Orvar Säfström says not to get hopes up

[MikePizzoff]

I keep in touch with Orvar Säfström, who is Sweden's equivalent of Roger Ebert (also singer/guitarist of legendary death metal band Nirvana2002!). We were recently discussing The Walking Dead comic book and I obviously had to express my excitement for it. Being who he is, he's been able to see some of the series and told me it was kind of "lame" and not to get my hopes up. :(

This hasn't muzzled any of my excitement whatsoever, however it's got me a little worried.

Have any other critics released anything publicly yet?

[bassman]

I
Have any other critics released anything publicly yet?

They may have already seen it, but I don't think they can release the reviews yet. Shame he didn't like it. But hey....The Thing and Day were both panned when first released. So what does that tell you?

[MikePizzoff]

True. I'm getting the feeling that perhaps it wasn't the right setting. He was probably amongst a group of people, possibly in a well-lit room, possibly with some commotion going on.

After I posted this he made me feel better by telling me he hasn't given up all hope. So maybe it was a work-in-progress that he saw? Like dailies or something.

[BillyRay]

Well, no offense to your buddy Umlaut, but like Survival, let's make our own decisions when we ssee it, based on it's own merits.

Heresy, I know...

[MikePizzoff]

Well, no offense to your buddy Umlaut

:lol: Classic.

[AcesandEights]

I'm not so worried about whether I'll like it or not (though that's obviously a possibility depending on whether the finished version matches my tastes), but I often wonder if the episodic stories and character development will be handled in a well paced & balanced manner. A lot of zombie fans started out loving the book, only to chafe under Kirkman's relentless devotion to developing his characters (not me); to some the book was too 'talky'.

So, even though the genre is a match for interests for this umlaut gentleman and the quality in many respects may be high, something about the series might just not meet his tastes.


We'll see all too soon! :)

[kidgloves]

I suppose it all boils down to what you want from a zombie series. For the Walking Dead, I want to see a drama with zombies as the threat in an apocalyptic world. I'm particularly interested in seeing the relationship between Rick and Shane because what I've seen so far in the released video points to some very good direction/acting.
Lee's review has me worried a bit though. It seems kind of "censored" if that makes any sense.

[Tricky]

I'm hoping its going to be good, but also im hoping it doesnt lose my interest after the first season or two like so many other shows have in the past (Lost, the X-files, supernatural, millenium, flashforward, heroes etc), all these shows started out well & then lost their way to the point where I no longer care what happens & I just stop watching!
Also I hope that it isnt going to follow the same pattern all US shows seem to do, where they keep rolling the credits for the first ten minutes of each episode, its a pet hate of mine when I'm trying to watch the show & names keep popping up on screen :rant:

[The Great Gazoo]

I suppose it all boils down to what you want from a zombie series. For the Walking Dead, I want to see a drama with zombies as the threat in an apocalyptic world.

Ditto for me.

I want a series that is going to use zombies not as a sort of constant gun battle thing but as something that forces the survivors to make hard choices.

[kidgloves]

I'm hoping its going to be good, but also im hoping it doesnt lose my interest after the first season or two like so many other shows have in the past (Lost, the X-files, supernatural, millenium, flashforward, heroes etc), all these shows started out well & then lost their way to the point where I no longer care what happens & I just stop watching!
Also I hope that it isnt going to follow the same pattern all US shows seem to do, where they keep rolling the credits for the first ten minutes of each episode, its a pet hate of mine when I'm trying to watch the show & names keep popping up on screen :rant:

I don't know if you've read The Walking Dead Tricky, but the difference between the shows that you mention and this one, is that the Walking Dead has already been running for 7 years going from strength to strength. The storyline is solid. The material has already proven itself. Shows like Lost run out of ideas or the writers try to extend the story beyond it's lifespan and viewers lose interest because the "filler" episodes slow the main arc of the story down. I'd be quite happy to see episodes of Rhe Walking Dead where there are NO zombies in it. It's not about them. Just like the comic book.

[Tricky]

No I havent read it to be honest, I kind of considered myself a bit too old for comics, even serious grown up ones like this, but based on what everybodys been talking about on here, I may have to take a look!

[MinionZombie]

The X-Files was awesome seasons 1 through 6 ... season 7 tailed off a bit, and then 8 and 9 weren't up to the standard (but still had plenty of good, if not great, episodes).

