Admit it, The Walking Dead is one of the most popular TV series today. Though there were some points when the show seemed to have lost its way, it did not falter in gaining followers and maintaining its high ratings. However, though millions of people are avid fans of the show, some just plainly do not see who The Walking Dead became the center of attention of TV viewers. Moreover, others also do not understand how millions of dollars is spend on the show even though its quality has shown fluctuation even up to now. To give the non-Walking Dead fans some idea, people love the show for a number of reasons.
- THE WALKING DEAD IS THE ONE SHOW THAT CAN UNITE MALE AND FEMALE VIEWERS
A lot of people love The Walking Dead because it is able to deal with several themes at once. Moreover, the show covers a huge demographic and the concepts used are well thought of. Males watch the show possibly because they like watching zombie fights and breakouts and using guns and other stuff to kill the walkers, whereas females may favor more the depth of the characters portrayed in the show. In fact, it is a good thing that The Walking Dead manages to combine those concepts.
- IT STARTED WITH A STRONG SEASON
Most fans probably think that the first season of The Walking Dead is the best so far. Actually, the first season started with a strong vibe, which it was able maintain throughout the last episode. Though the succeeding seasons had high ratings as well, it was the first season which seemed to be the most memorable for most people.
- THE OTHER SEASONS FAIRED VERY WELL
Other The Walking Dead fans favored the other seasons instead of season 1. Since, the story was just starting, some deemed the first season to be quite boring. However, for some fans, things started heating up when Rick’s group reached the prison and started their battle with the Governor.
Meanwhile, other people also noted how exciting the Alexandria chapter was, leaving a number of fans scratching their heads after each episode.
However, it seems that the intense hype caused by The Walking Dead had stopped in Alexandria. In fact, others claimed that they got bored for the most part in the rest of seasons. At present, they are hoping that things will get lively again in show, especially when Negan’s face has already been revealed.
- WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT THE ZOMBIE GENRE
A lot of people watch The Walking Dead because basically, it is about zombies. And in addition to the use of this popular genre, the show managed to include the story of the survivors, both in the past and in the present, as they struggle to continue living in a world filled with the living dead. Moreover, The Walking Dead how the survival instincts of humans kick in when their lives ae in danger. The show does not only show a lot of killing and gory details, there is also considerable amount of hatred and anger, challenging people’s perception of humanity and showing how people are burdened by making great decisions that can possibly cost their lives.
The Walking Dead also demonstrates that there are times when people really have practice the saying, “kill or be killed.” Basically, the characters, at some point, face the challenge of choosing what is wrong and what they should do to survive.
In addition, there were also some instances when the characters should decide whether to just leave other people alone and to just strive to build a community that can preserve their race.
Naturally, The Walking Dead makes some people feel really alive, because they get to analyze the types of behavior that they may manifest once they get trapped in such situation. People also contemplate on whether killing for survival makes them a bad person or whether they should retain their humanity even when their lives are at stake.
In a way, the survivors in The Walking Dead gained a sense of freedom, especially when they are able to give in to their urge to kill by killing zombies. Still, their main goal involves managing to live a normal life despite the fact that they have to be on guard everyday.
Possibly, those who are not fond of The Walking Dead despise the idea of anarchy. Moreover, it is only natural that some people view the world as something perfect, and The Walking Dead defies the very possibility of living a utopian life. In addition, the appearance of zombies serves as evidence of the faults of humans and their capacity to cause destruction and chaos.
- HIGH QUALITY SPECIAL EFFECTS
No one can deny that The Walking Dead provides viewers with a good deal when it comes to special effects, especially in the gory and bloody details involving the zombies. However, notably, the excellent use of special effects is sometimes shadowed by the show’s focus on its characters, which sometimes, just suck in the excitement that occurs after a harrowing experience with the walkers. Fortunately, the show manages to get back to its feet every time that it stumbles down.
