The series hits AMC this October and we've seen some teasers of zombies and stuff. Check out this spread of the main characters:



Related stories:

http://comicrelated.com/news/2716/walking-dead-to-film
http://comicrelated.com/news/4926/walking-dead-to-tv
http://comicrelated.com/news/6303/walking-dead-cast
http://comicrelated.com/news/6465/walking-dead-lead
http://io9.com/5554925/watch-how-amc-will-...g-dead/gallery/
http://comicrelated.com/news/6877/walk-like-the-dead
http://comicrelated.com/news/7365/love-for-walking-dead

It seems like they're sticking pretty close to the actual cast of characters. Often times when someone makes a show/movie/pilot based on some other work, it has very little to do with the original book or comic (I'm looking at you, RIVERWORLD).

Yeah, I heard about that. About as accurate to the books as saying George Washington won World War II.

Watching the trailer, this looks VERY faithful to the book. I'm not completely sold on the actor playing Rick yet, but they cast the perfect guy for the first human he runs into with Lennis James (Hawkins from Jericho). As I read the book, he's who I pictured. Love that they cast him.

Riverworld had an awesome cast, though.

Brant, the only problem with that is his character (Morgan I think) will disappear for quite awhile if they follow the books on that route. For that character I hope they don't because I really like the actor. I think they could easily bring Morgan along at anytime by having him show up saying he was hoping to find Rick.

Still, that trailer looked AWESOME!

Yeah, that's true, he does get lost for a very long time if they stay true to the book's continuity. though they could conceivable fast forward things a bit, so maybe he'll be back sooner than later.

I did watch the trailer for this out of curiosity... that was a heck of a lot of zombies. lol I haven't decided if I'm going to try the show or not. Maybe I'll wait and see what everyone thinks of it. I skipped out on a Will Smith movie a few years ago because of the zombie factor. Can't remember the name of it at the moment.

I Am Legend, and that was a good movie.

I like some of the new stuff I've seen in production stills.

I also really will be interested to see just how much those first 6 episodes cover. Season 2 is already confirmed as well!

So it looks like we might officially have a zombie tv show.

So happy. This fills me with SO much joy. Just keep watching that trailer again and again...

Everything about this, other than the casting of Rick seems awesome so far!

Just have to watch it to see how this guy takes on the role. But visually he's not the part. For me at least.

Season 2 announced already?

I'm going to have to get my cable set up, I've been living without it for, well, a couple of years now.

It was at San Diego if I remember correctly. AMC is apparently fully behind the show and confirmed season 2.

I'll try and find the article on it.

Every time I show this to anyone all I get is "Is this a 28 Days Later Rip off?"

GRRR!

I believe issue #1 hit before 28 days later.

I can't wait for this show to start. I have read the series up to volume 12. Kirkman at the panel for The Walking Dead at NYCC said he would follow the book but not faithfully. He said he is also introducing new characters that were not in the book.

I am Legend is really not a zombie movie and neither is 28 Days Later.

What a great start to the show. I just recently started reading the books, so I don't have as many preconceptions as others who have been with it from the start may have, but I thought it was outstanding from start to finish. Can't wait for the next episode.

I thought it was really done well. I did think it was a little slow, but then so was the book starting out. They of course mixed things up a bit to better translate to the small screen, but I think they did so in a way that was still very true to the book.

Very good actors all around I must say. And while I am sick of every portrayal of Kentuckians being the very heavy accented folk, I actually thought the actor playing Rick did a great job with his accent. Seeing as how I've lived in Kentucky for 28 years, I think that makes me a bit of an authority on the subject as well.

So yeah, great start and I'll definitely be tuning in. I'm not a zombie fan, hate them in fact. But Chuck let me borrow his compendium of the first 48 issues of the comic and I fell in love with the story and have been reading ever since.

I have stated before, the guy they used to play Morgan (I think that's his name - the guy with the kid that found Rick) was who I set in my mind at the very first mention of the show. He was perfectly cast if you ask me, and I love that guy as an actor anyway. All the casting, as I said, was excellent.

I was seriously disappointed. I won't be back. I have all the trades, and love them...but think this series does them no real justice. Count me in with John Wilson. I'm one and done!

I disagree with you, Bill. You have to remember that the beginning of the book was also very slow paced and it was a while before we got to the meat of the story. No different here. I think the last scene with the tank really spoke of the meat of the series and left it on a very nice cliffhanger, with the introduction of Glenn via the radio.

