As a fan of the actual zombie genre before American basic cable got ahold of it, I think the show sucks.
The first season consisted of me sitting back on the couch rattling off names of movies they ripped scenes from.
The second season was frustrating. By the third episode, I no longer gave a flaming crap about any of the characters. Even Darryl amounts to a two-dimensional whinebag. How long can you wait for something to actually HAPPEN? Also, the “Hey, we’re going to have a ridiculously long, pointless conversation while the viewers watch the zombies get closer right behind us while we’re supposed to have a posted sentry and yet we still don’t notice” was stupid the first time they did it.
I’m due to get the third season from the library soon. I’ll probably watch it, and continue to ridicule it, just like I do Sons of Anarchy and just about any other impossibly formulaic cable drama.
The basic deal is this: The WHOLE point of the Zombie film is to see the downfall of humanity at the hands of the cursed. To see how the struggle changes people and who will be the few who make it. The guy woke up on the first episode, and the world had already fallen. The show was over before it started. The characters are in “waiting to die” mode. Blah.
I’ve seen exactly two films, both based on books, that did “waiting to die” in a beautiful, gripping way. The Road and The Children of Men. Neither was a zombie movie.