The Walking Dead (AMC)

[Cardinals.Ken]

Overrated how? It's not exactly winning any awards and nobody, and I mean NOBODY, touts the writing as anything great.

This comment is strange--I guess if something is exceptionally popular, regardless of the quality of the content itself, it's overrated. It's one thing to not understand why millions of people still watch the show, but it's another to say it's because the show is overrated.

I don't mean overrated critically, but I feel it's overrated when gauged by the voracity of it's fanbase. A feeling I have for Dr. Who, Game of Thrones, and The Blacklist.

Allow me to detail my personal rubric in my thought process on this:

If a dunderhead, like myself, can make critically salient points about about plot, writing, or theme...

-and-

It's highly rated (TV) or commercially successful (film)...

-and-

I see a lot of people go nuts about each episode on social media...

-and-

The majority of people I discuss it with tell me that I'm nitpicking, that I don't get it, or (MOST ERRANTLY) believe that I don't like it...

I consider it overrated.

 

[slinslin]

It is a 8.7 on IMDB which is pretty good (and overall the series is good and enjoyable) but it is not on Breaking Bad (9.5), Game of Thrones (9.5), Better Call Saul(9.2) level.

It's comparable to Vikings(8.6) and slightly ahead of Gotham, Arrow or The Flash. So I don't think Walking Dead is overrated at all. Very good but not great show.

Honestly I 100% agree with those IMDB ratings. I would be rating BCS higher but that will come if the show keeps up the quality of season 1.

 

[Covert Rain]

I don't mean overrated critically, but I feel it's overrated when gauged by the voracity of it's fanbase. A feeling I have for Dr. Who, Game of Thrones, and The Blacklist.

Allow me to detail my personal rubric in my thought process on this:

If a dunderhead, like myself, can make critically salient points about about plot, writing, or theme...

-and-

It's highly rated (TV) or commercially successful (film)...

-and-

I see a lot of people go nuts about each episode on social media...

-and-

The majority of people I discuss it with tell me that I'm nitpicking, that I don't get it, or (MOST ERRANTLY) believe that I don't like it...

I consider it overrated.

I see your point now but I still think it's off base. Heck if you look at this thread alone you will see a ton of complaining about filler episodes for example through the seasons. You will see tons of complaints about them staying on one story line too long. I don't really see this being any worse than any other TV fan thread forum.

 

[conraddobler]

There's all kinds of shows.

Breaking Bad is in a real class of it's own, Better Call Saul has a long way to go but it's up there but those are really shows that actually do awesome jobs of mixing humor and feelings together to involve you in a story.

The Walking Dead is great too but in a different way.

The Walking Dead IMO is just one of those shows that ties into a meme that fits for it's time.

It doesn't have to be as good to be even more entertaining because it's plugging into something rather primal that also coincidentally happens to be in the smack dab middle of peoples consciousness.

The Walking Dead is great because it is what it is. It's a show that let's people feel things they already feel and escape into a reality that does something to play to their more primal urges it is amazing at recapturing basic humanity that I think many people feel modern society has too long suppressed.

We weren't meant to live in the modern world, this show simply is one massive mental exercise in allowing people to fantasize that they don't and it's really that simple.

For that reason the writing does not need to be on par with the best shows and it's certainly not but it wins a lot of points by default for tapping into something on a grander scale.

It's popularity has nothing to do with writing, although at times it can be very good and at times a big fat meh to bleck. That doesn't matter because they are riding a wave at the right time.

It's a rare thing to have something like it. It's very basic human nature on display without being submerged in modern social morass. It's got Hero's and Villains and it strips away the modern veneer that often obscures them.

The Dead are a metaphor IMO for most people on earth, consuming mindlessly without thought. Everyone is infected but a few people are still vibrantly alive presenting a stark contrast.

The modern world at times can be suffocating and can strip away raw humanity. In the Walking Dead world while it might suck, all that vibrancy is the only thing they have left so it shines all the brighter. You literally can only screw that up so it's a much lower writing bar that they sometimes do a great job with and typically sometimes they toss in duds.

