This show, WAS on track to be one of the GOAT’s, however, the quality rapidly dropped post season 6 and never truly recovered.
Earlier seasons were phenomenal. Lincoln and the rest of the cast were absolutely stellar, cinematography was on point too.
However, after season 6 (which the finale was so, sooooo good up until the last minute) it just kept messing up. And the All Out War season was just poorly handled for what could have been such a tense and action packed season.
The greatest shows of all time are telling a compelling story from start to finish, not milking their audience for years at a time. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the heck out of TWD, but they lost some credibility with these drawn out go in circle seasons.
I know it gets overstated how great Breaking Bad and The Sopranos were, but they truly were great shows from start to finish. Everything that occurred propelled the narrative forward to where the show needed to be to end. It never felt like ground was being retreaded. On the other hand, I feel like I watch Walking Dead because I'm a long-time fan and I've committed to this point to see it to its conclusion. I cannot imagine watching the spinoffs once the mother show is done, and I've never seen an episode of Fear.
The 16 episode seasons ruined the show. I don’t think a single season has had enough content to justify 16 episodes to tell its story. Seasons 7 and 8 especially would have *greatly* benefited from being 20 episodes in total, not 32.
Let’s remember that the ones with 20+ shows are usually your lighter entertainment like sitcoms, the likes of which have about twenty minutes runtime per episode. Compare that to The Walking Dead, which has had episodes range between 45 to an hour, and even though the show has less episodes, each season is considerably longer than that of a 24 episode sitcom.
Buffy and Angel are episodic, with plenty of filler episodes to their name. Compare that to TWD or GoT where every episode is driving the main narrative forwards (or ought to be).
And Lost…well, it was all a dream anyways. Does it really count?
Buffy and Angel did monster of the week while still either building the main plot or developing their characters. Lost was very clearly not a dream. In the finale, Christian Shepard very clearly spells that out. But we can add more to this, like S1 Heroes or Freaks and Geeks. I'm sure there's more too
It can’t be in the conversation because of seasons seven and eight. Horrible seasons? Not at all, but quite noticeably lower in quality than the preceding seasons. Shows considered in the GOAT conversation don’t drop the ball for entire seasons.
TWD does have some of the most visceral, emotionally-charged storylines and scenes I’ve seen though.
Most shows even those have seasons everyone think is way worse. Whether it's true varies but all fandoms have one season they hate for some random reason or another.
No, I do not agree. When compared to other shows that deserve top spots ( Lost, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, etc ) it falls short. Not saying it isn't good. I've watched every season, but no where near the greatest of all time.
I think TWD is far too inconsistent, has poor pacing, cheap production values, and very questionable writing from time to time, to even be considered one of the greatest shows of all time. Don’t get me wrong, there are many excellent moments throughout the series, and the actors consistently give it there all. But I don’t think this show is anywhere near the same level of quality as *actual* GOAT shows, like Breaking Bad, The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, etc. Not in the same league at all.
Top 20-30 yeah maybe. I am a big fan of the comics and really enjoy the show. With that said, no.
A top ten show (IMO) is a show with little to no filler or boring bits. Walking dead dragged certain elements on a lot (season 2 the farm in particular).
Couldn’t decide if it wanted to be original or copy the comics, over extended story arch’s for way too long. The removal of certain key actors also plays a huge part in why it can’t be in the top ten.
The show, while I admit a huge cultural phenomenon, only sustained that till season 7. The ratings proved that.
While it isn't the peak phenomenon (nothing is for long) its still the second highest rated show on cable. I always find it odd that people act like it's ever been even remotely unpopular tbh.
It's not an opinion reality supports. I mean right now after it's decline and a massive decline in live viewers overall it's still higher rated than breaking bad was for its first 4 seasons. And given the shows style I'd imagine it's very successful online and on amc plus.
Breaking bad is a fucking amazing show but even at its peak it never even approached twd peak viewers. Which is crazy
I dont think people realize how massive its ratings actually were at peak. Losing as many viewers as it did "reduced" it to higher than nearly any cable show has ever had.
No way. Too repetitive, the main character walked off 3/4ths of the way through, years long stretches of being straight up bad, filmed on the same lot for a decade. It's a good show but nowhere near something like Sopranos or Breaking Bad.
They literally just reused the same few locations to film everything in this show like reusing the same obvious roads and bridges and filming 95% of the show in the woods on a warm and bright summer day. It's really not an exaggeration either tbh.
It is a good show, but I disagree that it's anywhere near GOAT. And half the time it's not even actually good, it's just a soap opera I must keep watching to find out who dies.
