Fear the Walking Dead EP Addresses Walking Dead Fans' 'Frustrations' 

executive producer Dave Erickson has heard your complaints that his series isn’t

. He gets it. And “that has been one of the challenges of the show,” he tells TVLine.

has “a huge fan base to whom we are incredibly grateful, and we obviously want to deliver a story that everybody loves. But at the same time, we wanted to make sure that our characters didn’t embrace the tropes [of the genre] as readily as,” say, the characters in a zombie movie.

Fear the Walking Dead Showrunner Talks Madison’s Rick Grimes Moment, Daniel’s Fiery ‘Grave’ and More

On the big screen, the learning curve is so steep that, ordinarily, “by the end of the first reel, everybody knows the score and is able to kill [the undead] without any thought,” the showrunner notes. “They become very practiced at it very quickly. And that was something we wanted to avoid. We wanted to [instead] try to balance expectations of how people should behave once they know there are zombies with this sort of attempted slow burn into the apocalypse from a character standpoint.”

Which makes sense from a long-term storytelling perspective. However, even Erickson acknowledges that “that creates frustrations, to a certain degree, because in some instances, you want [the characters] to get it already. And in some circumstances, the things that they do that don’t seem particularly zombie-savvy are, for me, moments where they

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“If you marked off the days [that have passed on air since

debuted], I think right now, by the end of the first half [of Season 2], we’re getting very close to Rick waking up in Georgia” on

‘s survivors “arrived at a place where they’re up to speed on how one deals with the apocalypse and the dead.” In other words, they’re no longer beginners.

‘s characters to start going to the extremes that

‘s routinely do. Yes, Madison condemned Celia to die in the midseason finale. But that doesn’t mean that she’s become as ruthless as Rick. “That wasn’t a matter of ‘We have to have one of our core characters do something that seems incredibly immoral or violent in order to catch up with where they should be,\'” Erickson explains. “That was more a mother who was trying to protect her son [Nick] from, essentially, a drug dealer.”

What do you think? Do you see the logic in Erickson’s approach? Looking forward to the second half

I wouldn’t say that any TV show is technically “necessary,” except for maybe the evening news.

The flaws of the show aren’t because it’s different from The Walking Dead. The characters in this show aren’t likeable enough (although some are becoming a bit more sympathetic) and never were. Once interesting characters become likeable or compelling, they die like Celia and Elizabeth.

They still don’t get it. The problem isn’t “why are these characters having a long learning curve about how to deal with zombies.” That could still be an interesting story under one or more of the following conditions: if the characters were 1) interesting 2) caused at least some level of fondness, likeability, or concern from viewers or 3) acted in any way consistently (it doesn’t have to even be logically, but it does have to feel more like “this is the way that character would act” and less like “the plot needs this character to do something, so they do it, even if it’s way out of character”). “Fear the Walking Dead” isn’t giving us any of that. Fix the characters, then they can have however long a “learning curve” they need to have and fans will actually care.

Yes! A thousand times yes! I love TWD, but in this show, I actually root for the zombies…

Do you live in a cage and squawk when you want a cracker?

Came here basically to say this. I haven’t really ever heard the complaint that the show isn’t like TWD therefore it sucks. As you said the shows needs better writing; aka the characters need to be written so their decision making and personalities are consistent and true to what has been established. At least some need to be interesting. At least some need to be likable.

Travis: Meh. He’s just really generic. Vanilla. Nothing good or bad about him he’s just there.

Madison: I don’t really like her. She is pretty cold and not a good mother and not a good…girlfriend? (She and Travis aren’t married right?). She isn’t really interesting and I definitely don’t like her (or dislike her per-se).

Alicia: She has been the typical stupid young girl with her decision making, caring more about her boyfriend and then talking to the guy on the radio than being smart and realizing the world she is requires her to grow up. She has finally become alright but so far i’m not really rooting for her or liking her.

Nick: Basically the only character I like. He is likable, he is interesting, he is intriguing, he is unique, and he has been written pretty consistently since day one.

Ofelia: If it wasn’t for the actress playing her (who I adore) I think the character would be pretty plain. She hasn’t done or said much. I will say I am intrigued as to how she can be developed due to how she was raised and her losing both her parents.

