A Reformation

Sometimes, you are surprised.

Not always pleasantly, I'll admit as much. But I stuck with it, The Walking Dead. And while I won't say that it's the best thing I've ever seen, it's shaping up well. I thought I would have abandoned it by now, dumped it on the side of the road like a dead badger, or the sad, forgotten promise of Glee. Season 1 didn't set me on fire. And I was open to it. I wanted it and was totally ripe for the picking. I hadn't been overexposed to the zombie genre, so by the time season 1 started, I was nowhere near annoyed with zombie tropes. My zombie experience was limited to watching Shaun of the Dead. Really. I don't like any sort of scary films. I don't watch them, I don't think of them. 10 minutes alone with Scream, or any other sort of lightweight thriller and I'm sleeping with a rolling-pin-as-makeshift-weapon under the bed for the next year. They terrify me.

I liked it at first. I liked most of the male characters. Except Shane. I liked the setting, I liked the concept. But the season wasn't very strong, and it didn't seem to go anywhere. The women are still a huge problem. Really, really huge. They are ALL annoying. Without exception. Whiny and moany, and useless. Sitting ducks. And I really don't like watching television shows with terrible female characters, it feels like such lazy writing.

I wasn't sure if I would come back for season 2. But I did. I was unimpressed with the pilots on offer, and I'd decided to drop Glee. I was also still on a downer from a summer without Mad Men, so I decided to give it a second chance.

And I'm glad that I did. It's not different, I'll say. It's the same as the first season. The women are terrible. Shane is terrible. They've made plot adjustments from the comics that seem...unwise. They've been sitting on a farm for what might possibly be the last five years doing nothing. But, I think I'm just getting used to it. Getting used to the pace, and what it has to offer. Daryl is just the best thing ever. I don't know if it's the fan love or if it was the intention all along, but they've transformed him from an annoying, rash redneck into an awesome, sympathetic, crossbow toting redneck.

So for now, I'll keep watching. And hope that it keeps on getting better. Fingers crossed!

Nothing Changes

So, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I had a summer slump. All right, more like a life slump. But, don't hold that against me - it's not over yet. I plan on a few more weeks of slumping before returning to the world of get-off-your-arse-and-do-something.


Summer television isn't made for aiding get up and go. It's made for lounging and antipathy, annoyance and sleeping. I thought that is I had a little break, things would be better when I got back. I could go away, sun myself <looks at rain> and return to a world where everything is better.


Except, when the time comes, you turn on your television to find what? Mad Men taking a year off. What the fuck? Really? I'm sorry AMC? Do you think that your contract negotiations are more important than my need for a regular helping of Draper with a side of Peggy? The answer is no! Sookie Stackhouse is not only still a total moron, but is actually having sex with Eric Northman and managing to make it look dull.


I shall return to my summer hibernation in the hope that all this madness had ceased by the time I awaken.

Say What?

"Time for another drink, at least."

I'm a little behind on news, clearly. I read, somewhere, briefly, that Mad Men had been renewed for more than one series. I didn't really give it much thought beyond "good".


What I didn't read though, was that season 5 will not be airing until 2012. Really. Apparently, Weiner and AMC are having a bit of a tiff about whose turn it is to make dinner and this has delayed negotiations on his eight trillion dollar deal.


Actually, that isn't true - Weiner is standing up for not reducing show time, not adding product placements, and not cutting cast members. Basically, he's trying to keep Mad Men not shit. Which is commendable. But can he do it a bit quicker? I have trouble remembering what happened last week, let alone last season.

Zombies, Cont.

There is a reason I am uneducated in all things undead. <whispers> I'm a big girly wuss. I must be about 15 years behind my contemporaries - the things that scare me now are things that they were minorly bothered by terrified of at 15. They built up a resistance to scary stuff and moved on. I stagnated and just avoid, avoid, avoid.

As such, I am only half way through the first episode of The Walking Dead. Pathetic? Indeed.

It's the tension that scares me. Someone jumping out in the dark, not knowing what is around the corner. And so, this:

scared the pants right off me. It's like a televisual version of Silent Hill. <shudders>


I'll be watching the rest of The Walking Dead today.

In the daylight.

Egg and The Great Undead

I'm not really a fan of zombies. I don't watch zombie films, I don't read zombie books. I don't invite zombies round for dinner. Even Charlie Brooker couldn't lure me in with his zombie offering, and that's saying something.

I am also not really a fan of Andrew Lincoln. This is something that you probably can't really appreciate if you aren't from the UK, but he is everywhere. Really. Aside from his televisual and film career, he is an amazingly prolific voice over actor. I can barely go an evening without an advert with good old Egg doing the talking.

These two things in mind, I'm not entirely sure what is attracting me to Frank Darabont's The Walking Dead. I wasn't even aware of the comic before Googling generic-internet-searching the new show.

But there is something there I think. I watched the trailer. It makes me all tingly. I know - you don't like the complicated science talk, but sometimes I can't explain things in any other way. Is this the show I have been looking for? Have I been wasting my time waiting for HBO to come to the rescue? Have AMC been dark horsing around while I assume Mad Men is a one off? Am I going to have to watch Breaking Bad now?

And who knows? Maybe, in adopting a new accent, Andrew Lincoln will find a whole new fan base. I'm referring to myself there, by the way.