It is funny how this show works and it really confounds me. I mean, when they’re doing the dashing through a zombie-filled prison, this show is unlike anything that’s ever been on TV. Maybe the X-Files was able to pull off that level of tension? But, I can’t think of anything else. American Horror Story? When the show is going that, it is ELITE, top-shelf stuff. But, when it slows down it sags SO badly…..which is a shame because so many of the plot moments we comics fans demand from The Prison are slower paced moments.

I speculate that they have some disadvantages when it comes to getting the quality of writers that Mad Men or Breaking Bad would have. One, it is a “zombie” show. Two, it is an adapted story. Three, it is adapted from a comic book. You can just imagine if a group of television writers get together for coffee, the dude who is writing for the “zombie show that is adapted from a comic book” is way lower status than the guy writing for Breaking Bad or Man Men. It probably stands in the way of getting the real A-list dramatic writing talent. But…..they CAN get take their pick of talented TV people who have wanted to work on a horror-themed show because TV has almost no horror. And….maybe that explains why the horror is so good? I dunno…..

Anyhow….thanks for your comments! I love having people contributing!

Hmm… it’s been a good while since I’ve watched the Wire, but wasn’t Cutty the guy who opened the boxing gym? If so, great choice for Tyrese! (If not, then I have no idea.) I actually gave up hope that he’d be included in this series, but this is great news… unless they screw him up like Andrea and Michonne (thus far).

Oh yeah, I don’t think the Governor will abuse Maggie. They’ve built him up to be clean cut, so I can’t him giving her “the Michonne treatment”. Plus he has a ‘girlfriend’ now in Andrea. However, Merle still has an axe to grind, and if Glenn doesn’t talk fast enough, Merle may just help himself to Maggie.

But, they also just announced that they have an actor coming in to play Tyrese. And he’s a pretty good actor too. He played Cutty in The Wire and he was really good there. Let him be the leader. They’ll probably bring in some Abraham-like solider dude. Let him be the leader.

The thing is, with Carl and the timeline, they’ll always have problems. That kid will be 5’6″ by the time they shoot next season and shaving by Season 5. Is that kid such a good actor that the entire structure of the show should revolve around him? I don’t think so.

I’m glad you mentioned the accent. I live in NC, so the lousy Southern accents are kinda annoying. I just kinda wonder: Was any of these actors SO strong that we couldn’t have just gotten some Americans to play the parts? I mean….part of the reason why Michael Rooker plays a hillbilly redneck is that he’s from Alabama. He probably knew some growing up there. I just don’t see what’s so great about Andrew Lincoln that we couldn’t have gotten any random actor to play the part. 🙂

I actually like Andrew Lincoln as an actor. Sure, he’s not comparable to those other actors you mentioned, but c’mon. He’s a relatively ‘new’ face. So no… I don’t want to see him gone. Heck, he hides his accent pretty well. (I only recently found out that he’s British). However, I can’t ignore the point you’re making: if they kill him off, there’s a fresh slate… but who’d lead? (I don’t see a leader there.)

I put that back to you and everyone else who agrees with killing off rick.

I think we do a pretty good job here at WCBR. We offer pretty good coverage and have a few guys like Alex and MQ who have authored enough stuff that they have a really lengthy track record.

Spoilers are a tricky thing. I sometimes do try to do spoiler-free reviews, but I usually find I just don’t have much to talk about otherwise. Of course, the answer would be to just give the comic the 100 words it merits, say it’s “fine” and move on. 🙂

I am wary of spoilers, but that leaves me in the position of not being able to read a lot of blogs. It is also great to read WCBR when I can’t afford $4 for some comics.

Thanks for your considerations

As for the grade….those are really hard to do. I’m trying to adapt our comic grading system for TV. So C+ means “slightly better than the average TV show”. There problem with this episode is that there isn’t much on the “good” side of the ledger. The effects for the zombie splatter was good and the Merle/Maggie/Glen scene was good. Darryl was good when he found Carol, but that was kinda neutralized by the lameness that Carol has just been nudging the door for 3-4 days and can’t call out. Merle with the other “hunters” was neutralized by the redshirtness of the other guys. On the bad side we had everything by Rick, Carl, the Governor and Andrea. I gave it some bonus points for “concept”.

It really is tough though. Since I don’t review other shows, I don’t have a list of old grades that I can look at and say, “Well…..it was better than THAT one, but worse than this other one.” It also gets hampered by the other shows I watch. Just right now on Sundays I also watch Homeland, Boardwalk Empire and Dexter. Those three are light years ahead of TWD in acting, story, writing, directing, etc. I DO think TWD is better than two other shows I watch right now: Revolution and Last Resort. I kinda assume those two are “C” shows for the most part, but I could be wrong.

The reason I said that I’d kill Rick and Carl is I’m getting sick of people saying that I want the show to be like the comics. But, I don’t think this show can ever be a great show until they get rid of Rick and Carl. The acting/writing combo are just lousy. Think of other great shows right now: Homeland has Damien Lewis & Claire Danes, Boardwalk Empire has Steve Buscemi, Dexter has Michael C. Hall, Breaking Bad has Bryan Cranston, Mad Men has John Hamm. I mean…..Andrew Lincoln isn’t even playing the same sport as those other actors. He’s just not good enough for this show to be great. But, they have some actors who have potential. Maggie’s got some, Merle/Darryl can do some things, David Morrissey is usually good (don’t know what’s wrong with him here), so they could have a good show, but it’ll never be good as long as Rick is around.

Andrea could probably be salvaged by shoving her back into the background. I guess Michonne deserves more time. Maybe I was just being overdramatic.

Plus, if we got rid of them, the comparisons to the comics would stop. 🙂