I feel like if they merged season 7 and 8 into one, the series could have kept its momentum. Especially if they didn't kill Carl, Chandler Riggs taking the lead after Rick left would've been much more interesting imo.
100% agree, they started just dragging things out so much with pointless character communication that built nothing toward the character building or story building, so much just filler content in those 2 seasons
Chandler Riggs being killed off the show was the motivation for Andrew Lincoln to leave -- and Andrew's exit would prompt Danai's exit. You can't take away decade-long scene partners and expect the actors to be casual about it. You make friends and family with your co-workers. Too many main character deaths can have emotional and mental responses from the actors that worked alongside them. Lauren would have never taken that other series if Steven was still on her daily set call.
AMC kept being cheap and kept getting greedy because of the "fan boys". Now because of these fan boys it enabled AMC to keep cranking out garbage, milking the show, adding crap in and the fan boys keep sucking it.
Killing off Carl wasn't killing one of the main characters, he was THE main character. Underneath the morality of how people handle the apocalypse was always a story of a father passing the torch to his son. It actually ruined the story for me and many others, they crossed the forbidden line in storytelling that you never cross. It's like if they killed Harry Potter in the sixth book out of eight, absolutely ridiculous.
I agree that Carl being alive would have drastically helped the show in the last 3 seasons, Henry took too long for me to give a shit about him, and then weeeelll....we know what happened to him at the end of that one season....and Judith? Please...she's not even a Grimes!
The scene where Rick shows up to the gates of Alexandria and can hear the kids playing inside and you see the relief on his face is the perfect ending to the show. After all the violence and suffering to see a sense of hope for the first time wraps up the first 5 seasons full circle
Personally my favorite stopping point is the mid season finale of season 6 with Alexandria successfully defeating the horde It makes the final threat the walkers again and firmly shows them essentially “defeating” them, and if you cut out the hints towards the saviors you could really make it a satisfying ending
@@closet__optimist I've always said this and even wanted to make a fan ending for this but I lack the skills able to do so and no one wants to take it up.
I don't think creating new arcs is a problem as long as it's well written, the prison illness arc and the terminus are original to the series and worked very well.
Creating story arcs is fine aslong as they don't l9se focus and drag things out with pointless filler shite, all the arcs in the show could have been good but so many of the story arcs have so much filler that by the time the arc ends you kinda forget the important stuff along the way
Here’s the thing, it wasn’t at one point rivaling Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, it was BIGGER than them. The Walking Dead in its prime was setting constant records and beating the other two in viewership. If it kept that quality up for the later seasons it would undoubtedly be seen as the best and most popular show of all time.
Fun fact about Season 1 is that everyone was supposed to die in the CDC explosion. Originally the show was gonna be a mini series and end with everyone dying but they decided to change that for one reason or the other. In a way I think that's why Season 1 story is so well writen and tightly knit. They originally had their ending in sight and knew what they were gonna detail or leave ambiguous e.g. Merle and Morgan's fates. This is a series I loved ever since I convinced my mum to watch it with me at the ripe age of 13 but it has pained me to watch it slowly drop in quality. Besides `Game of Thrones' The Walking Dead has been one of my biggest hyperfixations. Now I just pray someone puts this series out of its misery
The thing about the Commonwealth arc for me was that everything was so clean. Clean streets, everyone is well dressed. It didn't feel like a post apocalyptic show.
"You step outside, you risk your life. You take a drink of water, you risk your life. And nowadays you breathe, and you risk your life. Every moment now you don't have a choice. The only thing you can choose is what you're risking it for. " Hershell dropping bars!
I think it was pretty much Gimple's way of nerfing the group so that way The Governor could stand a chance. Obviously with half of left of the group recovering from an illness it makes a lot more sense that he was able to destroy the prison so that way the character would be on the road. Throw in some character development for the major cast member who was about to be killed off and you have yourself an arch
I have to correct you on something: This show didn't rival Breaking Bad (in terms of viewers) seasons 3-6, it had A LOT more viewers. TWD was the most watched show ever at the time. Breaking Bad was popular and a critical favorite, but didn't even come close in viewership until it's final season And the flu arc in Season 4 was great. It was tense and smartly written.. it also mattered in terms of the overall narrative because it made them weaker and less prepared for the Governors attack
many people now appreciate the slower pacing of S2 (after the fact), because it gives them more time with the legacy cast... which was the best group of the entire series. especially great characters like Shane and Lori, and Dale (S2 was their defining moment).
The season 6 finale cliffhanger doesn't even make narrative sense, which pissed me off even more. Because in the Season 7 opener, we get Abraham's death--which is brushed off completely and ignored by most fans, since Glenn gets killed right afterwards! Why not just have Abraham die in S6's finale, then have Glenn's death in the S7 premier when everyone thinks they're safe? It'd definitely have fans talking and being invested in the rest of the season instead of dropping off after the first episode. All the marketing was about who Negan killed in S7's premier, too. They could've used that to market Negan vs Rick.
Seasons 1-2 is peak walking dead for me. Seasons 3-5 are really great too. Season 6 and onwards is where the shows starts to fall really flat in my opinion.
Season 1-3 is awesome. Never went beyond that. This October me and my sister rewatched in the spirit of spooky season and now I’ve been watching zombie movies non-stop 😂
Vatos is one of my favorite episodes to see the gang members taking care of the elderly was truly heartwarming. It really broke stereotypes at the time.
They weren’t gang members though they just portrayed themselves as thugs which even pissed off Rick because he said they intended to come in and kill everyone in order to get Glenn back & he would have felt bad knowing they were really just nurses and janitors. And we even see this scenario play out when the group returns to their base and finds all of them dead with the governor likely have been behind it and then trying to play the same tough guy card.
Rick should not have come back after blowing up the bridge to protect the community from the walkers. Him suddenly being alive made his sacrifice meaningless
They killed off Carl. Rick left. That's the end of the show IMO. Bad directing and story design after Season 6. Too many unlikeable, uninteresting, irrelevant characters after Season 6. Also another thing, in S6 and before, the core group stuck together. In later seasons, they become dispersed, horrible storylines (Maggie just disappearing, no reason), and so it felt disjointed and like a different series altogether.
