Frisbee

Really enjoyed that episode. Was much different to the first two in that it was much more character/dialogue driven instead of relying on suspense/action so was a nice change of pace.

You can already see the divisions appearing in the camp, women v men, Shane v Rick/Lori, Shane v Ed, Daryl v Black Guy.

Merl is stil alive and tbh it shouldn't be that difficult for them to find him. Considering his blatant racism though and the fact he's lose in Atlanta I reckon he's going to be the one to bump into Lennia James + Son before Rick and the others.

allanb49

Didn't think of that Frisbee, what i was thinking he'll find the bag o guns and take them with him before going into shock/dying due to blood loss retaining some memory of where the camp is (like the black guys wife) and leading a load of walkers up there. Over running the camp and maybe shane dying while defending Lori.

vibe666

allanb49 wrote: »

...what i was thinking he'll find the bag o guns and take them with him...

well he's not going to be able to use a pump action shotgun anymore. :pac:

DeepBlue

don ramo wrote: »

i kinda spoilered myslef checking up somthing a few weeks ago (do not read this unless you read the comics, i didnt read tham and accidentally came across this:()

that lori dies some time after giving birth to shanes baby, i wonder will that change in the series also, i only read a caracter list but it was about who was alive and who was dead,

Even though we are only 3 episodes in it seems clear that the tv show is diverging quite a bit from the comics.

In the comics Lori dies in a very non-tv friendly manner. It's doubtful any tv show can show a mother and baby being shot together. My guess is that (with a bit of luck :pac:) Lori becomes a zombie snackbox.

allanb49

vibe666 wrote: »

well he's not going to be able to use a pump action shotgun anymore. :pac:

He didn't have a problem with one hand :pac:

oeb

allanb49 wrote: »

He was able too with one hand

That's not a pump action shotgun.

allanb49

oeb wrote: »

That's not a pump action shotgun.

sssh i know, it was an excuse to put Ash here

J-blk

iguana wrote: »

I hate that they've changed that in the series. It just makes Lori "innocent" and Shane villainous in a way neither was in the comics.

This was the first episode where (I think) there was pretty much nothing from the comics used and I don't really like the direction it's taking. It does indeed seem Shane is made out to be an instant douche, Rick is the noble hero and Lori is innocent in it all. What's great about the characters in the comic is that everyone has shades of grey - Rick himself ends up doing some pretty horrible things along the way but the show is falling more into absolutes of Rick = good, Shane = bad, etc...

The overkill of characters back at the camp is also fragmenting the focus on pretty much everyone except Rick/Shane/Lori and I don't really care about any of the brand new characters (that do not exist in the comics). And what's with making a few of them a lot older? We saw a bit of Carol (and a glimpse of Sophia) and she is a lot older than I expected, just like Andrea (it's even more extreme in Carol's case).

iguana

DeepBlue wrote: »

Even though we are only 3 episodes in it seems clear that the tv show is diverging quite a bit from the comics.

In the comics Lori dies in a very non-tv friendly manner. It's doubtful any tv show can show a mother and baby being shot together. My guess is that (with a bit of luck :pac:) Lori becomes a zombie snackbox.

Check out Topless Robot's 15 Walking Dead Moments We Can't Believe We'll See on TV. Very spoiler heavy of the comics.

PhiloCypher

J-blk wrote: »

The overkill of characters back at the camp is also fragmenting the focus on pretty much everyone except Rick/Shane/Lori and I don't really care about any of the brand new characters (that do not exist in the comics). And what's with making a few of them a lot older? We saw a bit of Carol (and a glimpse of Sophia) and she is a lot older than I expected, just like Andrea (it's even more extreme in Carol's case).

Kirkman was asked about the character changes on ign and had this to say :

IGN: Now there are a few changes to some of the characters. Shane's become more of a creep, having straight-up lied to Lori about Rick. And Carol not only looks different from how she looked in the books, but we also get to see her husband. What's it like to see the characters you created change to fit another medium?

