The Historic Downfall of The Walking Dead

Killing off Carl for shock value was beyond stupid. Especially since he is the ENTIRE reason Rick has for living, and also in the comics he survived.

I think the show fell apart when fans realized the loop the story was in. Find new settlement, deal with some walkers, introduce new bad guy, kill at least one beloved character to really hammer in the fact the bad guy is the bad guy, drag on the war with the bad guy, kill at least one more beloved character, final battle with the bad guy, move on to find new territory because walkers just decided to show up out of nowhere, repeat process.

Killing Carl off literally ruins the whole purpose of Rick’s story and the entire show. Carl was literally hyped up to be the fruition of Rick’s immense effort in surviving and raising a son during everyone’s worst nightmare.

The fact that carl survived 2 bullets yet randomly gets bitten and dies. That irritated me so much. At least give him a better death than that.

I’m so glad that Steven Yeun, danai gurira, and Jon Bernthal found so much success apart from the show

I'm one of the people who bailed on TWD shortly after Glenn was killed off (which I felt created a huge charisma void in the show tbh), but the first death that set off bad writing alarm bells in my head was Beth's. I know that a lot of people didn't like her and probably didn't care, but I did, and the fact that the writers gave her some strong character growth just to immediately kill her off was a HUGE red flag for me. It felt really cheap and unnecessary.

Biggest mistake that led to all the others was firing Frank Darabont. “Yeah, let’s fire the guy that made Shawshank, The Mist, and The Green Mile.” Brilliant

Before Glenn's fake-out death everything made sense, everything worked, everything was almost 'air-tight'. Everything that happened up to then had logical explanations. But that scene when dozens of walkers stand over him and somehow only ravage the person on top of him, whilst Glenn is able to 'sneak' away, is for me the start of the end for the Walking Dead Series.

I think it’s fitting that a zombie show lived longer than it should’ve

Crazy to think how TWD and GOT were the two biggest things in television for almost a decade, and because of how bad they messed both of those shows up, absolutely nobody talks about them anymore.

yeah season 7 broke me tbh. watching it really felt like a chore and then season 8 rolls around and they kill carl for no good reason, yeah i’m done.

I always liked how at the start, every time you see a fight break out you really didnt know if your fav character would live to tomorrow. Its a shame it went so downhill. I think personally the biggest downfall of walking dead was the shift from zombies and survival to a theme of humans being the real monsters

They spent far too much of the show forgetting that: 1) you can cover yourself in zombie guts and they’ll ignore you 2) if you michonne it and remove a walkers arms and jaw so they can’t attack you, you can keen them as pets on a chain and other walkers will leave you alone And then they killed Carl…

The most important thing that people needed and didn’t get, causing them to quit, is HOPE. People watch apocalyptic shows because they want to see people dragging civilization back from the pit. They don’t want to just watch a never ending treadmill of character introductions and deaths while the setting stays the same.

I found out the Walking Dead finished through this video and I am one of those guys who never returned after the Finale of S6. I thought I quit much sooner but turns out I made it through a lot and you perfectly highlighted why I stopped caring and answered a question I always had . . . Why? Boomerang Story Telling <.<

When I watched the show, I saw its future in the character of Carl. So when they killed him off, I didn't quite know what the show was trying to be anymore.

I got tired of the constant recycling of "find a safe place, lose it fighting other humans. Find a safe place, lose it fighting other humans", but what really killed it for me was the tell in the writing. It always gave away who was going to die next and it sucked all the suspense right out of the show for me. Starting with Beth, as soon as someone had a scene or episode emphasizing good emotions - hope or optimism for the future, happiness over achieving something emotionally important, long sought peace or contentedness, etc. - you knew that person was going to die within an episode. Beth had found her courage and was seemingly "rescued", and then she died. Noah believed in Alexandria and wanted to become an architect, and then he died. The veterinarian chick finally found a soda for her girlfriend and then immediately died. Abraham finally made peace with his past losses and found happiness in love again, and then he died. Sasha, same. Bob, same. Glenn, same. Carl, same.

The handling of that season 6 finale is what killed the show. Teasing us to wait for months for the payoff. You noticed how much the viewership dropped after the opening episode of season 7. They should’ve showed Abraham being killed as the final scene of season 6, that way the audience thinks it’s safe. And then late into episode 1 of season 7 Glenn dies and shocks us all. Much better way to handle it

I'll never forget the very first episode. Shane and Rick responding to a high speed chase. The shootout. Waking up in the hospital and everything is turned upside down. Watching them in another episode inside the CDC trying to get answers. Didn't the doctor end up telling Rick everyone was infected? Thought I read that somewhere

It would have been so much better to just have Negan do one hit on Abraham, cut to black, then save Glenn’s death for the premiere.