Quote :

"yeah, I don't get why there was only one of the scientists left in such a secure facility. Did he lock himself in the closet? Did the others blow their brains out, as he planned to do?"

I feel like that might get at least partially explained this week...maybe he was in the clean room working when shit went down, and locked himself in there...others could've survived and been killed in whatever the fuck happened outside (or in going out to look for specimens).

12/3/2010 10:13:08 AM

JBaz, I feel you. It was way too much time on the girl, and then way too much time on that dude and leaving him under that tree. They should have cut both those down by a lot.

I knew they were trying to build up suspense or drama, but at times, it felt like they were stalling, like literally wasting screen time. It's filmed like a soap opera or something, except it only comes on once a week!


And, while we're making predictions. I guess they may go back and pick up the dying dude under the tree so the scientist can get another fresh non-necrotic sample or whatever...hopefully, dude ain't dead yet.

[Edited on December 3, 2010 at 10:22 AM. Reason : sss]

12/3/2010 10:16:43 AM

I never realized people parsed every single little detail about tv shows like this jeebas!

Are yall like, taking notes and shit during the show? I thought only entertainment reviewers did stuff like this, and that was only because they got paid to do it.

Damn, if I was this critical of a tv show, or any form of entertainment, I wouldn't waste my free time with it. Go enjoy something you like, life is too short to be upset about a ZOMBIE TV SHOW. LET ME REPEAT....T.V. SHOW.

12/3/2010 10:24:14 AM

Quote :

"if only they were making more episodes that could explain what is going on."

@ lokken; they don't need more episodes to explain what is going on, they need to have better on screen time management in telling the storyline better and more efficient ways of character development. There are plenty of 4 hour mini-series that tell a story with much more memorable characters then this series.

I just think them trying to force the human conflicts and drama in this series a waste of precious screen time and they really don't help the character development as much as they were expecting. I mean it's like 40 mins of "lets stand around and talk about our feelings" and the rest devoted to progress the very little storyline that we are given with no real explanation on how and why.

I seriously still think it was a mistake to progress the finding of Rick's family so early on. I mean if you advertise a show about a man trying to find his family in a post apocalyptic world and no body can stand in his way? why let him find them in 3 episodes? At least have the whole first season bent around the idea of his ordeal trying to get to Atlanta with a small group of people. Then have the 2nd season all about him searching atlanta, finding clues of where she went to.

I think it would be kind of cool to have the military fly in, but instead of everyone thinking they are their saviors, they are trying to purge their existence as part of a clean up. But that idea probably has been overdone now that I think about it.

[Edited on December 3, 2010 at 10:26 AM. Reason : ]

12/3/2010 10:25:15 AM

Quote :

"Are yall like, taking notes and shit during the show?"

Yeah, I had to keep notes to see that there was one remaining scientist in a super secure high-tech building.

What the fuck kind of shows do you watch that you don't ever ask a question as to why something happened? I'm sure even Dancing with the Star fans analyze their episodes to some level

12/3/2010 10:30:13 AM

Quote :

"Are yall like, taking notes and shit during the show?"

I take mental notes on what I liked and didn't like about an episode, but I have a background in photography and production. I just see a lot of wasted screen time in this series. I could easily edit each episode down by 1/2 and still tell the same story.

And honestly, if the world goes to hell, wouldn't you steal a tanker truck and a ferrari; then head over to Road Atlanta? I would. Top Gear with zombies...

12/3/2010 10:35:16 AM

I ask questions about what the characters are going to do next, and where the plot might go I guess, but I don't criticize every little plot point in a tv show, or look for inconsistencies. That takes the fun out of the show in my opinion.

Sounds like Dancing with the stars is more your speed than mine bud if you get so cranky about why your tv show about ZOMBIES isnt more believable. lol

[Edited on December 3, 2010 at 10:41 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on December 3, 2010 at 10:41 AM. Reason : .]

12/3/2010 10:40:13 AM

and another one of the "zombies = free from criticism" arguments, nice

I don't think asking why there's one scientist left was nitpicky (or criticism at all) anyways

12/3/2010 10:58:46 AM

Quote :

"I seriously still think it was a mistake to progress the finding of Rick's family so early on. I mean if you advertise a show about a man trying to find his family in a post apocalyptic world and no body can stand in his way? why let him find them in 3 episodes? At least have the whole first season bent around the idea of his ordeal trying to get to Atlanta with a small group of people. Then have the 2nd season all about him searching atlanta, finding clues of where she went to."

I haven't read the source material, but I think this part matches up with the timeline of things in the original. I know they've made big deviations elsewhere, but you've gotta stay true on some fronts, or you'll lose the audience the show was meant to appeal to in the first place.

