Definition Draft: The Walking Dead
‘The Walking Dead’ is an American television series, which has become one of the most successful and critically acclaimed shows in American television history, both domestically and abroad. The show is based on the series of comic books with the same title created by Charlie Adlard, Robert Kirkman, and Tony Moore (“The Walking Dead”). Frank Darabont, a renowned Hollywood director and screenwriter, who had earned his stripes by adapting several works by Stephen King, including widely applauded “The Shawshank Redemption”, developed the series with the assistance of comic book writers (Seibert). The show was first announced by AMC in January 2010 and pre-ordered by the channel based on strong incentive in the form of Darabont’s involvement in the project, the brilliant television scripts, and the quality of the source material (Goldman). ‘The Walking Dead’ debuted in the U.S. on October 31, 2010, on AMC, the cable television channel (“The Walking Dead Premieres Halloween; Comic-Con Trailer Now Online”). It is currently in its sixth season. It has already been renewed for a seventh season, set to premiere in October 2016, and is generally expected to continue its run for at least two-three more seasons. 78 episodes of the show have aired so far with a sixth season finale set for a release on April 3, 2016 (Roots). The success of the series inspired a spinoff show called ‘Fear the Walking Dead’, taking place in the same universe, where the world is overtaken by a virus that leads to a zombie apocalypse (Slezak).
The viewership of the show has been continuously increasing ever since its original premiere aired in 2010. Its steady increase in Nielsen ratings has been integral to the channel’s decision to keep renewing the show each year, as it is the audience measurement system that is most widely recognized in the U.S. ‘The Walking Dead’ also managed to average the highest number in key demographic, 18-49-year-old audience, surpassing all competition both on cable or network television from its third season until its current one (Bibel). As of now, the show has the highest overall viewership in the history of cable television. It reached the record-breaking number of 17.3 million viewers during the premiere of season five, which still holds the crown of the most-watched episode of a series in cable history (Bibel). Surprisingly enough, the show still has not managed to break its own record either and the episode remains the most-watched one of the series as well. ‘The Walking Dead’ started off with an average rating of 5.24 million in its first season and over the period of five years has managed to increase its average audience almost by three: its latest fully aired season – season five – has managed to draw an average of 14.4 million people to their screens (Bibel).
Over the course of its television run so far, ‘The Walking Dead’ has received plenty of accolades, including a number of prestigious awards and nominations. As of now, the show has won 26 awards and received 97 nominations. The most notable of those include: a nomination for Best New Series by the Writers Guild of America Awards in 2011, a Best Television Series Drama nod at the Golden Globe Awards the same year (Reiher). The Saturn Awards, which celebrate the best of genre film and television, including horror, fantasy and science fiction, have always been quite generous towards the show and rewarded it multiple times throughout the years, for instance, with the awards for Best Television Presentation in 2011 and 2012, Best Cable Television Series in 2013 and 2014, and various lead and supporting acting awards for the show stars, including Andrew Lincoln, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, and Laurie Holden (Tapley). It has also been nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and won several People’s Choice Awards, Satellite Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards, and Critics’ Choice Television Awards, among the most notable. It is widely applauded for breaking new ground for genre shows in terms of critical acclaim and the award show recognition.
‘The Walking Dead’ has a number of main and recurring cast that has changed rather drastically over the course of six seasons. Out of its principal season one cast, only five members currently remain. They include Andrew Lincoln, who plays the main protagonist – Rick Grimes; Chandler Riggs, playing his son Carl Grimes; Steven Yeun, playing Glenn Rhee; Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon; and Melissa McBride, who plays Carol Peletier (“The Walking Dead”). The characters performed by the aforementioned actors are widely known among the show fans as the “Atlanta Five”, for they are the last survivors who have been a part of the season one storyline taking place in Atlanta. One more character, who the audience first met in season one, has recently re-appeared on the show and presently plays an important role: Morgan Jones, played by Lennie James, is now a series regular, after having been absent for a couple of seasons. Other main stars of the series include Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie Greene; Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne; Michael Cudlitz, who plays Sgt. Abraham Ford; and Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Sasha Williams (“The Walking Dead”). Their characters have been introduced at different points of seasons two through five. Despite the show having quite a vast number of protagonists, its main storyline has been steadily revolving around the Grimes family: Rick, his now deceased wife Lori, and their children – Carl and Judith. Rick’s point of view is the main one of the story, as the viewer experiences the events of the show mostly through his eyes. However, the show also has a strong supporting ensemble, as it relies heavily on major-scale action scenes, which usually require the efforts of its whole cast, both main, recurring, and supporting.
