All Things:AMC television

Review: 'Fear the Walking Dead' goes back to the dawn of the zombie apocalypse
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-wa...-of-the-zombie-apocalypse#K6dD3PlVwU4veRcp.99

Through various creative ups and downs and changes in showrunner, "The Walking Dead" has always been able to rely on the technical brilliance of producer/director/makeup master Greg Nicotero and his team. There's a bit of that on display in the extra-long "Fear" pilot episode, where director Adam Davidson and the crew make excellent use of filming in real LA locations. Production moved to Vancouver after that, and the shift is jarring; there's a riot scene in the second episode that's unfortunately much smaller and less menacing than it's meant to be because the cameras have to stay in tight to avoid showing the very non-Los Angeles environs. And with zombies at this stage more of an isolated problem, and not in any significant state of decay like Rick and company have to deal with 2000 miles away and a few years into the future, the gross-out factor isn't particularly high. Instead, the show tries to rely more on traditional horror movie jump scares, with mixed success.

Given the huge ratings for "The Walking Dead" — and the way they've so often risen independently of the quality of a given stretch of episodes — everyone involved could have gotten away with making "Fear" a lazier and more naked cash grab. Just pick a different group of survivors in an overheated southern location with production tax credits ("The Walking Dead: New Orleans"?), put them through similar ordeals, and profit. It's to everyone's credit that they've tried to rethink the formula a bit with the new show, and there are good building blocks in Dickens and Curtis. Maybe by the end of this abbreviated first season, the prequel of it all becomes more valuable.

Or maybe "Fear the Walking Dead" becomes very much like its parent show not in structure, but in a perpetual state of unevenness, at times living up to its potential (and audience), at times struggling to make its living characters seem appreciably more complex than the dead ones chasing them.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-wa...-of-the-zombie-apocalypse#K6dD3PlVwU4veRcp.99
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Just finished my "Humans" marathon and hot damn, that is one great show. So many Blade Runner echoes, I imagine many intentional. When George's hand seizes up, just like Roy's just before he dies, I can't fathom that was a coincidence.

Can't wait for season two.

There's so much great TV out there, I have to pick and choose, but this will be near the top of the list.
 
FTWD was a slow burn for ~90 mins. They moved filming from LA to Vancouver? That's going to be noticeable... How many Eps is it supposed to be?
 
Remember when the first episode of the Walking Dead was exciting, intriguing, and left you wanting to know more?

Apparently Fear the Walking Dead is not a fan of that. Well I guess it's trying to be intriguing about something you know all about already. Oh and talk about characters you can get behind; a selfish drug addict, a bratty hot chick, and bland teachers.
 
Sooooooo slow. Characters range from blah to unlikeable to detestable. The only thing I've seen more than all the bland family drama storylines is the moronic 'two people pressed against each other struggle for a gun that is in between them, bang, who got shot?' routine. That thing offends me more than all the Silence Of The Lambs 'police/soldiers storming a different building than the one with the criminal/fugitive we are cutting back and forth with' and 'side angle during conversation inside car so we can just catch the sudden T-bone crash' routines combined. Also, I must have missed the hot chick mentioned above.

Needs to get much better. Hopefully there is an interesting character that hasn't been introduced yet.

When the idiot loser son met his dealer at the diner, was that the same place where Pumpkin and Honeybunny robbed Sam Jackson and Travolta in Pulp Fiction?
 
In general Fear the Walking Dead felt like something that was produced for a major network like CBS or ABC instead of being something that we have come to expect from AMC. Literally, it's pretty obvious this show is being made for Ma and Pa Kettle who think watching this more easy to digest form of the Walking Dead along with the Big Bang Theory will make them hip like their kids. The whole notion that this is the beginning of the zombie apocalypse is clearly an excuse to tone down the violence and pump up the melodrama for those people who eat up the garbage that is served on CBS.

I'm pretty sure the twittersphere is blowing up right now full of negativity, but there will be plenty of people out there who think because this show has mixed raced coupling in it then that somehow makes this show cutting edge, and cool.

KingInTheWest said:
When the idiot loser son met his dealer at the diner, was that the same place where Pumpkin and Honeybunny robbed Sam Jackson and Travolta in Pulp Fiction?
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Probably. Like you pointed out, this pilot was full of clich?s and references you would see from a 19 year old film school student. I can just imagine at some point this show will resort to using gun shot, fade to black.
 
Did we expect anything better from someone like Kirkman? Overall it was ok and I am interested in seeing the zombie plague erupting in an urban center but they started really, really, really slow ...
 
From the teaser it looks like all the more interesting peeps will be in the next/future eps...
 
Ditto to every single thing already posted about FTWD. Let me add a complaint about the multiple prolonged city views...oh look, palm trees! Oh look, skyscrapers and palm trees. Isn't that amazing? Let's just pause on the city view - again - so people can enjoy the incredible palm trees! Maybe that will make them forget about all of the cliches and unlikeable characters!
Not only was the whole thing disappointing, but it was irritating. Good luck to whoever wants to stick it out, but I'm one and done.
 
Ugh...sooooo much complaining about FTWD. Why don't you either wait a couple of episodes, or just not watch. Did you expect anything more? I have yet to watch, but you guys are complaining about the pace. Wellllllllllllllll, maybe you blame AMC, who requested/suggested the 90 minute running time in order to sell more commercials. In fact, if you expected anything FROM A SHOW THAT IS CLEARLY MORE CONCERNED WITH GIVING AMC YEAR LONG WD NUMBERS...well, that's on you. Pilots tend to suck in general, with shows course correcting eventually. But, lets be clear, the motivations behind this show are suspect. Let's table this discussion till the show finishes it's initial run. If it manages to eventually be anything other than a blatant cash in, well then we will have something to talk about.
 
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