Daniel: He was a badass, he was likable, he was smart, he was the voice of reason, but then he went senile all of a sudden and is possibly dead.

Chris: The worst, I want to climb in my TV and end him myself. Dare I say bad acting, bad writing, just bad everything.

Victor: Pretty cool but the reveal of who he is and his background and where they were going was pretty disappointing. Was hoping he had a US government (CIA) background or something so the show could go in an interesting direction, but nope he is just a grifter with a man lover who had a sweet setup in Mexico worthy of going to after the zombie apocalypse happened.

Behind Nick my favorite character has ironically been the one from their short web series; Alex played by Michelle Ang. I am praying they design a way for her to be on FTWD again and this time become a part of the group. I like her characters personality, her brains, and the interesting mystery of how she knew what she knew on that airplane in the web series.

!00% agree. I really wanted to like FTWD but the characters make it hard, so hard.

Sorry. Still can’t seem to care about these characters. They’re boring and stupid.

I still can’t tell if there is one boy or two and I hate all of the characters except Strand.

Daniel, Nick, Alicia, and Madison are quiet interesting characters as well.

Ophelia, Chris, and Travis need to be killed by the Zombies leaving Madison, Nick, Alicia, Victor, and Daniel to sail off to a new adventure in the Zombie apocalypse.

It make sense that as FTWD gets closer to Rick waking up from his coma that Madison, Travis, Nick, Alicia, Chris, Ophelia, and even Victor and Daniel are just beginning to understand what needs to be done to survive in the Zombie apocalypse.

On a side note who would you like to see Madison”s sibling {s} be from TWD ?

( Rick, Lori, Daryl/Merle, Carol, Shane, or Maggie/Beth )

The problem is that there was one character who was remotely like-able out of the whole bunch (Daniel) and you see what happened to him. I liked him because he appeared to be smart. He seemed to “get it”, but then he starts having hallucinations and he’s off the rails. Chris turns into a Psycho overnight. Nick just wants to roam with the dead. Madison and Travis go back and forth between smart and dumb. There’s no consistency at all. I do not care for these people. Not enough to come back after one of these midseason finales.

Agree completely. Have tried hard to like the show, but truly can’t. There is no one to like or even root for. I can not see myself returning after the break.

I agree with everything you said. The first season was great. This season is all over the place. I feel disconnected from the characters. Very messy.

Just like (almost) everyone stated, this show doesn’t work due to slow burn, its’ the extremely un-likable and boring characters. No one is special or unique, you don’t find yourself rooting for any of them. Even if they all turned into ‘rick’ and went on zombie killing sprees for half the ep, it still would be a pointless show w/little value. I get that AMC sees TWD franchise as ratings bait so why not have a worthless ‘sister’ show regardless of how much it sucks, obviously people still tune in. I checked out after the lackluster mid season finale.

I echo some of the comments made. The problem with this show is the characters. They are not memorable, heroic or interesting enough. Celia was the first chracter that was truly interesting. Maybe it has to do with the actor’s portrayal. But the one thing we got in Rick Grimes from the moment he got up from that bed was a hero. He was confused and had no idea what was going on but it didnt take him long to catch on. We rooted for him immediately. Lori, Shane, even Glenn came on board as fighters and we were immeditely invested. This bunch in Fear is all over the place. Travis is such a bleeding heart that he refuses to act like a man. Madison is stronger than he is. She at least is constantly thinking about survival and is willing to do whatever it takes. Same as Daniel. Nick was unlikeable in S1 and then started to turn it around but then went crazy. Easily influenced by Strand and then Celia. Madison is strong but she’s also shady and thats not a likeable trait. Daniel’s daughter has the utility of an ornament. I have no idea what she’s doing in the show other than maybe giving Daniel a reason to live and fight. And Daniel, the strongest and most resourceful of them all is so dark and twisty that he hasnt resonated yet. Chris is irredimable. He needs to walk away. The infected have just triggered his inner Manson. And the most unlikeable of all is Strand who cares about nothing but himself unless theres something in it for him. And his arrogance is irritating as heck. TPTB need to realize that the big draw of TWD is not the walkers, is the characters. Their strength and courage and commitment to each other. If they dont get it, Fear will continue to quickly spiral down into cancellation.