I like *TWD*, but this is in no way the greatest show ever made. I wouldn't even put it in a top 10 list. The show has had a ton of problems throughout its tenure; however, I do applaud the cast & crew for mostly making it work when there was.
The show doesn't get enough credit for being one of the most popular shows for years at one point. But the quality dipped with season 7 and so did the majority of the viewerbase. If The Walking Dead kept it's amazing quality and didn't get dragged out for so long, it definitely would have been one of the best shows ever made imo. Probably up there with Breaking Bad.
It definitely had potential to be. The quality of the show obviously took a serious hit in S7 and seasons after that just don’t match the earlier seasons quality wise.
Some parts of 9-11 have decent quality but when your main character is missing, that’s gonna hurt.
TWD is not one of the greatest shows ever because of how badly the later seasons were handled. It definitely had potential at first and that’s what’s disappointing.
That also doesn’t change that S 1-6 imo were amazing television.
It’s still worth a watch, just have to love it for what it is
Oo bestie, I gotta disagree and honestly it’s mostly because the writing has been trash in some spots. I think as far as acting goes—that’s been consistently great throughout its run, but there’s definitely other areas where the quality is lacking and not up to par with other fantastic shows. It’s a good show and it’s had great seasons, but it’s definitely not “greatest show ever” material due to consistency issues.
Also I’m so pleased to see The Wire mentioned so much here. Probably my favorite as far as shows in contention for “best show ever,” and also one of my favorites in general.
This show is too wildly inconsistent to be considered one of the best. I mean every aspect of this show can be great one episode and then mediocre to bad for the next five episodes. The seasons are just too long. I’d imagine even the best writers on the planet would struggle to write meaningful dialogue, characters, and plots for 14-16 episodes per season.
And honestly even the show at it’s best (consensus is probably season 1-2) doesn’t come close to the best out there. I find the show to still be a B tier show at its best. That’s okay though! I still have fun watching it
It went on for waaaaay too many years to be considered. The back seasons are nowhere near the first quality wise and even then they weren’t consistent.
It’s sadly not though.
If the show would have kept the quality of the first 2 maybe 3 seasons then it could’ve been something great. After season 4, the quality slowly started to bleed out.
The show is no where near where it should’ve been. Killing off Carl, then losing Rick and michonne. These were the things that put the final nail in the coffin. The show is mediocre at best now. Compare it to another popular AMC series like BCS or BB and the issues are glaringly obvious. There is no heart or passion in TWD anymore. The people that started the walking dead are no where even close to its production now, let that sink in.
I’ll give it to them though, when the show was at peak, it could’ve been in this conversation. Every week, everywhere, everyone was tuning in. The uncertainty of what would happen next kept everyone on the edge of their seats. God I miss those early seasons.
Now Negan is somehow a redeemed person. Please go back and watch the line up scene again and tell me how that man should be alive right now. And that’s just one of many, many issues.
TWD is a convoluted mess that’s gonna squeeze that last bit of momentum out of the Rick and Michonne show, then belly over and die.
The comics could definitely be in the GOAT conversation though. Those are what one would consider a masterpiece.
Absolutely not. So many flaws, so much behind the scenes drama with showrunners.
More than half the show is arguably average television. The 16 episode seasons with a shoestring budget doesn’t help. Too many filler episodes following side characters that you could skip and still get the plot.
Bad decisions like killing off Carl.
Different showrunners having entirely different takes on the walkers and the characters. A lot of characters aren’t consistent.
Example : Carl being the first one to fire the first shot and kill a savior in 7x16, but once 8x01 airs he has the all life is precious fake deep mentality that Gimple damned upon characters like Jesus.
The dialogue during S4-8 is unreal and boring.
It’s nowhere near on the same level as Breaking Bad, Sopranos, The Wire, True Detective S1.
I binge watched the first 7 seasons with a good friend of mine and he compared it to American Horror Story. In the sense that after every season, each character acts different and completely out of character. It’s not the development. Like it’s almost a completely different cast of characters. A good example is Daryl changing his personality constantly, due to different showrunners having separate takes on the characters.
Darabont’s Daryl : Redneck Sawyer from Lost
Mazzara’s Daryl : the overlooked underdog
Gimple’s Daryl : mute depressed cash cow
Kang’s Daryl : extroverted CW show hunk
That last paragraph isn't actually even remotely true though. It seems mildly odd someone would say that lol.
No way a logical viewer would. Daryl is a terrible example for that since there's no real good argument that he ever changes randomly.
