"Fear the Walking Dead" (2015-) - Spin-off Pre-Apocalypse Prequel from The Walking Dead on AMC

[DonRocks]

For those who just can't get enough of "The Walking Dead," there's "Fear the Walking Dead" - a spin-off series which takes place just as the apocalypse is beginning to happen, featuring an entirely different cast, and completely different storyline (except, of course, for the Zombie Apocalypse as the common link between the two series). 

So far, I've only watched the pilot episode of Fear the Walking Dead, and if you're looking for the same type of thrills, look elsewhere: From what little I can tell, this series is very tame in comparison, and will not leave the bottom of your jaw scraping the ground. I'm not saying it's Walt Disney; merely that it's not as over-the-top gruesome as the original series - at least, not yet.

The primary reason I'm posting this is because the second half of season two debuts tonight, Sunday, August 21, 2016, and it's on *right now*! And considering that tonight's episode is titled "Grotesque," you may want to push aside that Walt Disney comment - the only other thing I know that's called "Grotesque" is a Japanese torture-porn / splatter / exploitation movie which you do *not* want to know about, trust me, and no, I have not seen it, nor will I ever.

Here's the schedule from AMC. You have to sign in to watch full episodes; Season One (six episodes) is available for purchase on Amazon Prime for $9.99. If I watch the entire season - a dicey proposition - I will post my usual summaries with one picture that best-defines each episode, the director(s), and the writer(s), just like I did with "The Walking Dead" here; until then, please chime in if you're watching it - and please mark your posts with spoiler alerts if they contain spoilers. I will also be linking heavily to walkingdead.wikia.com, as it's the best Walking Dead website out there *by far*, in terms of researching the basic facts.

Enjoy your dinner!
Rocks

[DonRocks]

Lemme tell you all something: I was biased by the puerile name, "Fear The Walking Dead," to the point of having no desire to watch the series. But there's a difference between bias (which can be overcome) and prejudice (which overcomes you) - "Fear The Walking Dead" was a very good series in its first season, and if anyone out there has watched all six seasons of "The Walking Dead," you may just have a pleasant surprise in store for you. I read all about the ratings plunging after the first episode, but you know what? The masses are wrong more often than they're right, and they're wrong in this case. If you've watched "The Walking Dead" - and I mean all six seasons - I encourage you to give "Fear The Walking Dead" a fair shot. One of its biggest strengths is that it's so vastly different than the original series - it needed to be vastly different in order to be good - in order to stand on its own merits: It is, and it does.

Kim Dickens as Madison Clark
Cliff Curtis as Travis Manawa
Frank Dillane as Nick Clark
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark
Elizabeth Rodriguez as Elizabeth Ortiz
Mercedes Masohn as Ofelia Salazar
Lorenzo James Henrie as Christopher Manawa
Rubén Blades as Daniel Salazar

Season One (Aug 23 - Oct 4, 2015)

1.1 - "Pilot" - Aug 23, 2015 - 
Directed by Adam Davidson (Academy Award Winner for Best Live Action Short Film for "The Lunch Date") , Written by Robert Kirkman (Creator of "The Walking Dead" Comic Book) and Dave Erickson (Creator of "Canterbury's Law")
Featuring Maestro Harrell as Matt Sale (Randy Wagstaff on "The Wire"), Scott Lawrence as Art Costa (Commander Peter Ulysses "Sturgis" Turner, JAGC, USN on "JAG"), Keith Powers as Calvin (Ronnie DeVoe on "The New Edition Story"), Lincoln A. Castellanos as Tobias (Jeremiah in "Something Rotten in Redmund" on "The Mentalist"), Lynn Chen as The Nurse (Vivian Shing in "Saving Face"), Leon Thomas III as Russell (Andre Harris on "Victorious"), Noah Beggs as Peter Dawson (

1.2 - "So Close, Yet So Far" - Aug 30, 2015 - 
Directed by Adam Davidson (2), Written by Marco Ramirez (Writer of "Tit Punch" and "Moscow Mule" for "Orange is the New Black")
Featuring Patricia Reyes Spíndola as Griselda Salazar (Ariel Award Winner for Best Actress as Luz in "Los Motivos de Luz"), Maestro Harrell (2) as Matt Sale, Scott Lawrence (2) as Art Costa, Lincoln A. Castellanos (2) as Tobias

1.3 - "The Dog" - Sep 6, 2015 - 
Directed by Adam Davidson (3), Written by Jack LoGiudice (Co-Writer of "Tell It to the Frogs" for "The Walking Dead")
Featuring Patricia Reyes Spindola (2)

 1.4 - "Not Fade Away" - Sep 13, 2015 - 
Directed by Kari Skogland (Director of "The Next World" and "Hostiles and Calamities" for "The Walking Dead" (2)) Written by Meaghan Oppenheimer
Featuring Patricia Reyes Spindola (3), Shawn Hatosy as Andrew Adams (Jack in "In & Out"), Sandrine Holt as Bethany Exner (Genie Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress as Annuka in "Black Robe"), Jamie McShane as Moyers (Conductor in "Dead Freight" on "Breaking Bad")

 1.5 - "Cobalt" - Sep 20, 2015 - 
Directed by Kari Skogland (2), Written by David Wiener
Featuring Colman Domingo as Victor Strand (Ralph Abernathy in "Selma")

1.6 - "The Good Man" - Oct 4, 2015 - 
Directed by Stefan Schwartz (Director of "Shooting Fish," "Prey" for "The Walking Dead," Episode 6.7 and Episode 6.8 of "Spooks"), Written by Robert Kirkman (2) and Dave Erickson (2)

 

[DonRocks]

On 8/22/2016 at 4:14 PM, DonRocks said:

1.1 - "Pilot" - Aug 23, 2015 - 

Look, I don't claim to be the smartest person in the world or anything, but did anyone notice this scene during the Pilot episode? That they buy on a street corner, then shoot up in a church? That the whole series has to do with people dying and coming back to life? That this is the first occurrence of a zombie in the entire franchise?

Could be coincidence; I'm guessing not.

[DonRocks]

This is what's known as "a dying series" (as opposed to "The Walking Dead," which died years ago).

Expect "The Handmaid's Tale" to follow suit.

(Still trying to decide if people are so damned dumb that they can't figure it out for themselves.)