Cashing in on Walking Dead: Chris Hardwick's "Talking Dead"

[Greg Tito]

Cashing in on Walking Dead: Chris Hardwick's "Talking Dead"

AMC bets that fans of Walking Dead want to watch people talk about the Walking Dead.

The adaptation of Robert Kirkman's and Tony Moore's comic book about a group of survivors in southern America dealing with a population that is nearly all zombies. The first six episodes of the The Walking Dead TV show were a huge hit for cable network AMC, garnering positive critical reviews, numerous awards and great ratings. A second season is being made as we speak and will debut on October 16th. Wanting to make as big of a splash as possible, AMC tapped notable G4 host Chris Hardwick to host a show called "Talking Dead" to air live directly after the episode airs.

AMC plans for the half-hour show "Talking Dead" to discuss what had just happened in the episode with Hardwick moderating as writers and producers field questions from fans. There's no word yet on whether the zombies will attack and kill Hardwick, but there's always a chance.

Full disclosure: I have not read the comic or seen an episode of Walking Dead - even though I have the anthology in my stack of "shit to read". I suppose that if such a talk show played after a series that I cared about - say Game of Thrones - I would pay attention to it, but this seems like such a shameless way to keep viewers tied to AMC after their hit show ends.

I may be biased against Hardwick - dude's annoying, right? - but I don't think this show will work.

What do you think? Would you watch "Talking Dead" after you watch an episode of Walking Dead? Is the trend of "after-shows" you'd like to see continue or is the only way for you to be satisfied is if an actual zombie plague attacks Hardwick and rips his throat out on national television?

Source: Hollywood Reporter [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/official-amc-orders-walking-dead-239170?]

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[tomtom94]

Um...
What?

Seriously, I fail to see how this could be entertaining in any way.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Its sad that the excellent series of comic books were butchered so awfully in the television show. The comics has some gutwrenching powerful moments that really stay with you. The show is nothing but trite television pablum cashing in on the zombie fad.

 

[vrbtny]

This sort of thing would be really useful for Game of Thrones. 'cos they could tell us what the fuck is going on. Seriously, we could use help with all the back story and shit which is left out in the TV show.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I'd watch the Talking Dead...if it spoke about what happened in the comics compared to the tv show. But that would take hours to cover since both are becoming drastically different.

 

[genericusername64]

Its sad that the excellent series of comic books were butchered so awfully in the television show. The comics has some gutwrenching powerful moments that really stay with you. The show is nothing but trite television pablum cashing in on the zombie fad.

I watched the tv show first, and you have to admit the pilot was excellent, everything got worse from there.

 

[Kmadden2004]

I recall the BBC did a similar thing when it used to broadcast 24...

And it was terrible.

 

[chaosyoshimage]

I remember G4 did something like this with Heroes Season 2, I thought it was neat at the time, but I'm not sure if I'd go for this sort of thing for The Walking Dead. I like the show, and have read the first three TPB's of the comic, but I don't care much for Chris Hardwick and I'm not sure if this type of show is necessary. I think BBC's been doing something kind of similar with Doctor Who as well. They've been showing these "Best of" specials with Chris Hardwick and other "celebrity" fans talking about the show.

 

[Outlaw Torn]

Everyone seems quite negative about it, but when things like this are done right they are quite good. An example I find quite entertaining is Doctor Who Confidential. You get to see some behind the scenes footage from the episode that has just aired, usually showing the creative process of the episode (plot, monsters, general Who-ness), but they also have other bits that are unrelated to the episode and just show the cast and crew being human. Like Karen Gillan learning to drive, for some reason.

If it is just going to be half an hour of people talking about the episode then it sounds as if they are just pre-empting what a lot of folks will discuss on the internet. Albeit with the ability to quash any wild speculation on the spot.

 

[s_glasgow99]

maybe if the show they were reviewing had the depth to be discussed. I would have loved an aftershow for HBO series like Carnival, Treme, or Boardwalk Empire. But stuff like The Walking Dead, while being really good in it's own right, isn't elaborate enough to really need to any important digging. I really didn't like the aftershow for Battlestar Gallactica that Space did, I didn't watch the one for Stargate Universe, but I can imagine that it would be equally bad. They need to pick the appropriate shows to do this with, not simply pick the popular 'show of the month'.

 

[XT inc]

All I can hope for is that they actually got out a full season this year, what was last years like 6 episodes?

It will be interesting to see how it pans out what with conflicts of having to keep actors instead of the comics lust for bumping off people left right and center.

I think there was a joke about the series that made me sad

Plot of a walking dead comic.

Rick and Carl meet new people, grow to trust new people, new people turn out ot be bad and or Everyone dies, Rick loses a body part. repeat.

 

[TheScientificIssole]

Chris Hardwick? annoying? I thought so too, but the nerdist podcasts are awesome!

 

[manythings]

Um...
What?

Seriously, I fail to see how this could be entertaining in any way.

That's cause you fail to see the big businessy picture... I have pie charts and numbers that prove this show won't be fucktarded.

OT: I guess it's interesting if it's going to be more like a DVD commentary kind of thing rather than an attempt at a book club.

 

[Vzzdak]

I don't think a live discussion would be sustainable after *every* episode. There'd probably be more value if they held such sessions periodically, along with clips that recapped the season so far. That would help refresh people's recollections of the themes and encourage speculation about where the story might be going.

Mind you, not sure why a live discussion is necessary when forum discussion groups have become ubiquitous over the years. Over on the Image Comics web site, they have a forum section for Robert Kirkman (i.e., writer for Walking Dead TPB), which has had ongoing discussion about the series from day one.

Maybe the producers think they can get a "reality tv" vibe by doing live discussion? They'd probably be smarter to instead encourage some manner of YouTube video discussions.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

If its something like Doctor Who Confidential, it could work. But if it's just talking...

 

[andrew2696]

Yeah Chris Hardwick is annoying on G4 but on anything else he's pretty funny. Especially the Nerdist podcast.

 

[Kyogissun]

Chris Hardwick is awesome, don't shit talk him. He's got no 'hate' bandwagon and Web Soup isn't the only thing he's ever done. Like people said, Nerdist podcast is a good source for his GOOD sense of humor but more importantly, his group Hard n Phirm is fucking hilarious and deserves more recognition. It's a SIN that they don't get as much positive feedback as they deserve.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Yeah, sounds like it'll essentially be a televised 'DVD extras' after each episode.

Where's the harm in that?

Hell they do it for shit like Big Brother, hour long discussions on a sister channel, and there's literally nothing happening. I'm sure they could manage it when there's actually writing, acting and a plot.

 

[N00bits]

Seriously, WTF is with the Chris Hardwick hate? Dude sleep with a family member? I'm not sold on the idea of the show, but this was a hatchet job of an article.

 

[jackanderson]

So that's where the rest of AMC's budget went to! Glad to know it's going to a worthy cause and not, you know, the second best show on their network or anything!