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Television

‘The Walking Dead’ Mid-Season Premiere Trailer Is Dark and Crazy

By Judy Berman on

The Walking Dead has never been what you might call lighthearted, but judging by the new trailer for its mid-season premiere, we’re in for one hell of a nihilist romp when the show returns February 12th. The clip opens with four gunshots and a violent car crash, and we see the body of a freshly shot zombie-Sophia being covered with a blanket. Now that the group’s one immediate source of hope — the idea that they might save the girl — is gone, all bets are off: Bloodthirsty zombies, random violence, and even perhaps the demise of Rick Grimes’ relentless optimism follow. Jeez. We keep threatening to stop watching The Walking Dead, but if it’s about to get darker than ever, we may not be able to quit. … Read More

Television

The Epic ‘Walking Dead’ Season 2 Premiere That Could Have Been

By Caroline Stanley on

It seems like ages ago that we first heard the surprising news that Frank Darabont, the creator and showrunner of AMC’s zombie drama The Walking Dead, wouldn’t be returning for the show’s second season, reportedly due to budget reasons. Now, we’re finally getting a taste of what he had planned for the premiere of Season… Read More

Television

Blind Item: Who’s Leaving ‘The Walking Dead’?

By Caroline Stanley on

A freshly-posted blind item on TVLine has left us wondering if there’s about to be a serious casting shakeup on everyone’s favorite zombie drama, The Walking Dead. “The backstage drama all started when series creator Frank Darabont was ousted,” they explain. “A whole lotta people were upset, you’ll recall, and this one person,… Read More

Television

‘Hell on Wheels’: The AMC Backlash Has Arrived

By Judy Berman on

“AMC’s Hell on Wheels derails the cable network’s momentum as a dealer of top-notch dramas.” That pronouncement comes from Boston Herald writer Mark Perigard, in his review of the cable juggernaut’s newest series, which debuts Sunday — and it seems to sum up many critics’ reaction to the blood-drenched, hour-long Western set amid the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Although it has earned some faint praise from a few reviewers, Hell on Wheels is the first recent AMC series to earn such a tepid initial reception. Mad Men and Breaking Bad remain almost universally adored several seasons into their runs, while The Killing and The Walking Dead at least managed to start off strong. But between those shows’ slow decline, the highly publicized tensions between the network and showrunners, and what looks to be their first true programming misstep, it seems the AMC backlash has begun. After the jump, we explore what’s bugging critics about Hell on Wheels. … Read More

Pop Culture

The Undead Intelligentsia: Highbrow Zombies in Pop Culture

By Emily Temple on

Zombies, somewhat inexplicably, have captured the attentions of American culture and don’t seem to be letting go anytime soon. Most representations, however, as perhaps best befits the shambling, brain eating, flailing creatures, are deliciously low-brow, from low budget horror films to trashy fright night novels — that is, until this week, when Colson Whitehead’s Zone One hit the shelves, reminding us all that zombies can be intellectual too. His literary use of the undead walkers in his post-apocalyptic vision of New York has led us to consider other high-brow treatments of zombies in pop culture, which have slowly been emerging to varying degrees of success as the gross-out creatures continue to gain popularity. Click through to see a few of our favorite highbrow zombies across the board, and let us know if we’ve missed any in the comments. … Read More

Television

‘Walking Dead’ Premiere Breaks Ratings Record

By Caroline Stanley on

Did you watch last night’s Season 2 premiere of The Walking Dead? Odds are that you probably did, as Deadline is reporting that the super-sized episode of AMC’s zombie thriller drew in 7.3 million viewers in total, making it “the strongest telecast for any drama in basic cable history.” That’s a significant increase… Read More

Television

Exclusive Video: Every Zombie Kill in ‘The Walking Dead’

By Caroline Stanley on

If you are like us, then for months now you’ve been not-so-patiently awaiting the return of AMC’s zombie-apocalypse thriller The Walking Dead, which starts its second season this Sunday night. From the looks of it, things will be much darker in the coming episodes, with the show’s heroic protagonist, Rick Grimes, finally having the opportunity to show us more than just his zombie slaying skills. Not that we mind watching him bust up some Walkers when the opportunity presents itself — which viewers of the show know is quite frequently. That’s why after the jump we asked Jesse Pynigar to compile every single zombie kill from the short first season in all of its gory glory for your NSFW-viewing pleasure. Enjoy! … Read More

Television

AMC Launches a ‘Walking Dead’ Web Series

By Caroline Stanley on

For fans who can’t wait for the Season 2 premiere of The Walking Dead on October 16, especially after watching that most recent teaser, we’ve got some good news: TVLine reports that AMC is launching a six-episode Walking Dead web series that will reveal the pre-apocalypse backstory of Hannah, the creepy… Read More

Television

New 'Walking Dead' Teaser Suggests a Dark Season 2

By Judy Berman on

By the end of The Walking Dead‘s short first season, which followed a perfect premiere with a disappointing lack of character development, we were finding it hard to care whether the show’s band of zombie-apocalypse survivors lived or died. In fact, we weren’t sure we’d keep following the series in its second season — especially after the first trailer did nothing to convince us that we’d be in for anything more than Rick Grimes’ heroic head-busting. Thankfully, a new teaser does in 15 seconds what that clip couldn’t accomplish in a minute: it suggests that our white-knight protagonist is in for a big change (namely, a crisis of faith in his role and mission) in Season 2. “It’s just a uniform,” says the cop, looking defeated as he removes his badge. “I don’t mean anything now.” It’s worth noting that Rick is alone in both the previews we’ve seen so far, as well as in a pair of new posters. Does this mean he’ll be separated from his wife and son — or worse? Watch the teaser after the jump and let us know what you think is in store. … Read More

Television

Kevin Smith’s Comic Book Reality Series Coming to AMC

By Caroline Stanley on

In a move much more likely to interest fans of The Walking Dead than Mad Men, The Live Feed reports that AMC has ordered six episodes of Kevin Smith’s new reality series Secret Stash, a show which is set in his comic book store in New Jersey. “Draper. Meth. Zombies. This show couldn’t… Read More