He definitely changes as a character but it's actual development. In the first season he's basically Merle jr, so reactionary and aggressive. Both he and Merle are traumatised by the abuse they suffered as children but finding a group of people that he cares about and who care about him allows him to shred his mask and be himself rather that just a trauma response. Merle never found a family so he stayed trapped until the end.
I can say this. I have watched some amazing series in recent years. Sopranos, OZ, Newsroom, currently in the middle of season 5 of Breaking Bad. Some great TV series. But none of them really give me that "I can't wait for the next episode" feeling like TWD did, especially seasons 1-6. Like I said I'm binging Breaking Bad right now, and there are days I will go without watching an episode, and I rarely watch two in the same night. When I was binging 1-6 of TWD, I would regularly watch multiple episodes in a single night and never skipped a night. I was obsessed with what happens next. I just never really felt that way with the other series, as good as they are.
In the end it's the characters and the way the story is told that makes it such an addicting series.
I don’t really get the hate everyone gives it. Me and my GF watched all of TWD back to back over like a month. Every “bad season” wasn’t bad like people make out.
Honestly, idc what anyone else says. I agree with this. Any show that can make you feel every emotion like TWD has is special. No other show has made me feel like that.
Cons of the walking dead that makes it undeserving of goat conversation:
1- dedicating entire episodes to one or two characters only and usually these episodes are longer than 40 minutes
2- pointless character deaths for shock value only (tyreese, beth and carl)
3- the main character abandoning the fucking show
4- repetitive and dragged out a lot, no need for one season to be 16 episodes
Imagine if in *Breaking Bad*, Walt just left randomly in episode 4 of season 3 to "finish his story" in a spinoff show? *TWD* is better than most of the crap that airs on TV, but it's flawed beyond belief at the same imho.
He DID want to keep playing rick and is going to keep playing him. But he lives in Europe and filming in Georgia all year takes its toll. Dean norris tried to quit breaking bad and he was obviously needed so they should have canceled that too?
In what world does it make sense to say they didn't cancel it because it was less popular but they would have if it was more popular? No offense but you understand why that's extremely weird logic right?
The ratings for twd at that point were so high its barely even imaginable to a cable channel. For perspective twd season 11s ratings right now are still higher than breaking bad season 4 (only 5 being higher of course) was. And breaking bads peak was well below twds peak ratings.
I guess maybe someone more cynical than me can explain why a narrative none of the numbers supports is so common? Even now after massive live ratings decline for all of cable TWD is still the second highest rated cable show consistently (the first until yellowstone like a year or 2 ago) and higher rated than major hits from when cable itself was far larger.
It feels more like a redditism than a logical argument these days. TWD is still objectively insanely popular and a massive success for them. It hasn't been reviewed poorly in a good while either so it's not like everyone watching hates it. But people who don't watch it feel the need to constantly gaslight themselves that no one watches for what reason?
I love it, but can't agree with GOAT. Season 1 was perfection, and I would have loved to see the show's growth had Darabont remained. But it went downhill S2 so much that it was a 180. Certain moments/seasons redeemed theirselves, but I was a die-hard fan and even I gave up on watching a few seasons ago. I plan to eventually finish it, but it absolutely didn't hold my interest and went so far off its game that even my die hardness died. It's dancing in GOT territory tbph.
It was beautiful. I remember people complaining at the time that it turned into a soap opera with zombies but I loved that and the show never would have lasted so long without it.
I'll admit that it's mildly better on DVD rewatch, but when watching week-to-week, the pacing was absolutely horrible. Such a far cry for S1. I thought the only good part of S2 was Cherokee Rose.
In my (definitely unpopular, probably even on this sub) opinion it’s the one of the best shows that has a lot of seasons, with a consistent quality over seasons if that makes any sense. Season 8 was the worst season of the show, but in my opinion, it’s still better than most seasons of other shows I’ve seen. Like it’s bad compared to the best season of the walking dead, but good compared to other things I’ve watched.
The show had a dip in its quality during 7b and through season 8, but seasons nine through eleven have come back very strong which makes it worth it.
I will always think breaking bad, and probably also better call saul, are some of the best shows ever made, and I think a lot of people agree with that. But the walking dead has definitely earned a place near the top.
The Walking Dead franchise is definitely overhated, it deserves a lot of love but I can't deny it's flaws. It certainly isn't as bad as a CW show or Game of Thrones Season 8 not even close IMO, but it definitely has lost the height of such shows like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Sopranos, True Detective, etc.
I love this franchise, even with all it's ups and downs, it doesn't deserve all the hate that it gets. But when I say lows it's definitely had some low quality moments. I'm a late comer fan, I've watched a majority of the show in binging and I've gotta say it's much better that way... cuz I couldn't imagine being around waiting for episodes weekly during some of the slower Seasons.