I just finished reading Vol. 4 of TWD (awesome), so I'm just hoping that it's as interesting as the trade paperbacks I've thus far read from the series. All the preview footage and trailers and behind the scenes stuff has ticked the boxes for me. I'm not going in wanting specific things, I just want it to be good and lovingly crafted - I'm gradually making my way through the trades (1 through 4 now done), so as long as it's that standard then fine by me.

Also - Tricky - your 'nam dog flashback' gif is fucked. It shows the dog by the cakes, then it glitches and shows two brief clips of a close up of the dog's face and some grey, and just repeats like that over and over ... it's properly knackered all of a sudden. :confused:

[AcesandEights]

I just finished reading Vol. 4 of TWD (awesome), so I'm just hoping that it's as interesting as the trade paperbacks I've thus far read from the series.
Having trouble exactly where the volumes divide up as far as story arcs go, but glad you're still liking what you're reading, MZ.


Also - Tricky - your 'nam dog flashback' gif is fucked. It shows the dog by the cakes, then it glitches and shows two brief clips of a close up of the dog's face and some grey, and just repeats like that over and over ... it's properly knackered all of a sudden. :confused:
It's seems like it's running normally for me, at this point anyway. Maybe you're hyper-aware AI computer is censoring the the 'Nam violence on you, MZ.

[kidgloves]

Im right upto date with the monthly issues. Read #77 last week and its still going strong.

Tricky. Watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhhQRkvcJQ4

Its a motion comic version of the 1st issue that AMC commisioned as an intro to the series. It will give you a good feel for the comic and, hopefully, show.
Enjoy.

[MinionZombie]

Having trouble exactly where the volumes divide up as far as story arcs go, but glad you're still liking what you're reading, MZ.


It's seems like it's running normally for me, at this point anyway. Maybe you're hyper-aware AI computer is censoring the the 'Nam violence on you, MZ.

1) Each "trader paperback" is a six issue story arc. So now that I've done Volume 4, that translates into the first 24 issues of the comic. And yes, I'm rather enjoying it, and I'm glad that the dialogue is improving in general too - sometimes, particularly early on, some of the dialogue was annoyingly full of exposition and explanation to other characters, so that it didn't feel at all realistic for the scene.

However in other scenes, and increasingly in general, the dialogue is really improving and becoming much more real-feeling and less about blunt exposition and instruction. Volumes 3 and 4 (issues 13 through 24) have been great and really dramatic and they're real page turners too. Shit's getting real in the story now too. It's getting deep.

2) lol, my computer's gone all Skynet on me ... except that that gif in Tricky's sig is now working for me again. Weird. :confused:

3) Ooh, motion comic?! Cool. I'd like to refresh my memory of Volume 1 (issues 1-6) again. :cool:

[The Great Gazoo]

No I havent read it to be honest, I kind of considered myself a bit too old for comics, even serious grown up ones like this, but based on what everybodys been talking about on here, I may have to take a look!

I thought so too until I gave them a chance. I'm glad I did, though I haven't followed the entire series, I have liked what I've read quite a bit.

[kidgloves]

There's an Oct 18th embargo on reviews for the show so we'll know more in just over a weeks time.

[Mike70]

i just checked out AMC's Fear Fest schedule. they are playing the premiere (10pm) behind "from dusk til dawn" at 6pm and "dawn of the dead" (remake) at 8pm.

I figured AMC would probably lead into it with a zombie flick and there you go.

[EvilNed]

Orvar Säfström? What the hell?

[bassman]

i just checked out AMC's Fear Fest schedule. they are playing the premiere (10pm) behind "from dusk til dawn" at 6pm and "dawn of the dead" (remake) at 8pm.

I figured AMC would probably lead into it with a zombie flick and there you go.

That's strange. Just the other day I checked and they had the original Night listed to play before TWD. Wonder why they changed it? Night would have been a MUCH better lead into the show rather than Yawn...

[MoonSylver]

That's strange. Just the other day I checked and they had the original Night listed to play before TWD. Wonder why they changed it? Night would have been a MUCH better lead into the show rather than Yawn...