The plot of the show follows a pattern familiar to most television lovers: apart from a general apocalyptic arc encompassing the show in its entirety, each season deals with a new seasonal arc of a smaller scale. What is really peculiar and impressive about ‘The Walking Dead’ is the fact that it managed to avoid making a mistake, which a great number of genre shows are criticized for. Fantasy and sci-fi shows are all too often condemned by the critics and viewers alike for putting too much emphasis on their supernatural, fantasy or science fiction elements, on special effects and elaborate whimsical plots, instead of focusing on characters and their development, which leads to the inconsistencies in characters. Subsequently, the story just falls apart, because it is not the plot that should command the characters: the characters should advance the plot.
In case of ‘The Walking Dead’, it is precisely so. The viewer follows the journey of a group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic landscape overrun by zombies, or, as they are referred to on the show, walkers (a shortened version of ‘the walking dead’). Each obstacle, each challenge, each danger and loss that the characters have to endure facilitates their development, their evolution, or in some cases degradation, their metaphorical and physical movement forward. The storylines are incredibly compelling and realistic, despite the fact that we are talking about a fictional post-apocalyptic world, precisely because they make sense from the characters’ standpoint. The group keeps moving across the desolate country and coming across all sorts of perils and horrors, and no matter how shocking they might seem, they do not happen in the show purely for shock effect: they happen in order to influence the characters in some way and move them forward. This is the reason why ‘The Walking Dead’ does not come off as ‘trying too hard’, as many other similar shows do: the show producers work very hard in order to uphold the show’s continuity and pay extreme attention to their characters and even the smallest details.
Overall, one could say that ‘The Walking Dead’ is, first and foremost, a character study. The post-apocalyptic setting of it is not a focal point, it is mostly a backdrop for plunging into the very depths of human nature, both at its most beautiful and most repugnant. In a way, it is as much of a psychological thriller, as it is a horror drama. The viewer can observe how extreme circumstances drive the people to extreme measures. We see some of them sink to the bottom of depravity, whereas others uncover the previously hidden leadership qualities, compassion, kindness, and bravery. Most importantly, the viewer gets to see all these stories unfold and make their judgement on each character objectively, because every character is provided with a background and a reasoning behind their actions.
The storyline of the first season follows Rick Grimes as he wakes up in a hospital after being seriously wounded and finds himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Subsequently, he travels to Atlanta in an attempt to find a safe zone presumably set up by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, he finds the city overrun by the walkers and almost dies himself. Fortunately, he is saved by the members of the very group he gradually becomes the leader of, after he discovers that his wife and son were taken in by the group as well. After fleeing Atlanta, the survivors try to find answers and help at the Center, but the last remaining staff member of the Center crushes their hopes for a cure, forcing them to continue their journey. The second season of the show finds the group looking for a new safe place, which leads them to the farm belonging to the Greene family. The season mostly deals with relationship between the members of the group and the Greene clan and Carol’s fruitless attempts at finding her missing daughter Sophia. In the finale, the farm is overrun by a huge horde of walkers and the group, joined by several members of the Greene family (Hershel and his daughters Maggie and Beth), is forced to flee once again.