I also think there's enough fodder there for some big things to happen next season. His wife is clearly struggling with the guilt of the affair, and Shane nearly blew Rick away over the same drama (and nearly had the whole thing discovered when Rick came out of the RV). I'm pretty sure that'll come to a head soon.

Quote :

"and another one of the "zombies = free from criticism" arguments, nice"

No one ever said that because there are zombies in a show, it gets a free pass. However, it's a valid point that a show with zombies in it (even if it's on AMC) arguably has a lower bar to clear.

I didn't walk into Dawn of the Dead or even 28 Days Later expecting some tour de force fit to be enshrined in the hallowed halls of movie history, just like I never watch something like 24 expecting the kind of show that's equal to The Wire.

A few ingredients mixed together to somehow set expectations that this would be more than it actually is:

1) Being a show on AMC. (Since AMC has batted nearly perfect in its shows thus far, people somehow got the idea that everything on AMC must be golden Emmy material).

2) Frank Darabont as director/writer/producer. (I like the hell out of most of the guy's work, but I feel like people see his name by stuff like The Shawshank Redemption, and forget that he's also done shit like A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors).

3) The assumption that a popular comic book is a) Well written on its own; b) The complete blue print for a successful page to TV adaptation. (The writers have had to fill in a lot of gaps and other things that the comic writers didn't have to deal with...they've most certainly fallen flat on some things).

None of the above, or the fact that zombies are in it give the show a pass to be bad. However, in my opinion, I don't think any of the smaller problems have snowballed to the point of detracting from the series-at least not in my eyes, given what I expected coming into the series.

That doesn't mean the criticisms aren't wholly valid in some instances, but I just question the exacting view that some have occasionally taken in here.

12/3/2010 11:15:05 AM

This sure sounds like that argument to me

Quote :

"you get so cranky about why your tv show about ZOMBIES isnt more believable. lol"

Quote :

"3) The assumption that a popular comic book is a) Well written on its own; b) The complete blue print for a successful page to TV adaptation. (The writers have had to fill in a lot of gaps and other things that the comic writers didn't have to deal with...they've most certainly fallen flat on some things)."

I guess this is my problem then. I wasn't expecting Mad Men level of writing because frankly, no show can come close to that at this point, in my opinion. I just thought that because the comic book was so well received critically, that at least some of it would translate to the show. Then again, maybe if I read the comic book I'd be bored by it too. I plan on reading it in the next month or so.

Again, I'm not out to hate on this show or every little thing wrong with it. I really WANT to like it.

12/3/2010 11:19:50 AM

Quote :

"if you get so cranky about why your tv show about ZOMBIES isnt more believable"

It's not all about zombies, it's the idea of a post apocalyptic world and the scenarios that follow. For me, it's not looking for inconsistencies, its whether or not they are telling a story and quite frankly, they are failing IMHO. I mean if you are going to do a serious zombie survivor series and not show a lot of zombie fighting sequences, then the story better be good. So far it's disappointment after disappointment to the point of where I'm dropping my expectations for the next episode quite low, just to be satisfied about the hour I spent on a tv show.

Honestly, Rick's wife is a bitch. I don't mind seeing her gone.

12/3/2010 11:21:47 AM

^ good post, that's how I feel

[Edited on December 3, 2010 at 11:24 AM. Reason : def agree about rick's wife too]

12/3/2010 11:23:55 AM

I hope the asian prevails, but I might be biased since I'm asian...


Also, when someone asked what was his job and he answers "pizza delivery". That's soo far fetched. No asian I know would deliver pizza. Professional gamer or a mathematician or something like that would have fit nicely. I mean the show is full of racists, why not keep the stereotype about Asians alive? lol

[Edited on December 3, 2010 at 11:33 AM. Reason : that's racist]

12/3/2010 11:27:38 AM

Who's going to the galaxy tonight?

GrumpyGOP and I will be there.

12/5/2010 6:10:33 PM

There's no reason a zombie show warrants this much discussion

12/5/2010 7:01:03 PM

Quote :

"I didn't walk into Dawn of the Dead or even 28 Days Later expecting some tour de force fit to be enshrined in the hallowed halls of movie history,"

bad example b/c both of those movies have far better character development and dialogue than The Walking Dead, at least to this point.

12/5/2010 9:56:31 PM

This show is so horrendously bad... SO much wasted potential. This show does NO justice to the comics

12/5/2010 11:02:38 PM

WOW! I liked the show up until this episode. This was one of the worst episodes I have ever seen for anything. Honestly made me wonder why I have wasted and hour of my time for the past 6 Sunday's.