I think it’s been picked up for a season 3 already, so it won’t go down too quickly.

The potential is there for this to be a great show…if the writers could find their groove and flesh out the characters more (especially Alicia, Madison and Ofelia who seem like blank slates right now). As of the last episode, the only characters I feel like I know anything about (or care about) are Strand and Daniel. I am over the whole Travis and Chris storyline, a nice hoard of “the infected” needs to take them both out pronto. I’m still on the fence about the direction that Nick’s character is taking, but I am willing to hang in there to see where that leads. Less recycled TWD storylines and flesh out and make me care about these people.

I deleted the last few from my DVR. Honestly, I just want to be let off the hook. Let me know my decision to stop watching will never come back to bite me as a TWD viewer and I will find a way to live with myself.

You can stop watching. I stopped after the second episode this season. As a TWD fan I don’t think you’ll miss anything. At most, AMC will do something annoying like drop a special TWD trailer in the middle of an episode, but it will be on the internet somewhere shortly after. FTWD will still be there and you can come back to it later. Save those hours for something you enjoy.

I love the show always have since the very first start.

Could it be that TWD does a better job with character development because they have the main story lines sketched out from the comics ahead of time? Fear doesn’t have the source material so they need to focus on the story arcs and the characters (like most other shows). I couldn’t find if any of Fear’s writers came over from TWD. If not, no wonder they are so different.

I agree with most people. I am rooting for the Zombies!

This showrunner can say whatever he wants, but it doesn’t excuse how Daniel and Chris both went off the deep end the way they did.

I’m sorry, I just don’t buy any of this. No amount of excuses can make up for bad writing.

I like the show more than others here, but I admit that I only root for Daniel, Strand, and yes Chris to live. He’s a loon, but at least you get some emotional reactions from him.

Overall, I like the show. But we tend to care more about characters who are sympathetic, compassionate, strong, or heroic, even if they’re flawed. So far we have some bizarre actions and inconsistencies. Nick was the first one to realize the dead were dead, and now he’s backtracked on that. What is that? Chris has developed from a whiny punk into a psychopath. How can we root for him? Travis and Madison have the mixing chemistry of oil and water. The conflicted Daniel, who stepped up when needed, descended into insanity and is likely dead now with his wife. The daughter is so bland that her name escapes me. It must be the script because I remember her quite well as “Lexa.”

“by the end of the first reel, everybody knows the score and is able to kill [the undead] without any thought,” the showrunner notes. “They become very practiced at it very quickly. And that was something we wanted to avoid.” If that was your goal, then FAIL! They’re supposedly only a couple weeks (and I may even be overshooting that timeline), yet a chunk of them are having no problem at all killing actual humans that are still alive! For example, Chris went from 0 to 1000 in a split second; he was kinda starting to bond with Alicia one moment, and is threatening to kill her, her mother, and standing over their sleeping bodies with a knife the next. That’s just piss-poor writing, piss-poor character development, or both. Not to sound redundant from all the other commenters here, but the showrunner doesn’t seem to get it. My frustration isn’t with them not “getting it” immediately–it’s actually the opposite. They seem to “get it” a little too quickly. There are a couple characters I don’t mind, but for the most part, they’re horrible characters–poorly written, poorly developed. Even though I keep watching for some unknown reason, the fact that I’ve been watching since the first day it aired up to the most recent episode before the break, I’ve invested enough time that I should at least care about one character–and I don’t. Not that I have any favorites, per se, but I did occasionally enjoy Daniel’s character. But what they did with his character (leading up to *THAT* moment), seemed so ridiculous to me, to the point where even though I kinda liked his character I wouldn’t actually care if (SPOILER ALERT) he died in that fire. And that’s the problem with this show–I do not care if any of them die, and by this point, I should.

Have to agree with the rest here. I’m totally on board with the slow burn approach and the fact these characters aren’t a bunch of badass zombie killers. But the problem is they’re just not compelling to watch in any other way, and are becoming an increasingly hard bunch to root for.

You know you’ve failed when you have to defend your show in interviews,lol.

