Visitors Review

keithla43 (2012-05-24 14:29)

Sirloin has turned into hamburger...

WARNING: spoilers if you aren't current with the show.Bottom line is: a great first season. Beautifully envisioned. Greatwriting, cinematography, setting the whole feeling.This season? It's devolved into a soap opera and I think I maybe haveonly 1 or 2 episodes left that I can put up with this.I KNEW that continuing the story would be tough, but I didn't think Iwould suddenly be getting a Georgia zombie "Dallas." I just keepthinking, "How damn many farms are abandoned nearby? Just move to itand you'll still be close to Hershel if you need a doctor." I hatepeople being stupid just for the sake of the story.And how come they don't just take EVERYTHING in the drug store insteadof risking their lives to go shopping as needed? I'm not asking foraction all the time. I don't WANT action all the time. But how aboutgiving us more than soap opera. Give us new revelations on the worldthat's been created, with the interpersonal relationships as somethingthat keeps it all together, not the focus.MOVE IT FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!

poe426 (2012-05-24 08:33)

Delivers...

Topnotch special effects are put to good use by a superb director inanother George Romero-inspired monsterpiece. While the leading manisn't quite as convincing as one might've liked, some of the supportingplayers certainly are- particularly the man who couldn't bring himselfto put down his wandering wife... The overall epic feel of THE WALKINGDEAD serves it well as well: from the ravaged hospital interior to therubble-strewn streets and abandoned military and civilian vehicles leftto rot in the wake of the walking dead, everything has a strikingverisimilitude. Should a zombiegeddon someday occur, the land will nodoubt look not unlike the terra incognita here. (In my own zombie epic,THE LIVING DEAD, we find everything from zoo animals running loose to aleper colony- all achieved without a dime-, but nothing to compare towhat we see here.) While I found lapses in logic from time to time inthe comics (and, once or twice, in this initial episode as well), I'mdefinitely sticking with THE WALKING DEAD. It's a type of series longoverdue.

horror-feind (2012-05-24 01:32)

Where are the zombies?

I started watching this series because I love zombie films. While ididn't expect to see the massive hoards of the films i like the firstseries because it tried to show some action and some characterdevelopment into each episode. there were bits that made no sense, likewhy did they camp in the middle of a forrest where they couldn't seeapproaching walkers or why did the underground facility explode when itran out of power instead of just incinerating the sample rooms, but aslong as you ignored these little issues the series was good.then series two started. the first half of the series is spentsearching for a little girl the entire audience knows is dead but thewriters think we'll lose respect for the survivors if they abandon thesearch. the only guy i liked turns out to be a tremendous arsehole andkills another survivor as a distraction when all they had to do waskeep moving, they weren't even surrounded, just being chased by a fewslow walkers. and of the seven episodes i've seen they have only had adozen zombies in the barn mentioned constantly but killed as anafterthought at the end of the last episode. and another dozenscattered over three episodes. if you like zombie films look forsomething, anything, else. this reminds me more of the series Survivors(2008) than 28 days later. it's more about the humans emotional journeythan survival and that is why i can't watch another episode.on the other hand, if you like your zombie films slow, emotional, andzombie free, you might enjoy this series

A-Valizadeh (2012-05-23 13:05)

season 2 episode 11 = very well

The last episode really affect me . The death of Dale makes me cry !the Dale's speech about humanity was really really excellent . He makesme believe that in ever situation , even in a world full of zombies ,we are humans and we have to treat like that !!! We can not just judgebadly on someone innocent because of what he didn't do . We are humans, even in the worst world ! i think the first season was excellent ,the second one was good , how ever some episodes was not as good as thefirst season's , but the episode 10 and specially 11 were very good ,just like first season's . You did great on this episode Darabont , youdid well on all of this series . Thank to your series !