Remember, Carls death was entirely pointless. He got bit saving that Sadic guy, he goes on to die 1 or 2 seasons later. Great video, the misread are funny and charming. To me the show kinda died and lost its heart whem Hershel died.
I wonder if they never killed Carl they wouldn’t have to do a time skip when Rick left which means maybe fear the walking dead probably wouldn’t be ruined
I see so many people with their opinions of when and why the show failed or “worst mistakes” and I have to disagree with you all. The absolute worst thing they ever did was fire frank darabont. The guy wrote and directed the pilot and show runner for the first season. He did Shawshank redemption, green mile, the mist, and more, but they fired him. I promise none of the following issues the show presents, would’ve been issues under frank
Excellent commentary, it’s as if you were in my head… I dropped the show at the end of season 7.. Your so on point , I realized they didn’t have an ending in sight, just the same story , put on wash rinse & repeat .
the sad part, they will never be able to create another zombie apocalypse show (like this), because it will just be compared to Seasons 1-3, of TWD, and whether they are copying TWD.
The show didn't have an ending in mind, it still doesn't, because they don't want it to end. Hell, the comic book ending wasn't amazing. But the show ending was waaaaayyyy worse than the comic ending lol, but the spin-offs are a continuation of the show, so technically the show still hasn't ended. So there's still no definite ending in mind.
i don’t think seasons 7 and 8 are really even that bad. compared to the others? they are definitely lacking. but it truly truly fell off in seasons 9 and after. even the spin-offs weren’t that good! except for the ones who live, which i think was saved by having andrew and danai as producers. those two truly understand their characters.
@@tech8939its not. Season 7 and 8 were pretty good, mostly because of Negan. They had their negative things but the Sanctuary arc was absolutely amazing
It did not feel like the show had to rely on gimmicky tricks to keep fans interested. It HAD to use gimmicky tricks to keep fans interested. Because the people who took over after squeezing out Darabount are hacks. Especially the soulless clods that goes for excetuvies at the amc. They milked the WD fanbase for all it was worth. Thats all that happen. The fact that WD hung on for so long is an testament to the cast and the loyalty of the fanbase.
This video was a pretty thorough analysis of the entirety of The Walking Dead, but your conclusion was convoluted and could have used a little rework. Good work overall!
Honestly I think I just want a show that continues exploring this world that I can just watch while I eat dinner after work. I don’t need amazing new storylines because in an actual apocalypse you’re going to see the same problems pop up and that’s fine with me. I want it to keep going but god I hate these 6 episode spinoffs - give me a real season.
The comics had a set of 6 issues/episodes per volume/story arc. The show tried too hard to make it 8 and 8 or just 16 connected. Season 1 felt like a long movie with an ending because that is how it was written. Similarly Season 2's first arc was "Sophia" but it took far too many episodes to wrap up. Ideally it should have been Ep 1 (highway, lost, deer), Ep 2 (surgery, Otis), Ep 3 (search for Sophia, Glenn/Maggie stuff), Ep 4 (Second day of search ending with barn open), Ep 5 (reactions and bar fight), Ep 6 (finale, cutting 16 miles out)
I did love the classic references to Romero zombies in the later seasons with all the retro graveyard shots e.g. when Jesus was killed...but was not enough to save the show
Frank Daramont was present through season three I think. He directed the great film The Mist, which had Carol,Dale and Andrea who he brought onto The Walking Dead.
I’ll always love TWD through its ups and downs. I still enjoyed it at its worst. For me it’s like sticking with your favorite sports team even when they have some bad seasons. Would I have liked a tighter story with a concrete beginning, middle, and end? Definitely, but it’s whatever, it became tradition. It would always be Halloween time again, TWD was back, and I was ready for thrills even if I had to sit through some bs for a bit
I got this video late but I really appreciate this, I wanted to see more and more videos of the steady decline of the walking dead, it’s very much interesting to always have a discussion about.
I love the walking dead. I watched and enjoyed every season and wished for more. I'm a 60 yr old fan of horror /thriller genre. My son stopped watching after terminus. No matter what i said he refused to watch. He said the walking dead were the least of the threat. I guess he was right. But it was an incredible show. I love all of the characters, love the writing, love Fear the Walking Dead, would love to watch everthing walking dead hopefully youtube will supply all spin offs. I subscribe to so many platforms already amc.
Season 1 and 2, specially 1, make me so nostalgic. I love them so much. I still enjoyed the show for about 2 or 3 seasons after that, but nothing ever reached the same vibe/atmosphere from the very start of the show.
the most awkward part about this is the fact that there are still so many bootlickers that defend a show that doesn’t deserve to be defended i get we should only use critical criticism but the way they made it easy to be so disconnected with the show i don’t even think the weaker critiques are bad cause they simply don’t take it seriously
@@ligma212 we can accept there will always be radical people and opinions in every community and fanbase but it should be called out or would you rather let it linger and let more people agree with child marriage because of a lack of push back? also chill out thats a large jump from television 💀 this matters to me and others in this comment section because we want good well written and portrayed entertainment instead of letting the bs slide and allow IP’s to be dragged into the mud like marvel and tolkiens universe it has nothing to do with morality or biology
Criticism is needed as stories can run amuck. Not every avenue and alley needs to be explored -- yet the story tried again and again to take us down those alleys. Grady Memorial and the Reapers are great examples of "sounds good on paper". But the dialogue and scenes needed to make them work were never done. The show made some great calls with smaller detours like Sophia, Terminus, and The Wolves. But not every single idea needs an arc. Too many stories started to get engaging and ended abruptly - Carl/Enid, Andrea, Tyreese/Sasha. I loved Grady Memorial and would consider it one of my favorite arcs IF Beth actually made it. I get it, Maggie has to be alone for Glenn's death to have impact. But having Beth make it to at least the Wolves or actually die under Nicolas/dumpster would have been miles better than what we got.
I agree about the flu arc. And I always felt like the governor arc was too long. I really like season 2 and 3, and 4 is my favorite season, but the flu arc was hard to not skip. The rest of season 4 was awesome though. I'm of the unpopular opinion that I liked every season, uo until the last 3. I liked the whisperers, but the acting or directing or writing or something was off on the last 3 seasons. I can't place it, but something about it made it feel fake, like I couldn't forget that this is just a show, and everyone is acting. Idk.