Kirkman: I think the changes, to me, are welcome. Just because Carol had a husband in the comic series, but he was only mentioned, never shown. And I think bringing him into the television series and knowing him and expanding on their story is a good thing. And I've said this before but, I don't want the comic fans to be bored watching this series. And I think that people fear change, but every now and then fans of the comic series might not like one or two of the things that are done on the series, but I swear if things weren't changed up a bit you'd just sit there and go "Well, five minutes has clicked by, why isn't that guy dead yet? Oh, there he goes. He's dead." It would be completely boring, and that's something I want to avoid above all else. And so I think that the little changes are good and people have to understand that the show is not the comic book and that they exist separately. I love it.

IGN: There's a couple in the camp, Morales and Miranda, and they have two kids. Are they supposed to be surrogates for Donna and Allen and the twins, or is it just a coincidence?

Kirkman: You know, I don't think that they were necessarily intended to be surrogates, but I think that taking the seventh white family that I had in the comic book and turning them into a Hispanic family is good. I wish I had thought of that. But they were never really intended to replace the other characters, but Frank [Darabont] wanted to flavor in some new characters with different things going on. And you know, there are characters like IronE Singletons' "T-Dog" character who, you know, might as well be Tyreese. I mean he's a vastly different character but he does fill that leadership role. He's a strong character. He does have a leadership thing going, like what Tyreese had with Rick. They even butted heads over some things. So there are characters like that in there but there never really was any intention to try to take out characters and then replace them with people just like them.

While I'm ok with adding the odd new character into the mix if they start making wholesale changes to the comics cast I'm going to be pissed .

So far Dale, Glen and maybe Jim(Dales bearded buddy)stand out for me as being the only characters from the comic who havent gone through a physical or personality change in their translation from page to screen .

KilOit

iguana wrote: »

Check out Topless Robot's 15 Walking Dead Moments We Can't Believe We'll See on TV. Very spoiler heavy of the comics.

Jesus, some gruesome stuff in that

J-blk

PhiloCypher wrote: »

While I'm ok with adding the odd new character into the mix if they start making wholesale changes to the comics cast I'm going to be pissed.

But they are making changes to the core characters? Carol especially seems like a pretty big departure so far. And the article extracts you posted point out that Donna and Allen are completely gone in the show.

I don't mind the new character additions, they have to happen to keep things fresh - but there are too many of them. The smaller camp of the comics allowed a greater focus on various characters but in the show the camp is pretty large and with only 6 episodes in the first season, most of the supporting players are ignored up to now.

Glenn and Dale are essentially as if they walked off the comic pages but Jim is a brand new character too, isn't he?

PhiloCypher

J-blk wrote: »

Glenn and Dale are essentially as if they walked off the comic pages but Jim is a brand new character too, isn't he?

No I seem to recall a cap wearing bearded bloke in the comics COMIC BOOK

he got bit pretty early on tho

Basq

Could be maybe keep the comic chat, with regards to spoilers, to a minimum?

Or least flag spoilers as being "comic book spoilers".

As the thread continues, there could be some serious confusion as to whether a spoiler is upcoming spoilers for the TV show or what happened in the comic.

Duggy747

Really enjoyed that episode, found it to be more on par with the pilot that the last episode. Something felt different, visually & soundtrack wise.

Anywho, it's interesting to see some new characters while it does stay on track with the others. As for Shane being a "bad guy", I wouldn't really count him as one. Sure he said Rick was dead but he also had good reason to think so........even if he was looking for the ride :pac:

I found it funny how the women were scared when that hick slapped his wife but then gave Shane a disgusted look when he rightfully beat the shìt out of him.

I'm liking the divide in the camp too and I'm sure the extra people there will be just chow when the zombies show up.