When I checked that's what was listed too. Probably changed it because Night is old and boring & they want something "hip and fresh" to "attract teh kidz who iz down wit da sicknez dawg!" :mad: :rolleyes: :whatever:

[ProfessorChaos]

i find that quite odd, too. seems that since most interviews/press releases i've read about TWD refer to NotLD, they'd make the wise choice and show the citizen kane of zombie films instead of dawn04....plus, seems like dawn04 has been on the air non-stop since 2005 or so. better yet, why not show the original dawn?

not that i have cable anymore. i'm having some buddies over that evening and while we're waiting for TWD to make it to the intertubes, we'll be enjoying the original dawn, lots of beer, and pizza.

[bassman]

. better yet, why not show the original dawn?


That thought came to me as well. Let's see....you've got a remake made in CANADA, while the original film is still respected and made in AMERICA. You would think a network called American Movie Classics would go for the actual american movies. But, ya know...they're a business and Yawn is the latest craze with the kiddies...

Maybe Ruben$tein is asking too much for the broadcast rights...

[EvilNed]

Considering NotLD is public domain, I'm guessing money's got nothing to do with it.

[clanglee]

i just checked out AMC's Fear Fest schedule. they are playing the premiere (10pm) behind "from dusk til dawn" at 6pm and "dawn of the dead" (remake) at 8pm.

I figured AMC would probably lead into it with a zombie flick and there you go.

Mike is back!!!! Hey Buddy!!!!

[ProfessorChaos]

didn't ya see his "kiss kiss" thread, clang? some funny stuff in there. add to the excitement with an image/gif of your own, spread the love!

EDIT: ah nevermind, ya already did. i'm always behind on things.

[clanglee]

ah nevermind, ya already did. i'm always behind on things.

Nah, I'm the one behind on things!! I didn't see the thread until today. . . you did!!! You are like light years ahead of me!

[ProfessorChaos]

hey, speaking of which, clang, do you realize your xbox has been on for like 12 hours? on xboxlive, your current status is AWAY FOR 12 HOURS. just a head's up.;)

[clanglee]

hey, speaking of which, clang, do you realize your xbox has been on for like 12 hours? on xboxlive, your current status is AWAY FOR 12 HOURS. just a head's up.;)

Holy shit
!! thanks. . .my wife must have left it on again!!! goddammit she's gonna buy me a new one if she overheats it

[Thorn]

No I havent read it to be honest, I kind of considered myself a bit too old for comics, even serious grown up ones like this, but based on what everybodys been talking about on here, I may have to take a look!

As someone who worked in the comic book industry I guess I don't understand that line of thinking. They are written, drawn, inked, lettered, and colored by adults. The stories are generally geared towards adults and in this case specifically to adults. How does the medium the story comes to you in determine if you are too old for it. It is a book, with images. You can appreciate a good story certainly, and you can appreciate good art no? Why not the two combined?

[AcesandEights]

As someone who worked in the comic book industry...

!!!

Do tell, Thorn! Very cool.

[Mike70]

i find that quite odd, too. seems that since most interviews/press releases i've read about TWD refer to NotLD, they'd make the wise choice and show the citizen kane of zombie films instead of dawn04....plus, seems like dawn04 has been on the air non-stop since 2005 or so. better yet, why not show the original dawn?

not that i have cable anymore. i'm having some buddies over that evening and while we're waiting for TWD to make it to the intertubes, we'll be enjoying the original dawn, lots of beer, and pizza.

i think that it is beyond odd. in fact, it makes zero sense. i didn't know that NOTLD was originally scheduled to lead into "walking dead."

i just checked AMC again hoping that maybe i had read it wrong but nope, it is still dawn04.

http://movies.amctv.com/schedule/index.php#view=day&tz=ET&month_offset=0&day=31

[bassman]

It's probably just because Yawn is one of their latest additions to the Fear Fest line up. They know people will be tuning in for The Walking Dead, so they want as much exposure as possible. I can understand it from a business/broadcasting angle, but it makes no sense to horror/zombie fans like us. Yawn is pretty much the exact opposite of TWD....

[MoonSylver]

I can understand it from a business/broadcasting angle, but it makes no sense to horror/zombie fans like us. Yawn is pretty much the exact opposite of TWD....