I don’t want it to be like The Walking Dead. If I wanted to watch TWD, I would watch it. I like the way FTWD is.

I don’t understand people that say the characters aren’t likable, I like Alicia, Maddison, Chris and Strand. Which is more characters than I liked when I dropped TWD.

first started watching the show to see how it would stand up to TWD. While they are about the same thing, FTWD stands by itself. To have a successful show I feel you need either great writing, great acting, compelling characters or great special effects. This show has none of those. I can sorta relate somewhat to TWD because the characters react like they should. They don’t usually do stupid stuff that any normal person wouldn’t do during a life threatening ordeal. The acting could be better and the characters could be better. I guess watching TWD and the walker killing scenes they do has jaded me somewhat. FTWD doesn’t show the zombie destruction. I hope it does get better. Still going to watch it.

The thing that I don’t like about Fear The Walking Dead is that it’s all Latino, Latino, Latino. Even subtitles. I think it’s possibly trying to be very PC and/or accommodating to a minority group, mainly Latinos, like me. I think it stereotypes L.A. into being a Mexican capital, granted it is, but, everything is too Latino for me, and I’m Latino. Also, I think they should have stayed on land, not sea. There’s plenty more on land than what they can do on the sea — just my opinion. But, after all is said and done, I do like the show a lot. Just ease up on the Latinizing. Thanks.

Stopped watching about 3 weeks ago. This is collectively the DUMBEST CAST I’ve EVER seen on screen. And I’m not just talking about the whole “zombie” thing being new to them…I’m talking about common sense. EVERY…SINGLE…ONE of those kids are just DUMB!

Someone already mentioned this before me, but the issues with the show have nothing to do with TWD. The issues with this show are the slow pacing, made even more prominent by the increasingly annoying characters. Seriously, every episode I don’t have a list of “favorite characters”, I have a list of “weakest links”, since calling a character a “favorite of mine” on this show is a stretch. There’s a huge difference between “unskilled, beginning of apocalypse survivor” and just plain stupid.

I stopped watching. For some reason I can’t follow this show. Every week I watch the new episode and I’m confused as to what’s going on because it doesn’t pick up where it left off. Is it because the show is following real world time? Not to mention the characters are not very likable. I can’t even remember who they are week to week.

Oh well, perhaps its just me but I’m not interested anymore. Can’t wait for TWD to wash the taste of FTWD out of my mouth.

Of course, it doesn’t help when your mid-season break is complete nonsense, either.

Learning curve??? You kidding me? If I knew NOTHING about zombies… and encountered one… it would take me MINUTES to figure out what needs to be done to take one down for good. Because… if not, I’d be dead.

From reading Dave Erickson’s “excuse”… I don’t believe he really understands what the problem is. He talks about avoiding the quick learning curve, yet these people are already past the point of worrying about walkers. They’re morally challenged & on to killing humans. TWD didn’t get to that point until Herschel’s farm.

Bottom line… and as many others have said… the writing is terrible, the characters are not likable… and it’s too bad their boat didn’t sink.

It’s not the zombie portion of this show that bothers me. It’s the actual characters, or in this show’s case… The lack of character in their characters. I don’t care about any of them and I have tried.

Nick is just out for himself and has substituted covering himself in walker blood to get the adrenaline high vs. heroin high. I’m supposed to root for a junkie?

Travis and Madison — why do we care about their relationship? They don’t even seem to.

Chris lost his mother and now feels “stuck” with his dad and Madison –reason why you should never bad mouth your ex in front of your child. (Some of the stuff we are going through now with Chris, we went through with Carl. There was a time we couldn’t stand Carl either)

Victor Strand now has a soft spot for Madison? Why? When did this change?

How did Daniel go from “knowing” about this new world from the revolution in his old country years ago and being the closest thing to the shpw’s badass to going off the deep end?

I don’t get why the show gets hate from people. It’s a great edition to The Walking Dead series.

The reason PRISON BREAK failed was because they moved the filiming to Mexico and shot in abandoned cheap Mexican prisons.

This show will fail if all the latter episodes are filmed in Mexico!

I’d like to see more skins from that daughter of her’s!

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