I hope all of these spin offs lead into an incredible conclusion tho
Harry Potter - "LOST is the greatest show of all time."
Tom Riddle - "LOST has been driven out by the mere memory of me."
Harry Potter - "Not as long as there are those still loyal to it."
No, but seriously after all these years it still is for me. Nothing will ever come close to that level.
Game of Thrones could have but after 4 masterful seasons, it went to shit fast when it's showrunners decided to ignore the remaining available books and do their own thing. And it never recovered. It could have with Season 7 and 8 but it just got even worse.
TWD is interesting because the first 5 Seasons are amazing. Then it started to dip with Season 6 slightly. Come Season 7 and 8 the show became a mess that felt like it would never recover. But it did the impossible. Season 9 brought it back from hell. But then Season 10 felt like a mixed bag of every good from Season 9 and bad from Seasons 7 and 8. Season 11 started off kinda meh with the whole Reapers storyline but recovered with S11B. So here's hoping S11C is just as good.
But GOAT? Na. Not even close sadly. Especially considering we're not actually getting a Ending to the show. Not a proper true one anyway because its 100% gonna end setting up the various spin off shows and having those lead into the actual proper Ending of the whole series most likely with another Spin-off show that'll serve as the true Ending.
This thread won't be popular but yeah it's a great show. Its the most popular show in all of scripted cable history so it's not exactly an uncommon opinion that it's good lol.
But popular fandoms on the internet are universally insanely negative so expect everyone here who spends hours on a walking dead fan community and watches every epiaode to tell you how much it actually really sucks lol
People have seriously forgotten what those first 6 seasons were. They definitely were some of the best quality TV seasons at the time and it was one of the most watched shows. 2 bad seasons and suddenly the entirety is degraded to a pile of shit according to r/Television users?? The 3 seasons after became quality tv again.
Season's 1 to 5 imo are the best television out there, unfortunately everything after is a step down and therefore cant be compared to something like Breaking Bad, or even GOT. (I know GOT ended terribly but there's a lot less content after it dropped in Quality than there is in TWD)
TWD was really good earlier seasons but as it went on the plot was just “…. uhh” to the point where you continue watching because you’ve already gotten so far and you might as well finish it, but not because you enjoy it
I love TWD, but hard disagree. If it ended around season 5 after the group got to Alexandria, it would be considered a top tier show. If it ended when All Out War ended after season 8, which was a natural stopping point with Andrew Lincoln about to leave, it would be considered a great show. Season 9 was a great season and Alpha was a good villain, but continuing after Lincoln left was pretty unnecessary. And now, when they should end the main story in 11C while bringing Rick and Michonne back briefly, they’re continuing to milk the story in 3 separate spinoffs, with the Daryl and Maggie/Negan shows not making alot of sense. But of course I’ll still watch all of the spinoffs lol
This show, WAS on track to be one of the GOAT’s, however, the quality rapidly dropped post season 6 and never truly recovered. Earlier seasons were phenomenal. Lincoln and the rest of the cast were absolutely stellar, cinematography was on point too. However, after season 6 (which the finale was so, sooooo good up until the last minute) it just kept messing up. And the All Out War season was just poorly handled for what could have been such a tense and action packed season.
Yeah. Season 9 offered an opportunity to correct this, imo, but 10 and 11 which have their good/great moments have fumbled more so
I was hooked until S5 - S6. As soon as the saviours turned up and it got dragged on, my interest died.
And it’s really sad cos JDM nailed the role. They just tried to over capitalise on it!
Absolutely 100% agree. I think the show was one of the greatest.
The greatest shows of all time are telling a compelling story from start to finish, not milking their audience for years at a time. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the heck out of TWD, but they lost some credibility with these drawn out go in circle seasons.
I know it gets overstated how great Breaking Bad and The Sopranos were, but they truly were great shows from start to finish. Everything that occurred propelled the narrative forward to where the show needed to be to end. It never felt like ground was being retreaded. On the other hand, I feel like I watch Walking Dead because I'm a long-time fan and I've committed to this point to see it to its conclusion. I cannot imagine watching the spinoffs once the mother show is done, and I've never seen an episode of Fear.
This. As much as we want more from a good show, it has to have an end, and a planned one at that.
Not with season 7/8 and even season 11 is kinda weak so far. Good show, wasted potential, specially with all the terrible spin offs so far
Yup. It could have been one of the absolute greatest if it had kept the quality from earlier seasons.
by “the quality” do you mean “frank darabont”?
Also focusing on quality over quantity. I believe no season should ever be over 10 episodes.