NoJackLikeKerouac (2012-05-22 18:52)

Surprisingly Well Done

When I was first introduced to this series I was VERY skeptical. Myfiancée absolutely loved it and insisted that we watch it together. Wehave very different tastes in films, so I assumed I would not exactlyenjoy it. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised. I am a fan ofzombie films, though I am not exactly well-versed in the lore, so tospeak. My expectations of the show were simply that it would be likemost shows on t.v. these days, hilariously over-dramatic and poorly todecently written/acted. Au contraire: The first episode blew me away.The show is very well written and at times even brilliant. The actingis very well done, and believable, especially by the main star of theshow who plays Rick Grimes. The events have a tendency to keep my bodytense, which is rare. I thought perhaps the zombie thing wouldunfortunately get old, the same scare after the same scare. However,the writers have a way to make you expect something to happen, keepingyou tense waiting for the horrible instance, and then it doesn't happenand vice versa. The characters are well developed and in certain casesyou even end up getting "attached" to some of them. The make-up on thezombies is very intricate and some of the best make-up I have seen,especially for a t.v. series. The drama is realistic most of the timeand is not overacted. The action is done very well, without overtakingthe plot of the series, and the gore is aplenty, though in my opiniontastefully done. There are moments in the first episode that blew awaymy expectations: The moment when Rick first arrives at his home andfinds no one there, he kneels on the floor and says something along thelines of "please let this be a dream". The look in his face was sodeeply realistic to me. There is another moment where he finds a zombietorso crawling across the grass and he kneels next to it. He appeals tothe human side of the monster saying "I'm sorry this happened to you".In all of the zombie flicks I have seen, I have never seen the humanside appealed to quite so humanely as in that moment in the firstepisode of this series. One other thing I thought was particularlyinteresting is the fact that they refer to the zombies as "walkers". Ithought that was a wise choice, because in my opinion if the characterskept throwing out the word "zombie" it would give the show a lessrealistic vibe for me, and would be in a way quite tacky. All in all Iam thoroughly surprised and impressed by this show. I would notnecessarily say it is the best show I have had the pleasure of seeing,though it is indeed higher quality than many shows on other networks. Iwould absolutely recommend this series to others.

Michael_Dark (2012-05-22 09:39)

Am I the only one....

Who doesn't think this is all that great? It's fantastic that ahigh-budget American series featuring our beloved walking dead has madeit onto our screens, but is this as cracked-up as everyone seems to bereviewing? Personally, I love the visuals, but find the acting andstory to be less-than-desirable.Of course, we have our main protagonist waking up in a hospital to findeveryone dead... How did the outbreak occur? That's the best part...perhaps they'll do flash-backs to explain what happened, but havingsomeone who was unconscious during the whole outbreak/death ofcivilization to be quite unbelievable and was one of the things thatturned me off. So he single-handedly managed to stay alive,unconsciously, in a hospital that had been over-run by zombies? Theacting isn't really all that great... the first episode where the deadmother comes up to the door... the child dives into the mattress andstarts fake-crying... wow, that was truly horrible and made mefacepalm.I could nit-pick way more into this show than I really want as I dowant to enjoy it, and I find the visuals truly amazing, however thestory leaves so much to be desired, especially when the show 'isn'treally about zombies but about the characters involved', it's justtrying too hard.I honestly can't go back and re-watch episodes because all it amountsto are amazing visuals spaced out by not-so-interesting drawn outdialogues that make me think they're having trouble filling 42 minuteswith anything more substantial.A+ for effort overall, the execution of the story between the stunningvisuals is where the show desperately lacks for me.From reading most other comments, it appears that so many people lustfor a big-budget zombie series they're willing to overlook all thenegative just to get their zombie-fix.I honestly don't see this going past a half-order of a full seasons...12 episodes at most. I hope I'm wrong. I also hope that the stories andcharacters evolve into something you can actually care about.

acechin (2012-05-22 01:16)

something worth watching

Sometimes finding a good TV series is hard, its always more of thesame, with different actors with episodes canned i 1 day doses. I amglad this one came about, its refreshing to watch especially for thosethat are into Zombie movies and terror movies, not being a silly seriesbut instead a solid one, with good story and good acting. Its a tenseseries, which offers a nice depth of history and let you connect to thecharacters. The pilot was excellent, and i liked it so much i cant waitto know more, since it lets you wondering whats next. There's 48 issuesof the original comic books from where these series were based aboutcoming my way as I type this :)

KissMyAss31193 (2012-05-21 12:15)

A good Zombie-Show. Impossible?

