Post apocalypse TV takes over
Posted on May 6th, 2013 | By: Bert Ehrmann
We live in a time where there’s not ONE or TWO or even THREE post-apocalyptic TV series. There’s FIVE!
Falling Skies
The Walking Dead (AMC)
- Do I watch? Yep.
- The good: When the story is paced well, the stories of TWD are amazing.
- The bad: When the story is paced poorly, TWD can be as slow as molasses.
Revolution (NBC)
- Do I watch? I did, but I gave up on it.
- The good: Revolution is a fantastical version of The Walking Dead minus the zombies that’s heavy on action and light on horror.
- The bad: Ultimately, Revolution had a lot of promise but it tried to hard to sell the central plot point of why all electrical devices stopped working. Which honestly I just didn’t find all that interesting.
Falling Skies (TNT)
- Do I watch? Yep.
- The good: At it’s best, Falling Skies is a dark look at last remnants of humanity trying to hold on to what’s left and fight back against an alien invasion.
- The bad: I didn’t think the second season of Falling Skies was as good as the first. It seemed a bit lighter in tone and this might be intentional. Regardless, I still really like this show.
Defiance (SyFy)
- Do I watch? I haven’t seen this one.
- The good: Anytime SyFy creates original programming other than reality series is a good thing.
- The bad: So I need to play a video game in order to fully understand the Defiance TV series? C’mon!
Under the Dome (Premiers June, CBS)
- Will I watch? I’m planning on it.
- The good: Based on a Stephen King novel of the same name. Need I say more?
- The bad: CBS isn’t exactly known for critically acclaimed series. And the vibe I’m getting from Under the Dome is more Revolution than The Walking Dead.
How many zombies are there in the world of The Walking Dead?
Posted on March 23rd, 2013 | By: Bert Ehrmann
Watching The Walking Dead the other day I started wondering just how many zombies were there in that post apocalyptic world? So far it seems like the show has covered around two years time, or at least there have been two winters in the show.
Let’s assume that since the start of the outbreak 90% of humanity has been turned into zombies and that only 10% survived unscathed. That would mean there would be about 280 million zombies and 31 million people in the US. It would mean that around Atlanta, where the show is set, there would be around 390,000 zombies and 43,000 survivors.
And watching The Walking Dead it sure seems that there’s a lot less people around than that, but again my numbers are a guess at best.
Assuming that the second year the zombies infect and turn (say) 40% of the remaining population would mean that in year two there would be about 13 million new zombies and just 18 million survivors left in the country and 17,000 new zombies and just 26,000 people around Atlanta.
Which if this kept up would mean the doom of humanity.
However, one thing I don’t feel The Walking Dead takes into account would be the the gradual decay of the zombie. If a piece of meat is left outside in the spring, summer or fall in a matter of days that meat will be infested by insects, will be a boiling mass of maggots a week later and a boney carcass soon after that. And assuming that since the zombies of the show are, well, the walking dead they too would quickly fall victim to this decay. A few weeks into the show there should be zombies unable to walk because of joint decay and muscles slowly being eaten away and most of them shouldn’t be able to see since the first thing insects attack are things like soft eyeballs. Ick!
Realistically, zombies created on the first day of the outbreak should be, shall we say, “out of commission” no later than just a few months later. And while there are new zombies being made all the time, there would be less total zombies overall since there’s less of a total human population to make new zombies out of.
It would make sense that if in the first year of the outbreak there were 280 million zombies that by the end of the second all those zombies would be out of commission, leaving just the 13 million new zombies. I’d also assume that with less zombies the turning rate in humans would drop too, let’s assume ever year that turn rate drops by half.
- Year 1: 280 million zombies, 31 million people
- Year 2: 13 million zombies, 18 million people
- Year 3: 3.6 million zombie, 14.4 million people
- Year 4: 1.4 million zombies, 13 million people
- Year 5: 650,000 zombies, 12.3 million people
The zombies greatest weakness is a dwindling human population since new zombies cannot be born, only made from already living people. And with less people around would mean less zombies too.
Realistically, I’d think that with many more people than zombies in the third year we’d have the zombies licked. And by year five the war would be over. That is if humanity were able to survive the plagues and famines that would surly follow something like a zombie apocalypse!
But I’m going to take a stretch and assume that in The Walking Dead the number of zombies will remain constant no matter how long the show rolls on. 
Yes, my brain really does work this way.
Revenge of Horror TV!
Posted on October 5th, 2012 | By: Bert Ehrmann
I have to admit that sometimes I’m a “glass half empty” kind’a guy. I let things like the current state of network TV get me down when instead I should be focusing on the positive, like some seriously great dramas that are about to premiere on cable; namely American Horror Story on FX and The Walking Dead on AMC.
Last spring I took issue with the current state of The Walking Dead. I felt that the story of the show had grown a bit stale and that things weren’t progressing as I’d hoped they would.
The Walking Dead Season 3 Will Be Broken In Two
Posted on August 10th, 2012 | By: Bert Ehrmann
Much like last season, AMC has determined the best strategy to roll out The Walking Dead season 3 is to break it in half.
The 16-episode run will kick off on October 14th and run for eight episodes before taking a brief break then resuming the rest of the season in early 2013.
via The Walking Dead Season 3 Will Be Broken In Two | Shock Till You Drop.
The Walking Dead: Zombie Plot Device
Posted on March 25th, 2012 | By: Bert Ehrmann
I was, is and am a big proponent of the TV series The Walking Dead. I championed the show when it was first announced and couldn’t believe that one of my favorite writer/directors Frank Darabont was the one who was heading up the series. And, after the stunning first season of The Walking Dead I became even more fanatical about the show and counted the days until the start of the second.
And even with the second season, after Darabont was unceremoniously dumped from the show and The Walking Dead shifted gears from instead focusing on a group of people on the run from a zombie apocalypse to instead a group of people holed-up on a farm trying to wait out said apocalypse I still was, and am, a fan of the show.
But I have to admit that I feel like after the start of the second half of the second season of the show I started liking The Walking Dead less and less with each viewing. And I’d have to guess the reason for this is because of that farm.
‘Walking Dead’ finale draws record ratings
Posted on March 19th, 2012 | By: Bert Ehrmann
AMC’s The Walking Dead finale set a ratings record for the network, clocking a truly impressive 9 million viewers.
The second season closer was the show’s highest-rated episode ever (and likely AMC’s most-watched episode of series television ever). A full 6 million of those viewers were among adults 18-49, too, which is quite a trick to pull off.
via ‘Walking Dead’ finale draws record ratings | Inside TV | EW.com.
