The Walking Dead set through season 12

AMC is apparently not planning on ending The Walking Dead anytime soon. At a recent Producers Guild event, David Alpert stated that they are planning to run the show at least through 12 seasons.

“I happen to love working from source material, specifically because we have a pretty good idea of what season 10 is gonna be. We know where season 11 and 12…we have benchmarks and milestones for those seasons if we’re lucky enough to get there.”

Season 5 of the show is set to debut this October, but with this news I guess we can expect to keep seeing hints and premonitions for many seasons to come. It is no secret that the series has strayed from the comics a lot. However, the so-called "milestones" of the series have pretty much stayed true to the comics so far (ex. The Governor, Terminus, etc.). There is no telling how future milestones and introductions will be handled.
Screenrant has an interesting perspective and basically pointed out that in four seasons we have seen four different settings and tons of new characters. We started out with the camp and Atlanta, season two went to Hershel's farm, season three was Woodbury and the prison, and season four had the fall of the prison and the road to Terminus. The point being is, can this show survive a long-standing run if the setting is not changed up so much? There have also been complaints, especially during season four, that the show was getting very slow and boring.

I love The Walking Dead. I am saying that up front, but I don't believe this show can last too much longer. It's only as matter of time before the current characters get too old and have to die out. I liked season four when it did pick up, but as a whole it was pretty boring. I also think the introduction of characters only to kill them within the episode or an episode later is getting very annoying.
Similar to how I feel about True Blood, I am giving The Walking Dead a max of 7 seasons, maybe 8. If it goes beyond that it will just feel tired and the excitement will wear off. It's clearly starting to wear off already and how trends go these days the zombie trend will be over in a couple years anyway. There will be some new phenomenon to sweep through and grab everyone's attention.

Frank Darabont sues AMC over The Walking Dead

Frank Darabont, the ex-showrunner for AMC's The Walking Dead, has decided to file a lawsuit against AMC over the show's profits. Darabont is accusing AMC of "self dealing" the show's profits by setting low license fees affecting the compensation for those involved. He is also claiming he was wrongfully terminated by AMC and says he should continue to receive a credit as "executive producer" for The Walking Dead, Talking Dead, and the upcoming spin-off by Robert Kirkman. AMC declined comments, but Darabont and his agency, CAA, are asking for a monetary settlement.

There is a slim chance this will go to trial. It is likely that AMC will settle out of court and give Darabont a cash settlement. This isn't uncommon with television shows due to the relaxed syndication laws passed in 1995. Examples of previous cases include:

Home Improvement producers suing Disney
Alan Alda (M*A*S*H*) sued 20th Century Fox
Will & Grace creators sued NBC
Smallville producers sued Warner Bros.

All claims were that the studios did not distribute the money properly. The main difference with this case by Darabont against AMC is he was fired while the season was still running and is including the grievance in the case. In Darabont's original contract, AMC stated that The Walking Dead would be produced by an outside company and he would receive up to 12% compensation from the company. However, AMC decided to self-produce the show and as a result, they decided to self-deal the profits. The contract also included protection against self-dealing profit margins.
The wrongful termination is the clincher, imo. When Darabont was renewed as showrunner, AMC included a lock on him for seasons two and three along with a pay raise. Darabont was suddenly terminated from the show and the suit claims it was to avoid paying him the promised salary per episode and to prevent another pay raise after the third season was over.

AMC should the thanking Darabont. He gave them the best show in the network's history both profit wise and in viewership.

The Walking Dead renewed for season five

AMC has announced they have renewed the network favorite The Walking Dead for a fifth season. This is no surprise as the season four premiere three weeks ago drew in over 20 million viewers making it the most watched show on television.

AMC President Charlie Collier made this statement:

“We are very happy to make what has to be one of the most anti-climactic renewal announcements ever: The Walking Dead is renewed for a fifth season,” said Charlie Collier, AMC president. “This is a show that has erased traditional distinctions between cable and broadcast. Its expanding base of passionate fans has grown every season, most recently – and most notably – with the season four premiere earlier this month, which broke viewership records for the series and became the biggest non-sports telecast in cable history. On behalf of the incredible team on both sides of the camera, thank you to the fans and here’s to more Dead.”

I think this is great news. Season four started off slow, but I think it has started to pick up and has been pretty crazy in episodes 2 and 3. Bring on the dead.

