Editor’s Note: The following article contains no spoilers. Feel safe to read on.
“The Walking Dead” pulls record numbers of viewers every week. 16.1 million viewers tuned in to Oct. 13’s season premiere, according to Nielsen ratings. Not bad for a genre show airing on a cable network. “The Walking Dead” proved long ago that it’s not just hanging on the coattails of monster-of-the-week trends in pop culture.
“The Walking Dead”’s unexpected commercial success shines a spotlight on the series’s biggest issue: “The Walking Dead” is a good show. It isn’t a great show. Critical reception is solid, but not on par with that of other AMC darlings like “Mad Men” or “Breaking Bad.”
Why isn’t “The Walking Dead” showered with awards and critical accolades? Why aren’t people assigning the show the same literary value that they’re willing to give to “The Wire” or “Mad Men”?
The zombies aren’t at fault. Pop culture is more receptive than ever to science fiction and comic book adaptations. “Lost” and “Battlestar Galactica” commanded massive fanbases and no small amount of critical acclaim. Both were genre shows.
Poor writing cripples “The Walking Dead.” Characterization is the show’s most consistent problem. Rick Grimes, the protagonist and de facto leader, is a sucking void of personality, charisma and common sense. In a world as bleak as “The Walking Dead”’s post-apocalyptic zombie land, you have to give viewers an interesting and engaging character to root for.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that character has to be “good.” “Breaking Bad”’s Walter White isn’t good in any conventional moral sense, yet fans still post obituaries and hold funerals for him.
Rick Grimes is no Walter White. His character isn’t fleshed out enough to make sense when he fails to act in a rational or sympathetic way. Most of the other characters share this same problem. They’re not people; they’re blank slates upon which the writers can transcribe black and white moral arguments and heavy-handed symbolism. Conflict doesn’t evolve organically, and characters often do stupid things because the plot requires it.
A show like “The Walking Dead” can’t afford to treat its characters like symbols or plot devices. Post-apocalyptic narratives can easily turn into misery porn. “The Walking Dead” often toes that line. Time and time again the show returns to the idea that normal people can’t function when society breaks down, and holding on to moral conventions will likely to get you killed.
If you want to make a show about people doing ugly things and living a life that might not even be worth living, you have to make sure that viewers care about those people. As long “The Walking Dead” fails to create interesting and engaging characters, it fails to live up to its full potential.
Opinion columnist Megan Kallus is a pre-business freshman and may be reached at [email protected]
What show are you watching? What a bunch of pig shit. I love all the characters on this show, especially Rick! All the characters personalities are so different, that’s what makes this show so interesting. I think the writing this season so far has been some of the best the series has ever had.
And what show are you watching? characters are non persons .
doing all kind of stupid things
Think of this. TWD is a drama show, with zombies as the catalyst for the actions these characters make. Now, who in this drama-driven show acts like a human would? who talks the way they do? e.g. why did Carol kill two people? why does Michonne still mutters two lines every show? And the biggest question, why hasn’t society gotten back on it’s feet? seriously, slow zombies are a thing of the past, it’s the reason why infected such as the ones in 28 days later were introduced; there would not be an apocalypse with slow zombies.
I like how this idiot makes these claims, but then doesn’t back it up with a single example from the show. What a shitty, half-baked article.
Ummm, Scott Gimple, the new showrunner, is doing a splendid job with Season Four. No bad writing at all. In fact, the writing is the best it has been since Season One. You’ve got a 1918-lethality flu bug in the prison; along with a serial killer; and a ten-thousand-strong herd heading in the direction of the prison. Not sure how that qualifies as bad writing.
I totally agree. The writing on this show would not pass on mad men or breaking bad. The show is driven purely by zombies. It gets old.
And scott, im not sure you understand what the writers do, at least in walking dead. You think that the writer came up with the flu? And other things?
Things. Stuff.
Thaaaangs.
Just watch the show. Ignore the zombies. Its pretty meh.
*Spoilers*
I totally agree with this critique of the show. Characterization is poor. Nothing about Rick led me to believe he’d murder an innocent person for personal gain and then suddenly he’s going to sacrifice Michonne. It hardly matters that he eventually decides not to. In fact Ricks final decision just feels like a manipulation by the writers.
During the most recent season Carol murders two sick people for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Carol does not appear or act as if she is psychotic but instead of locking the sick people in quarantine rooms she removes them from quarantine and murders them. I expect the next few episodes will explore Darrell and the loss of Carol which will again be a shameless attempt to force drama.
What happened to the great interpersonal conflicts like that of Shane and Rick? J
nailed in on the head. i love the zombie stuff, but the characters are all so one dimensional. i mean how many more seasons do we have to watch michionne mutter one syllable lines filled with annoyingly stoic pauses. theres no one on the show thats like a real person. i would fire the entire writing staff and just get the writers of Breaking Bad to inject some much needed personality into those characters and their dialogue.
THE worst ever tonight
yup, this has been the case since season 1 but then it was forgivable. now it isn’t
I completely agree with what you have said. The writers of the Walking Dead have gotten worse and worse at their job. They make characters (especially female) annoying and give them no redemption–simply allowing them to piss off people enough and then kill them (i.e. Lori, Andrea). Then if they actually do have a female character that people enjoy watching, it is because they either don’t talk (Michonne) or keep out of the storyline (Carol–although she gained a greater role in season 4). This show needs to get back on track and not stay so focused on the only characters girls seem to obsess over–Daryl. It would actually be a bold move on their part to kill his character off, but alas they will not because they are too afraid of potentially losing viewers if he dies (I make that comment from asking many girls what it would take for them to stop watching the walking dead and unanimously they all said killing Daryl would make them stop watching–I assume there are many more across the country like them).