FRANK DARABONT SHOCKINGLY STEPS DOWN AS WALKING DEAD SHOWRUNNER

All reports have him stepping down as showrunner, not necessarily stepping away from the show entirely. Most reports seem to indicate it was the pace of a weekly show that did him in; could be that he remains on board as a creative consultant and occasional director/writer.

Given how uneven S1 was, maybe having someone else as showrunner will help even things out? Mazarra certainly has experience with great TV, so there's reason to hope.

This really dampens my enthusiasm for the show, even if it probably shouldn't.  I hope this is because he wants to go shoot The Long Walk.

Yeah, I'm wondering if it has less to do with "creative differences" and more to do with Darabont wanting to make another movie.

Darabont assuming a more direct control of this was by far my biggest reason for optimism regarding the second season. This does not bode well, regardless of the reasons.

If it was for creative reasons it's disastrous. If it's workload/scheduling related it still means less Darabont. Either way it's bad news.

I read they're half-way through the season.

Wonder if it had anything to do with this. http://www.chud.com/55157/give-darabont-his-budget/

Very, very probable.

I don't really buy the "workload was too big" stuff. After being hands off for the first season he pretty much got rid of half of the writing stuff and stepped up his role for the second. Then a month and a half after shooting starts he suddenly decides that the project he's been pushing for years is just too much and steps back down? We're not talking about some dude straight out of film school that gets overwhelmed. Darabont probably knows his shit.

Anyway, AMC should give this to Veena Sud as a reward for The Killing. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

After being hands off for the first season he pretty much got rid of half of the writing stuff and stepped up his role for the second. Then a month and a half after shooting starts he suddenly decides that the project he's been pushing for years is just too much and steps back down?

Every story I read about this last night refuted that he actually went through with his plan of using freelancers; i.e., he ended up using a writing staff.  HitFix, for example, in this story said this (emphasis mine):

Maybe, in the wake of the Bag of Bones announcement, he decided it was finally time for someone to take Mick Garris down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

Anyway, AMC should give this to Veena Sud as a reward for The Killing. 

Do not say that, even in jest.

I'll still watch, but this news sucks.

i remember hearing awhile back that Darabont wasn't going to be Showrunner for this show for that long anyways.  maybe this was the plan from the moment they got the second season renewal?  I couldn't picture Frank staying with this show for 3, 4 seasons if it keeps on getting renewed.  He is a talented writter and a good director, I could see him wanting to spread his wings a little more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattioli 

Maybe, in the wake of the Bag of Bones announcement, he decided it was finally time for someone to take Mick Garris down.

I'm picturing Taken-style epic action flick where Garris has kidnapped King and is forcing him to sign away the rights to all of his remaining works.............................and a Darabont vowing to track him down!

I'm not all that chuffed about this news. I LOVED the Walking Dead pilot but got bored half way through the series and was disappointed by the denouement. I also really, REALLY disliked the washed out cinematography. The problem is that, like the comics, it's just a bunch of people avoiding being killed by the zombies while running into one type of person or another; good guys or bad guys. It's also like Romero's living dead films in that the most interesting time is right when the zombie outbreaks begins or a short while after. The drama is seeing how the characters survive as they come to terms with what's happening. That works for a two hour movie but it starts to drag after three or four. 

It would have been more interesting if the first season was self contained and each season dealt with a new group of characters in different parts of the country. The first series should have focused on Rick searching for his family, he finds them which puts him into conflict with Shane who's fucking Rick's wife. Shane tries to snuff out Rick and it becomes a battle to the death. Better than some jerkoff scientist deciding to blow himself up, complete with ticking timebomb. The focus of The Walking Dead should be how the zombie apocalypse changes people. And a major character should have died each episode. They also left a lot of shit unresolved.

You can't have a series, kill off a "major character" each episode.  It alienates the audience and makes them numb.  What's the point of investing in a character if you think they could die any moment?

I think the show did a decent job showing how people changed due to the zombie outbreak.  From people lossing their minds (digging countless burials plots) to a guy thinking that killing the entire group via explosion was the most humane way of dealing with the outbreak. 

My problem with the show, was the potrayal of Laurie.  It was like, the writters couldn't decided what to do with her character.  She went from being someone who was sleeping with Shane in the woods voluntarely (she showed no signs that she was giving in just so he would offer protection for her and her son), to someone who was releaved to see her husband alive.  They made her unsympathetic, then tried to make her sympathetic all in the matter of two episodes.  By having her like that, it made Rick's journey to find her, less important.  just my opinion. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickP 

You can't have a series, kill off a "major character" each episode.  It alienates the audience and makes them numb.  What's the point of investing in a character if you think they could die any moment?

You're right that you can't kill a major character every episode without seriously downgrading the definition of "major".  And you're right that it numbs the audience and risks alienating them in the worst way (through boredom).  But why on earth would feeling a character is in credible danger make you less invested in them?

