Zombies Can Be Fun Part 6

Andrew Lincoln

Okay, I will just come clean. I didn't watch this year's premiere. I know that the general tradition of the Zombies Can Be Fun column was to watch the premiere and try to find some deeper appreciation for the creatures, or the show in general. The truth is that The Walking Dead is in a lot of ways just diminishing returns that I stopped caring about entirely. With the premiere episode scheduled at 90 minutes, I was not in the mood to plop down and watch it, especially with The Affair and The Leftovers proving to be far more interesting uses of my time. I get that this has become a large commodity for AMC, but I just want to throw my hands up in the air and accept that in part six, I am officially over this garbage. This show can go on as long as it wants. I'm just tired of trying to justify liking it.

You see, when I started, the idea of a zombie serialization seemed fun. There was a lot of promise for the show to take me into interesting territory. However, I kind of stopped caring because the show was pretty redundant and the characters were not interesting. How redundant was it? There were charts showing that the opening was intense, the middle half was quiet, and the final moments would hook you. This is a show that in theory makes sense. You go for the gusto on this one. It's why I think it works for an audience who really doesn't care about quality stories. Maybe this premiere was good. Maybe, but considering that I generally disagreed in the past with critics about this show, I just don't want to waste my time with the idea that there's some return to form.

I also didn't expect the show to become a phenomenon, either. Maybe three or four years tops. Now, we're up to six, and this is ridiculous. Not only is the show lasting a whole lot longer than I expected, but it spawned its own talk show called The Talking Dead, and a spin-off that was not cleverly titled Fear the Walking Dead about events prior to The Walking Dead. I'm sure somebody watched it, but it was a growing reminder about why I just don't care about zombies. Nothing I have done in the past year has made me care anymore. I will accept George A. Romero's take as interesting, but that's because he gives them interesting characters. The appeal of these shows is that they can go on and on forever, regenerating new characters at the drop of a hat. 

What's more interesting is that TV has gone in a different direction after six years. Where zombies used to be all the rage, it looks like post-apocalyptic stories are starting to take over. Just look at The Leftovers or The Last Man on Earth. Both are about surviving the apocalypse without zombies. It's proven to have a lot of intriguing character moments scattered throughout. While I think that the comedy series has sort of run its course, The Leftovers has served as a far more compelling drama on what it means to survive after loss. It's very depressing, but at least it feels tangible in a way that The Walking Dead doesn't.

The only good that really comes out of this is that it has allowed AMC to try new things. I am honestly worried about the channel knowing that their two best shows are behind them. Breaking Bad has been gone for two years now and Mad Men recently said goodbye. What other shows on this network have the staying power? I admit that I am ecstatic to see Halt and Catch Fire coming back for a third season. It's an opportunity likely held over thanks to The Walking Dead's success. Likewise, I am sure that their choice to explore genre programming is largely thanks to them. Consider the rather enjoyable Humans. Another solid entry that mixes sci-fi with prestige. However, the channel doesn't have much else that is probably going to hook you. While it isn't as bad as a few years ago (Low Winter Sun, anyone?), it still has a ways to go before it dares call itself prestigious again. It's like Sundance Channel got their powers by osmosis to produce their own brand of prestigious programming.

Then again, genre program isn't going to die. Game of Thrones recently won the Emmy for Best Drama Series. That's perfectly fine, as it is an enjoyable show with great production values. However, it's a reflection of style over substance. Thankfully, it's still better than The Walking Dead after almost as long. However, both reflect that maybe entertainment is going towards a more genre-show territory that I don't really care about. Even if The Leftovers is technically sci-fi, it's also more dark and brooding drama as well. I don't know what exactly lays in store for the future of  TV, but I'll say this: most of the new TV series this Fall weren't interesting. At most, we got a strong ensemble of sophomore series this time around.

I don't know if The Walking Dead is still good. It's just that if I saw an amazing episode, I likely wouldn't know myself. They all blend together after a point and is just mindless nonsense. I wish that I could learn to care, but I think it's the series that doomed AMC. It's the reason that most of the shows have a split final season (Hell on Wheels being the most recent). It's also annoying that it just keeps coming back. With a spin-off, there's no chance of it dying soon. I was hoping that The Walking Dead would be a novelty for the network. Instead, it was the norm when their good shows dried up.

So, this is where I say goodbye to the Zombies Can Be Fun journey. I was hoping it would be over a few years ago, but that is life. I know that I technically didn't watch the show this time, but I do feel like I was bombarded with ads almost the entire year, whether it be for the show or its spin-off. I just can't take it anymore. It's not a good show, and I refuse to dedicate more time to trying to understand why I don't like it. I'm sorry if this installment is disappointing, but it should explain why it's the last. Oh well. Here's hoping that you enjoyed the journey and that we can go on something more exciting very soon (hey, Fargo is back tonight!).