It was alright. I'm entertained by it enough to keep watching (even if some of it is for the Mystery Science Theatre aspects of it). I love zombie movies so I'm not a hard sell. I've never read the books so I have no basis of comparison. What I can say is that this is definitely not reinventing the wheel by any stretch. It's more like a cut and paste of everything that's come before it (especially that coma part - eeesh) I can suspend disbelief to a certain extent, but to have to assume 1) He didn't die of starvation and/or dehydration, 2) He didn't get eaten, 3) He didn't get shot by survivors just to be sure, 4) assuming neither 2 or 3 that nobody even knew he was there, 5) that the atrophy and bedsores alone would have dang near crippled him, and 6) that no stray bullets in what seemed to be a warzone managed to get him. Granted, who knows how long he had been there, but by the looks of that hospital it was a pretty hopping place for a while. I just wonder who decided to move all the ceiling tiles and hang from the wires in the hallway. Not sure why anybody would have done that but somebody obviously did. Maybe there were people trying to hide up there? Maybe. It's not any more far fetched than anything else.

All bashing aside, I'll keep viewing in just to see zombies munching on hapless victims.

Oh. And did anybody else feel ripped off that we didn't get a cheap scare in that stairwell? I mean come on! Matches + Pitch Black = Big Boo! Sure, I would have known it was coming, but I also know the big hill on a rollercoaster is coming. Doesn't take away from me enjoying the thrill.

I plan to discuss this with you more during RaynMan tonight....but...there's slow...and there's putting me asleep....twice slow. I wanted it to knock me on my ass, not bore my ass to sleep. Fell asleep watching this, woke up started it a second time, fell asleep again..woke up and forced myself to watch it to the end.

I hate seeing it in color, loses a lot mood.

I don't like any of the cast...especially Rick (the guy playing him comes across as Viggo Mortenson lite), Shane and double especially Lori. (she is supposed to be beautiful...she already looks like a Zombie)

Lacked the human emotion element that makes the book so strong...only surfaces briefly twice this episode (When the guy couldn't bring himself to shoot his wife after she had become a zombie and Rick tracked down the half zombie). Very poor acting kills any other attempt at human emotion. The horse showed more human emotion.

Too much visual emphasis on the "kill shots"

Beginning was totally screwed......three gun men....survive a car crash that sees the automobile flip 326 times... unscratched...gets into a gun fight with 1,012 law men....Rick gets shot once he's alright....takes off the vest....gets shot again by the last of the parade of gun men that keep crawling out of the car....c'mon.

The beginning of the book is much better, one lone gun man on a back road..just Rick and Shane...hints that Shane may have let Rick get shot because he was he was already sleeping with Lori.

I felt this was very watered down and very over done, I know I will be in the minority here, but I'm even more picky about what I watch of T.V.m than what comics I read.

It has to be as good as Fringe or Smallville or I'm not investing the time.

This wasn't even as good as Flash Forward which I watched for half a season.

Looks like I don't have to worry about recording this any more. Should have spent the almost three hours I wasted trying to get through this thing this morning writing instead...I'll keep reading the books. But I'm done with the show. I already know what happens. whyI do I have to see it done again, and done poorly?

Well, it certainly wasn't without its flaws, and there were things that bugged me as well. I hope to do a full review for the site on it soon.

Stairwell, yes, I was expecting a scare there as well.

And Chad, if you had read the books you'd know that it is different. This story isn't about the zombies, it's about the people. Through the life of the series it deeply explores human reaction and relationships. We didn't get the meat of that in this premiere sadly.

You didn't like Lori? You must have hated Prison Break then: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915637/

And Flash Forward was awesome! lol

I trust you 100% Brant that it's about the people. I do have to go with Bill that I didn't feel much for them. That's not a story problem totally (but it did take somebody else pointing out that the affair was longstanding. I thought maybe she was just a vapid b*tch that couldn't last two whole weeks into the apocalypse without shacking up with another man. Kind of missed the subtext on that one, lol).

I like the Viggo thing Bill. I said the same thing to Karl and Mike last night

Yep....Prison Break was just terrible...think I made it through 15 minutes of that once.

But as far as reading the books... I didn't read Silence of the Lambs, but that movie was freaking cool.

I'm thinking Geek Street needs a Siskel and Ebert skit with Bill being the harshest critic in the universe, lol.

"Oooooo...another headshot done in slow motion...I'm so impressed!"

Like the Geek Street idea!

By the way never read Losers...loved the movie, same with Salt.

Prison Break rocked!!! Well, at least the first season anyway. Bill, you're harsh, dude!

I can't stand midget Dracula from Blade 3.

He makes David Hasslehoff look like a good actor.

I'm definitely looking forward to listening to this, it should be a blast.

This takes some getting used to, but with it being a different medium I can deal with it. I like the fact that we're seeing Zombies in the daylight and not just in the night like we do almost standard in every other story. For me, that's cool to see.

