Hope For The Walking Dead?

As anyone who visits here periodically knows, I am a huge Walking Dead fan. Wake the Dead was inspired by it, and that book poured out of me in 3 months, I have honestly never been more inspired by any source material in the past before except for the R.A. Salvatore Drizz't series. Long story short, I do love the series despite the latest happenings that has left many fans less than satisfied...

***SPOILERS AHEAD, DUH!***

I don't mind when the TV show strays from the comic book source material that much, and kind of applaud Scott Gimple for at least having the fortitude to attempt doing so, no doubt wanting to leave his own mark on the TV series. Clearly the show has lost viewers, and it can be narrowed down to season 7 and beyond. But, is the ratings dive solely resting on Gimple's shoulders...or are we simply just numb to the show in and of itself? I feel strongly that it is the latter.

I am of the belief that the Negan War is partially the reason that the ratings for The Walking Dead are so abysmal. I know for a fact that after fan favorites died in episode 7.1 was not received well, or the fact that Negan, a sociopath in the eyes of 'Joe Public', was 'winning'. I tried seeing this personally, putting myself in the perspective of 'what if i had been watching Negan from day 1' camp, and kind of equated a lot of the same things that Rick's group did (perhaps not so joyfully). It is more than interesting to me to flip that switch, and as someone who writes, put myself in that perspective--quite an exercise in unbiased viewpoint. Is Negan a narcissist? Clearly. A Sadist? Indeed. A charismatic figure? hell, yes. But, i digress as I feel the Negan story-line has absolutely nothing to do with the decline in quality story-telling and feel that the show can come back from where it is now

I cant help but liken it to the Game of Thrones series in that it is very dark in nature, heroes die, evil seems to gain the upper hand more often that not, but the biggest contrast is perhaps that the horrors in Game of Thrones have a clear resolution coming, whereas the Walking Dead does not have an end point defined.

The looming death of Carl Grimes has had a tremendously negative effect on the audience, some going so far as to create online petitions  to get Gimple to resign. Other seemingly needless deaths and happening s have been unpopular with the TV fan base, such as the Negan kill scene between season 6 and 7, as well as the 'Glenn under the dumpster thing', etc., and i feel that the fact that the show makes the misery linger over season or mid-season finales mistaking this cliffhanger for 'buzz', but what it really does instead, is it prolongs the suffering perhaps too much. The 'Red Wedding', Ned's death and Bran being pushed out a window in of Game of Thrones, all set so early on in the series seemed to have a shock factor so great that fans didn't have much time to stew about them, followed source material almost explicit, AND there is a conclusion that is coming that seems will satisfy its fan base. Conversely, the Walking Dead deaths seem trivial and less impactful, (Glenn, Tyreese, Sasha, to name a few) as they only exist so as to spur changes in another character's decision making process in order to drive the story in an alternate direction, or more realistically, resolve contract negotiations with AMC.

All that said, The Walking Dead is still one of the best shows to ever hit the airwaves, will remain so, and I am hopeful that it will right the ship sooner rather than later.

What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments below.

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