OT: The Walking Dead Season Premiere - 10/7/18 - AMC 9:00pm est

Scott Wilson (Hershel) has Passed Away!

I think Rick's leaving in the midseason finale, and I hope so. I'll probably watch it until then, then sayonara. This show should have reached new heights when they introduced Negan, and instead it sunk to new depths. It's just so fucking boring.

Even better, the new show runner is the lady that wrote or directed that episode with Darryl and Beth in the cabin in season 4/5. So there's that.

Full disclosure, I haven't watched the show in years and even when I did watch it, it was out of some sort of misplaced sense of obligation. I always held that the first two episodes of the first season were outstanding and the show had basically gone into a tailspin from then on. Yeah, there were decent episodes sprinkled in here and there but overall, the writing was atrocious, the pacing was zombie like (hah!!), the characterizations would change from episode to episode based on the needs of the plot and overall it became a textbook example of how not to write a show.

So now that's out of the way, why are they advertising this as "Rick Grimes final episodes?" I noticed it whilst watching Better Call Saul a few weeks ago. Have ratings dipped and they want to energize the fanbase to come back for these episodes? Did Andrew Lincoln or someone else let it slip that this is it for him (like Emmy Rossum did for Shameless or countless others before her)? If it's neither of those things, then I scratch my head as to why they would do this. You're basically pulling the rug out of what have been a much talked-about season finale - the death of the show's first hero, basically the star of the show for almost a decade. No suspense needed, just tell the audience what will happen before it happens. Par for the course here.

Yes.