Can I just say, OMG-A-MAZING. I stumbled across the new TV-series The Walking Dead and became an instant addict. This zombie apocalypse story has plenty of creep to hold the interest of serious zombie fans and tense, dark story telling that will keep you on the edge of your seat. In the world of TWD the dangers aren’t all from the shambling, flesh eating zombies. It is richly drawn characters, complex relationships, and the day-to-day challenges of living in a post apocalyptic world that adds depth and emotion. If you survived the initial zombie outbreak, would you hold up in your house? Eat your gun? Help a stranger? Band together with other survivors? Tolerate the bully who provides a little brawn at the cost of caution? Leave someone to die and save yourself? These are the questions that constantly challenge the characters in this story. Oh, and then there is the question at the end of the first episode what do you do when you’re trapped inside an armored tank with hundreds of hungry zombies waiting outside?
Here is what the AMCTV website had to say:
“Waking up in an empty hospital after weeks in a coma, County Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) finds himself utterly alone. The world as he knows it is gone, ravaged by a zombie epidemic. The Walking Dead tells the story of the weeks and months that follow after the apocalypse. Based on Robert Kirkman’s hugely successful and popular comic book series … Written and executive produced by three-time Academy® Award-nominee Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile), who also directs the pilot, and executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, Aliens) … the Walking Dead is an epic, edge-of-your-seat drama where personal struggles are magnified against a backdrop of moment-to-moment survival.”
The Walking Dead airs Sunday at 10PM and is available for download on iTunes or Amazon Video On Demand. The first episode, clips, and extras are available on the AMCTV website. The original comics are also available at online retailers.
So, have you seen it? If so, what are your thoughts? If not, what is your favorite zombie story?
Smart Girls love SciFi 
That is so bizarre that you brought this up today! I have a guest post tomorrow that talks about this show.
My husband is a huge fan–so huge you’ll find out tomorrow. But he has been urging me to watch it. He’s already informed me we are buying the series on DVD.
After seeing this post, I guess I’ll have to watch it. 🙂
The first episode is up on the web for free. It starts slowish, with getting to know the main character before the zombies, but the characterization is so compelling that it drags you through to the end with the cliffhanger tank scene. If you can get to that point and not be a fan, I’d be surprised.
Look forward to your post!
OH MY Giddy Aunt Sally YES! We are three episodes in and it is nail biting action and intense characterization. Mind tickling spoiler alert!!!!
Will she tell him? Will they go back and get the jerk? What did the jerk do while handcuffed to the pipe and the zombies were coming?
Why did the friend say that about her husband being dead when he wasn’t?
a treat and another great call by you SciFi Girl. Love the blog.
Well said!
Yes your questions bring to mind the whole quasi-romance, which I neglected to mention. Interested to see where it goes. I was hating the wife until the reveal in episode three. That earned her a few points. All that was so well set-up. What Linnea Sinclair would call ‘manipulating the emotions of the reader (or viewer in this case). Well done writers! Really tons of good writing related lessons to be found in this series. Fab writers.
OMFG! Don’t you love this show???? I’m talking about it today too! I discovered it the second week so I hurried and caught up before the second show. I have not been this interested in scifi since Battlestar Galactica. This is riveting television viewing. Hubby ignored me until the most recent episode – now he can’t stop watching. Only three more stallments…argh!
I went out and bought the graphic novel – every bit as good.
Like I told my husband, yeah, the whole zombie thing is gross, but the characters, the dialogue, the scenes – great writing, great characters. Cutting edge TV.
I’ve been giving the show a lot of thought. When I’m watching it, I’m riveted. That’s what I want in my fiction. When I try to examine why the show works so well, I see technique after technique that has been hammered into me as a writer. The show makes it crystal clear just how effective all those seemingly minor techniques can be. I’m contemplating a series of posts on the topic, but not sure it would be right for this blog. Do non-writer viewers like to analyze why the like a show? I have a friend with a writing blog and I might try to talk her into letting me vent my excitement over there. 🙂
Too bad I do not have AMC on my satellite channels once my free preview is over end of the month…
Have heard lots of Twitter buzz about TWD and then this last weekend it had a marathon catch up of the shows aired and did not watch.. Wish now that we had..
Maybe if they allow me to watch it all free on my computer on AMC website might give it shot!
Thanks for the review Charlie, sorry now that go to bed at 10PM CST…..
jackie >_<
If you like dark stories, this one is excellent! I’m not sure how long it will run. I heard that they only made a limited number to start. Fingers crossed.
I think Walking Dead just got renewed for another season on AMC. So the zombies are here to stay!
I do like the ‘Walking Dead’, but there are a couple of other Post-apocalyptic fiction stories that I would like to give a nod to. Anyone recall ‘The Stand’? And for the people around in the eighties, do you remember my favorite guilty pleasure, ‘The Night of the Comet’?
Loved the stand. A very different thing in my mind. It was full of in your face symbolism (don’t mean that as bad, just different) and religious underpinnings. Very good story and memorable characters. I’m not familiar with the other one you mentioned. Tell us more!
‘Night of the Comet’ was a very cheesy 1984 movie about a comet turning everyone to Zombies except for a few teenagers. It had flesh-eating zombies, eighties hair, a shadowy government organization and Robert Beltan before he became Commander Chokotay on Star Trek:Voyager. Lots of silly fun.
I came back to tell you, you were right. It is awesome! I watched the first episode on AMC. Now my zombie husband will record the other shows so I can watch them at my place.
You made me a believer.
I love it when a reccomendation hits the mark. I know not everyone will love it, but it is fun to share the joy.
“The Stand” was so awesome!!!!
“The Walking Dead” – I just can’t make my mind up yet. I liked the first episode up until the horse scenario (I will leave out the details for anyone who might read this & hasn’t seen it yet). I mean, ewwwwww. I’ve also never been a big fan of zombie movies/tv shows/books. Vamps are cool, but what’s so great about the living dead? My boyfriend loves the show, though, so I’ll prolly give it a few more episodes.
If you didn’t like the horse scene, beware, there is more really grisly stuff that follows. Zombies aren’t for everyone and that is okay. There is really nothing cool about them. It is the post apocalyptic setting that really does the trick. I think of it a little like a disaster movie. It is all about the character dynamics and how people respond to crisis and hardship.