See I think Shane is a great casting choice. He reminds me of what we were given in the source material both visually and through Kirkman's words and actions. I didn't have a problem with him. Same with Lori, I don't think she was as good of a choice as Shane, but she does fine for me. I never considered her to be "beautiful," just slightly attractive and I think that's what we have. As for Rick, I never liked how he looked in the source material, so I actually like the actor better. I agree with the Viggo Mortenson Lite label, but I think it suits him and the role best.



Maybe this is just me, but I NEVER got that Shane and Lori were sleeping together before Rick was shot. From Lori's flashbacks I was led to believe that had one moment together on the way to Atlanta when she was scared and needed "intimacy" when she thought Rick was dead. I never thought Kirkman played it out that there was a previous affair prior to the outbreak. Of course, that doesn't mean Shane wouldn't be happy to see Rick take a bullet and get his chance to make a move on Lori, so who knows?


Anyways, overall I enjoyed it, but it was not as good as I hoped it would be. I agree it moved very slow, especially considering there are only 5 more episodes this season. Despite the vapid dragging of events I didn't see any reason not to continue watching it. It will have to do much worse to make me want to quit. Come on Bill, you stuck it out until the end of Reaper, you can watch more of this! It's not like you have any quality NFL football to watch!

Touche'!

Funny that you mention Rick's accent Brant as the actor is Australian? I believe. Chuck could answer that better than me. lol

Personally I frakking loved every second of it and think it's a beautiful adaption of the book so far with changes/additions that actually help it more than anything.

Not to start anything with Bill as I know you're a fan of the source material but don't you hate zombie stuff for the most part?

Oh is he Australian? Oops, I think I said British somewhere... maybe on Raynman tonight. I only heard him say like two words in his own accent, so oh well.

Fyi, on next Monday's Raynman Bill, Frank and I discuss this as well, and Bill makes some good points. I still enjoyed it, but I disagree that every change helped it. I think some of the changes hurt it.

Glenn's intro and the whole angle with the undead wife were great additions.

I really enjoyed it and I'm surprised Bill didn't. He's the first I've heard saying something negative honestly.

The undead wife was a nice touch, I'll give you that. But the whole tank thing and Glenn's new intro, very weak compared to the way he was originally brought into the story.

The guy that plays Rick can barely get a handle on the character ....now. I don't see him nailing the role any better as the story progresses and demands more of a dynamic acting style, I think he will fall even more short than he has already. At this point at the rate the have changed so much (ALL for the worse in my opinion) I seriously doubt Rick ever loses his right hand)

Yeah...Shane definitely comes across as a guy that would bring his partner flowers in hospital.

As for the "subtle" hints that Lori was having an affair with Rick before he was shot....(SPOILER)....you simply do the math. Rick did. By volume 6. of the trade he's pretty much come to the conclusion that the baby that Lori is pregnant with is Shane's, a quick check of when she would have gotten pregnant (if the baby is Rick's or Shane's and I admit that this is never really resolved in the book but even Lori could never say for sure who the father was and Rick and her came to a point they agreed not to talk about....any way she had to get pregnant prior to Rick getting shot)

Also yet another detail that got changed for no damn good reason at all...when Rick finally makes it his house and learns Lori is gone (in the book)....she has taken all the pictures off the walls EXCEPT the ones that had both her and Rick in them....another tell tale sign she was very unhappy in the marriage and encourages the train of thought she "may" have been having an affair at the time she left.

And yes... I can't stand zombies that why I avoided this book for years but once I started reading it, everything about that I liked has nothing to do with the zombies...case in point I have not mentioned the zombies at all for any the reasons I liked (very few to begin with) or disliked the show.

On that note I may go ahead and keep recording this and watching it Monday mornings when I get home from work...just in case I have a problem falling asleep.

Shane does say that he was nominated to bring the flowers, which as his partner makes sense.

As for the whole affair thing, I'm still not buying it. I'm pretty sure that once Rick gets back with Lori at the original camp outside of Atlanta I thought he and Lori had a night together. My compendium is on loan at the moment so I can't look it up, but that would explain why I think there was some confusion between who the father is. Now I'm dying to see if I read this wrong, so hopefully I can get my book back tomorrow and find out.

As for the actor who plays Rick, I still prefer him over the visualized rendition we get in the books. Maybe its the art or something, but I always thought Rick looked like a sloppy fat wanna-be biker than a police officer. I think the actor can and eventually will be able to have a presence that the character should have that I can only remember feeling Rick pulling off once during the entire series.

And as far as the Tank scene goes, despite the disbelief we are using to accept a story with zombies, what are the chances that the tank Rick gets inside of still has a working radio? That it is turned on? That the antenna can still pick up signals? That Glen has a radio? And that he has the tank's frequency ON his radio? It's a real stretch in those terms. But they did it so we have to take, and in the long run that's fine. What I'm more concerned about is that they continue to make Glen as cocky as he is there. Calling someone a dumbass is pretty cocky, so I want to see that continued.