Wow I was amazed. How was this possible? A post-apocalyptic TV-Showabout Zombies. And it was actually good, not only that I think it isquite brilliant. How the Show finds a balance between Horror and Drama,Brutality and Emotions. None of all the Zombie Flicks I've ever seencan be compared to that. The only good ones are based on Comedy like"Zombieland" or "Shaun of the Dead". I was simply blown away when Iwatched the Pilot. So scary, so real and so so thoughtful. That aboutZombies: THOUGHTFUL! Yes it is. All the others only focus on polishingclichés, but in the case of "The Walking Dead" its more than that. RealDrama. And the most incredible part is, that both Zomie-Horror-Loversand Drama-Lovers will be satisfied.I don't know what else to say. Watch the Pilot, than take it or leaveit!

scottandalison1 (2012-05-21 02:48)

Missing it already

I am loving this series. I stumbled across series 1 by luck andthoroughly enjoyed it and the 2nd series did not let itself down. Myonly criticism is that it felt a bit slower, what I like is that itisn't just violence all the way through and there is the story of howthe people find themselves in change their characters but the lastseries I found just a bit too much brooding going on. Nevertheless thefinal episode had me on the edge of the seat, it was like they savedthe best for last. I've just read an article that David Morrisey isjoining the cast which is fantastic, think he is great and lookingforward to find out what happens next. I just wish we didn't have towait until Autumn! My final criticism is the adverts, it felt towardsthe end of this series there were more adverts than program, easilysolved I just sky plus it and start watching it 20 mins later so I canskip through.

omega13 (2012-05-20 14:23)

Huge disappointment

Long story short: you will get bored.Spoilers warning! I think I can call myself a SF fan. I like reading SFbooks and generally I'm more than enthusiastic about new SF movies andTV series coming out, so I was more than happy to see it beingbroadcasted on Fox HD in Poland. But after watching 1st season I canhonestly say, that to me this was one of the biggest disappointmentever. C'mon, zombies are not the greatest idea on this planet, butthere's been a couple of great flicks covering this subject (Dawn ofthe Dead, original Resident Evil, Shawn of the Dead, Black Sheep) -this series is NOT like them. It's slow, lackluster, contains too deepcharacter development which is rather unnecessary here (not to thisextent), action is boring and plot is ridiculous. The most tense partof first season, the finale, might have brought a really interestingdevelopments regarding the potential cooperation with other medicalcenters or at least could have unveiled more info about the scale ofthis plague and efforts done by US to defend against cold meat. Insteadthey have blown the whole laboratory out.What are they planning to show in season 2 - sexual habits of zombiesor problems related to zombie parenthood?Stay away of it and do not waste your time. I hope they will changetheir attitude or cancel this show. I won't waste my time on season 2.

yogsottoth (2012-05-19 21:26)

Shame on you, Mr. Darabont!