This shows only downfall was trying to world build on an easily understood and established world. The early seasons that you talk about 1-3, it truly feels like there's no hope at all and there's an entire world of walkers out there to get them. Seasons 4-7 were all about saying hey look, we know you're here for the zombies, but its cheaper to have corny dialogue that eats up 3/4's of the episode. Seasons 8- current are what I call the make up era. Angela Kang came in and wanted to correct the wrongs done and give us great action scenes and fast pacing. All in all I love TWD, the main series survived the disaster of scott gimple yet he was still able to stain the spin offs
also feel the same here, literally grow up watching twd since the beginning when season 1 was ending, i had 7 years old and its just a part of my life i guess, love the show so much but at the same time it hurts what they made of the show sometimes
While there have been many later episodes I did like (I loved 'The Ones Who Live'), the show should have ended with the line... _It's a good thing we're here!'_ And then let the NEXT GENERATION take it further a few years later...
12k views and just over 100 subscribers doesn't seem fair. This is a really solid video, and it's not easy to make (close to) hour-long videos that don't drag or lose my attention at any point. I just wanted to say: great work.
I watched it all, but like I only started watching it after it's popularity fell off. I mainly stuck around for Negan, a little bit of Gabriel and Aaron, and Carol and her dynamic with Darrell. The closest I came to dropping the show was when they started messing with dynamic in season 10. At least Negan remained entertaining. Season 11 was pretty bad and Maggie was out of character most of the time. They couldn't wrap things up because they had no Rick or Carl. Really shot themselves in the foot there. The Darrel Dixen show isn't bad though. They brought Carol back recently.
I think Shane would have been a great reoccurring threat turned ally. Like Negan, but Rick and Shane knew each other beforehand and were close like family, so it'd hit harder. I think what should have happened is that Carl shoots him, we think he's dead, but he isn't, like the governor, and then he comes and goes trying to catch up to the group. He knows the map or has an inkling of where the group might go but misses them by a hair. Takes refugee at the governors place and leave to "presue" them. He forms his own group, and we have close calls with him trying to catch and off Rick. He tries to take lorie, Carl, and his baby back. But then the group evanded him. Eventually, he had his own responsibilities but still tries to go after the group. By the time he knows about the prison, it's gone. He thinks Lorie and the baby are dead, so he goes after Rick for revenge in general cause that's all he has as well as Carl. He finds out the baby lives and goes to take the baby back, but he doesn't. Once Negan is introduced, he hids in the shadows taunting Rick, even gets one of his own already "recruited" so he can come and go without suspicion. Tries to sow seeds of doudt to others around Rick as well. Eventuall, he and Rick reform a bond because he sees that Rick really loves Judith as his own. They fight back together and even if they cant be as close, they are allies and friends. It could have still been a story about good vs bad or humans that try to do the right thing vs those that uses others to their advantage. Then they could have done whatever with Negan but people prolly wouldnt have been as upset, especially when reasoning with Shanes Ideas that have reformed but evolved from JUST offing everyone. Heck Shane could be incharge of both groups and we still get to see his unhinged ways as well as trying to work things out with Rick. Eventually he gets his own girl and they just try to live the best they can in this new world.
I have a really early copy of Attack on Titan volume one, and there is a review on the back of the book that compares the series to The Walking Dead in terms of story telling and character development. It’s sad how comparing a series to The Walking Dead these days (unless specifying the older seasons) is now considered an insult lmao
Season 10 and 11 are worst then 7 and 8. The only reason to watch those seasons is for Negan. No wonder he hunches all the time. Back must be hurting from carrying whats left of the entire franchise for the last 8 Years
It also sucked that Carl dies because we got to see what would happen to someone so young having to deal with the mental aftermath of a world like this, while the grown ups around him tries to toe the line of both independence and keeping him form crossing the like. Them not wanting to pay the actor more is such BS because they could have done so much more. What sucks even more is that they tried to do this with the other teens and kids of the show. The problem is, we dont care about them and now the remaining viewwers are gonna have to do the same thing all over again with Judith and that older brother younger siblings thing could have been so great.
One of my personal favorite delulu "tropes" is imagining if the Walking Dead plot ONLY happened in the US lol. Like in Walking Dead universe of course. But like, imagine it lol
I always saw the people we watched The Walking Dead with as the people that "made it this far". So many of my family and friends stopped watching during Season 7 or 8, so the loneliness I felt being the only one watching 9, 10, and 11 related to the characters and their friends and family that didn't "make it this far" or "through the war". People have a breaking point. People run away from the show like Carol, or try to find better things like Morales.
Thank you to everyone who watched and enjoyed the video! I am looking forward to uploading more videos soon for you guys. Im thinking of doing my next one on "From."
Definitely do From, not enough people are talking about it here- my only request sir is to please stop fading out your voice each section, and edit out the small voice errors, I love you but it takes me right out of your ON POINT and VALID commentary. Otherwise, you are on par with million-sub creators my guy! I'm here for you! You have my subscribe
Also the illness arc was written in very well and is something that would be a serious issue without medicines and drs, so it was good to have in plus it was well written
I will admit I kinda slowed my interest after Glenn got nerfed lol, he was my favorite but I still continued watching until I think half or a bit more of season 7. But then Carl happened and it just seemed like the show did the same plot over and over and I didn’t even bother after that. I was crazy about the show too in middle school like obsessed and now I don’t even wanna rewatch my favorite moments
I had finished the walking dead actually recently because of my sister and yah know it wasn't that bad tbh and i was kinda shocked! I think season 9 and 10 were fun. I loved the reapers part. Maggie and Gabriel really carried these seasons. Seeing how far of Gabriel he has become and when he faces a fellow reaper with almost the same beliefs he use to have he knows what he has to do now. And the climax where maggie doesn't let the rest of the reapers go and shoots them, as the reapers would have done, felt what the walking dead really was and i loved it ❤. The common wealth and the introduction i thought was pretty good. I think Sebastion was a good minor villian too and the way hes dies is pretty satisfying. I do agree though the last season was rushed, the fake death of judith, the zombies! But the way Rosita is with Eugene to the end and her death was honestly heart breaking. The talk with daryl and carol was also really something. Seeing every character in the end was pretty cool too but i agree i wish the walking dead was treated better❤ I am glad though i got to finish the series.