Exactly, which it kind of strikes me as BAD business in a way...one one hand, '04 might draw more in, but on the other, how many of them are going to be "OMG, teh zombiez don't even RUN! Why r they TALKING?!?". Having a lead in that's DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED to the type of audience you're trying to attract...:rockbrow:

[clanglee]

I think you guys are getting yourselves too worked up over this. They just picked the most popular zombie flick they have access to to lead up to the show. I'm sure it's nothing personal, it's just good business sense.

[bassman]

I don't think anyone is getting themselves worked up, we're just discussing AMC's poor decisions. :p

Seriously...Thier original line up made perfect sense. Play Night before TWD because it is Darabont's template for the show. Instead, they change it for the cheap flavor of the month. As I said before, I can understand it from a business angle, but it makes no sense when taking the material into consideration...

[MoonSylver]

I don't think anyone is getting themselves worked up, we're just discussing AMC's poor decisions. :p

Seriously...Thier original line up made perfect sense. Play Night before TWD because it is Darabont's template for the show. Instead, they change it for the cheap flavor of the month. As I said before, I can understand it from a business angle, but it makes no sense when taking the material into consideration...

^ +1

This is me getting worked up:

http://www.gifmania.co.uk/Looney-Tunes/Tasmanian-Devil/cart061.gif

:lol:

[clanglee]

Oh you know what I mean!!! Not worked up per se. . just bothering to worry about it period. I agree that Night would be a better match, but Dawn 2004 is the movie that brought zombie movies back into the mainstream again, and it is the most recognizeable zombie movie there is too the general public. What's the problem? Let em play it. . .and then . . . .HOPEFULLY. . .people will stick around and see how a . . . HOPEFULLY. . .real zombie story should be told.

[Publius]

As someone who worked in the comic book industry I guess I don't understand that line of thinking. They are written, drawn, inked, lettered, and colored by adults.

Well, yeah, so is Dora the Explorer. I'm not aware of many children's media that are primarily made BY children. ;-)

[MoonSylver]

Oh you know what I mean!!! Not worked up per se. . just bothering to worry about it period..

Take that away from us & what do we have? It's who we are. It's what we do. :lol:


Well, yeah, so is Dora the Explorer. I'm not aware of many children's media that are primarily made BY children. ;-)

Oh now you're just being pedantic. Wait, THAT'S who we are & what we do as well! :lol:

[clanglee]

Take that away from us & what do we have? It's who we are. It's what we do. :lol:

:

Hmmm. . .point taken. ;)

[bassman]

One thing is for sure....there's no way it will be Diary/Survival/ROTLD4-5 levels of bad. So at least we've got that going for us...

Speaking of....Andy/Neil, any chance we can get the chat reinstated for October 31st? :D

[Thorn]

Well, yeah, so is Dora the Explorer. I'm not aware of many children's media that are primarily made BY children. ;-)

Of course if you take it out of context you could make a point out of it, but if you look at the entire post I made or even include the rest of the thought "They are written, drawn, inked, lettered, and colored by adults. The stories are generally geared towards adults and in this case specifically to adults. How does the medium the story comes to you in determine if you are too old for it." You can easily see my point.

Moreover not all books, comics or otherwise are written by and for adults.

Aces I worked as a colorist for around 4 years, for Marvel I worked as an assistant trying to crack the big time but sadly I had a falling out with the artist I worked for and I never seemed to recover from it as far as my career goes. Most of my work for myself came for a company called Continuum and they were most well-known for a boo called "The Dark" the owner of the company was also the editor and main writer, his father had a lot of money... one book I worked on was drawn by Larry Stroman. For Marvel I worked on a number of projects but sadly I was not credited. That is the life of an assistant but I worked on Nick Fury, Defenders of Dynatron City, a Conan graphic novel (Ravagers of time I think it was called?) and that was full color so that was really my proudest contribution. I also worked on silver surfer and was allowed to design a color scheme for new villains that Ron Lim introduced.

It was a good time, but I was young and head strong and my boss (who I will not name but if you are enterprising it is easy enough to do for yourself with the information given) was equally stubborn and set in his ways.

I see him from time to time and we ignore each other.

Sad really.

Ah well I can say I lived my dream once upon a time, and that is good enough for me.

[AcesandEights]

Thorn, thanks for sharing, man. Making personalities mesh well in the workplace can really be a bitch, I certainly have some life experience of my own in that regard.


I also worked on silver surfer and was allowed to design a color scheme for new villains that Ron Lim introduced.