12/5/2010 11:03:42 PM

This episode has made my brain hurt.

12/5/2010 11:08:48 PM

Don't know if anyone has said anything about this yet:

Darabont wants to fire the whole writing staff.

http://www.examiner.com/fanboys-in-national/amc-s-the-walking-dead-fires-entire-writing-staff

12/5/2010 11:14:42 PM

ha, yea.. that was.. not good...


here's hoping the new writing staff does better next season!

and yea:

Quote :

"This show does NO justice to the comics"

12/5/2010 11:40:18 PM

Haha, not surprised. The writing was obviously skating on thin ice, but the idea of the show was good enough to carry it so far.

It's like Heroes. Interesting story but terrible writing and acting. Hopefully this move by AMC will save it from being unceremoniously cancelled.

12/5/2010 11:47:11 PM

watching the finale right now. holy fuck this is awful. dude drinking in the shower had me loling though.

12/5/2010 11:49:06 PM

well that was awful

i hope next season is better w/ new writers but i can't say i have much motivation to watch it at this point

"THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE"

except maybe not for this show

12/5/2010 11:51:54 PM

ha, sad thing is, due to my love of the source material, and the rarity of zombie television shows, i'll probably continue to watch

and i love how that bitch was just holding onto a hand grenade in her purse

12/5/2010 11:55:41 PM

I liked this last episode. Some parts were awkward, but nothing's perfect, and it's still a great concept.

12/6/2010 12:07:58 AM

^^ i know, same. because i DO really like the concept. but if next season starts as horrible as this season has been i will probably quit while i am ahead. or at least TRY haha.

12/6/2010 12:14:26 AM

Quote :

"dude drinking in the shower had me loling though."

Yeah, I giggled for like 10 minutes over that

Actually kind of liked the episode though

Couple rough spots, but more enjoyable than I was expecting

I'll give it another chance next season

[Edited on December 6, 2010 at 12:20 AM. Reason : Asking the computer what would happen was another lol moment]

12/6/2010 12:19:39 AM

this one took 2 hours

7 minutes




1 second

that Dale guy might just be the worst actor of all time. and the Asian guy's "hangover" was

[Edited on December 6, 2010 at 12:33 AM. Reason : ]

12/6/2010 12:33:21 AM

And hey

Was Other Cop Guy's comment to Wife about "If you thought he was alive you never would have come" supposed to be double entendre

12/6/2010 12:43:09 AM

Test subject being dude's wife was predictable. As soon as they had trouble with the window, the grenade coming out (one way or another) was predictable, and the lady holding onto it was a bit weird.

Aside from those two incidents I don't have any big criticisms, but I'm sure these alone would be enough for many people to consign it to hell without even having to invent other complaints.

12/6/2010 2:09:51 AM

GrumpyGOP doesn't mind acting that's below the level of holiday rush-production Lifetime movies.

12/6/2010 4:19:07 AM

12/6/2010 7:19:01 AM

lol


my favorite part was when the little boy drank some of the wine and he said it was nasty and everybody chucked and then hardass mcgee had to get some fucking answers immediately

12/6/2010 7:40:47 AM

heh, no one really cared about the black lady dying

also, wtf pulling the pin on the grenade, letting it go, then having to think about it for a few seconds before running from it

12/6/2010 9:47:02 AM

Pretty good episode, but I wanted more out of it, given that it was the last of only 6, and given the year we have to wait for any further progression in the story.

The whole theater at the galaxy lol'd at the cut to Shane drinking in the shower. I enjoyed the fact that while the CDC excursion provided a few answers, you only got a piece of the larger picture, and only a small window of hope was opened.

The countdown thing was a little predictable, if for no other reason that they'd either kill everyone off and start with a new cast, or allow them to find some last minute way out, but I still thought it was fairly well executed (including the doctor's blow up about the need for the explosion).

Not sure what AMC's plan is, but I'm crossing my fingers for a short 1 or 2 hour special in the spring or summer to keep the audience satiated until October....otherwise I think they'll face an uphill battle keeping fans waiting around for almost a full year.