In the third season the survivors seem to have settled down for a while in what used to be a prison. However, they eventually have to face a new enemy – the Governor, who sees a threat to his authority in Rick’s crew and Rick himself. In the season finale, the group manages to defeat the Governor and his forces and drive him away, but unfortunately he comes back with a vengeance in the mid-season finale of season four and succeeds in destroying the prison and fracturing the group into several units that struggle to find their way back to each other. They finally do so, but under the most unfortunate circumstances: they fall into the trap set up by the crew of cannibals preying on any remaining survivors. The group manages to escape and defeat their captors, and for a while they wander aimlessly, until a new hope finds them: a stranger with an invitation to a safe haven called Alexandria. Initially suspicious of the community, our protagonists eventually manage to settle down in Alexandria and decide to stay there and defend it against attacks both by the walkers and the group of feral humans called ‘the Wolves’. In the second half of season six the survivors are set to face an even more formidable adversary well-known by the comic book fans – Negan, the leader of the Saviors. Along with all these events, our heroes undergo a significant transformation, both outwardly and inwardly, especially Rick, who remains a principal character of the series. He develops a stone-cold ruthlessness, which he feels is necessary for him in order to protect his family and lead his group. However, gradually his hardball attitude and aggression lead him into a dead end, wherein even his friends and allies start to question his authority and capability. Time spent in Alexandria with its people helps Rick to gradually recover bits of his humanity, which was all but lost, and regain his hope in the future, while still remaining a courageous, fearless, and firm leader he has grown to be.
‘The Walking Dead’ has become a trailblazer in a number of ways. What could have theoretically turned into a cliché zombie slasher instead became a groundbreaking and revolutionary television phenomenon. It is innovative and unique for a number of reasons. First of all, it became a pioneer in the comic book television adaptation genre. Comic books are now mostly associated with a superhero genre, and when one thinks of comic book television adaptation, one immediately remembers the hit shows based on Marvel and DC superhero comics, such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, the Flash, Gotham, and the like. Yet it was ‘The Walking Dead’ that preceded both Marvel and DC in television adaptation department. It premiered in 2010, whereas first superhero comic book television adaptation – ‘Arrow’, the show based on the comics about the superhero Green Arrow – did not premiere for two more years before airing in 2012. ‘The Walking Dead’ broke new ground for comic book adaptations and served to show that comics translate as well on small screen, as they do on big screen. Its unprecedented success set the new era of comic book adaptations into motion and helped to establish a new television subgenre. And to this day, it remains the highest-rated comic book adaptation, both in terms of critical and audience reception, despite the fact that the comic books it is based on have never been even nearly as popular as the Marvel or DC ones.
Second of all, ‘The Walking Dead’ is notorious for leading a visual effects revolution on television. A part of what makes it so incredibly realistic is its extensive use of prosthetic makeup instead of the actual CGI. The makeup artists working on the show under the supervision of Greg Nicotero, the show’s executive producer and the key special makeup artist on the series, have been applauded as much (if not more) as its acting ensemble, because their hard work became one of the signature features of the series. They also earned the show one of the aforementioned Primetime Emmy Awards in the category for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie, or Special. ‘The Walking Dead’ managed to demonstrate how a show can still provide visual effects of the highest quality, despite the budget constraints that often prevent television shows from being able to pull off good special effects. The show successfully proved that sometimes less is better.
With the show still accumulating critical acclaim and formidable viewing numbers, it is reasonably expected to continue being a television frontrunner for at least several more years. As of now, ‘The Walking Dead’ can be considered a cultural phenomenon, which has taken by storm not only the U.S., but numerous other countries of the world as well.
Works Cited
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Slezak, Michael. “Fear the Walking Dead Trailer Is Finally Here! (And So’s the Premiere
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49 & Viewers”. TV by the Numbers. 13 October 2014. Web. 3 March 2016.
Reiher, Andrea. “2011 Golden Globes nominations: ‘Glee’, ’30 Rock’ lead TV nominations”.
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