As long as we get another Shane in shower crying jag, WHO CARES who's running this shit?

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickP 

You can't have a series, kill off a "major character" each episode.  It alienates the audience and makes them numb.  What's the point of investing in a character if you think they could die any moment?

 

Because, by the end of the series it would come down to Rick, his wife, their son and Shane. Rick and Shane battle. Shane snuffs it and Rick takes his family and moves forward. By killing a major character in each episode, you keep the audience on edge. You could have done something really cool like have Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) know that Shane was fucking Rick's wife and have him blackmail Shane into killing T-Dog for revenge for leaving his brother on the rooftop. Also, if you're worried about killing off characters then you don't really understand the Horror genre. Think about how you felt when Stephen or Roger died in Dawn of the Dead.

You forget, he was also drinking whiskey, Matchstick. OMG, he was so unhinged and raw!

Yup, Laurie was terribly written and performed.

Well, she's played by Sarah Wayne Callies, who made Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell look like Pacino & DeNiro in PRISON BREAK. Hardly surprising.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

You forget, he was also drinking whiskey, Matchstick. OMG, he was so unhinged and raw!

stelios....

I will NEVER forget.

Ever.

According to TV Line, Darabont was FIRED.

Strange things afoot at AMC.

Reached for comment about his unexpected removal from the hit series, Darabont had this to say:

Oh, that's goooood.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Matchstick 

Reached for comment about his unexpected removal from the hit series, Darabont had this to say:

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Matchstick 

Reached for comment about his unexpected removal from the hit series, Darabont had this to say:

 

And then proceeded to be rapey with the reporter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schwartz 

  But why on earth would feeling a character is in credible danger make you less invested in them?

 

Because for me, it would be like "what's the point".  Here comes Rick, he meets a new character who becomes the focus of the next two episodes, oh wait, now he's dead.  Now, the next time we meet a major character, why would I care? They'll just kill him off in the next three episodes.  The formula would become to predictable.  You got your untouchables, that being Rick and his family, then zombie fodder coming in and out.  Makes you less invested in the series as a whole.  Atleast for me.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satanic Hamster 

Because, by the end of the series it would come down to Rick, his wife, their son and Shane. Rick and Shane battle. Shane snuffs it and Rick takes his family and moves forward. By killing a major character in each episode, you keep the audience on edge. You could have done something really cool like have Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) know that Shane was fucking Rick's wife and have him blackmail Shane into killing T-Dog for revenge for leaving his brother on the rooftop. Also, if you're worried about killing off characters then you don't really understand the Horror genre. Think about how you felt when Stephen or Roger died in Dawn of the Dead.

Just STOP.  Seriously, look at what you just wrote.  Dixon blackmailing Shane... um, okay there slugger.

I'm not worried about killing off characters, that's fine, keeps the audience on edge.  But to keep on killing off MAIN characters, and have this revolving door of new characters appear, then die, would turn this show into a Zombie version of Star Trek's Red Shirts.  Look at something like the Sopranos, the reason it was great, was because you had a strong cast of characters.  If it would have just been Tony Soprano and family, with a revolving bunch of thugs coming in and out, the show wouldn't have been nearly as good.  If you're all for killing of characters each week maybe you don't really understand the episodic TV format.

Nevermind. Nothing to see here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickP 

 

Because for me, it would be like "what's the point".  Here comes Rick, he meets a new character who becomes the focus of the next two episodes, oh wait, now he's dead.  Now, the next time we meet a major character, why would I care? They'll just kill him off in the next three episodes.  The formula would become to predictable.  You got your untouchables, that being Rick and his family, then zombie fodder coming in and out.  Makes you less invested in the series as a whole.  Atleast for me.
 

Ah, okay.  I think I was thrown by your saying "could" die at any moment, which is rather key for a successful horror/thriller series.  I agree that such a rigid structure is a horrible idea (besides the predictability, it just ensures that no death ever truly becomes "major"), but that is becoming less surprising with each deeply idiotic new post Satanic Hamster has graced us with in his brief tenure.

Satanic Hamster sounds almost exactly the same as BurninHell.

I kinda find Satanic Hamster funny.  That ridiculous scenario for how the season should've played out made me chuckle.  Even the name Satanic Hamster is dumb yet humorous.  And what about that random bukake tangent? The randomness of it made me laugh. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaurenOrtega 

Satanic Hamster sounds almost exactly the same as BurninHell.

...which is exactly like The Wreck Of The Hesperus.

...and now, The Paddling Of The Swollen Ass! (with paddles!)

ahem... sorry about that.

Darabont's name is what drew me to the series in the first place.  Shame he's leaving.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak chase 

According to TV Line, Darabont was FIRED.

 

Strange things afoot at AMC.

wtf.  Regardless of what one thought of the quality of S1 under his guidance, this kind of upheaval in the middle of shooting a season can only be detrimental (I would think).  Strange indeed.