12/6/2010 10:30:49 AM

http://theclicker.todayshow.com/_news/2010/12/06/5598266-walking-dead-producer-i-wish-we-had-killed-more-people

12/6/2010 2:25:01 PM

Quote :

"heh, no one really cared about the black lady dying "

haha i wanted her to die forever ago. i think out of the entire group, she was the WORST actor. so, so bad. glad she's dead

12/6/2010 4:24:43 PM

Quote :

"The countdown thing was a little predictable, if for no other reason that they'd either kill everyone off and start with a new cast,"

Do people really think this is a realistic outcome when watching a show like this

12/6/2010 5:16:20 PM

So the Final episode was a 24 in one hour. I liked how everyone did the whole 'I'm gonna hurt you while everyone in my crew holds me back' routine like 50 million times. It got old after the 2nd time it happened. And wtf is the CDC looking like a stupid 1960's version of nasa? and backup generators are not that quiet when running off of gasoline or diesel fuel, maybe if it was natural gas. And why wouldn't the doctor make a note of the fuel crisis before hand? maybe they could have gone out and get some more fuel? durrhhh.

They should have kept everyone in and killed the whole cast, at least start from scratch for the 2nd season. Maybe go with some non-racists liberals out on the west coasts who drive on bio-diesel and grow their own weed. Seriously, watching paint dry has been more enjoyable then this series (although admittedly, alcohol may have been involved in the waiting period with paint).

12/6/2010 9:13:03 PM

is the part w/ the cdc doc whispering in rick's ear in the comic? if so, somebody PM me & tell me what he said. i don't have patience.

12/6/2010 10:18:40 PM

http://zombie.wikia.com/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(Comic)

I don't see anything about the CDC, there.


From the plot summary, the comic sounds kinda boring. Just the same shit over and over

12/6/2010 11:21:58 PM

The finale was OK, and the season as a whole was disappointing but in no way as bad as many of you made it out to be. I think a lot of the pacing/storytelling issues can be blamed on the tight production schedule that AMC imposed to get it on the air by Halloween. If you really think the acting/writing is some of the worst on TV then you need to get some fucking perspective (try watching virtually any crime procedural on any network and get back to me).

12/7/2010 2:20:29 AM

beside my opinion of the scene w/ the 2 women in the boat, i overall like the show very much. i thought last night's episode was good & i very much enjoyed it. i'll definitely watch next season.

12/7/2010 7:38:42 AM

Quote :

"I liked how everyone did the whole 'I'm gonna hurt you while everyone in my crew holds me back' routine like 50 million times. "

Fucking hell that got annoying as shit.

There was a lot of this episode that got many s from me, but it was still entertaining. I was actually unsure if they would escape from the CDC...until the officer went Obama on the Doc and was all "[hope] [change] give us a chance! dead wife look"

The grenade was pretty much them jumping the shark for me, especially his dramatic leap to safety when it detonated

12/7/2010 8:29:13 AM

i did think holding a shotgun to the head of a man who was prepared to die in a fire in a few minutes anyway was pretty stupid.

12/7/2010 9:05:23 AM

Quote :

"is the part w/ the cdc doc whispering in rick's ear in the comic? if so, somebody PM me & tell me what he said. i don't have patience. "

No, there is no CDC. In fact, in over 5 years of publishing, there's been no direct scientific mention of why all of this is happening. One newer character alluded to knowing the cause, but thus far that hasn't turned into anything substantial.

I think the comic is brilliant in that the focus is not entirely on action. While it's based around survival horror, the real backbone of the story is the psychological rollercoaster of the people involved in a inexplicable catastrophe of unimaginable scale. Two big recurring themes are "how low will people go when they are faced with a hopeless situation," and "what would you do to survive and what will it cost you if you do." The TV show irritates me in how the characters are being portrayed so differently from their comic counterparts. There is no greater example of this than Andrea, who is probably my favorite. Carl also has a pivotal role in the books, but is almost nonexistent in the show.

12/7/2010 9:31:46 AM

"Pssst... your wife is pregnant."

12/7/2010 9:49:29 AM

I was so hopeful after the 1st episode and now the season keeps spinning down the toilet. The 1st camp outside of ATL should have only lasted 2 episodes at most. They haven't worked the power struggle side of the story enough. I feel that the tension between Rick and Shane isn't really there aside from Shane pointing the gun at Rick.






Spoiler:



In the comic, Shane planned on luring Rick out into the woods to kill him only to have Carl kill Shane to protect his father.

I was really hoping that this season would end with the group walking up to the prison. In the comic the group leaves ATL and comes across a farm of a cray cray family keeping their zombie kid alive. This CDC crap that they are adding to the story sounds so played out. The prison and Governor story line could fill a 12 episode 2nd season easy.

12/7/2010 9:52:31 AM

^^Is that speculation or a spoiler? I hope it is speculation because it's kind of a shitty thing to post if you got that from the comics.

[Edited on December 7, 2010 at 9:58 AM. Reason : ]

12/7/2010 9:53:38 AM