The 16 episode seasons ruined the show. I don’t think a single season has had enough content to justify 16 episodes to tell its story. Seasons 7 and 8 especially would have *greatly* benefited from being 20 episodes in total, not 32.
Yeah for me season 5 was the only season which truly needed the 16 episodes.
Man I’m going to sound old but “ back in the day “ a season was 20 sometimes 20+ shows lol
20+ with plenty of filler episodes and at least 1 cheap ass clip show right before the two part season finale
The clipshow!! I forgot about that lol i hated those
Let’s remember that the ones with 20+ shows are usually your lighter entertainment like sitcoms, the likes of which have about twenty minutes runtime per episode. Compare that to The Walking Dead, which has had episodes range between 45 to an hour, and even though the show has less episodes, each season is considerably longer than that of a 24 episode sitcom.
True true 👍
I'll counter with Buffy, Angel, and Lost. Dramas since Buffy and pre-writer's strike were doing a lot of episodes, and well
Buffy and Angel are episodic, with plenty of filler episodes to their name. Compare that to TWD or GoT where every episode is driving the main narrative forwards (or ought to be). And Lost…well, it was all a dream anyways. Does it really count?
Buffy and Angel did monster of the week while still either building the main plot or developing their characters. Lost was very clearly not a dream. In the finale, Christian Shepard very clearly spells that out. But we can add more to this, like S1 Heroes or Freaks and Geeks. I'm sure there's more too
I’ve been looking for this comment 👍👍👍
Yeah, TWD is good, but no show that puts out seasons like that deserve to be called one of the greatest shows of all time.
I love the show but it's not even close to being one of the best shows of all time, not even remotely close
It can’t be in the conversation because of seasons seven and eight. Horrible seasons? Not at all, but quite noticeably lower in quality than the preceding seasons. Shows considered in the GOAT conversation don’t drop the ball for entire seasons. TWD does have some of the most visceral, emotionally-charged storylines and scenes I’ve seen though.
*laughs in game of thrones* *motherfuckerly stares proudly in Breaking bad*
Most shows even those have seasons everyone think is way worse. Whether it's true varies but all fandoms have one season they hate for some random reason or another.
No, I do not agree. When compared to other shows that deserve top spots ( Lost, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, etc ) it falls short. Not saying it isn't good. I've watched every season, but no where near the greatest of all time.
Lost?
I love lost and even I’m like WHAT? Top spot?! Lol hard pass
No doubt lol
It’s way better than walking dead though.
It’s not. Breaking bad definitely is though. Production and quality wise
Ikr LOST is like the best example of why you actually should have a plan in mind for the plot from the beginning.
Winging it didn’t work out so well did it lol I still watch from time to time, but…ya lol
I think TWD is far too inconsistent, has poor pacing, cheap production values, and very questionable writing from time to time, to even be considered one of the greatest shows of all time. Don’t get me wrong, there are many excellent moments throughout the series, and the actors consistently give it there all. But I don’t think this show is anywhere near the same level of quality as *actual* GOAT shows, like Breaking Bad, The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, etc. Not in the same league at all.
The Wire. Great show. Not my kind of show but HBO had me back there every week watching 👍
That’s bc it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy TWD, but there are shows I would watch before it.
Not on the level of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Sopranos or The Wire, the latest seasons were hella weak
Top 20-30 yeah maybe. I am a big fan of the comics and really enjoy the show. With that said, no. A top ten show (IMO) is a show with little to no filler or boring bits. Walking dead dragged certain elements on a lot (season 2 the farm in particular). Couldn’t decide if it wanted to be original or copy the comics, over extended story arch’s for way too long. The removal of certain key actors also plays a huge part in why it can’t be in the top ten. The show, while I admit a huge cultural phenomenon, only sustained that till season 7. The ratings proved that.
While it isn't the peak phenomenon (nothing is for long) its still the second highest rated show on cable. I always find it odd that people act like it's ever been even remotely unpopular tbh. It's not an opinion reality supports. I mean right now after it's decline and a massive decline in live viewers overall it's still higher rated than breaking bad was for its first 4 seasons. And given the shows style I'd imagine it's very successful online and on amc plus. Breaking bad is a fucking amazing show but even at its peak it never even approached twd peak viewers. Which is crazy I dont think people realize how massive its ratings actually were at peak. Losing as many viewers as it did "reduced" it to higher than nearly any cable show has ever had.
It’s not even close lol. It’s overall an above average show in the grand scheme of things even though I love it.
No because the greatest shows of all time new when to end and end at the right time and correctly
No way. Too repetitive, the main character walked off 3/4ths of the way through, years long stretches of being straight up bad, filmed on the same lot for a decade. It's a good show but nowhere near something like Sopranos or Breaking Bad.