You're the biggest sell-out in history! Taking a wonderful show thatstarted off in the "The Sopranos" range and turning it into the likesof "Jericho" or more obviously "The Lost" is a disgrace to yourcredentials. Being a fan of zombies, the comic-book and Darabont himself, I waslooking forward to this project. I watched the first three episodes inan orgasmic mood. It was better than I expected. The modifications tothe story were brilliant. The mother addition to the black father&son,(props to the actress who gave me the creeps), making good use of theAtlanta set with the whole "escape from the city" angle, the newcharacters, increased dose of action, super cool&scary zombies, it wasall wonderful! "Thank you Kirkman, thank you Darabont, thank youuniverse!" I wanted to scream. We finally had a cool, epic, realisticzombie show we could enjoy. Life was good. The next day I was so excited to find out what'd happened to the guy inthe roof, but after watching the 4th&5th episode, I realized they'ddecided to turn the guy into an enigmatic cult figure (something themystery-hungry Lost fans would enjoy) and was also left with a bittertaste in my mouth. It was the taste of: "Oh no... Is the show goingdownhill already?" It started with the "Vatos". Instead of having our characters walkaround city looking for that crazy guy and encountering variousdangerous situations with zombies or maybe some messed-up people on theway, Darabont decided to introduce us a huge herd of (50 heads?)well-built, prison-mate-type Vatos. This small army of big guys wasstrangely obsessed with a tiny bag of rifles (not even real cool guns)instead of taking a couple hours everyday to salvage the city, and ofcourse finding a gun store in the process. (I insist that if they putsome effort into it and went block by block, they could easily cleanthe city of zombies with that manpower) But they also had a surprise asthey so graciously and heartbreakingly showed us: humanity was notdead. Those muscled&tattooed Esses were actually there to take care oftheir sweet old grannies!I'm not even gonna get into how lame&cheap writing that was, but I'mreally stuck on one point: was that a "Nursery for Vato Grannies andGrandpas Only"? Somehow every old person in that Atlanta nursery had aLatin Kings gang member as their grandson? And they all collectivelydecided to go and check out on their already-dead, 100-year-oldgrandparents instead of running for their lives? Back at the camp, things weren't much better. I couldn't believe howneurotic, self-righteous, obnoxious, and paranoid the characterssuddenly had become. Why did they make such a big deal out of the guy'sdigging holes? What's it to them?! Is he hurting anyone? Why wouldEVERYONE gather around to go talk to him? What's up with beating up theguy and tying him to a tree? "You're scaring the children."? Oh I'msorry, after seeing the dead come back to life and eat people, heprobably thought your kid wouldn't wet himself upon seeing a mandigging holes! The world has ended! The guy's family was eaten right infront of him! He can dig holes, climb trees, or express himself throughmodern dance if that's what he wants!The 5th episode was very blah. And the sixth episode. Oh man, the sixth episode... That's where I said"Okay, I'm not watching this show any longer." A state facility that is programmed to EXPLODE when it runs out offuel?... Wow… I don't know how you recover from writing, editing, shooting,acting, or even watching something like that. And why would anyone leave such an awesome facility? In real lifewouldn't the scientists have their families brought over maybe? Ohright, I forgot the suicide-bomber nature of the facility. And Shane was supposed to die! Darabont is totally scared to kill hischaracters although there are dozens of new ones in the comic-book. My gosh, the crazy scientist who heroically saves the group from 3zombies only to exterminate everyone 12 hours later... And they have toBEG the guy to open the door! How about threatening to cut his memberoff if he does not give you the code? Any man in there thought of that? And that last moment whisper... If nothing else has, that must havesealed the deal for the Lost crowd. Congrats! I'm sorry I can't help it. Apparently the French was about the find acure but their fuel ran out and their facility exploded too. Wow, so itmust be an international policy to blow up public health agencies afterthey go through all that fuel (which would take at least a year to runout by the way). If you don't work fast enough, don't work at all, mustbe their motto. But has anyone thought... what if the generatormalfunctioned for a second? No amount of mainstream viewers you've gained, or the money you earned,it's just not worth this. You do not turn such a lovely show that hadso much potential into a "Look people, how mysterious!" type of overthe top, Lost-wannabe garbage and expect to be viewed as the greatFrank Darabont ever again. This tasteless generation might not judgeyou, but the time will. PS:And Andrea is not a cry-baby with a death wish! She's the toughest,coolest female in the group! Did you even read the comics?

nikica_san (2012-05-19 16:01)

its simple...its just awful

I heard about this show from a good friend of mine who usually gives megood suggestions, until this one came along. I have no words todescribe how much i'm surprised about the idea that creator ofsomething like this made one of the best movies ever. By my opinion,after Danny Boyle, this kind of things should have never be made again,if so, at least it shouldn't be made for 7 years old children who likeshorror. Acting is.....i have nothing to say about this.......charactersare so vague that i didn't have idea the whole time who is who. Maybebecause of that poor actors didn't know ho to express their talent (ifthey have any)...Anyway, i have a lot bad to say about this show, ijust don't see a point to even use words on something like this. I am aperson who believes that you should see everything at least because ofits stupidity, but after "The Walking Dead" i changed my mind.

lylewins (2012-05-19 03:32)

Skip the Show; and Read the Comic

This show is terrible. I could hardly watch it. The first episode hassome good moments, like Rick walking out of the hospital and theperformance given by the man who plays Morgan, but it all pretty muchends there in the first episode.What made this comic so good was it's plot. The plot of the original isso intricately woven, unpredictable, and fast-paced that itconsistently rewards anyone who sticks with it. It is aware of thezombie-genre and its tropes (not to mention basic story structure), andit time and time again challenges and defeats the expectations thatknowledge has laid into us. In the end, you come to strongly identifywith the characters, but not until they've earned it, which makes thebond you do form that much stronger. This TV production does that work an enormous disservice as it tradesin all of the comic's best qualities for really bad TV melodrama,depicting extended scenes of people being very dramatic in veryuninteresting, unearned and predictable ways. While I get that therewas likely concern that the comic directly translated may not pay offwell enough in its dramatic punch, stuffing so much of this stuff inhas led to a final product that feels like 90% filler, and only 10%killer. If you like smart TV, stay away from this show. Save your time. If youwant a quality new show from 2010, check out Boardwalk Empire instead.