- VIEWERS DO NOT GET TIRED OF WATCHING ZOMBIES
It’s capability to hold people’s attention no matter how crappy a story is something that only the zombie genre possesses. As long as it is about zombie, people will still likely finish a movie or TV series no matter how nonsense the story may be. And the same goes for The Walking Dead. A lot of people have already condemned the show when it failed to leave up to their expectations, but nevertheless, millions of people watch the show when it basically just follows the same formula in its story: battles with zombies, survival, conflict, then zombies again. The show sometimes already becomes predictable but people still see past its flaws and continue watching it.
- A GOOD TIMESLOT
The Walking Dead is aired at 9 pm every Sunday, the time when more people are at home and are just sitting on their couch waiting for something noteworthy to watch. And given the other top rating shows shown at the same day and time slot, The Walking Dead seems to be putting up quite a fight.
- THE CABLE SHOULD BE PUT TO GOOD USE
Yes, a number of people who hate The Walking Dead, and some also lost faith because of its misgivings. However, people are still paying cable so fees so instead of turning off the television, they opt to just the watch the show.
- “EVERYONE” JUST LOVES THE WALKING DEAD
It has been cleared that millions of people love The Walking Dead, yet there are also people who despise the show. Understandably, some people really just cannot bear the thought that some people may not like watching The Walking Dead. This is especially true when a person’s family or closes friends are also avid fans of the show. Thus, it would be just hard for them to change what they feel for The Walking Dead.
- THE COMICS HAS A LARGE FAN BASE
The Walking Dead is based from a comics, which has pretty large fan base. Expectedly, when a comics with a huge following is adapted for TV, its readers would surely be curious and may want to watch the live version. In the case of The Walking Dead, the timing of the show was also perfect, and thus, it has become of the top rating show to date.
Avid fans waited for The Walking Dead’s Season 7 premiere, and the show did not fail to make some ripples in various social media platforms. Though most people might have wailed and shed tears with all the brutality and the deaths of the well-loved characters of the show, a few had some issues about how that particular episode was portrayed.
- NEGAN ALMOST LOOKED LIKE HE CAME FROM THE CARTOONS
Negan is a new and major character, who was introduced in the season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead. The character was supposed to be much more cruel and sadistic compared with the other characters that Rick’s group has encountered, However, with the aim of making Negan more nefarious, his character appeared more like to come from other universe, like that in the Game Thrones, where Ramsay could only be described as a creation of pure evil.
However, Negan’s character seemed to be misaligned with the kind of evilness observed in The Walking Dead Universe. For example, despite the misdeeds of the Governor, he was known for showing a bit of kindness to his people. In fact, he was so human that he decided to keep his dead and already zombie daughter. Moreover, it can’t be denied that some of his followers really did love the Governor and thought that he was a good man.
Meanwhile, in the case of Negan, it seems that all his human qualities have vanished into thin air. Moreover, he likes to talk like a mad villain in cartoonish shows. In fact, one can get tired hearing him droning on about his authority. Moreover, his characters lies in the thin line between being horrible and scary. The other antagonists, such as the Governor, the Termites, and the Wolf, all showed their characteristic evil behavior. However, for Negan, he’s just like some crazy man who is fond of waving bats and hearing the sound of his own voice.
In addition, some people may also think that Jeffrey Dean Morgan does not fit the role of Negan. Others also think that his portrayal is not as terrifying as what they have imagined. And because Morgan did not strike other viewers as that scary, some thought that Rick should have just a go at him and kill him right away. In fact, Rick had the upper hand if ever there was a fight between him and Negan.
Some people also think that Negan is comparatively inferior with Breaking Bad’s Tuco, who is as known by the show’s fans, crazy, unpredictable, and is very hot-headed.
- EXCESSIVE, EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE EVEN FOR THE WALKING DEAD
Some avid fans might condemn those who say that the violence shown in The Walking Dead’s season 7 premiere was too much. In addition, it is known fact that notable violence was also seen in the comics version of the series.
However, what people should realize is that the violence portrayed in colored paper is different from that is seen moving in television. Yes, the scenes in the premiere are watchable, but it is really not certain whether the viewers really did want to watch them. Most viewers stomached some scenes with the zombies, including those showing skins peeling off from the walking. However, showing Glenn’s face with his bulging eye gets smashed in by a bat repeatedly might have been a bit of over the top. In fact, some fans might be preferring if Glenn just really died last season.
