Zombies on AMC? Why 'The Walking Dead' Feels Right at Home With 'Mad Men' and 'Breaking Bad'

By Zach Dionne Posted Nov 1st 2010 01:14PM

AMC spent all of October pumping up 'The Walking Dead' somethin' fierce, simultaneously getting us psyched and making us wonder ... really, a zombie TV show? Is that gonna fly?

In a word, yes. In a few hundred more words, here's why.

While the zombie formula -- where a small contingent wakes to zombie-world, tries to exist, fails, dies -- seems too cut-and-dry for a successful TV series, grimness is a thread of commonality in AMC's Emmy-snatching programming. The horror angle doesn't seem to jive with the network's affinity for highbrow, slow-burn, character-driven dramas, but that's not quite right either -- gruesome survival action happens to be incidental in 'The Walking Dead.' On a network that touts itself as the place where "story matters," the stories -- more specifically, the characters -- of this series' source material are rich enough to flesh out more than a handful of seasons as enriching as those of AMC's now-stalwart shows.

Start familiarizing yourself with the name Rick Grimes. What Don Draper is to best-show-ever-numero-uno 'Mad Men,' and what Walter White is to best-show-ever-numero-dos 'Breaking Bad,' Rick Grimes is to 'The Walking Dead.' In Robert Kirkman's stellar, seven-years-running graphic novel series, Grimes is the archetype for society's downward spiral to primal survivalism, a man as flawed as they come. He's the one who, after a fit of necessary violence, reminds his fellow zombie-apocalypse survivors that they themselves, rather than the brain-hungry hordes, are the real walking dead.

Run down the Don Draper/Walter White list for ol' Rick: Spousal troubles? Check. Fraught relationship(s) with child(ren)? Check. Struggles with addiction and/or morally questionable behaviors? Check, check, check. The guy shoots a fuzzy-bathrobed Abigail Breslin-lookalike zombie in the face ... before the opening credits. Read: Apotheosis of "morally conflicted."

In one of Rick's lowest scenes in the comic, he soliloquizes: "Killing him made me realize something -- made me notice how much I've changed. I used to be a trained police officer -- my job was to uphold the law. Now I feel like a lawless savage -- an animal. I killed a man today and I don't even care ... Does that make me evil? I mean ... isn't that evil?"

Substitute "killing a man" for "cooking meth" or "cheating on my wife with all kinds of women and also drinking more than a lot" and tack that speech bubble onto Walt White or Don Draper. Fits, doesn't it?

If none of that sells you, Stephen King admitted the pilot really grossed him out.

Update: Whether or not AMC was on pins and needles about the zombie gambit like we were (purely from a people-maybe-assuming-undead-equals-schlock perspective), the 'Walking Dead' premiere notched the network's all-time highest ratings for an original series with 5.3 million viewers, according to a statement. Counting the 11:30PM and 1AM airings of the premiere, pulled in a total of 8.1 million people tuned in. Boom!

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Tags: AMC, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Rick Grimes, The Walking Dead

Comments

(10)

Monday 01 November

By Andy

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So, who are the three guys in the picture above the article? I don't watch the other shows, are they in them or what? Where are the zombies?

By zachdionne87

Left is Don Draper of Mad Men, right is Walt White of Breaking Bad.

Thanks, Zack

By Angela

I play Left4Dead/L4D2 as my primary video games. I love the "zombie apocalypse" theme. I watched the Walking Dead pilot, and so far only have 1 "continuity error" for them. And it's a biggie. In the pilot, when the main character, the policeman awakes after a gunshot wound in the hospital to find everyone gone, he has an IV and is on oxygen. He's got a big nasty wound around his abdomen. You see him walk into the street where he meets the other characters, who tell him all the viral zombification happened "ABOUT A MONTH AGO". SORRY, WRITERS, BIG BIG BIG CONTINUITY ERROR THERE!!! He would NOT have survived in the hospital alone FOR 30 DAYS... He would have died of sepsis or dehydration first. At the most, it could have only been 2-3 days, because dehydration can kill you in less than a week. So how did they get this far into the "cycle" of zombification in 2-3 days without showing that????
CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP WRITING TRICK!!!
I'll keep watching, but it's on the 'wait and see'. You haven't grabbed me yet!

Wednesday 03 November

By alistair

Angela that is a good point I never thought about it.
I think I'll mention that point when I tear into the bad points on this episode on the I Love The Walking Dead blog. You are very observant. Do you work in a hospital?

Friday 05 November

By Brianne

I noticed this when I read the series the first time.
A month does seem unrealistic.
He does have an IV, which would keep him hydrated, and sustain him for a while. BUT, IV drips are not unlimited. After it ran out, his body would start to get dehydrated.
So unless there is some other story, such as a nurse was with him for the first 3 weeks or something, trapped in the room, and making sure he stayed hydrated - but this is unlikely.
That part did stay true to the graphic novel though.
I did enjoy the premiere though, despite the few changes that they did make to it. I felt that nothing too extreme was added or ommitted. I am satisfied so far.

By lmfsyrny

your right Angela, I thought the same thing, but overall was satisfied with a great pilot. One aspect I'm not loving is the overused plot line of the best-friend and wife hookup. It's sooo overdone.

Tuesday 02 November

By will

I think this tv show about z's will fly
is full with killing Zs and more Zs

By Pattie Reaves

Zach, I have to disagree. Mad Men is definitely not the best show ever, that's The Wire. And while you're right that Breaking Bad is number two, its number two to The Wire.

Love, Don Draper's biggest fangirl ever (but still doesn't love Mad Men as much as those other two shows yet).

By crystal

they have to do stuff thats not realistic for the dramatic affect. I am hooked on the show, have been waiting for months to watch it, even my daughter, who hates scarey movies loved it, its going to be our sunday night thing from now on, the family who watches zombies together, stays together, LOL!!!

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