Bobby Marinov (2012-05-18 10:33)

I never liked zombie movies, yet somehow this is one of my favourite shows.

I remember watching 'The Shawshank Redemption' a few years back andever since I have been a big fan of the director Frank Darabont, who ofcourse is the developer of 'The Walking Dead'.During 2010, I remember reading about this up coming project developedby Frank Darabont and to be perfectly honest at first I was verypessimistic. Zombie movies have been done to death and the only goodone I can recall is '28 Days Latter' which really was a class act. Despite my reservations, I watched the first season of 'The WalkingDead'and realized how wrong I was. I will not post any spoilers so Iwill just outline my thoughts about it: the story is very intriguingand developed expertly. The characters are portrayed amazingly with theacting some of the best I have ever seen in such shows,Andrew Lincolnand Jon Bernthal give world class performances in a show which focusesmore on the characters than the zombies themselves which is what I hadinitially anticipated. The atmosphere is amazing and it adds to thetension and suspense that the show is also great at, leaving the viewerwith a real feel for the situation and the characters involved in it. Overall, I have not read the original comic that this is based on noram I a great fan of zombie or apocalypse movies, but this is proof thatwith the right people such overused concepts can be done masterfully. Igive this a 10/10 and recommend this to any one looking for decent TVshows to watch, after all, there are not many of them left.

toneslaptop (2012-05-18 00:39)

A Zombie Soapie

I have been a huge fan of the comic series for its fast paced action,the high turnover of characters and constant changing in plot andlocation.Although I LOVED episode 1, series 1 it has sadly been ALL DOWNHILLfrom then. It promised so much but has been bogged down by anagonizingly slow script. Warning bells were also triggered for me whenone of the major characters from the comic series was killed off inseason 1. This character played a crucial role in giving the comicseries that unique edge that made it so famous.After watching season 2 I kept thinking/hoping that it would soon getbetter, but alas no! It gets tiring when you anticipate something goodonly to be disappointed again and again. For example, the farm locationin season 2. Boring Boring Boring! Move on already! The entire seasonwas wasted in this location, and why? To look for a little girl?Nothing happened! Nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The characters are OK,except for Rick's wife, scriptwriters, please kill her off in 2012, shedid not last long in the comic series and with good reason. She is aweak and whiny character. How any script writer can kill off the blacklady with the machete in season 1 but yet leave the nagging wife aliveis beyond me. Boring.Entire episodes are wasted on pure drivel such as pulling a zombie froma well or relationship issues. People please, its a ZOMBIE story, NOTDAYS OF OUR LIVES! sheesh! I kept telling my wife, "don't worry, theyleave the boring farmhouse soon and go to a prison, it get's better"but it did not happen.If the producers keep limiting each series to a single location andlimit character turnover, forget it.Maybe TV is just incapable of doing the "real story" justice. A comicbook is only limited by the artist/writers imagination after all.

foxman09 (2012-05-17 15:46)

AfterBuzz TV - The Walking Podcast

Hey everyone, If anyone is interested in discussing "The Walking Dead" after it airsI'm hosting a podcast devoted to the show as a part of AfterBuzz TV. Wehave done episodes 3 and 4 and will be doing shows for the remaining 2episodes as well. We go on the air at around 9:10 PST and we discuss abroad range of subjects while recapping the episode. We would love to have devoted fans of the "The Walking Dead" call in togive their views and opinions about the episode or the topic we arediscussing. To listen to our shows go on iTunes by typing in Afterbuzz(AfterBuzz TV The Walking Dead), you can download/stream/listen Live tothe episodes on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/afterbuzztv, or you canstream the episodes onhttp://afterbuzztv.com/show-listings/the-walking-dead-edition/ To call in: (347) 855-8269Follow AfterBuzz TV on Twitter: http://twitter.com/afterbuzztvwww.afterbuzztv.com/http://www.blogtalkradio.com/afterbuzztvHave a great day!