The worst thing that can happen to you isn't death, it's becoming a walker which is a metaphor for literally walking around dead. In the show it's better to be dead, really dead, anything but that.

That's why people tune in.

JMO.

 

[slinslin]

The Dead are a metaphor IMO for most people on earth, consuming mindlessly without thought. Everyone is infected but a few people are still vibrantly alive presenting a stark contrast.

The modern world at times can be suffocating and can strip away raw humanity. In the Walking Dead world while it might suck, all that vibrancy is the only thing they have left so it shines all the brighter. You literally can only screw that up so it's a much lower writing bar that they sometimes do a great job with and typically sometimes they toss in duds.

The worst thing that can happen to you isn't death, it's becoming a walker which is a metaphor for literally walking around dead. In the show it's better to be dead, really dead, anything but that.

That's why people tune in.

JMO.

I really don't think there is any deeper abstract methaphor or thought in the story. It is just made to be entertaining social drama.

The Dead are not even the enemy. The evil in the show are always other marauding groups or individuals.

Also the becoming a walker thing does not really matter, the show almost right at the beginning explained already that when you turn into a walker you are really dead, no more memories, nothing. The fear of someone turning is more motivated by the thought of a slow death, being eaten by walker or becoming a danger to others.

 

[NJCardFan]

I really don't think there is any deeper abstract methaphor or thought in the story. It is just made to be entertaining social drama.

The Dead are not even the enemy. The evil in the show are always other marauding groups or individuals.

Also the becoming a walker thing does not really matter, the show almost right at the beginning explained already that when you turn into a walker you are really dead, no more memories, nothing. The fear of someone turning is more motivated by the thought of a slow death, being eaten by walker or becoming a danger to others.

Agree with this point. The dead/roamers/walkers aren't the enemy any more than hunting lions make them the enemy. They're background music. The real enemy is man's inhumanity to man. The Governor and his Draconian society, the hospital with it's slave labor, The Hunters and cannibalism, and Negan...well, not to spoil it but he's at the top of the list when it comes to evil in this story. This is why I get what Deanna is trying to do. Trying to get some normalcy back. There is a scene after the prison fight when Carl and Rick find an abandoned house that is still in 1 piece and Carl is in what is obviously a teenagers bedroom. In there was a TV and a video game system. He picks up a game, smiles as he remembers such things, then reality quickly sets back in and he tosses the game, pulls the wires from the TV to use to secure the front door. It was a telling scene. Subtle, but telling.

 

[BigRedRage]

I'm 67 pages into this after just finishing season 5 and find it funny all the threats to stop watching just come over and over and over.

 

[BigRedRage]

My daughter and I started watching the walking dead finally a few months ago and just finished season 5. Amazing how the show is still just as good as the beginning. That finale was nuts! I thought it was all going to go to hell again but it actually worked out well for the group and glad to see that character is returning and more badass than ever.

I am surprised by a lot of the negative commentary in this thread about the show, I thought it was top notch from the get go. It does have some slow down moments but they always lead to something epic so I do not mind them.

Easily my favorite show ever. We will be keeping up in the future and can't wait to see the new "fear the walking dead" in August.

Now I just need to find out how I can watch the talking dead after show without having cable. I'm happy to pay for the real show but not the talk show

Hoping the family gets me some of the comics for fathers day otherwise I am going to have to start buying them myself. I think I saw online I can buy books that are like 48 comics in one and etc.

 

[Shaggy]

I started watching this. I got to around mid 2nd season and just stopped. I think it was because I was tired of getting spooked when I watched it. I usually watched it late at night.

 

[BigRedRage]

I started watching this. I got to around mid 2nd season and just stopped. I think it was because I was tired of getting spooked when I watched it. I usually watched it late at night.

wuss!

 

[carrrnuttt]

Season 6 Trailer:

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[PDXChris]

Was just about to post that. WOW!!!!!!!

