DARABONT just axed the entire writing staff for TWD

[bassman]

Season Two will reportedly have five hired writers. Also, the writer of the "Wildfire" Episode is now hired on as Executive Producer. Back in December, as "The Walking Dead" was continually bringing in the highest ratings in AMC's history, rumors were floating around that Frank Darabont had released his entire writing staff for the show ahead of its second season. And there was even talk that Darabont would only hire freelancers for the next season, eliminating the series' writing staff entirely. However, according to a new report at Deadline, that approach has been abandoned and "The Walking Dead" will have five writers on staff for season two. Additionally, Glen Mazzara has come on board as a new executive producer under Darabont. Mazzara wrote "Wildfire," the penultimate first season episode of "The Walking Dead" as a freelancer. Prior to that, he got his start as a writer on "Nash Bridges" before moving on to "The Shield," "Standoff" and "Life." Mazzara also created the TV adaptation of "Crash" on Starz, where he served as showrunner for the series' first season. He was also an executive producer and writer of "Hawthorne" on TNT. Former "Walking Dead" writer and executive producer, Charles “Chic” Eglee quickly joined FX's "Powers" after leaving the show. Like "Walking Dead," "Powers" is an adaptation of a hit creator owned comic book series, which was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. "Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman is expected to write at least one episode of the show's second season, which will be 13 episodes this year instead of the first season's short order of six. Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yuen and Laurie Holden will all be back for the next season, which is expected to begin production soon. Although AMC has not yet announced a return date for "The Walking Dead," it is widely rumored that season two will begin near the end of October just as the first season did last year. http://www.craveonline.com/entertain...ng-dead-122989

[MinionZombie]

A wise hire in the form of Mazzara - that penultimate episode has some killer character scenes that just blew me away. Indeed it was my favourite episode outside of the extra-long season opener.

[Neil]

I've got high hopes for the next series, so it can't come soon enough!!

[AcesandEights]

Augggh! We're back to the End of October date as likeliest time we'll get to see this??? Bummer!

[bassman]

Augggh! We're back to the End of October date as likeliest time we'll get to see this??? October has always been the likely starting point of Season Two. Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad suggested that it may be July. Although he may have heard something here or there, he's not a very reliable source for TWD. The producers have been saying "likely October" ever since the second season was officially announced.

[AcesandEights]

Can you blame me for hoping!?

[bassman]

Can you blame me for hoping!? Not at all. I wish it were coming earlier too. Just making sure you're not going all "Why i'm leaving Darabont!" and "They're trying to kill it!" on us. I can't bare to see you join that looney group.

[AcesandEights]

Not at all. I wish it were coming earlier too. Just making sure you're not going all "Why i'm leaving Darabont!" and "They're trying to kill it!" on us. I can't bare to see you join that looney group. Not all.... Well okay, till you reassured me I was all like this in my head: What can I say, I can be a little dramatic at times.

[SymphonicX]

tbh I thought the writing was the weakest part of TWD. That and the fact that it was hard to care about the characters...

[JDFP]

All this fussing about the starting date of "The Walking Dead" for the second season seems silly to me. The end of the October and the Halloween season is the perfect time to begin the new season this year and every year. It would be kinda nuts not to start it around a holiday that's very purpose is in celebrating the joys of 'devilishness and evil' and all that great stuff. Hell, Halloween is my most favorite holiday of the year and I'd love to celebrate Halloween with a new season beginning of "TWD" every year for hopefully many years to come. Personally, if it starts earlier than around early-mid October you won't be hearing from me because I won't be watching it until around Halloween anyway. I just don't have much of an interest in watching "TWD" around July/August -- I'm not thinking about zombies around summertime so I'll patiently await to catch up with it online around Halloween and do my own mini-marathon for it if needed if for some nutty reason they decide to begin the second season in the summer instead. j.p.

[MinionZombie]

tbh I thought the writing was the weakest part of TWD. That and the fact that it was hard to care about the characters... I've gotta say, I completely disagree. There were some weak portions, such as in Vatos (the whole old folk and gang bangers thingy didn't really work for me), but then there was Wildfire and TS-19, which both floored me with their writing.

[ProfessorChaos]

Personally, if it starts earlier than around early-mid October you won't be hearing from me because I won't be watching it until around Halloween anyway. I just don't have much of an interest in watching "TWD" around July/August -- I'm not thinking about zombies around summertime so I'll patiently await to catch up with it online around Halloween and do my own mini-marathon for it if needed if for some nutty reason they decide to begin the second season in the summer instead. in the most polite sense of the term, i call "bullshit" on this. the mania around this place will break your willpower just like it did to bassman when the premiere showed up online.

[bassman]

..just like it did to bassman when the premiere showed up online.

[Doc]

I've gotta say, I completely disagree. There were some weak portions, such as in Vatos (the whole old folk and gang bangers thingy didn't really work for me), but then there was Wildfire and TS-19, which both floored me with their writing. Meh. Those happen to be one of my least favorite episodes. In fact, the first half of the season was great, but the second half was juet meh...to me. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't throwing my popcorn, or soda cans at the screen because there weren't enough zombies. I just don't feel the latter part of the season was good. Vatos was definitely the weakest of the bunch. I just couldn't get into "Wildfire" episode. The person playing Andrea put up a good performance for sure, but it was hard for to have sympathy for a character that's barely been developed, or had very little screen time before then. Same thing for Jim. Other than that everything else was alright. TS-19 was much better, but it just didn't make sense to me that Jenner would let the gang in, and then resort to commit suicide, and destroy the building the next day. Samething with Jacqui staying behind. I also don't hope they keep playing that soap-opera love triangle BS any longer. Seriously. I hope they fix all this in the next season. So, far Daryl, Rick, and Glen are the only cool ones.

[bassman]

I just couldn't get into "Wildfire" episode. The person playing Andrea put up a good performance for sure, but it was hard for to have sympathy for a character that's barely been developed, or had very little screen time before then. Outside of the Grimes family, Andrea was one of the most developed characters in the first season. Her development started at episode 2, peaked in the middle, and the resolution ended with her and Dale in the season finale. I also don't hope they keep playing that soap-opera love triangle BS any longer. Seriously. That "Soap opera" story is essential to the basic plotline. I'm always confused by this complaint because: A. It's part of the source material. B. Without any sort of internal conflict it's only humans versus zombies. Thats fine for a small story, but it doesn't hold up a series in the long run. Humans versus zombies is really a poor story. We're here for Romero's films, right? Since when has humans versus zombies been the only plotline?