I definitely recommend watching the new spin off shows. Daryl Dixon is better than anyone expected it to be and is going strong the ones who live is a mixed bag and the ending is highly questionable and bad in some ways but 99% of the show is absolutely done amazingly and is some of the best Rick Grimes moments in the series as a whole. Dead city is good but only if you are a big fan of Negan. Maggie is great too but I stopped caring for her around season 8. I somehow completely agree and disagree with you at the same time i agree walking dead probably should end but I don't want it to and I'm always down for more of this universe
From seasons 8 to the final I paid more attention to Daryl and magna’s group her group was why I started reading the comics myself id love a one off show like 1 or 2 seasons of just magna’s group we already know there set ending of there group but we don’t know much about them before
I quit around the time Rick slit Megan’s throat. Then picked it up again last year and binged the last few years. The very last season was really really good imo! But yeah season 6-the next to last or next to next to last seasons were kinda rough. Some of the battles with the saviors across season 7 and 8 were pretty good, but it was tough to make it thru that much unnecessary fluff of all the horrible actions of negan and the saviors
To many comic fans tv series fake fans Not enough folks liked the fact that it was carls comic daryls show, when carls death finally showed up after a long wait everyone thought this show was based on one person that being carl, but it wasnt! The show is still great and hasnt ended its expanded actually! Gonna be fun when they make movies outa it
I also think season 1 & 2 was so good that it made other next few seasons good reason for season 1 & 2 being good is cozz of diff script writer or director unfortunately he got fired and rest is history...
AMC treated TWD as a disgruntled parent. Never cared in the end but gave it some attention when others praised it and taking credit but never actually caring. Now it "takes care" of it while making the child pay for everything leaving them with nothing. But AMC still tries to put on airs.
I enjoyed all of it then I watched it bing3 style but three times and got something out of it each time. The ones who live is great. Parts of the Daryl spin off are super 8 like the underground moulin rouge.
IIRC the showrunner of the first season left because the budget for the second season was dramatically cut to what they had in season one. That is honestly the handicap that doomed the show. TWD did not need to be a 16 episode drama you could have cut it to ten and done a larger GOT style show and it would have probably been a lot higher quality with tighter pacing and stronger character arcs.
The walking dead will have a comeback. I have faith. There’s still a lot of storylines they could play out. I’d love to see how this world evolves 100-200 years from now
I think what should have broken rick instead of Negan killing glen and Abraham. Should have been forcing rick to go threw with cutting carols hand off. There for instead of carol forcing his way into negans sanctuary. Carol would have to force his way to get back home instead of Daryl being a captive
Morgans' character change back and forth was also really irritating. It's sad that the show went so downhill. I had great memories watching seasons 1-5.
im interested in this video and there are a lot of good points. my one critique is the editing really needs some improvement. please take that as a constructive criticism and not me hating.
The walking dead was a show that never needed a real ending but then suddenly the fowas to figure out where the end would come, also I find the later seasons biggest issues is they stopped fleshing out characters stopped with the walker problems and focused to much on real life problems but without real life reactions sure the later you get into the apocalypse the less politics would be involved between communities, for the most part yeah there would be insane people with insanely large groups but walkers would still be the biggest problem and they stopped being a problem at all once the saviours came about
I feel like if they merged season 7 and 8 into one, the series could have kept its momentum. Especially if they didn't kill Carl, Chandler Riggs taking the lead after Rick left would've been much more interesting imo.
100% agree, they started just dragging things out so much with pointless character communication that built nothing toward the character building or story building, so much just filler content in those 2 seasons
@@UKStudiosNEyeah absolutely, watching them 2 seasons on a weekly basis was fuckin torture
@EPICsmudgery I suppose that was atleast the intention one of those episodes 🤣
Chandler Riggs being killed off the show was the motivation for Andrew Lincoln to leave -- and Andrew's exit would prompt Danai's exit. You can't take away decade-long scene partners and expect the actors to be casual about it. You make friends and family with your co-workers. Too many main character deaths can have emotional and mental responses from the actors that worked alongside them. Lauren would have never taken that other series if Steven was still on her daily set call.
It sucks watching those seasons all at once. Imagine watching week to week if you didn't. It was the worst.
AMC was cheap and greedy and Scott Gimple became a terrible show runner.
I agree. Angela Kang came a couple of years too late.
@@warrenreid6109 Facts and she was too safe. Didn’t kill off anyone, not even the numerous pointless characters.
Completely agree, I even think the writing on TOWL is rushed and borderline like watching Fear
AMC kept being cheap and kept getting greedy because of the "fan boys". Now because of these fan boys it enabled AMC to keep cranking out garbage, milking the show, adding crap in and the fan boys keep sucking it.
@@brianachim2670True. She only killed off Rosita in the final episode, because the actress asked to be killed off
Killing off Carl wasn't killing one of the main characters, he was THE main character. Underneath the morality of how people handle the apocalypse was always a story of a father passing the torch to his son. It actually ruined the story for me and many others, they crossed the forbidden line in storytelling that you never cross. It's like if they killed Harry Potter in the sixth book out of eight, absolutely ridiculous.
Individuals matter.
And yet he was the most obnoxious character with the worst actor...
Firing Chandler was the Single Worst Mistake of TWD ever!
Frank darabont was way more impactful than Chandler.
I agree that Carl being alive would have drastically helped the show in the last 3 seasons, Henry took too long for me to give a shit about him, and then weeeelll....we know what happened to him at the end of that one season....and Judith? Please...she's not even a Grimes!
The scene where Rick shows up to the gates of Alexandria and can hear the kids playing inside and you see the relief on his face is the perfect ending to the show. After all the violence and suffering to see a sense of hope for the first time wraps up the first 5 seasons full circle
Ironically that's where I stop watching most times when I rewatch twd
Personally my favorite stopping point is the mid season finale of season 6 with Alexandria successfully defeating the horde
It makes the final threat the walkers again and firmly shows them essentially “defeating” them, and if you cut out the hints towards the saviors you could really make it a satisfying ending
@@closet__optimist I agree. No Way Out is the best stopping point.
