Walking Dead on AMC (Part 5)

Living in the frozen tundra of MN that has been my suggestion since the beginning, but then they wouldn't have a show.

Btw, it's currently 9F here.

 

They would have to change the name to The Frozen Dead

 

I may have to retract that theory. Last night I watched Dead Snow, which features Nazi Zombies doing quite well in freezing weather, and were even able to run and climb trees.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278340/

 

guess its up to the writers for Zombie wellness...cold or hot they're dead. I guess it's a mater of location, location, location...

 

Can someone familiar with this show explain something? I watched and liked Season 1, but I haven't seen the show since. So I started again last night by watching three new episodes on AMC. The "information" box said that these were three consecutive new episodes from Season 5, but all of them were different. The first was about Beth in the hospital... The second was about the red-haired guy leading and the school bus getting totaled... and the third (new episode?) had a different cast still..

So are these new episodes always jumping between different stories with different characters, or was AMC showing three different eps from three different seasons?

 

Those were three consecutive episodes. They're really all one related story, but they're focusing on a couple different concurrent storylines since the entire main group isn't all together right now. This practice isn't new, as they do jump around a bit each season with A, B and C story arcs.

 

Thanks for clearing that up! Though since I've been away so long, these three consecutively only made things even less clear for me!

 

The former. All these people were together at one point, but as they've become separated by chance or choice, the show runners seem to be concentrating on one group's story per week. One would think that at some point these separate story threads will intersect.

 

Nice placement of the carton of Morley's (cigs) last night. I immediately thought of the Smoking Man from the X-Files. YMMV.

 

Another great episode. The first few flashbacks threw me until I figured out what was going on.

 

The tank from season 1 episode 1 made a very brief cameo.

 

I noticed it too....I like that they didn't make a big deal of it. You either saw it and got it or you didn't.

 

wow. they really like to "kill time" in this show. 2/3 of the last episodes have been a real waste of time. i guess if they fill silly flashbacks full of nickelback-esque sounding power ballads it'll dupe us into thinking the episodes are deep and deliver some sort of message. andrew lincoln is the only one who can act in this show and this many episodes without him is a big joke.

 

Only thing is, it's the writing that stems from the budget that doesn't allow intercuts/edits, where plotlines are intertwined in single episodes, e.g. "The Wire," "Game of Thrones," "Breaking Bad," and "Mad Men." In short, AMC are cheap bastards when it comes to "The Walking Dead," because they know most of us will keep watching, no matter what.

It has been reported that the actors are paid by the episode. It's been a complaint about the show for quite some time that AMC is trying to save money by limiting the number of characters in each episode.

Think about it. It makes perfect sense. Having a 16 episode season gives the illusion that we are getting more, when, in fact, they are spreading their money out to satisfy the show's condition, which, in turn kills the pace.

It's no secret. Indeed...(and by the way, this article is from before Season 2 when the original showrunner, Frank Darabont, left because of creative differences)

http://screenrant.com/walking-dead-f...mc-aco-127783/

In sum, you know the last scene of last episode when Daryll and Carol set the dumpster fire to distract the zombies so they could make their getaway? That scene is totally analogous to all of us (including me) watching this show, i.e...

"The Walking Dead" is one big dumpster fire, and we are the zombies, ambling slowly towards the flames, because we simply can't help ourselves.

We are the walking dead. We carry the virus in our bloodstream. I feel like such a rube.

 

The story makes sense if you step back and look at all of the stories in context. When you have 20+ speaking roles, you can't do one 1-hour episode that tells a single story with all of them at the same time; you can do smaller stories that deal with (say) 2 or 3 people at a time. Eventually, they'll get back together.

I have to admit, though, I was disconcerted by the jumping around in the most recent episode, which had flashbacks showing how Carol had discovered that the prison burned down, and also how she came to the rescue of the group at the train depot.

And of course, Glen Mazzara also eventually got fired, and the guy who replaced him just left. So they're now on their fourth showrunner in five years. The people running AMC are weasels.

 

Yeah, see, I don't like that crap at all. If "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" could write and jump between characters and stories, quite deftly, I don't see why TWD can't do it. In fact, it's even more confusing in that AMC cut the budgets for both BB and TWD to pay the actors more for MM. "Breaking Bad" still thrived, while TWD has yet to reach the heights of the first truncated season. (Writer's strike, wasn't it?)

Now, I'm not claiming to be an expert in television, but I am a professional author and writer who has at least achieved a modicum of mainstream success, so I know a bit about pacing.

