Ok, so I haven't watched any TWD since like an episode or 2 after they off'd Glenn... because I just lost interest.
HOWEVER, I just had a thought when I was scrolling through unread threads and saw this one... I honestly think TWD will kill the zombie horror genre for a long time. It's one of those things where they did something REALLY cool and original for TV. They hooked people in a new way with something that felt really authentic.Anything zombie related that comes out following TWD will always have people saying "Well, TWD already did that." Also, they've gotten to a point now where they've butchered the genre so badly and strung it out for so long I think people will just be burnt out on zombies for a long time. I know I could go without the zombie genre for a while.
I absolutely agree. It's certainly done that for me. The notion of surviving in the midst of a zombie apocalypse has now been done...er...to death. But seriously, it's like we've played out pretty much all of the interesting scenarios, and it's no longer interesting. The madness and confusion of the initial breakdown of society, the gradual decline into lawlessness, the rise of various settlements with differing ideologies run by different types of leaders, those settlements coming into conflict with each other and ultimately one winning out over the other and usually absorbing or wiping out the loser, etc. Meanwhile, the zombies keep on shufflin'. About the only thing left to address is (1) finding the cause/source of the zombie plague, and (2) finding a cure for it.
But yeah, otherwise the standard Zombie Apocalypse thing is...meh...it's been done.
The one show that I think really handles it in an interesting fashion is iZombie, which I
love. But it takes a completely different spin on the entire genre.
I also very much agree with you about TWD having too big of a "middle." the show is especially bad about this, because it basically spent about 4-5 seasons with the survivors getting to a location, putting down roots, having it all go to hell, and then walking around again looking for a new location. The truth is, though, that the comics aren't much better. Things happen in a tighter timeframe (e.g., they don't spend half a season walking to the next location), but the comics still suffer from this issue. The big change occurs after the conflict with Negan, but even that change felt...meh. And a new threat was introduced that just struck me as utterly stupid and uninteresting. But really, that's just it -- the story had reached its end point as far as rebuilding civilization goes. Zombies were a threat, but a manageable one. Other human contingents might be a problem, but with a sufficiently organized and well-armed militia/military they could handle it. The problem with the comics is the feeling that everything needs to continue, which means there must continue to be external threats and conflicts. After a while, it all starts to feel the same.