@@closet__optimist I've always said this and even wanted to make a fan ending for this but I lack the skills able to do so and no one wants to take it up.
That was actually supposed to be the original ending
I don't think creating new arcs is a problem as long as it's well written, the prison illness arc and the terminus are original to the series and worked very well.
Terminus is an evolution of the fear the hunters arc
Creating story arcs is fine aslong as they don't l9se focus and drag things out with pointless filler shite, all the arcs in the show could have been good but so many of the story arcs have so much filler that by the time the arc ends you kinda forget the important stuff along the way
Here’s the thing, it wasn’t at one point rivaling Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, it was BIGGER than them. The Walking Dead in its prime was setting constant records and beating the other two in viewership. If it kept that quality up for the later seasons it would undoubtedly be seen as the best and most popular show of all time.
Fun fact about Season 1 is that everyone was supposed to die in the CDC explosion. Originally the show was gonna be a mini series and end with everyone dying but they decided to change that for one reason or the other. In a way I think that's why Season 1 story is so well writen and tightly knit. They originally had their ending in sight and knew what they were gonna detail or leave ambiguous e.g. Merle and Morgan's fates.
This is a series I loved ever since I convinced my mum to watch it with me at the ripe age of 13 but it has pained me to watch it slowly drop in quality. Besides `Game of Thrones' The Walking Dead has been one of my biggest hyperfixations. Now I just pray someone puts this series out of its misery
The thing about the Commonwealth arc for me was that everything was so clean. Clean streets, everyone is well dressed. It didn't feel like a post apocalyptic show.
The Commonwealth was about the same in the books. They manufactured everything and had a population of over fifty-thousand
That's kinda the point though
The flu arc was great tho, specially Hershel's episode
"You step outside, you risk your life. You take a drink of water, you risk your life. And nowadays you breathe, and you risk your life. Every moment now you don't have a choice. The only thing you can choose is what you're risking it for. "
Hershell dropping bars!
I think it was pretty much Gimple's way of nerfing the group so that way The Governor could stand a chance. Obviously with half of left of the group recovering from an illness it makes a lot more sense that he was able to destroy the prison so that way the character would be on the road. Throw in some character development for the major cast member who was about to be killed off and you have yourself an arch
@@98izzark69 They just needed to take Daryl 🤣. He took out half of militia himself.
I agree completely!
I have to correct you on something: This show didn't rival Breaking Bad (in terms of viewers) seasons 3-6, it had A LOT more viewers. TWD was the most watched show ever at the time. Breaking Bad was popular and a critical favorite, but didn't even come close in viewership until it's final season
And the flu arc in Season 4 was great. It was tense and smartly written.. it also mattered in terms of the overall narrative because it made them weaker and less prepared for the Governors attack
Nope, viewers didn’t even beat Mad Men reruns. This show and the spinoffs gave terrible viewership.
@drachenmarke From a quick search Breaking Bad's most viewed epsiode had 3 million viewers and twd's most watched epsiode had 17 million
Frank Darabond never should've left. After him the dialogues were cringe to say the least
many people now appreciate the slower pacing of S2 (after the fact), because it gives them
more time with the legacy cast... which was the best group of the entire series.
especially great characters like Shane and Lori, and Dale (S2 was their defining moment).
Season 2 is my favorite season. I love the space and wide open fields and the characters are more spread out as they do their own story arcs.
The season 6 finale cliffhanger doesn't even make narrative sense, which pissed me off even more. Because in the Season 7 opener, we get Abraham's death--which is brushed off completely and ignored by most fans, since Glenn gets killed right afterwards!
Why not just have Abraham die in S6's finale, then have Glenn's death in the S7 premier when everyone thinks they're safe? It'd definitely have fans talking and being invested in the rest of the season instead of dropping off after the first episode.
All the marketing was about who Negan killed in S7's premier, too. They could've used that to market Negan vs Rick.
Seasons 1-2 is peak walking dead for me. Seasons 3-5 are really great too. Season 6 and onwards is where the shows starts to fall really flat in my opinion.
Absolutely agree
Season 1-3 is awesome. Never went beyond that. This October me and my sister rewatched in the spirit of spooky season and now I’ve been watching zombie movies non-stop 😂
The ones who live, not without its flaws, was some of the best of TWD we’ve gotten in a long time.
the ending was so bad though, it ruined the whole season for me
The Ones Who Live felt fresh. But also the killing off of characters before developing them was so poor.
The writing particularly the scene with Throne and Michonne was embarrassingly bad. Like watching Fear
it was fun, although after years of build up, defeating the CRM within 15 minutes felt disappointing
@@LexUniverse"And Poochie went back to his home planet" vibes
Season 2 is the king, Shane's arc is GOATed, s1 and 2 were special, everything after s6 is not even worth watching imho
Vatos is one of my favorite episodes to see the gang members taking care of the elderly was truly heartwarming. It really broke stereotypes at the time.
They weren’t gang members though they just portrayed themselves as thugs which even pissed off Rick because he said they intended to come in and kill everyone in order to get Glenn back & he would have felt bad knowing they were really just nurses and janitors.
And we even see this scenario play out when the group returns to their base and finds all of them dead with the governor likely have been behind it and then trying to play the same tough guy card.
Rick should not have come back after blowing up the bridge to protect the community from the walkers. Him suddenly being alive made his sacrifice meaningless
They killed off Carl. Rick left. That's the end of the show IMO. Bad directing and story design after Season 6. Too many unlikeable, uninteresting, irrelevant characters after Season 6. Also another thing, in S6 and before, the core group stuck together. In later seasons, they become dispersed, horrible storylines (Maggie just disappearing, no reason), and so it felt disjointed and like a different series altogether.
Well Season 7 had the entrance of not only the best character of the show bit the best actor aswell and thats Negan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Maggie became unlikeable herself
Remember, Carls death was entirely pointless. He got bit saving that Sadic guy, he goes on to die 1 or 2 seasons later.
Great video, the misread are funny and charming.
To me the show kinda died and lost its heart whem Hershel died.
I wonder if they never killed Carl they wouldn’t have to do a time skip when Rick left which means maybe fear the walking dead probably wouldn’t be ruined
I feel like if frank darabont wasn’t fired the show would of been a lot better
Seasons 7 and 8 should have been one singular season. We didn't need our group fighting Negan for 32 episodes, 16-20 would have been enough.
