Walking The Dead Into The Sunset

Walking The Dead Into The Sunset

Tonight's episode of the walking dead is the last we'll see till around October. Which means that we're faced with a lot of non-zombie downtime. A year to be exact. Yeah, That's what I said! How the fuck are we going to go a year without more AMC's awesome zombie hit The Walking Dead!?

I mean, I could just read the comic book, but that would require me doing something I already am doing. Not to mention that only 10 issues will come out by the time the new season starts.. Hmmm, on second thought that's not too far away. Trippy how time flies like that.

In any case, I wonder if the next episode finally reveals the cause of the outbreak and everyone eating each other being the fault of Jewish British Catholic Homosexuals.



And I guess the rumors are true that Frank has shit canned the entire writing staff...

I hear The Walking Dead writer/ executive producer/ director Frank Darabont has let go of the writers on the hot freshman AMC series, which has already renewed for a second season. That includes Darabont's No. 2, writing executive producer Charles “Chic” Eglee. Writer turnover on series between seasons is commonplace but wholesale overhauls are unusual. What's more, I hear Darabont is looking to forgo having a writing staff for the second season of Walking Dead altogether and assign scripts to freelancers.

Darabont, who hails from the feature world with The Young Indiana Jones as the only series credit before Walking Dead, ended up writing 2 of the first season's 6 episodes of Walking Dead - the pilot and the second episode - and co-writing/rewriting the other 4. Two of those 4 were written by non-staff writers, one by executive producer Robert Kirkman, on whose comics the series is based, and one by Glen Mazzara. The freelance model is employed by the Starz/BBC series Tourchwood, which in turn borrowed it from the U.K. where the show originated. Having BBC as producer has allowed Torchwood to proceed with no writing staff but I hear such a plan on an U.S.-based network series such as Walking Dead may face issues with the Writers Guild. And, while the first season of Walking Dead was only 6 episodes, its second-season order is for 13, which may prove harder to manage in pre-production, production and post-production with no writing staff. Sources tell me that no final decision has been made yet with all options open, including using some combination of a writing staff/freelances. There is time - AMC is mulling launching Walking Dead's second season the way it did the first one - in October during Fearfest.

But let's be honest here. Frank wrote the first episode and another one in the 6 that aired. Robert Kirkman wrote one himself. That's 3 episodes covered. Of the remaining 3, Frank had to do extensive re-writes on all four of them to get them to where he wanted them. So it's clear that this loss isn't a bad sign



Besides, Frank Darabont is a serious control freak. From first hand experience and from reputation, he likes to make sure his hand is in everything he's working on and has been known to be difficult to work with over the years. If you think he sat back and let the writers do all the work, you're a bit delusional. It seems like a simple case of Frank not thinking the writers were up to par and just cleaned house.

So don't go around speaking doom and gloom for next season. He'll probably be better off doing this series solo with Kirkman as producer. Just hear it from the horses mouth.. From io9-whatever the site is.

"Chic Eglee is a high-level television writer. He was brought onto The Walking Dead with the idea that Frank was going to work on the first season and then go off and do movies. Chic didn't want to be second-in-command on a show when he's used to being a top dog, and so he decided to go off and do something else, which is something that happens and is not a big deal."

It's a little premature to be nailing down. I don't know if it's going to be a freelance situation or if we're going to have writers in a writers' room. That's something that's being worked on now. Everybody knows what they're doing. AMC has done a few television shows before, and Frank Darabont is a professional. Whatever is decided, I don't think it will affect the show one way or another."

So see, nothing to worry about. How about we divert your attention from that news with a tour of the 1977 Winnebago?



So till next October, I'm putting a bullet in the head of talking about The Walking Dead...

Okay, that's not realistic. I know I'll be reporting about it during Comic Con (if tickets ever manage to go on sale) and I'm sure I'll bitch about the comic if Kirkman decides to wipe the slate again of a lot of main characters with this upcoming comic arc.