I loved some of the arcs at SS during that time period and having designed some of the colors for those villains is badass & very cool, sir!

[Thorn]

Thorn, thanks for sharing, man. Making personalities mesh well in the workplace can really be a bitch, I certainly have some life experience of my own in that regard.



I loved some of the arcs at SS during that time period and having designed some of the colors for those villains is badass & very cool, sir!

Thanks a ton and I totally agree, it is hard to always get along with everyone and there were mitigating circumstances here too that I will leave out. We may not get along but I respect the artist and I appreciated his giving me my break in the business and the opportunity to train under him. He was an amazing colorist and nothing can take that away from him.

Having designed their costumes even if they never appeared again (and to be honest I have not kept up with the industry) makes you feel you are a part of something, or that you shaped something and that might have been the coolest thing ever.

Thanks for the good word!

[Sammich]

This is very bad. If there isn't enough in the show to interest a non-zombie fan like this orvar guy, then TWD viewer numbers will drop dramatically after halloween. The only positives are that it is on AMC where viewership tends to be comparatively low anyway and the other is that they have episodes already finished to air. AMC could sell some bargain ad time and show the rest of the series late weeknights.

[MikePizzoff]

Pretty awesome stuff, Thorn. It's always cool finding out shit like this; so many people on these forums have/had interesting & awesome jobs.

[sandrock74]

Aces I worked as a colorist for around 4 years, for Marvel I worked as an assistant trying to crack the big time but sadly I had a falling out with the artist I worked for and I never seemed to recover from it as far as my career goes. Most of my work for myself came for a company called Continuum and they were most well-known for a boo called "The Dark" the owner of the company was also the editor and main writer, his father had a lot of money... one book I worked on was drawn by Larry Stroman. For Marvel I worked on a number of projects but sadly I was not credited. That is the life of an assistant but I worked on Nick Fury, Defenders of Dynatron City, a Conan graphic novel (Ravagers of time I think it was called?) and that was full color so that was really my proudest contribution. I also worked on silver surfer and was allowed to design a color scheme for new villains that Ron Lim introduced.

It was a good time, but I was young and head strong and my boss (who I will not name but if you are enterprising it is easy enough to do for yourself with the information given) was equally stubborn and set in his ways.

I see him from time to time and we ignore each other.

Sad really.

Ah well I can say I lived my dream once upon a time, and that is good enough for me.

Dude, I was a HUGE Silver Surfer fan back in the day! I probably have all those issues! Whoa.

[kidgloves]

If Orvar Säfström is Sweden's equivalent of Roger Ebert he should consider another vocation with this opinion. :whatever:

[ProfessorChaos]

yeah, tell your boy ovary i said not to give up his day job.:D

the walking dead is gonna be THE BEST THING to happen to zombies since george romero flipped the script in 1968.

[bassman]

If Orvar Säfström is Sweden's equivalent of Roger Ebert he should consider another vocation with this opinion. :whatever:

:lol:

Yeah. "Don't get your hopes up", my ass. The pilot is incredible. Hopefully the other episodes follow suit.

[MoonSylver]

If Orvar Säfström is Sweden's equivalent of Roger Ebert he should consider another vocation with this opinion. :whatever:

Well, let's remeber what Eberts initial reaction to NOTLD was as well (an excerpt):


The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying.

I don't think the younger kids really knew what hit them. They were used to going to movies, sure, and they'd seen some horror movies before, sure, but this was something else. This was ghouls eating people up -- and you could actually see what they were eating. This was little girls killing their mothers. This was being set on fire. Worst of all, even the hero got killed.

It's hard to remember what sort of effect this movie might have had on you when you were six or seven. But try to remember. At that age, kids take the events on the screen seriously, and they identify fiercely with the hero. When the hero is killed, that's not an unhappy ending but a tragic one: Nobody got out alive. It's just over, that's all.

I felt real terror in that neighborhood theater last Saturday afternoon. I saw kids who had no resources they could draw upon to protect themselves from the dread and fear they felt.

Censorship isn't the answer to something like this. Censorship is never the answer. For that matter, "Night of the Living Dead" was passed for general audiences by the Chicago Police Censor Board. Since it had no nudity in it, it was all right for kids, I guess. This is another example, and there have been a lot of them, of the incompetence and stupidity of the censorship system that Chicago stubbornly maintains under political patronage.