I see so many people with their opinions of when and why the show failed or “worst mistakes” and I have to disagree with you all. The absolute worst thing they ever did was fire frank darabont. The guy wrote and directed the pilot and show runner for the first season. He did Shawshank redemption, green mile, the mist, and more, but they fired him. I promise none of the following issues the show presents, would’ve been issues under frank
They fired him because he was gonna adapt the comics more properly and wanted a bigger budget
Excellent commentary, it’s as if you were in my head… I dropped the show at the end of season 7.. Your so on point , I realized they didn’t have an ending in sight, just the same story , put on wash rinse & repeat .
Walking dead’s never been about a cure lol
I still watch the early seasons, mainly 1-7. Thanks for the content on TWD. Love seeing it buddy.
the sad part, they will never be able to create another zombie apocalypse show (like this),
because it will just be compared to Seasons 1-3, of TWD, and whether they are copying TWD.
The show didn't have an ending in mind, it still doesn't, because they don't want it to end. Hell, the comic book ending wasn't amazing. But the show ending was waaaaayyyy worse than the comic ending lol, but the spin-offs are a continuation of the show, so technically the show still hasn't ended. So there's still no definite ending in mind.
this was really well made… how does bro only have 15 subs
Fr
@@whoisboa aye he’s got 100 now
648 now
Take a shot everytime he says “season”
A shot of a drink or a shot with a gun? either way someone dies, lol
The acting, camerawork, writing, special effects, all of it. It has all degraded into marvel quality crud.
Plenty of good points made. Thanks. The small group being on the road was my favorite aspect of the show along with the zombies.
i don’t think seasons 7 and 8 are really even that bad. compared to the others? they are definitely lacking. but it truly truly fell off in seasons 9 and after. even the spin-offs weren’t that good! except for the ones who live, which i think was saved by having andrew and danai as producers. those two truly understand their characters.
no; season 7 is dogshit and ruined the show.
@@tech8939its not. Season 7 and 8 were pretty good, mostly because of Negan. They had their negative things but the Sanctuary arc was absolutely amazing
It did not feel like the show had to rely on gimmicky tricks to keep fans interested.
It HAD to use gimmicky tricks to keep fans interested. Because the people who took over after squeezing out Darabount are hacks. Especially the soulless clods that goes for excetuvies at the amc.
They milked the WD fanbase for all it was worth. Thats all that happen. The fact that WD hung on for so long is an testament to the cast and the loyalty of the fanbase.
This video was a pretty thorough analysis of the entirety of The Walking Dead, but your conclusion was convoluted and could have used a little rework. Good work overall!
Honestly I think I just want a show that continues exploring this world that I can just watch while I eat dinner after work. I don’t need amazing new storylines because in an actual apocalypse you’re going to see the same problems pop up and that’s fine with me. I want it to keep going but god I hate these 6 episode spinoffs - give me a real season.
TWD's biggest problem was the standard 16 episodes, some seasons like 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
I agree as well! Created a lot more filler content in between the premiere and finale.
Season length was never a problem the walking dead lost viewers after the dead wasn't a threat an dragging on the saviors whispers ark
If they had 10 episodes per season like GOT the show would have been so much better
The comics had a set of 6 issues/episodes per volume/story arc. The show tried too hard to make it 8 and 8 or just 16 connected. Season 1 felt like a long movie with an ending because that is how it was written. Similarly Season 2's first arc was "Sophia" but it took far too many episodes to wrap up. Ideally it should have been Ep 1 (highway, lost, deer), Ep 2 (surgery, Otis), Ep 3 (search for Sophia, Glenn/Maggie stuff), Ep 4 (Second day of search ending with barn open), Ep 5 (reactions and bar fight), Ep 6 (finale, cutting 16 miles out)
I did love the classic references to Romero zombies in the later seasons with all the retro graveyard shots e.g. when Jesus was killed...but was not enough to save the show
Frank Daramont was present through season three I think. He directed the great film The Mist, which had Carol,Dale and Andrea who he brought onto The Walking Dead.
You was fired midway through production on Season 2
It was very Early in Season 2! Not at all, in Season 3!
Only S1, he was illegally fired during filming of 205 or 206.
I’ll always love TWD through its ups and downs. I still enjoyed it at its worst. For me it’s like sticking with your favorite sports team even when they have some bad seasons. Would I have liked a tighter story with a concrete beginning, middle, and end? Definitely, but it’s whatever, it became tradition. It would always be Halloween time again, TWD was back, and I was ready for thrills even if I had to sit through some bs for a bit
Season 4 is where I stopped watching. The empty side stories drove me nuts and when they killed the Governor, I was like “cool. It’s over” 😂
I got this video late but I really appreciate this, I wanted to see more and more videos of the steady decline of the walking dead, it’s very much interesting to always have a discussion about.
I love the walking dead. I watched and enjoyed every season and wished for more. I'm a 60 yr old fan of horror /thriller genre. My son stopped watching after terminus. No matter what i said he refused to watch. He said the walking dead were the least of the threat. I guess he was right. But it was an incredible show. I love all of the characters, love the writing, love Fear the Walking Dead, would love to watch everthing walking dead hopefully youtube will supply all spin offs. I subscribe to so many platforms already amc.
Im surprised he didn’t mention Negan’s character once. He was the highlight of the later seasons.
I still like it, S7 and S8 sucks, the Daryl show and The Ones Who Live is even better, its still a franchise whose still alive, imo.
Ur right both are surprisingly awesome. But still not as good as S1 and S2
Great work on this man! Looking forward to seeing what's next!
Glad you enjoyed the video! Thank you for watching!
Season 1 and 2, specially 1, make me so nostalgic. I love them so much. I still enjoyed the show for about 2 or 3 seasons after that, but nothing ever reached the same vibe/atmosphere from the very start of the show.
the most awkward part about this is the fact that there are still so many bootlickers that defend a show that doesn’t deserve to be defended
i get we should only use critical criticism but the way they made it easy to be so disconnected with the show i don’t even think the weaker critiques are bad cause they simply don’t take it seriously
Well people defend cops and pro child marriage right wingers why are you surprised?
