Is it Walking Dead or Dead Man Walking?

After the disappointing world Rapture, and that real cool board game (one article down!); you would think that if you were a writer on the AMC hit show The Walking Dead, you'd have it made, right? Well guess again.



Anthony DiCharia writing for the New York Examiner and explains:

It seems that series producer/director/writer Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) has decided to let all of the series writers take a walk. According to a report by Deadline, Darabont not only eighty-sixed the writing staff, but also executive producer Charles Egle. In fact Deadline reports that Darabont might not have any writing staff at all for the show's second season.

It seems that Darabont is toying with the idea of using freelance writers to write episodes—which doesn't seem horrible to me, being a freelance writer and all—but I digress. Yet if Darabont goes the way of the freelancer, will the Hollywood Writer's Guild allow him to produce the series with non-union writers? It doesn't seem likely, and if Darabont decides to fight them...well, let's just say there will be even more delays.

Which brings us to the other question— What will this firing do to the production schedule? AMC has already given the green light to move ahead with season 2, ordering 13 new episodes. How long will it take for the show to go into production now that the show is essentially starting from scratch?

Well the answer might just kill you, as it seems that AMC doesn't plan to launch season 2 until next Halloween—that's right over a year from now.

I don't know about you, but I can't remember much of what happened a month ago, let alone a year from now. I suppose AMC is counting on the long lag to boost DVD sales of the first season— and if you think about it, it's not a bad strategy, especially if they add a lot of extras on the DVDs.

What do you think?

-----------

I know what I think.  I think people should stop f***ing with a formula that works (plot and actors)-- and let the creative people do their sh*t!

A one and a half year hiatus will kill this awesome series.

Additional "Walking Dead Links":
"The Walking Dead" Hit TV Show-- and now Board Game!
"The Walking Dead" Trading Cards!
Watch this or Die!!!
The Walking Dead - TV Premiere TONIGHT!!!