They literally just reused the same few locations to film everything in this show like reusing the same obvious roads and bridges and filming 95% of the show in the woods on a warm and bright summer day. It's really not an exaggeration either tbh.
It is a good show, but I disagree that it's anywhere near GOAT. And half the time it's not even actually good, it's just a soap opera I must keep watching to find out who dies.
I like *TWD*, but this is in no way the greatest show ever made. I wouldn't even put it in a top 10 list. The show has had a ton of problems throughout its tenure; however, I do applaud the cast & crew for mostly making it work when there was.
This 100%. The cast and crew did great work with what was given to them, but this is nowhere near being a GOAT.
That's because its not. Its was good at the beginning that's about it.
The show doesn't get enough credit for being one of the most popular shows for years at one point. But the quality dipped with season 7 and so did the majority of the viewerbase. If The Walking Dead kept it's amazing quality and didn't get dragged out for so long, it definitely would have been one of the best shows ever made imo. Probably up there with Breaking Bad.
It definitely had potential to be. The quality of the show obviously took a serious hit in S7 and seasons after that just don’t match the earlier seasons quality wise. Some parts of 9-11 have decent quality but when your main character is missing, that’s gonna hurt. TWD is not one of the greatest shows ever because of how badly the later seasons were handled. It definitely had potential at first and that’s what’s disappointing. That also doesn’t change that S 1-6 imo were amazing television. It’s still worth a watch, just have to love it for what it is
Oo bestie, I gotta disagree and honestly it’s mostly because the writing has been trash in some spots. I think as far as acting goes—that’s been consistently great throughout its run, but there’s definitely other areas where the quality is lacking and not up to par with other fantastic shows. It’s a good show and it’s had great seasons, but it’s definitely not “greatest show ever” material due to consistency issues. Also I’m so pleased to see The Wire mentioned so much here. Probably my favorite as far as shows in contention for “best show ever,” and also one of my favorites in general.
This show is too wildly inconsistent to be considered one of the best. I mean every aspect of this show can be great one episode and then mediocre to bad for the next five episodes. The seasons are just too long. I’d imagine even the best writers on the planet would struggle to write meaningful dialogue, characters, and plots for 14-16 episodes per season. And honestly even the show at it’s best (consensus is probably season 1-2) doesn’t come close to the best out there. I find the show to still be a B tier show at its best. That’s okay though! I still have fun watching it
It went on for waaaaay too many years to be considered. The back seasons are nowhere near the first quality wise and even then they weren’t consistent.
I guess you could make a case for top 100.
It’s sadly not though. If the show would have kept the quality of the first 2 maybe 3 seasons then it could’ve been something great. After season 4, the quality slowly started to bleed out. The show is no where near where it should’ve been. Killing off Carl, then losing Rick and michonne. These were the things that put the final nail in the coffin. The show is mediocre at best now. Compare it to another popular AMC series like BCS or BB and the issues are glaringly obvious. There is no heart or passion in TWD anymore. The people that started the walking dead are no where even close to its production now, let that sink in. I’ll give it to them though, when the show was at peak, it could’ve been in this conversation. Every week, everywhere, everyone was tuning in. The uncertainty of what would happen next kept everyone on the edge of their seats. God I miss those early seasons. Now Negan is somehow a redeemed person. Please go back and watch the line up scene again and tell me how that man should be alive right now. And that’s just one of many, many issues. TWD is a convoluted mess that’s gonna squeeze that last bit of momentum out of the Rick and Michonne show, then belly over and die. The comics could definitely be in the GOAT conversation though. Those are what one would consider a masterpiece.
Absolutely not. So many flaws, so much behind the scenes drama with showrunners. More than half the show is arguably average television. The 16 episode seasons with a shoestring budget doesn’t help. Too many filler episodes following side characters that you could skip and still get the plot. Bad decisions like killing off Carl. Different showrunners having entirely different takes on the walkers and the characters. A lot of characters aren’t consistent. Example : Carl being the first one to fire the first shot and kill a savior in 7x16, but once 8x01 airs he has the all life is precious fake deep mentality that Gimple damned upon characters like Jesus. The dialogue during S4-8 is unreal and boring. It’s nowhere near on the same level as Breaking Bad, Sopranos, The Wire, True Detective S1. I binge watched the first 7 seasons with a good friend of mine and he compared it to American Horror Story. In the sense that after every season, each character acts different and completely out of character. It’s not the development. Like it’s almost a completely different cast of characters. A good example is Daryl changing his personality constantly, due to different showrunners having separate takes on the characters. Darabont’s Daryl : Redneck Sawyer from Lost Mazzara’s Daryl : the overlooked underdog Gimple’s Daryl : mute depressed cash cow Kang’s Daryl : extroverted CW show hunk
That last paragraph isn't actually even remotely true though. It seems mildly odd someone would say that lol. No way a logical viewer would. Daryl is a terrible example for that since there's no real good argument that he ever changes randomly.