@@ligma212 we can accept there will always be radical people and opinions in every community and fanbase but it should be called out or would you rather let it linger and let more people agree with child marriage because of a lack of push back?
also chill out thats a large jump from television 💀 this matters to me and others in this comment section because we want good well written and portrayed entertainment instead of letting the bs slide and allow IP’s to be dragged into the mud like marvel and tolkiens universe it has nothing to do with morality or biology
Criticism is needed as stories can run amuck. Not every avenue and alley needs to be explored -- yet the story tried again and again to take us down those alleys. Grady Memorial and the Reapers are great examples of "sounds good on paper". But the dialogue and scenes needed to make them work were never done. The show made some great calls with smaller detours like Sophia, Terminus, and The Wolves. But not every single idea needs an arc. Too many stories started to get engaging and ended abruptly - Carl/Enid, Andrea, Tyreese/Sasha. I loved Grady Memorial and would consider it one of my favorite arcs IF Beth actually made it. I get it, Maggie has to be alone for Glenn's death to have impact. But having Beth make it to at least the Wolves or actually die under Nicolas/dumpster would have been miles better than what we got.
The 2 Governor Episodes plus Too Far Gone are my favorites outside anything Negan related lol
Once they fired the head guy from season 1 and 2 it was over
I agree about the flu arc. And I always felt like the governor arc was too long. I really like season 2 and 3, and 4 is my favorite season, but the flu arc was hard to not skip. The rest of season 4 was awesome though. I'm of the unpopular opinion that I liked every season, uo until the last 3. I liked the whisperers, but the acting or directing or writing or something was off on the last 3 seasons. I can't place it, but something about it made it feel fake, like I couldn't forget that this is just a show, and everyone is acting. Idk.
The chances of it being anything deeper than an endless slog of one failed “safe haven” to another left with Frank Darabont.
This shows only downfall was trying to world build on an easily understood and established world. The early seasons that you talk about 1-3, it truly feels like there's no hope at all and there's an entire world of walkers out there to get them. Seasons 4-7 were all about saying hey look, we know you're here for the zombies, but its cheaper to have corny dialogue that eats up 3/4's of the episode. Seasons 8- current are what I call the make up era. Angela Kang came in and wanted to correct the wrongs done and give us great action scenes and fast pacing. All in all I love TWD, the main series survived the disaster of scott gimple yet he was still able to stain the spin offs
also feel the same here, literally grow up watching twd since the beginning when season 1 was ending, i had 7 years old and its just a part of my life i guess, love the show so much but at the same time it hurts what they made of the show sometimes
25:03 putting these 2 clips together is the most devious ahh thing 😭😭😭
While there have been many later episodes I did like (I loved 'The Ones Who Live'), the show should have ended with the line... _It's a good thing we're here!'_ And then let the NEXT GENERATION take it further a few years later...
12k views and just over 100 subscribers doesn't seem fair. This is a really solid video, and it's not easy to make (close to) hour-long videos that don't drag or lose my attention at any point. I just wanted to say: great work.
I watched it all, but like I only started watching it after it's popularity fell off. I mainly stuck around for Negan, a little bit of Gabriel and Aaron, and Carol and her dynamic with Darrell. The closest I came to dropping the show was when they started messing with dynamic in season 10. At least Negan remained entertaining. Season 11 was pretty bad and Maggie was out of character most of the time. They couldn't wrap things up because they had no Rick or Carl. Really shot themselves in the foot there. The Darrel Dixen show isn't bad though. They brought Carol back recently.
I think Shane would have been a great reoccurring threat turned ally. Like Negan, but Rick and Shane knew each other beforehand and were close like family, so it'd hit harder. I think what should have happened is that Carl shoots him, we think he's dead, but he isn't, like the governor, and then he comes and goes trying to catch up to the group. He knows the map or has an inkling of where the group might go but misses them by a hair. Takes refugee at the governors place and leave to "presue" them. He forms his own group, and we have close calls with him trying to catch and off Rick. He tries to take lorie, Carl, and his baby back. But then the group evanded him. Eventually, he had his own responsibilities but still tries to go after the group. By the time he knows about the prison, it's gone. He thinks Lorie and the baby are dead, so he goes after Rick for revenge in general cause that's all he has as well as Carl. He finds out the baby lives and goes to take the baby back, but he doesn't. Once Negan is introduced, he hids in the shadows taunting Rick, even gets one of his own already "recruited" so he can come and go without suspicion. Tries to sow seeds of doudt to others around Rick as well. Eventuall, he and Rick reform a bond because he sees that Rick really loves Judith as his own. They fight back together and even if they cant be as close, they are allies and friends.
It could have still been a story about good vs bad or humans that try to do the right thing vs those that uses others to their advantage. Then they could have done whatever with Negan but people prolly wouldnt have been as upset, especially when reasoning with Shanes Ideas that have reformed but evolved from JUST offing everyone. Heck Shane could be incharge of both groups and we still get to see his unhinged ways as well as trying to work things out with Rick. Eventually he gets his own girl and they just try to live the best they can in this new world.
I have a really early copy of Attack on Titan volume one, and there is a review on the back of the book that compares the series to The Walking Dead in terms of story telling and character development.
It’s sad how comparing a series to The Walking Dead these days (unless specifying the older seasons) is now considered an insult lmao
Season 10 and 11 are worst then 7 and 8. The only reason to watch those seasons is for Negan.
No wonder he hunches all the time. Back must be hurting from carrying whats left of the entire franchise for the last 8 Years
Great video. Keep going, you are good at this.
I stopped and the picked it back and watched every episode and the spin offs. Loved every bit of it
It also sucked that Carl dies because we got to see what would happen to someone so young having to deal with the mental aftermath of a world like this, while the grown ups around him tries to toe the line of both independence and keeping him form crossing the like. Them not wanting to pay the actor more is such BS because they could have done so much more. What sucks even more is that they tried to do this with the other teens and kids of the show. The problem is, we dont care about them and now the remaining viewwers are gonna have to do the same thing all over again with Judith and that older brother younger siblings thing could have been so great.