Censorship is not the answer. But I would be ashamed to make a civil libertarian argument defending the "right" of those little girls and boys to see a film which left a lot of them stunned with terror. In a case like this, I'd want to know what the parents were thinking of when they dumped the kids in front of the theater to see a film titled "Night of the Living Dead."

The new Code of Self Regulation, recently adopted by the Motion Picture Assn. of American, would presumably restrict a film like this one to mature audiences. But "Night of the Living Dead" was produced before the MPAA code went into effect, so exhibitors technically weren't required to keep the kids out.

I supposed the idea was to make a fast buck before movies like this are off-limits to children. Maybe that's why "Night of the Living Dead" was scheduled for the lucrative holiday season, when the kids are on vacation. Maybe that's it, but I don't know how I could explain it to the kids who left the theater with tears in their eyes.


Or "Day"


But the zombies have another problem in "Day of the Dead": They're upstaged by the characters who are supposed to be real human beings. You might assume that it would be impossible to steal a scene from a zombi, especially one with blood dripping from his orifices, but you haven't seen the overacting in this movie. The characters shout their lines from beginning to end, their temples pound with anger, and they use distracting Jamaican and Irish accents, until we are so busy listening to their endless dialogue that we lose interest in the movie they occupy.


Maybe there's a reason for that. Maybe Romero, whose original movie was a genuine inspiration, hasn't figured out anything new to do with his zombies. In his second zombi film, the brilliant "Dawn of the Dead" (1980), he had them shuffling and moaning their way through a modern shopping mall, as Muzak droned in the background and terrified survivors took refuge in the Sears store. The effect was both frightening and satirical. The everyday location made the zombies seem all the more horrible, and the shopping mall provided lots of comic props (as when several zombies tried to crawl up the down escalator).


This time, though, Romero has centered the action in a visually dreary location - an underground storage cavern, one of those abandoned salt mines where they store financial records and the master prints of old movies. The zombies have more or less overrun the surface of America, we gather, and down in the darkness a small team of scientists and military men are conducting experiments on a few captive zombi guinea-pigs.


It's an intriguing idea, especially if Romero had kept the semiseriousness of the earlier films. Instead, the chief researcher is a demented butcher with blood-stained clothes, whose idea of science is to teach a zombi named Bub to operate a Sony Walkman. Meanwhile, the head of the military contingent (Joseph Pilato) turns into a violent little dictator who establishes martial law and threatens to end the experiments. His opponent is a spunky woman scientist (Lori Cardille), and as they shout angry accusations at each other, the real drama in the film gets lost.

In the earlier films, we really identified with the small cadre of surviving humans. They were seen as positive characters, and we cared about them. This time, the humans are mostly unpleasant, violent, insane or so noble that we can predict with utter certainty that they will survive. According to the mad scientist in "Day of the Dead," the zombies keep moving because of primitive impulses buried deep within their spinal columns - impulses that create the appearance of life long after consciousness and intelligence have departed. I hope the same fate doesn't befall Romero's zombi movies. He should quit while he's ahead.


IIRC he later flip flopped on both & became a bit of a Romero supporter. Just goes to show that I don't always put a lot of faith in reviewers. They're prone to having a bad initial reaction or having their opinion informed by their viewing experence same as everyone else. And reversing that opinion later.

[ProfessorChaos]

oh shit, i failed to realize that being a critic is his day job....um, yeah, like kg said, think about another line of work or go see a psychologist or something.

[Trencher]

Orvar Säfström should read escape of the dead that caters more to boorish drugged out metal heads like him. Seriously, who the hell cares about what a metal head thinks? They are the white equivalent to hip-hop artists.
This TV series rekindled my like for the zombie genre.

[Wyldwraith]

Here's the thing,
TV is a complete wasteland right now. Cop shows, Reality TV ala "Dancing With the Stars", and a few light dramas and not-funny comedies. If the time isn't right NOW for The Walking Dead, it never will be, because people in huge numbers are looking for something new. PARTICULARLY the crowd that's been dialed in on Stargate, Buffy/Angel/Charmed, Firefly, Farscape etc. (In no particular order.) Now, ALL of those well-received, 8 season + shows in the sci-fi or urban fantasy/horror genres are gone.