ninjamunk (2012-05-16 21:11)

Disappointed

I really wanted to like this show.. Zombies are great (no idea why theyare always the same in every movie/series they appear in.. don't recallevery reading a medical journal with a definition of "CronicalZombieatus") don't get me wrong. The problem with this series is thatthe zombies are more interesting than the living people.. They are onesided, boring creatures that you don't care if they get eaten by aformer member of the civilization now turned manfleshmuncher.. Theactors are doing their best, but all we get are three kinds of people:Really good honest people (two policemen among those, original..),really bad people (rednecks who hate African Americans and Asians..)and really disgusting dead people who have lost what made them human,and are now living dead, who only act on their basic need, food. Freudwill be very disappointed to know that we lose our sexual drive, beforewe stop eating..But anyways, the five stars are for that Episode one corpse withoutlegs outside the hospital.. Excellent acting, and great CGI!

jerome360 (2012-05-16 08:00)

Can't wait for new episodes!

This series is truly a masterpiece. I did not read the comic but it is,with or without comic, an excellent series. There is everything you are looking for: drama, violence,relationships, comedy. Well placed cliffhangers make the series evenbetter. What people should know is that I am a fan of the zombie genre. So ifyou like the genre as I do this is definitely a "must-watch".What I did not like about the series are the really bad specialeffects. Fire, which were added with the computer or just normal deadpersons look like someone used paint. Nevertheless, I give a 10/10. Awesome series.

DiamondGirl427 (2012-05-16 01:15)

Lets; Hear It For Those Shufflin' Zombies....!

Wow. That is the first word I can think of to quickly describe thisseries so far. When I first saw it advertised...I was thinking it wasjust going to be another badly written/overly advertised mess. But..Iwas so wrong. The storyline is awesome...the characterscompelling...you want to know who they are, where they come from, andhow they came to be where they are now...in what appears to be a worldover-run with the walking dead. It seems realistic...not sci-fi andunbelievable like so many zombie flicks are. The disaster could havebeen anything and these people would still be worth paying attentionto. Why did the survivors manage not to be turned into zombies as theothers did? Are they smarter or just lucky? Or...are they doomed to afate worse than death itself? The part where the redneck was going onand on...offending everyone with his small minded white trash attitudewas brilliant. We will see more of this bozo...I am sure...somehow hewill get out of those cuffs and cause more chaos...or meet a very grossending..which is what I am voting for...the zombies can have him. I amguessing that the cops' wife was already fooling around before this allhappened...and how lucky for her...now she can play the grieving widowand have fun at the same time...or so she thinks. Will the good peoplesurvive or will those with little or no morals prevail? This reminds meof a Stephen King mini series....The Stand...where various individualssomehow survived a deadly virus. They begin to rebuild their lives...ina changed and cruel world. Everything us humans took for granted isgone...as in this storyline. Survival of the fittest or smartest? Whoknows. I look forward to the next episode. If it is as good as the lasttwo...it will be awesome. The other networks need to take clear noticeof this show....it is creative beyond belief...and anything BUTmainstream television....THANK GOODNESS.

James Scutcher (2012-05-15 04:42)

Just don't get too attached to anyone!

I've been a fan of Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" graphic novel since afriend introduced me to it a few years ago. So after seeing the revealtrailer at this years comic con Frank Darabont's take on the seriesinstantly became my most anticipated show of the year.I am happy to say that it does not disappoint.From the opening sceneyou know they're not going to pull any punches.The plot so far remains largely faithful to the original material whilethe newly added and well acted scenes contribute additional depth toeven the most minor of characters. There's no doubt that Rick'sawakening into a zombie apocalypse will draw comparisons to the openingof Danny Boyle's '28 days later' but there the similarity ends. Theentire series is reminiscent of George A. Romero's earlier work, fromthe shambling hordes of undead to the frightened and unstable survivorsthat often prove to be the greater threat.For those that have read the comic you'll be relieved to know that theseries is definitely in good hands. For everyone else get ready for thegreatest take on the genre since Dawn of the Dead, and remember, no oneis safe.