Bro’s first video happened to be an absolute banger, bright future keep ts up
One of my personal favorite delulu "tropes" is imagining if the Walking Dead plot ONLY happened in the US lol. Like in Walking Dead universe of course. But like, imagine it lol
I always saw the people we watched The Walking Dead with as the people that "made it this far". So many of my family and friends stopped watching during Season 7 or 8, so the loneliness I felt being the only one watching 9, 10, and 11 related to the characters and their friends and family that didn't "make it this far" or "through the war". People have a breaking point. People run away from the show like Carol, or try to find better things like Morales.
Thank you to everyone who watched and enjoyed the video! I am looking forward to uploading more videos soon for you guys. Im thinking of doing my next one on "From."
Definitely do From, not enough people are talking about it here- my only request sir is to please stop fading out your voice each section, and edit out the small voice errors, I love you but it takes me right out of your ON POINT and VALID commentary. Otherwise, you are on par with million-sub creators my guy! I'm here for you! You have my subscribe
mate this vid is real good quality. plz keep going people will take notice
Also the illness arc was written in very well and is something that would be a serious issue without medicines and drs, so it was good to have in plus it was well written
I will admit I kinda slowed my interest after Glenn got nerfed lol, he was my favorite but I still continued watching until I think half or a bit more of season 7. But then Carl happened and it just seemed like the show did the same plot over and over and I didn’t even bother after that. I was crazy about the show too in middle school like obsessed and now I don’t even wanna rewatch my favorite moments
I had finished the walking dead actually recently because of my sister and yah know it wasn't that bad tbh and i was kinda shocked! I think season 9 and 10 were fun. I loved the reapers part. Maggie and Gabriel really carried these seasons. Seeing how far of Gabriel he has become and when he faces a fellow reaper with almost the same beliefs he use to have he knows what he has to do now. And the climax where maggie doesn't let the rest of the reapers go and shoots them, as the reapers would have done, felt what the walking dead really was and i loved it ❤. The common wealth and the introduction i thought was pretty good. I think Sebastion was a good minor villian too and the way hes dies is pretty satisfying. I do agree though the last season was rushed, the fake death of judith, the zombies! But the way Rosita is with Eugene to the end and her death was honestly heart breaking. The talk with daryl and carol was also really something. Seeing every character in the end was pretty cool too but i agree i wish the walking dead was treated better❤ I am glad though i got to finish the series.
I love this video man. It’s great finding a content creator with your passion. Subscribed.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for subscribing!
I definitely recommend watching the new spin off shows. Daryl Dixon is better than anyone expected it to be and is going strong the ones who live is a mixed bag and the ending is highly questionable and bad in some ways but 99% of the show is absolutely done amazingly and is some of the best Rick Grimes moments in the series as a whole. Dead city is good but only if you are a big fan of Negan. Maggie is great too but I stopped caring for her around season 8.
I somehow completely agree and disagree with you at the same time i agree walking dead probably should end but I don't want it to and I'm always down for more of this universe
From seasons 8 to the final I paid more attention to Daryl and magna’s group her group was why I started reading the comics myself id love a one off show like 1 or 2 seasons of just magna’s group we already know there set ending of there group but we don’t know much about them before
I quit around the time Rick slit Megan’s throat. Then picked it up again last year and binged the last few years. The very last season was really really good imo! But yeah season 6-the next to last or next to next to last seasons were kinda rough. Some of the battles with the saviors across season 7 and 8 were pretty good, but it was tough to make it thru that much unnecessary fluff of all the horrible actions of negan and the saviors
To many comic fans tv series fake fans
Not enough folks liked the fact that it was carls comic daryls show, when carls death finally showed up after a long wait everyone thought this show was based on one person that being carl, but it wasnt! The show is still great and hasnt ended its expanded actually! Gonna be fun when they make movies outa it
I honestly didn’t appreciate season two until years later. I often watch season 2-5 again without an issue
shouldn't have killed carl, especially with rick leaving later.
Bro how you gonna bring up the dialogue of season 2 without mentioning nebraska
I also think season 1 & 2 was so good that it made other next few seasons good reason for season 1 & 2 being good is cozz of diff script writer or director unfortunately he got fired and rest is history...
AMC treated TWD as a disgruntled parent. Never cared in the end but gave it some attention when others praised it and taking credit but never actually caring. Now it "takes care" of it while making the child pay for everything leaving them with nothing. But AMC still tries to put on airs.
When you see a show having an advert about the show you are watching, it means they can’t sell adverts… it’s over.
I enjoyed all of it then I watched it bing3 style but three times and got something out of it each time. The ones who live is great. Parts of the Daryl spin off are super 8 like the underground moulin rouge.
IIRC the showrunner of the first season left because the budget for the second season was dramatically cut to what they had in season one. That is honestly the handicap that doomed the show. TWD did not need to be a 16 episode drama you could have cut it to ten and done a larger GOT style show and it would have probably been a lot higher quality with tighter pacing and stronger character arcs.
Lost interest when they introduced a tiger.
It stopped being the same when they settled in alexandria
The walking dead will have a comeback. I have faith. There’s still a lot of storylines they could play out. I’d love to see how this world evolves 100-200 years from now
Great video, very clear and got to the point.
great vid, hope to see this channel grow 🙏
Thank you for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Always been big on Season 2 as well
I think what should have broken rick instead of Negan killing glen and Abraham. Should have been forcing rick to go threw with cutting carols hand off. There for instead of carol forcing his way into negans sanctuary. Carol would have to force his way to get back home instead of Daryl being a captive
Morgans' character change back and forth was also really irritating. It's sad that the show went so downhill. I had great memories watching seasons 1-5.
“Growing up” in reference to this show is crazy lol
im interested in this video and there are a lot of good points. my one critique is the editing really needs some improvement. please take that as a constructive criticism and not me hating.
Ok thank you! Anything specifically with the editing you think I should improve on?
I was a huge fan of TWD comic. Carl's death was it for me. I couldn't be bothered with S9.
The walking dead was a show that never needed a real ending but then suddenly the fowas to figure out where the end would come, also I find the later seasons biggest issues is they stopped fleshing out characters stopped with the walker problems and focused to much on real life problems but without real life reactions sure the later you get into the apocalypse the less politics would be involved between communities, for the most part yeah there would be insane people with insanely large groups but walkers would still be the biggest problem and they stopped being a problem at all once the saviours came about