Anywho, I was a bit uneasy after the 2nd episode, which wasn't bad but felt something was off, but this episode kept up the quality. Mondays are great now that I have this and Boardwalk Empire

ScumLord

It's all settling down into dumb Hollywood horror as far a I'm concerned. I've never read the comics so don't hold the idea or characters in any esteem I'm just taking it at face value and the value isn't the best at the moment.

KeanSeenan

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the music towards the end, the gradual building of tension over the various scenes, was very similar to the music in 28 days later, not musically, but in how it was used.

civis_liberalis

Bad news...

Long Wait Likely for 'Walking Dead' Season Two

Exclu: Most Walking Dead fans know there's only six episodes in this first season. I know, the season is half finished even though it feels like it's just getting started.
But here's what you didn't know, or perhaps only feared: Sources say AMC isn't likely to launch the 13-episode second season until next October.
The reason? Fearfest. AMC's annual horror movie marathon served as a perfect promotional platform to ramp up interest for The Walking Dead, which also took advantage of the higher audience levels during the fall (something not all cable shows can pull off given the barrage of broadcast shows airing at the same time -- which is why most cable dramas run during the summer).
Plus, AMC has already pushed Breaking Bad from March to the summer, and has Mad Men airing in the summer as usual, and at some point has to squeeze in the premiere of its new original series, The Killing. Combined with Walking Dead, that's four shows to air next year, the most the network has ever had, and cable networks tend to spread out their premieres so they can properly promote each one.
Now, the October plan is not final, and there probably won't be a firm premiere date for awhile -- heck, the second season hasn't even started production yet. But the current strategy is for another October roll out.
Some silver lining: Frank Darabont is expected to write and direct another episode next year.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/walking-dead-season-two-45474

Syferus

Why are news outlets trying to play this news as unexpected or irregular in any way, shape or form? As has been said here already, if anyone expects a new season of a tv show to start any sooner than a year after the last season began they've been living on a different planet to the one I'm inhabiting.

The only exception is a mid-season replacement US network show that's picked up for full second season, and The Walking Dead obviously is neither a network show nor a mid-season replacement.

Duggy747

Phew....

When I saw "Bad News" I was expecting the show to held off until 2012 or something.

Not airing until next October is a pretty common space of time for shows I thought.

Still, I miss Breaking Bad :mad:

pixelburp

A year between two series? Sounds standard to me, don't know what the fuss is about.

In any case - episode three. Right well, I think another poster said it in jest, but the number of 2-dimensional rednecks is beginning to annoy me a little. Racists? Check. Wife Beaters? Check. Belligerent? Check. Probable cause of the camp being attacked? Ha, all bets are off.

Generally the characters have been sketchily written anyway, but I can forgive this as the "ordinary people trying to get by" shtick plays ok with me; these hicks on the other hand just push the drama a little too far into the realm of cartoon stereotypes. It just seems like there are giant signposts over their heads, screaming "these people are going to ruin everything"

Syferus

I think some people are getting worngly caught up in the fact two characters - brothers - are 'rednecks' (a term even at the best of times which is nebulous to the point of uselessness). The wife beater could be a bank worker for all we know and just because he doesn't value women doesn't make him a prototypical redneck, nor indeed does his accent or else most everyone would fall udner the monicker.

This show (and obviously this comes from the comic on which it's based) is set in the southern United States, and teh main party is a camp on a mountain at the outskirts of Atlanta. Now, who do you suppose would be best suited to surrive a zombie apocalyse (I can't believe I'm saying that half seriously)? The people with no hunting experience and probably no immediate access to firearms or the people who hunt regularly and have a small arsenal of skills and weapons suited to killing things, for saftey and sustanence? They're in effect some of the most useful people to any group of surivors. Things would be in more ruin without them, in all likelyhood.

I'd argue that it's one of the most realistic things about the show and the story liberty that has been took is that there's so relatively few of 'them' in the camp.