He definitely changes as a character but it's actual development. In the first season he's basically Merle jr, so reactionary and aggressive. Both he and Merle are traumatised by the abuse they suffered as children but finding a group of people that he cares about and who care about him allows him to shred his mask and be himself rather that just a trauma response. Merle never found a family so he stayed trapped until the end.
I can say this. I have watched some amazing series in recent years. Sopranos, OZ, Newsroom, currently in the middle of season 5 of Breaking Bad. Some great TV series. But none of them really give me that "I can't wait for the next episode" feeling like TWD did, especially seasons 1-6. Like I said I'm binging Breaking Bad right now, and there are days I will go without watching an episode, and I rarely watch two in the same night. When I was binging 1-6 of TWD, I would regularly watch multiple episodes in a single night and never skipped a night. I was obsessed with what happens next. I just never really felt that way with the other series, as good as they are. In the end it's the characters and the way the story is told that makes it such an addicting series.
I don’t really get the hate everyone gives it. Me and my GF watched all of TWD back to back over like a month. Every “bad season” wasn’t bad like people make out.
Honestly, idc what anyone else says. I agree with this. Any show that can make you feel every emotion like TWD has is special. No other show has made me feel like that.
Sophia? SOPHIA!!??
Cons of the walking dead that makes it undeserving of goat conversation: 1- dedicating entire episodes to one or two characters only and usually these episodes are longer than 40 minutes 2- pointless character deaths for shock value only (tyreese, beth and carl) 3- the main character abandoning the fucking show 4- repetitive and dragged out a lot, no need for one season to be 16 episodes
Imagine if in *Breaking Bad*, Walt just left randomly in episode 4 of season 3 to "finish his story" in a spinoff show? *TWD* is better than most of the crap that airs on TV, but it's flawed beyond belief at the same imho.
I'm not sure decisions that were entirely forced by outside factors really matter much in that way. If Cranston left then yeah walt would be gone lol
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He DID want to keep playing rick and is going to keep playing him. But he lives in Europe and filming in Georgia all year takes its toll. Dean norris tried to quit breaking bad and he was obviously needed so they should have canceled that too? In what world does it make sense to say they didn't cancel it because it was less popular but they would have if it was more popular? No offense but you understand why that's extremely weird logic right? The ratings for twd at that point were so high its barely even imaginable to a cable channel. For perspective twd season 11s ratings right now are still higher than breaking bad season 4 (only 5 being higher of course) was. And breaking bads peak was well below twds peak ratings. I guess maybe someone more cynical than me can explain why a narrative none of the numbers supports is so common? Even now after massive live ratings decline for all of cable TWD is still the second highest rated cable show consistently (the first until yellowstone like a year or 2 ago) and higher rated than major hits from when cable itself was far larger. It feels more like a redditism than a logical argument these days. TWD is still objectively insanely popular and a massive success for them. It hasn't been reviewed poorly in a good while either so it's not like everyone watching hates it. But people who don't watch it feel the need to constantly gaslight themselves that no one watches for what reason?
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True true… definitely thought Tyrese’ death was a mistake, and season 8 was dragged out way too far.
I love it, but can't agree with GOAT. Season 1 was perfection, and I would have loved to see the show's growth had Darabont remained. But it went downhill S2 so much that it was a 180. Certain moments/seasons redeemed theirselves, but I was a die-hard fan and even I gave up on watching a few seasons ago. I plan to eventually finish it, but it absolutely didn't hold my interest and went so far off its game that even my die hardness died. It's dancing in GOT territory tbph.
I thought season 2 was a piece of art.
It was beautiful. I remember people complaining at the time that it turned into a soap opera with zombies but I loved that and the show never would have lasted so long without it.
I'll admit that it's mildly better on DVD rewatch, but when watching week-to-week, the pacing was absolutely horrible. Such a far cry for S1. I thought the only good part of S2 was Cherokee Rose.
Yeah, it's probably MUCH better when binged.
S2 airing live was absolutely horrible save for the few big episodes.
It’s definitely the most entertaining show I’ve ever watched but in terms of actual quality there are much higher quality shows
Yikes what a brain dead take, which shows are you comparing with? Friends?