I have a very strong feeling that The Walking Dead will appeal to many who are not/have not been fans of zombie movies in the past. If for no other reason than it being new and different compared to yet another Law & Order or CSI. Almost everyone I talk to on a regular basis has either abandoned TV almost completely, or watches no more than a couple of specific shows. ("House" and "Criminal Minds" tend to have followings. They're definitely among the very few shows I can still watch. Don't much care for stuff like Ghost Hunters/Ghost Lab, but DO like shows like Paranormal State/A Haunting. Go figure.

Anyways, my point is that those who haven't given up on TV entirely are clinging to a handful of shows, and otherwise ignoring TV when those shows aren't on. Into that creative void comes The Walking Dead. How can it not succeed? Even if it only grabs a small % of the people fed up with the current creative wasteland, its ratings should still be quite respectable.

After all, many people thought Supernatural wouldn't make it beyond its pilot, and it went 6+ seasons...

[bassman]

TWD will definitely appeal to audiences outside of horror/zombie fans. As I and a few others here have mentioned, we've shown it to friends and relatives that don't really care about this stuff and they've loved it. Darabont has done this show total justice. It's a compeling human drama rather than the fast blood and guts action of recent zombie films. This show fits in very nicely with AMC's programming and i'm sure will have a life long past this initial six episode season.

Hell....I still think they've already been given the go with the second season. They just denied that in an attempt to cover it up so people wouldn't think they were getting ahead of themselves. I would put money down that Darabont and crew have already begun thinking about or writing the second season. AMC knows what they have on their hands. And for anyone that's seen the pilot - you know it too.

[Wyldwraith]

Agreed,
Finally yielded to temptation and watched the pilot today. While I didn't care much for the black guy's overdone agonizing over shooting/not shooting his zombie wife, I dug everything else about it, and found much of it downright unsettling. The aggressive way the zombies behave when riled up is sure to appeal to people who don't like shamblers, but the zombies are slow and slow-to-react enough to be perfectly acceptable to we pro-shambler folks.

One thing about the effects though. Ballistic splatter/blowback. I understand WHY it's hard to do well on TV/a movie, but that being the case, wouldn't it make sense to limit the # of times a human presses the barrel of a gun to a zombie's flesh point blank and pulls the trigger?

After all, if a zombie is still "juicy enough" to have a big spray of blood leave the bullet's exit wound, if that show is delivered point-blank, barrel touching target's flesh, the shooter WILL end up with blood visibly on them, inarguable fact, UNLESS you're using VERY small calibers, in which case it isn't that there's no blowback, its that the blowback is minimal enough to be unnoticeable.

Other than that and a few other overly nitpicky points, I loved it in its entirety.

---------- Post added 28-Oct-2010 at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was 27-Oct-2010 at 03:53 PM ----------

Just re-read my previous post,
Realized I didn't do the pilot nearly the justice it deserved. The ambiance was EXCELLENT, as was the pacing, settings and SFX. The zombie behavior is compelling, chilling and is definitely the sort of thing that even non-zombie-movie people will find scary/unsettling. Can think of 3 scenes off the top of my head that don't have zombies visibly onscreen that are quite creepy/scary. Stuff like the doorknob turning and the peephole viewing. The scene in the hospital with the doors....::shivers::.

Later on the pace picks up and it goes more for overt tension/scares, but I fell in love with many of the camera-shots in Atlanta, particularly the above-and-looking-straight-down shot at the tank. Everything combined, the zombies don't just feel like antagonists, they're used to create a feeling of an omnipresent hostility of the environment.

The pilot has the goods. If the rest of the episodes can pack that kind of punch I have no doubt The Walking Dead can hold its own ratings-wise. I doubt it'll be the next Sopranos as far as the wider viewing audience is concerned, but I can see it easily doing as well as some other basic cable shows. Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, The Glades...all those are successful ratings-wise, and even judging TWD only by characterization, plot pacing and atmosphere, it easily outstrips any of those shows. If it had to compete with the old HBO and Sci-Fi lineups things mighta been more touch and go, but the Everythings-the-same TV environment we've got right now just makes it look better and better.

[Legion2213]

If Orvar Säfström is Sweden's equivalent of Roger Ebert he should consider another vocation with this opinion. :whatever:

I LOLed...and then I nodded sagely...

Orvar Safstrom = Epic Fail.

Walking Dead = Epic Win.