They know we'll watch; therefore they'll shovel any crap at us that we'll eat. They cut corners and give us a veneer of high art (see Carol's recent flashbacks), when, indeed, the shellac washes off quite easily...and you don't need a microscope to see it.

Why I watch? Partly because the fam likes it, so it's quality time. The other part of me watches because I've been reading the comic since issue #13. I suppose it's some wacked out sense of devotion to the concept.

All of that's sort of to the point. There's a ton of comic readers, just like me, who tune in, knowing good and well that vans don't fall off of bridges that way, no more than Dr. Jones could survive a nuclear blast, safely encased in a lead-lined fridge, hurtling at 100mph+.

 

The trick is that Mad Men and Breaking Bad were co-owned by other studios (Sony, I believe), but in the case of Walking Dead, AMC owns it 100%. As the article above reveals, the problem is that HBO and Showtime are getting about $6-$7 per subscriber, while AMC is only getting 60 cents per subscriber. They'd have to greatly raise their rates in order to justify increasing the costs of their shows to $3.5-$4 million (which is what Frank Darabont wanted). I'm 100% on Darabont's side and think the AMC people are cheap bastids.

I agree that the structure of the show is questionable, and it's an "unusual creative choice" as we say in LA. I follow what they're doing, and a lot of it is "A/B" story structure so they can have two crews shoot simultaneously, each shooting a different cast, so they can avoid accruing high expenses. They make a certain part of the cast "recurring" rather than "regulars" so they get paid less. This gets back to what I said about having 20 actors in every episode, which would cost a bloody fortune. They could do it if they had $5M an episode, but AMC clearly does not want to spend that.

I enjoy the show and don't think it's crap at all. It's easy to sit back and be an armchair critic, but I understand why they're doing what they're doing, and in the grand scheme of things, I think the story is pretty compelling. But man, I agree about the truck falling off the bridge. That was a "WTF" moment for me.

P.S. WGA Strike was late 2007-early 2008:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–08_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike

I know because it devastated my business and cost the jobs of over a hundred people I know personally.

 

we enjoyed this episode...It came together at the end. For some reason the flashbacks fit this time...maybe because I like the characters in tonight's show. I love Carol's no nonsense attitude...kick ass and take no prisoners. SO MUCH Bitching and moan is just non productive...no matter what no one is listening. So for me I just enjoy the ride. what is so hard about just watching the show without crucifying every episode? Hey they could have ended this after the first season and left us hanging like so many other shows have done...so what they are budget conscience. IMO, nothing is lacking due to budget restraints...the show kicks ass period! It's a TV dammit! Everyone is doing a fine job in the cast.

 

How did the zombies in the tents wind up there?

 

They went in as humans.

 

Is this breaking news that you're sharing with us? Scott Gimple took over from Mazzara in Jan '13, but I haven't seen any news that he has left his position.

 

Well...Hmmmm....Obviously I have some love for the show, or I wouldn't be watching it - even if I wasn't beholden to the family to sit down on Sunday nights and check it out. I don't know if it's so much bitching as it is thinking the show could be so much better, upholding the standards set forth by the comic and/or other AMC shows (one of which, "Breaking Bad," is probably the best thing I've seen on television). Neither am I an elitist who thinks the show is somehow beneath me.

But the show is art. Like all art people tend to pick it apart, I'm sure like the caveman who first drug his feces across a cave wall, and the other caveman came over and considered its merits. It's only natural. As much as we put into art, the more we will receive, in return. It's no different than dissecting a piece of music, or the mastering of a recording, or the system we listen to it on. If we didn't want better, or bigger, or quieter, or more powerful, then a spirit of sameness would prevail, and the world would be a boring place. Imagine if everyone came in praised ever second of TWD. How dull!

We discuss things. It just so happens that I like the show, but lament its execution most of the time, based upon the aforementioned reasons. That won't stop me from mentioning both the good and the bad. I'm on record saying that the first 3 episodes of this season are the best string of episodes since the 1st season (four in a row if you count last season's finale).

But come on! You have to admit that the scene where they took the van over the bridge was a lot far fetched! I mean, it is possible, but highly improbable.

 

so are talking horses...

 

I dubbed this last episode as "the perils of Carol". It wasn't bad, and was more entertaining to me than the previous two episodes. Not much to say/analyze about. The van moment was iffy!

The formula I'm starting to see is:
Spend $$$ on season premiere / start dialing the effects & action down / have budget "character" episodes that only feature a few actors to help pad out the season / start ramping the effects and action up again for the finale (or mid-season finale).

I think some slower drama/pacing is necessary. I still like the show and think it's great although I think it'd be more interesting if it weren't owned by AMC.