Making it Better - The Walking Dead

While it attracted a huge audience, the start of the second season of The Walking Dead did remind me of some of the things I didn't particularly like about the first season. Unfortunately, they're mostly about the acting. Still, in the interest of improving things, here are my five suggestions for making the show even more zombieriffic.

1. Actually use the word 'zombie.'  While I understand (to some extent) the use of the term "walker," I have hard time believing that no one has used that term to describe what, culturally, we've known as zombies. I can only assume that the world depicted on the show never considered zombies as a concept, or did and called them walkers from the start. Anyway, the occasional dropping of the z-word would be a nice touch, if just to remind us that the show putatively takes place in our present.

2. Less chat, more splat. AMC is developing a bit of a rep for shows that are slow-moving and very talky (I think the last episode of Rubicon is just wrapping up now). That's an unfortunate tendency when you have a show whose hook is zombies and the killing of zombies. It seems like most interactions with the undead happen off camera or from the zombie point of view. We get to hear the kill, but not to see it, which is a shame. If we've learned anything from recent zombie movies, it's that we want to see the Zs dispatched in a gruesome fashion. The direction this show is taking makes the Foley artists happy, I'm sure, but zombies are more of a visual thing, and the show should open things up.

3. Use the chaos to your advantage, cast-wise. Look, this show doesn't have the strongest cast, and on top of that a number of characters are downright annoying. With a show like this, it should be easy to correct such things; annoying cast member gets eaten, less annoying cast member is found along the road or something. I think most fans have at least one character they'd gladly sacrifice in the hopes of improving overall quality. And while we're on the subject...

4. Bring back Merle Dixon. If you're going to have stereotypical characters, you might as well have ones that are maximally stereotypical and, if possible, crazy. Merle Dixon hits on all cylinders, and probably moreso now that he's down to one hand. Michael Rooker made Merle a mesmerizing figure, and it's a shame we got so little of him. I'm hoping he does return soon as the king of the zombies or something.

I would also appreciate a reunion with Morgan Jones, if only so we could have...

5. An end to the walkie-talkie monologues. I don't need to hear Rick fill the first minute of the show with exposition and half-baked suggestions (for example, telling Morgan to stay off the roads when Rick and company are just about to get on the road). I also blame these for the torpor that the pace of the show is stuck in. Start with some action and keep the pace up.

Still, all of this takes a back seat to what may be the real problem with the show: turmoil amongst the staff. Between the plan to fire all the writers and use freelancers and the parting of the ways with two executives (including Frank Darabont), the mess in this part of the show must have an impact on the actual product. Get your house in order, folks. We want to see some good old fashioned zombie killin'.

Nostalgia Isn't What it Used to Be

So now that the expected cancellation of Charlie's Angels is official, can the networks agree to a five year moratorium on trotting out new versions of old shows? There are some successes (Hawaii 5-0) and qualified successes (Nikita, 90210) in these revivals, but then you have these: Knight Rider, Night Stalker, Bionic Woman, Cupid, V, and Melrose Place (and if you want go back a little farther, throw in Dragnet, Star Search, Hunter, The Twilight Zone, and Family Affair). It may be too early to say where Prime Suspect is going, but based on ratings it's more likely to join the latter group.

The danger in this, of course, is that we get more offshoots of existing shows. I'd hate to prevent the return of The Five Mrs. Buchanans if what we get instead is NCIS: Presque Isle. Actually, I'd like to see how CBS would pull that off, though the jokes about Presque Isle not being on the water would probably wear thin after the second episode.

The Beauty of DVR Viewing

The number of shows we record on our DVR generally has us catching up with regular season shows over the summer and watching summer programming during the first half of the new season, with occasional sampling of new shows to see if we're going to keep watching them. This puts me behind the eight ball in discussing developments on existing shows (like how much Glee apparently sucks this year, save Dot Marie Jones), but it has given us a great new approach to some of the summer shows, most notably Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef.

.The approach is simple: watch one episode of each show each night until it's over. I know this sort of condensed season viewing isn't new for folks (especially those of you who stream seasons or watch DVDs), but it's been very helpful for these two shows specifically, as:

1. You can blow through episodes quickly, as you can skip over the ads and excessive recapping (really, I don't need 30 seconds to remind me of what happened two to four minutes ago). Not too unlike regular DVR viewing, but some added value for these shows.

2. You get to know the contestants very quickly. This is less of a problem on Hell's Kitchen, whose contestants tend towards oversized personalities. But it's really helpful for Master Chef, whose contestant pool starts large and, even with a quick cutdown, remains large enough to allow you to lose people in the first few weeks. You see these people every night, though, and it's easier to keep track of folks.

(An aside for Master Chef: please stop the in-program ads for your knives and cookware. Graham Elliot deserves better, I think.)

I will say that this has helped Master Chef seem more compelling this season, though some more interesting competitors have helped, too. They're certainly easier to take than the braying jackasses who tend make up most of Hell's Kitchen.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Between the negative reviews and the falling numbers over its first three episodes, it should be no surprise that NBC's The Playboy Club was the first new show to get cancelled. Really, the writing was on the wall when Aaron Barnhart tabbed it American Dreams with boobs.

The more surprising info in that EW article is that Whitney got picked up for a full season. While it's not bleeding viewers, last week episode underperformed the previous year's episode of Outsourced. Then again, Outsourced got a full season, so it could just be that NBC will take the hit to have some stability. That must make Maria Bello happy, though reruns of Prime Suspect will show up in The Playboy Club's former spot for the next few weeks, which may help.

The show that's being mentioned as the long-term replacement is the newsmagazine Rock Center with Brian Williams. Based on the name I'm assuming the show is about football, or musicians, or football-playing musicians.