The Walking Dead

[morpheus]

My God, this would have been SO much better!

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/01/09/frank-darabont-walking-dead-season-2-plan/

[J. Walter Weatherman]

My God, this would have been SO much better!

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/01/09/frank-darabont-walking-dead-season-2-plan/

When AMC played hardball with Mad Men over an extra 2 minutes of commercials per episode, that was a bit WTF.

But Walking Dead has been far and away their most popular show ever from the very first episode, and only getting more popular as it went on. That they'd kneecap this show with budget cuts boggles the mind.

From last August:

What remains a central mystery, even to those closely involved, is what triggered AMC's move to fire Darabont. As noted, AMC's decision to cut the budget dated to the previous fall, when the network instructed Darabont to produce 13 episodes for a second season, up from six for the first season, for less money. Not only would the show get a lower budget, but AMC also decided that Walking Dead would no longer reap the benefit of a 30 percent tax credit per episode that came with filming in Georgia. Now the network was going to hold on to that money.

At the time, a source says, the show's producers decided not to get into a confrontation. "To have a fight over a number when they didn't know what the show was going to do didn't make sense," says this source. But when Walking Dead began to break AMC records, those involved figured that a negotiation would take place and the cuts might be reduced.

But this source says that AMC had its own ideas about how to make the show more cheaply. The show shoots for eight days per episode, and the network suggested that half should be indoors. "Four days inside and four days out? That's not Walking Dead," says this insider. "This is not a show that takes place around the dinner table." That was just one of what this person describes as "silly notes" from AMC. Couldn't the audience hear the zombies sometimes and not see them, to save on makeup? The source says Darabont fought "a constant battle to keep the show big in scope and style."

AMC: Story Matters Here™

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Amazing how good this show got for a few minutes there just by adding Michael Raymond-James.

Too bad.

[morpheus]

Amazing how good this show got for a few minutes there just by adding Michael Raymond-James.

Too bad.

On the other hand, I literally cheered the car accident.

[Slaky]

Amazing how good this show got for a few minutes there just by adding Michael Raymond-James.

Too bad.

On the other hand, I literally cheered the car accident.

Fun ways to kill babies!

I highly doubt she's dead but it seems like Rick and Herschel forged their bond at the bar so I guess we're GOING TO BE STUCK ON THE FARM AGAIN.

HALLELUJAH!

[Gilgamesh]

Amazing how good this show got for a few minutes there just by adding Michael Raymond-James.

Too bad.

On the other hand, I literally cheered the car accident.

As did I.  I really hate the Skinny Bitch.

At the rate we're going, Herschel's going to die, isn't he?

He can't live, right?

[Slaky]

Amazing how good this show got for a few minutes there just by adding Michael Raymond-James.

Too bad.

On the other hand, I literally cheered the car accident.

As did I.  I really hate the Skinny Bitch.

At the rate we're going, Herschel's going to die, isn't he?

He can't live, right?

I thought Glenn was going to die in that bar.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Not to diminish Michael Raymond-James, but the fact that he can walk into this show for a ten-minute stint and utterly fucking own it suggests to me that maybe the biggest problem with this show is actually the cast.

Now that I'm thinking about it, all of the actors, aside from maybe Norman Reedus, seem pretty one-note. And that could pose some problems when it comes to rich characterization.

Maybe the writers' biggest problem is not recognizing their actors' limitations.

[SKO]

Not to diminish Michael Raymond-James, but the fact that he can walk into this show for a ten-minute stint and utterly fucking own it suggests to me that maybe the biggest problem with this show is actually the cast.

Now that I'm thinking about it, all of the actors, aside from maybe Norman Reedus, seem pretty one-note. And that could pose some problems when it comes to rich characterization.

Maybe the writers' biggest problem is not recognizing their actors' limitations.

Now I'll admit that I haven't watched much of the show. Maybe the first two episodes of season one. But I reckon, from the ways folks been talking, that the problem is that you got yerselves a zombie show that ain't got enough killing of the zombies. Seems like you'd be right fine if you threw in a little more of that and a little less of the whinin' and cryin. That's just my two cents.

[Gilgamesh]

Amazing how good this show got for a few minutes there just by adding Michael Raymond-James.

Too bad.

On the other hand, I literally cheered the car accident.

As did I.  I really hate the Skinny Bitch.

At the rate we're going, Herschel's going to die, isn't he?

He can't live, right?

I thought Glenn was going to die in that bar.

I was afraid of that too.  Who would bump uglies with Maggie?!?!

[Slaky]

Amazing how good this show got for a few minutes there just by adding Michael Raymond-James.

Too bad.

On the other hand, I literally cheered the car accident.

As did I.  I really hate the Skinny Bitch.

At the rate we're going, Herschel's going to die, isn't he?

He can't live, right?

I thought Glenn was going to die in that bar.

I was afraid of that too.  Who would bump uglies with Maggie?!?!

The whole love conversation seemed like good foreshadowing. Something good happening in all this - would have been perfect to end it with a gruesome death.

Seems like all these assholes are immune now. Except for unborn babies, anyway.

Seems to me, if they're not going to have a lot of actual zombies - it would serve them well to introduce more travelers and their stories of the world outside of Yawning Farms.

I think lost in that was the place the group had intended to head toward, Fort Bennett, was apparently overrun and is now uninhabitable. So that's something.

Just given the fact that they probably shot this in conjunction with the first half of the season, meaning there wasn't any ability to take viewer criticism and apply knowledge to any of these story lines, we're going to end up with more of the same until season three.

[Gilgamesh]

Amazing how good this show got for a few minutes there just by adding Michael Raymond-James.

Too bad.

On the other hand, I literally cheered the car accident.

As did I.  I really hate the Skinny Bitch.

At the rate we're going, Herschel's going to die, isn't he?

He can't live, right?

I thought Glenn was going to die in that bar.

I was afraid of that too.  Who would bump uglies with Maggie?!?!

The whole love conversation seemed like good foreshadowing. Something good happening in all this - would have been perfect to end it with a gruesome death.

Seems like all these assholes are immune now. Except for unborn babies, anyway.

Seems to me, if they're not going to have a lot of actual zombies - it would serve them well to introduce more travelers and their stories of the world outside of Yawning Farms.

I think lost in that was the place the group had intended to head toward, Fort Bennett, was apparently overrun and is now uninhabitable. So that's something.

Just given the fact that they probably shot this in conjunction with the first half of the season, meaning there wasn't any ability to take viewer criticism and apply knowledge to any of these story lines, we're going to end up with more of the same until season three.

Guh.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

I'll say again: budget.

"The Walking Dead" is apparently the only big show AMC owns outright, so they're free to do what they like with it without any threat of it finding another home. And what they apparently like is pinching pennies.

[Slaky]

I'll say again: budget.

"The Walking Dead" is apparently the only big show AMC owns outright, so they're free to do what they like with it without any threat of it finding another home. And what they apparently like is pinching pennies.

Yep, Which is why it's even more alarming that this show is going to be dependent on good writing to carry it and since we already know these writers are awful...

[Wheezer]

Not to diminish Michael Raymond-James, but the fact that he can walk into this show for a ten-minute stint and utterly fucking own telescope it suggests to me that maybe the biggest problem with this show is actually the cast.

Minor adjustment.