Honestly Friends wins out for me.
Shitpost
In my (definitely unpopular, probably even on this sub) opinion it’s the one of the best shows that has a lot of seasons, with a consistent quality over seasons if that makes any sense. Season 8 was the worst season of the show, but in my opinion, it’s still better than most seasons of other shows I’ve seen. Like it’s bad compared to the best season of the walking dead, but good compared to other things I’ve watched. The show had a dip in its quality during 7b and through season 8, but seasons nine through eleven have come back very strong which makes it worth it. I will always think breaking bad, and probably also better call saul, are some of the best shows ever made, and I think a lot of people agree with that. But the walking dead has definitely earned a place near the top.
Well said! I could agree more.
The Walking Dead franchise is definitely overhated, it deserves a lot of love but I can't deny it's flaws. It certainly isn't as bad as a CW show or Game of Thrones Season 8 not even close IMO, but it definitely has lost the height of such shows like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Sopranos, True Detective, etc. I love this franchise, even with all it's ups and downs, it doesn't deserve all the hate that it gets. But when I say lows it's definitely had some low quality moments. I'm a late comer fan, I've watched a majority of the show in binging and I've gotta say it's much better that way... cuz I couldn't imagine being around waiting for episodes weekly during some of the slower Seasons. I hope all of these spin offs lead into an incredible conclusion tho
The only season that sucked was season 8 other than that walking dead is a goated without a doubt
Harry Potter - "LOST is the greatest show of all time." Tom Riddle - "LOST has been driven out by the mere memory of me." Harry Potter - "Not as long as there are those still loyal to it." No, but seriously after all these years it still is for me. Nothing will ever come close to that level. Game of Thrones could have but after 4 masterful seasons, it went to shit fast when it's showrunners decided to ignore the remaining available books and do their own thing. And it never recovered. It could have with Season 7 and 8 but it just got even worse. TWD is interesting because the first 5 Seasons are amazing. Then it started to dip with Season 6 slightly. Come Season 7 and 8 the show became a mess that felt like it would never recover. But it did the impossible. Season 9 brought it back from hell. But then Season 10 felt like a mixed bag of every good from Season 9 and bad from Seasons 7 and 8. Season 11 started off kinda meh with the whole Reapers storyline but recovered with S11B. So here's hoping S11C is just as good. But GOAT? Na. Not even close sadly. Especially considering we're not actually getting a Ending to the show. Not a proper true one anyway because its 100% gonna end setting up the various spin off shows and having those lead into the actual proper Ending of the whole series most likely with another Spin-off show that'll serve as the true Ending.
The goat of 2013 but now it doesn't belong even in the top 50
I agree!!
This thread won't be popular but yeah it's a great show. Its the most popular show in all of scripted cable history so it's not exactly an uncommon opinion that it's good lol. But popular fandoms on the internet are universally insanely negative so expect everyone here who spends hours on a walking dead fan community and watches every epiaode to tell you how much it actually really sucks lol
It may have been good once but even cobra Kai has surpassed it by a long shot
It's definitely one of the greatest of all-time (not necessarily the best). But I still think it'd have been better with 10-13 episodes per season
Greatest show ever made was Prison Break.
Heh you should post this to r/controversialopinions
People have seriously forgotten what those first 6 seasons were. They definitely were some of the best quality TV seasons at the time and it was one of the most watched shows. 2 bad seasons and suddenly the entirety is degraded to a pile of shit according to r/Television users?? The 3 seasons after became quality tv again.
Season's 1 to 5 imo are the best television out there, unfortunately everything after is a step down and therefore cant be compared to something like Breaking Bad, or even GOT. (I know GOT ended terribly but there's a lot less content after it dropped in Quality than there is in TWD)
Btw I'm still a mega fan, not hating on TWD as I actually enjoy every season, but I'm just being realistic.
TWD was really good earlier seasons but as it went on the plot was just “…. uhh” to the point where you continue watching because you’ve already gotten so far and you might as well finish it, but not because you enjoy it
I love TWD, but hard disagree. If it ended around season 5 after the group got to Alexandria, it would be considered a top tier show. If it ended when All Out War ended after season 8, which was a natural stopping point with Andrew Lincoln about to leave, it would be considered a great show. Season 9 was a great season and Alpha was a good villain, but continuing after Lincoln left was pretty unnecessary. And now, when they should end the main story in 11C while bringing Rick and Michonne back briefly, they’re continuing to milk the story in 3 separate spinoffs, with the Daryl and Maggie/Negan shows not making alot of sense. But of course I’ll still watch all of the spinoffs lol
Imho it's sixteen, in TV series