Dear Scott Gimple

Do you hate us? Do you have the Walking Dead fans? Do you hate the Walking Dead Universe? Do you hate Robert Kirkman and Greg Nicotero and all the other creative people involved in this show? Seriously, dude, what the heck is your deal?

I love TWD. I came to the show late, and have only glanced at the comics, but the idea of exploring how people rebuild after a disaster has always been fascinating to me – and millions of other people evidently. But you don’t want to rebuild. You just want to keep retelling the same damn storyline and then you want to kill off any and all characters that are even remotely interesting or who move the story along.

The Walking Dead Jumped the Shark

The Walking Dead jumped the shark when you wrote Glenn under the dumpster. The show has always had weak spots – storylines that drag on for waaaaay too long; repeating the same storyline over and over; killing off characters that have potential; never, ever actually go about rebuilding society. You didn’t need to kill Glenn, but it was in the comics so I get it. You certainly didn’t need to kill Abraham – the comic relief of the entire show, something desperately needed by the way. And killing Denise was just stupid. Killing Sasha was fine by me, however. 

And, you killed off Carl 

Look, I get it, he was an annoying little shit in the first years and we all hoped he’d get bit. Since season 4, however, Carl has grown. His relationship with Michonne was fresh and interesting and while you didn’t really explore it or show it develop beyond the train tracks, it had considerable potential. It would have been nice to see Carl and Enid explore a romance – something much needed in the apocalypse. 

Cast Changes

Now you announce that Andrew Lincoln will be leaving the show after this upcoming season*. Why announce it? Have you just given up? Rick isn’t the most interesting character by a long shot, but it was his story – or Carl’s, but you killed him, remember?

Rumor has it Daryl will be filling the lead now that Rick will be written off. It’s certainly easier to write, all you have to do is have him grunt a few times, but what’s is the logic behind all of this? I love Daryl, he’s the bad boy turned good guy we all wanted in high school. And maybe he could take the lead. Norman Reedus is a decent enough actor, certainly just as good as Andrew Lincoln, so it’s doable I suppose. Just do me a favor, if he’s going to be the main focus of the show, have him get a haircut and take a bath? I know it’s the end of the world, Alexandria has burned down (again), but there are plenty of lakes or ponds to take a dip in and there has to be a pair of Fiskers lying around somewhere. Hell, Michonne could cut his hair with her katana. 

I suspect Michonne will be leaving too what with Danai Gurira’s movie career taking off (well deserved in my opinion). 

Maggie’s Baby

Will Maggie ever have her baby? Is she even still pregnant? Is her baby like long lost Chuck on Happy Days (I’m beginning to see a pattern here)? I used to like Maggie, I was sad when Glenn died. Now I don’t care what happens to her, her baby or for that matter any of them. And that was before you had her plotting with Jesus and Daryl to take down Rick and Michonne. Seriously, what were you smoking when you okayed that little twist? 

Reboot Please!!

I fear the show has been ruined beyond repair, but you could try to fix things by starting season 9 where season 5 ended. Instead of bothering to introduce us to any of the people from Alexandria – Deanna, Jesse, Jesse’s kids, all the rest of them – Just have Rick and the gang go in and kill everyone and just take over Alexandria. It would have been more humane that way – to the characters, actors and the fans.

Kill Glenn Once

Glenn under the dumpster was the dumbest thing you could have done and I will never forgive you for it. You lost all credibility for storytelling at that point. But I hung in there thinking you had a plan. You said you had a plan. If Glenn’s fake death made for better storytelling I would have been on board. But you saved him so he could die again. Of course, I didn’t care at that point. In fact by then I was ready to swing that bat myself.

How to Improve The Walking Dead

I don’t know if you can recapture the magic that used to be this amazing show, but if you can here are some ideas: 

Pick up the pace

We don’t need a whole season to tell two days worth of story. 

Figure out Maggie’s baby

Is she pregnant or not? If she is, she needs to start showing and acting like she is pregnant. As much as Lori was a pain in the ass, she acted and looked pregnant. Recycle that storyline if necessary.

Backstories

Unless the backstory is relevant to something, we don’t need to know what happened to the character before they showed up on screen. They’re going to die anyway. However, if you insist on showing backstories how about Carol, Daryl and Aaron? Wait, is Aaron still alive? I don’t even care if he is anymore.

Rebuild

For fuck’s sake start rebuilding. Stop with the super villains and start getting the power back on and the grass cut. 

Walkers

Instead of having naked walkers, why not have walkers start dropping by the side of the road? Most should have decayed to the point where they could no longer walk anymore.

Cure

Start working on a cure.

Time

Stop jumping around. Tell the story in a linear fashion please. There’s no reason to jump around so much. It’s just confusing. Though I suppose if the story sucks it’s a good way to hide it.
Bottom line – I want to see what happens after the fall of society. We’re still watching it fall some 9 seasons later. I realized it’s only about 3 or 4 years since society collapsed, but c’mon, let’s pick up the pace and start putting the world back together.

Let’s talk about Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead never even got a chance to jump the shark because it sucked from the beginning even though you had so much talent, great writers and a clean slate to tell any story you chose. It started off interesting enough  – Nick, the heroin addict started the show off with a bang and then you all just took one long coffee break and let a bunch of interns write the show. I wanted to like FTWD, it had so much potential. I watched every episode this season and have no idea what is happening. Mostly because I do other things while watching. Who is John Dorie and why are you trying to make him the main character? Since you killed off Madison (no loss as far as I am concerned) could you at least focus on Stark? 

*If you insist on killing Rick off, can you at least do it with a sense of humor? Have him jump the shark – literally – just like Fonzie did on Happy Days. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen on the show and people might actually watch.