 

[BigRedRage]

totally gonna watch those trailers tonight on the big screen

 

[Chaplin]

Holy crap, there's more zombie action in that trailer than the past 3 seasons combined.

 

[BigRedRage]

Holy crap, there's more zombie action in that trailer than the past 3 seasons combined.

with how the "W people" use zombies for their mayhem, I am expecting it.

I almost don't want to watch the trailer to not know what is coming.

 

[devilalum]

Just warched the first 4 seasons in the last 3 weeks. I'm not a big zombie genre fan but this show is amazing.

 

[Iceman]

This series is on my to watch list. Right now on the Orange is the New Black. Only on season 1. Big fan of it so far. I'll start Walking Dead next

 

[BigRedRage]

Just warched the first 4 seasons in the last 3 weeks. I'm not a big zombie genre fan but this show is amazing.

Right? We didn't do it as fast but did what the schedule permitted. Watched all 5 seasons over the last few months. Bought season 5, couldn't wait to see what happens

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[BigRedRage]

This series is on my to watch list. Right now on the Orange is the New Black. Only on season 1. Big fan of it so far. I'll start Walking Dead next

I watched half of season one and gave up on it. Wife likes it though

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[BigRedRage]

Season 6 Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va1UPrFXHKA

Just watched it, that was intense. I can't decide if they are just messing with us with the teases about the Morgan/Rick Dynamics of the next season or not. They would play clips of conversation and show those two in the clips but it almost felt like something else is really going on and they put their faces on it to throw us off.

Chap, you weren't kidding about the zombie action in the trailer.

Watching week by week instead of bingeing it is going to be brutal

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[Cheesebeef]

Just watched it, that was intense. I can't decide if they are just messing with us with the teases about the Morgan/Rick Dynamics of the next season or not. They would play clips of conversation and show those two in the clips but it almost felt like something else is really going on and they put their faces on it to throw us off.

Chap, you weren't kidding about the zombie action in the trailer.

Watching week by week instead of bingeing it is going to be brutal

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yeah... that trailer seemed like the best best and switch Rick v. Morgan setup editors can do. There will probably be some tension, but there's another group out there setup in last season that will want Alexandria for itself.

 

[BigRedRage]

yeah... that trailer seemed like the best best and switch Rick v. Morgan setup editors can do. There will probably be some tension, but there's another group out there setup in last season that will want Alexandria for itself.

they are no joke either. I imagine those hordes of zombies in the trailer were dropped on property directly by the wolf clan.

 

[chickenhead]

Just watched it, that was intense. I can't decide if they are just messing with us with the teases about the Morgan/Rick Dynamics of the next season or not. They would play clips of conversation and show those two in the clips but it almost felt like something else is really going on and they put their faces on it to throw us off.

Chap, you weren't kidding about the zombie action in the trailer.

Watching week by week instead of bingeing it is going to be brutal

Sent from my XT1056 using Tapatalk

Chiming in a little late...I just watched the trailer for the first time. But I really liked it because it was entertaining--4 solid minutes of "crucial" moments--while having to be nothing but a tease. Like when Morgan says "you get the hell out of here and don't ever come back" and then it cuts to Rick: it's daytime in both shots but that's all we know for sure. Morgan could be talking to anyone, and Rick could be looking at anything. I realize I'm not saying anything we don't already know. And then all the shots of Daryl at the end that look like one episode but could be from scattered points throughout the season (I mean, he's been wearing the same clothes for...ever).

It'll be fun to watch it again after the season is done.

 

[Covert Rain]

That trailer was pretty intense.

 

[MadCardDisease]

The Walking Dead to show airline zombie attack in stand-alone special

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/28/walking-dead-airline

What if an episode of The Walking Dead was set on a passenger airliner before civilization had fallen?

That’s basically what AMC is planning in a highly unusual — if not totally unprecedented — new special that’s set during the time period of the hit drama’s companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.