- THE SEASON 7 PREMIERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SEASON 6’S FINALE
A lot of people have waited to learn who’s going to be the villain this season, but some did not really like the idea of having to wait for months just to see Negan making his monologues and swinging his bat. On the other hand, viewers think that The Walking Dead’s season 7 premiere should have been last season’s finale.
Meanwhile, given that a great cliffhanger ended season 6, both the last season’s finale episode and the season 7 premiere were peppered with fillers and a lot of dramas, coming out as a cheap trick to eat time for some viewers.
Other fans also contemplated that the show should have just focused on getting Maggie to a doctor instead of just letting Rick and Negan get acquainted with each other. Meanwhile, some people suggested that Abraham should have been killed in season 6. That way, people would think that they already know who has died but then Glenn would still be killed. Instead, the only thing that took most viewers’ breath away was Carl almost losing his hand to his father.
- ERRONEOUS AND JUST PLAIN BAD SCRIPTWRITING
Negan came out as cartoonish to some viewers because of the things that he said, and that would be the fault of the writers. The writers decided to keep his character guffawing, chuckling, and being engrossed in his monologues just like in the comics, but in the case, their decision turned be a great mistake.
In fact, a lot of people would agree that Negan could just not stop talking, and the things that he said only wasted people’s time. Meanwhile, there were moments when Negan just looked crazy stupid in the screen.
The focus of attention on Negan became much more disappointing when the other characters were not given the same amount of importance. Moreover, Rick got infected with stupidity when he said out loud that he’s going to kill Negan right after the man had turned to of his friends’ heads into mush. Fortunately, he realized how stupid he was later on.
The show also seemed to be missing some logic with its premier. Since Daryl was the one who punched Negan, wouldn’t it make sense if Negan chose to kill him? Moreover, even Daryl seemed to have been a bit emotional with that episode though it was understandable on Maggie’s part.
Some viewers might have also been wondering how the hell did the axe landed on the roof of the trailer when it looked like Negan threw onto the ground. Nevertheless, Rick has been known for working miracles when facing hordes of zombies.
- GLENN DESERVED A SO MUCH BETTER DEATH
A lot of viewers cried over Glenn’s death. Though he suffered the same manner of death in the comics, his demise should have been given much more justice given his great contribution to the show.
Again, what looked good in the comics may not appear the same in television. That is why there is what is called as adaptation. It means that it is okay to tweak some things in the original material. And in The Walking Dead’s cases, they should have given Glenn’s death some more glory.
The lack of care for Glenn seems to go way back in the previous season. First, the show tried to kill him in season 6, and that did not gain the approval of a lot of viewers. However, in season 7, the show did another stupid thing by giving Glenn’s death a short air time. Some have even pointed out that Tyreese’s death last longer (which was in fact ate up a whole episode). Glenn was a very much loved character and one of the ones who stayed the longest, it was an act of injustice to give him just a few minutes of air time upon his death.
Thus, basically, Glenn should have been given additional tribute before he was cut off from the show. A better treatment could also have made up for the show’s treatment of the audience when they tried to kill Glenn.
On the other hand, though there were some notable and intriguing issues regarding The Walking Dead’s Season 7 premiere, there were some good elements that are worth mentioning. For example, for once, Rick lost himself and a became a weak creature in Negan’s hands, showing that he too, could not win every game. With this new conflict with himself, viewers would be anticipating Rick’s future actions in the succeeding episodes of the show.
In addition, The Walking Dead, in some ways, regained its former glory. Negan’s bat really did a good job holding people’s attention as it took the lives some of the show’s greatest characters.
However, the show has just started and there are more episodes to look forward to. Thus, it is still uncertain whether The Walking Dead can maintain its season premiere hype or it will just start boring the viewers later on. In addition, viewers will still have to wait to see whether they should really be scared of Negan or whether they should by some ear plugs for when he’s doing his long monologues.