SDCC: The Walking Dead returns October 13; Season 4 trailer debuts

Today we had the panel and Q&A for AMC's The Walking Dead at Comic-Con. We not only learned that season 4 will premiere on October 13th, but we also have the first trailer for the season. It looks like things heat up quite a bit.

A lot of people, including myself, were a bit disappointed about how Season 3 ended but by the looks of this trailer... Season 4 is going to kick some serious ass.

#TheWalkingDead #ComicCon #SDCC

New image for The Walking Dead season 4

Either someone is trying to stay anonymous or it smells awful outside. This new image from the upcoming fourth season of The Walking Dead shows Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) in a curious situation.

Season 4 will premiere on AMC this October and the show will have a panel at San Diego Comic-Con next Friday, July 19th.

AMC has no plans to end The Walking Dead

Typical... TV networks get a successful show and have to run it into the ground. Damn son.

AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan said on Wednesday that with the network losing Breaking Bad and Mad Men there are no plans at the current moment to end The Walking Dead. He is quoted saying:

“We hope that zombies live forever, and we’ve just begun to find out what the post-apocalyptic world is like,” said Sapan, “so that we’ll be sitting here at the Barclays conference in 2022 discussing the fact that “Walking Dead” is not over … at that point, I think any one of the companies will have replaced the United States government and we’ll be in a complete free enterprise world in which there are no nations.”

That is all well and good,  but all TV shows come to an end. Even good ones. I am a huge Walking Dead fan but if AMC turns it into a piece of shit I will stop watching. Period. 

The Walking Dead announces its 4th season

In more television news, it was also announced today that production on The Walking Dead's fourth season is set to begin this May in Atlanta. Season 4 will premiere in October on AMC and will contain 16 episodes.It will also be the first season to premiere with the new showrunner Scott Gimple in full control. The thing will be if he sticks around long enough to finish a season.

We are currently in the middle of Season 3 which just returned from its mid-season finale earlier this month.

Scott Gimple joins The Walking Dead as showrunner

After Glen Mazzara's sudden departure as showrunner halfway through season 3 of The Walking Dead, we now have a new showrunner. AMC announced producer Scott Gimple will step in. Gimple has been a part of the show since season 2 and has written a few episodes.

The Walking Dead will return to AMC on February 10th.

The Walking Dead confirmed for season 4; Showrunner quits

AMC has renewed the growing zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead for a fourth season. In addition to this news, AMC released that showrunner Glen Mazzara has parted ways with the show and the network due to "differences in opinion." Mazzara will remain as showrunner for the second half of the third season set to return in January, but after that we will no longer have him.

I don't understand this. They booted Frank Darabont out after a season and a half and now they have done the same with Glen Mazzara. Ratings have been booming, they have broken cable television records, and the show's popularity consistently is growing. There are several sources out there calling for Robert Kirkman, the writer of the original comic material, to step in as showrunner. He has been on board since season one and has been on as a producer. I would agree that he would probably know best at this point.

AMC to air The Walking Dead in black and white

This is pretty random but I love it.

AMC announced they are going to be airing seasons 1 and 2 (18 episodes total) of The Walking Dead in black and white starting this February. They aired the season 1 pilot in black and white earlier and I missed it, but the pictures I have seen from it look pretty cool. They are saying the reasoning is to give fans more of a comic book feel since the books are not in color.

First look at The Walking Dead - Season 3

Seeing that everyone else has spoiled this already I guess I can as well. Here is our first official look at what might be the biggest returning character for the third season of The Walking Dead. Ladies and gentlemen... Merle Dixon.

The Walking Dead Season 3 character spoilers

We now have visual confirmation of a returning character for the upcoming third season of The Walking Dead. Who is this character? None other than Merle Dixon (played by Michael Rooker). Rooker was spotted on the "Woodbury" set and we assume that he is part of the survivors at the prison led by The Governor.

This will be interesting.

The Walking Dead renewed for a third season!

AMC has ordered 16 episodes, not 6 or 13, for a third season of The Walking Dead. Hell yeah!

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/27910


I just hope they don't split the season into two parts like that have done with Season 2. I understand normal breaks and in between season time but to stop a season for months in the middle is ridiculous. Here's to hoping for 16 episodes straight.