Orizio

...how is the extremely lazy wife-beater 'useful' in this kind of situation? Quite the opposite.

Anyway, the point is that the characters are too cliched, which is the fault of the writers for having too many characters in the programme in the first place.

Syferus

Orizio wrote: »

...how is the extremely lazy wife-beater 'useful' in this kind of situation? Quite the opposite.

Anyway, the point is that the characters are too cliched, which is the fault of the writers for having too many characters in the programme in the first place.

Please read over what I said, because I didn't say that!

After three episodes I think it's very hard to justifiably throw words like 'clichéd' around as if it set in stone. Knowing the talent behind the show I'm sure there's plenty of unexpected facets to these characters. Sometimes archtypes are established so that the auidence's perceptions can be set up and then manipulated.

As succinctly as possible: it's too early to know either way.

Orizio

Syferus wrote: »

Please read over what I said, because I didn't say that!

After three episodes I think it's very hard to justifiably throw words like 'clichéd' around as if it set in stone. Knowing the talent behind the show I'm sure there's plenty of unexpected facets to these characters. Sometimes archtypes are established so that the auidence's perceptions can be set up and then manipulated.

As succinctly as possible: it's too early to know either way.

Ok - in the first three episodes, I so far find most of the characters to be cliched and one-dimensional. Hopefully this will change, but I fear that if the writers continue to have so many characters in the programme then what character development there will be will be spread out too thin.

Anyway, I suppose we'll see.

noodler

KeanSeenan wrote: »

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the music towards the end, the gradual building of tension over the various scenes, was very similar to the music in 28 days later, not musically, but in how it was used.

That would be the amazig Bear McCreary.

Composer from Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Human Target, Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles etc.

Epic work - the man is a genius.

Tucker.Tim

noodler wrote: »

That would be the amazig Bear McCreary.

Composer from Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Human Target, Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles etc.

Epic work - the man is a genius.

In all fairness I wouldn't go that far. His soundtrack on Dark Void was just generic BSG-type music and along with Caprica it made me fear he was a one trick pony. The fact The Walking Dead isn't so protypically 'Bear' sounding is probably the most encouraging sign we've got that he has more to him than tabalas and All Along the Watchtower.

noodler

Tucker.Tim wrote: »

In all fairness I wouldn't go that far. His soundtrack on Dark Void was just generic BSG-type music and along with Caprica it made me fear he was a one trick pony. The fact The Walking Dead isn't so protypically 'Bear' sounding is probably the most encouraging sign we've got that he has more to him than tabalas and All Along the Watchtower.

In all fairness, I think you might just notice the percussion elements more.

Alot of his other stuff on BSG can actually be quite subtle - I mean if all you can think of when you think of BSG is the drums beating in space battles or Watchtower then you've probably not notice tracks like Roslin and Adama, Somthing Dark is Coming, The Line, Violence and Variations etc.

The season 2, 3 and 4 soundtracks are some of the best muscial purchases I have made soundtracj-wise.

KeanSeenan

McCreary...that's an odd name.I'm in two ways of pronouncing it, 'Mac-reary'(nickname for a rapist) or 'Mac-Creary'(sounds made up on the spot), which is it6?

noodler

KeanSeenan wrote: »

McCreary...that's an odd name.I'm in two ways of pronouncing it, 'Mac-reary'(nickname for a rapist) or 'Mac-Creary'(sounds made up on the spot), which is it6?

I'm guessing Mc-Creary. Haven't heard it said before tho.

Just call him Bear.

longhalloween

I watched the two episodes today and I have to say I liked it.

There wasn't too much progression and character development but I feel like it has promise, the next episode should be more emotional.

Second ep. seemed to be more like a video game than a TV show, anyone who has played Left4Dead an definitely see the similarities, basically get from point A to point B, characters of all colours and creeds.

Still im looking forward to Friday.

Richard Dower

Insightful and intelligent debates going on...good job lads!