In order here.

Yes Rick has one night with Lori very soon after discovering that she is alive...and many more after that but I for one (and several other readers) got the impression she was already pregnant at that time and in the very early stages of her pregnancy when Rick and her first met up again.

Even the guy that plays Shane in the t.v series (who would make a great Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragsu if they ever made a remake of Laverne and Shirley, but I think that might be the only role he is actually qualified for) was almost able to pull off with his High School Musical acting chops that they was something going on or at least happened one time...with Lori the zombie.

I believe most of this stuff is really brought up in volume 6...not sure I will have to check this as well.

I don't find anything unbelievable about how they brought Glenn into the t.v. show...just don't like it. The way they brought him into the book allowed for instant character reaction and development between the two characters, once again the changes made to the show produces additional material which increase production cost and really unnecessary, just like the shoot out at the beginning of the show.

Even the best part of the first episode (zombie wife) was additional material that was not necessary and actually damages the overall storyline because I doubt we see what happens to this boy unfold now the way it unfolded in the original material, assuming the television series even gets that far...I think it is a solid 50% chance it never finishes season two if it doesn't improve and improve fast. (Another Reaper which just made it through a second season but got worse with each episode)

Lastly...it's not my intentions here to start a war with anybody watching this show and enjoying it. People used to enjoy the Sonny and Cher show too and I had no beef with them either, but I was just pointing out what I disliked about it and why I don't see myself watching any more of it. Anything that pulls me away from my own creative projects has to be justified for the down time. This just doesn't make the cut for me. If other people have more time than me and don't mind investing the hour each week by all means, do so. Have a good time.

I will point out the Sonny and Cher Show should be available on dvd somewhere as well if you really just want to "waste" an hour.

Sonny Bono would have made a great Rick....and Cher Lori for that matter.

Well, Bill, it did better than any other show in the history of AMC and beat all competition on opening night. Granted, that's not really telling of lasting appeal, but it's a strong indicator there was a ton of interest, so we'll see if they hold that.

I actually liked the scene with the tank. I wouldn't have minded the addition of the zombie wife save for the fact that she wasn't a great actor and didn't look as much like a zombie as she did confused or stoned...

Of course it did better than any other original series on AMC...it was the first show that I ever watched on AMC...the first show Frank ever watched on AMC...and probably the first show millions of people watched on AMC due to the appeal of the fact it was based on incredible comic book series. Which the focus is strong human emotions.

I get more human emotions from an episode of Pawn Stars then I got out of this show.

Let's not forget.....Daybreak, Journey Man, even Heroes had great, well reviewed starts but fizzled very fast and I have no doubt million of zombies will tune in to watch this every week and it could be on the air longer than the Simpsons for all I know.....but there's 168 hours of television on every week that doesn't appeal to me and Walking Dead falls in that group , that's all I was saying and with that....I think I'm done. I don't want to be one those guys that pop in on conversation who is not reading or watching the show or book being discussed and just taking pot shots.

I watched the first episode. Those were my thoughts. I'll leave it at that.

I liked it. Take that!

I'm excited to see where it goes. As far as staying true to the source material ... I don't care about that kind of thing anymore. Whenever a story goes from print to film ... something always changes. I'm not gonna be a big crybaby about it.

Now we FIGHT!!


BLAM!!


POW!

KARASH!!

When I was growing up, I thought everyone in Kentucky talked like Sam Guthrie of the New Mutants! $*#@% Claremont!

Aw, now that's just wrong, Dave. lol

Loved last night's episode. The only real qualm I had with it is that I kind of hoped that each episode would end with something intense that wouldn't be resolved until the next episode. The issues that I've read thus far have done an excellent job at leaving a huge unresolved thread that makes you want to jump right into the next issue. Glenn hauling ass out of Atlanta having a great time didn't really leave me with that "I NEED to see the next episode right now!" feeling.

I kid! I kid!

Haven't had a chance to watch the second episode yet, but as someone who hasn't read the books in quite some time, I still enjoyed it.

By the way, not to change the subject, but I hope your feeling better Brant!

Thanks, Dave. Comes and goes. Today's an okay day.

I enjoyed the episode, but it still hasn't quite grabbed me. Though I'm noticing a lot of changes from the books now. It's basically the same material, but it's mixed around and changed a bit. At first this bothered me, but then, watching this with my brother, I realized because of it that he and I are watching something new together, so it made it okay. The changes make it a new experience.

Though I have to say, even though my brother's an adult now, it was still awkward watching that scene with Shane and Lori at the beginning, for both of us. lol