The Walking Dead renewed for season 4/Glen Mazzara out

[Silvercrest]

My worry is that the new showrunner will suck and just drive the show into the ground. That's always a risk when you bring in a new showrunner.

Apparently, this is how AMC works. They had almost lost Mad Men after the 4th season, had almost lost Breaking Bad, slashed the budget of The Walking Dead before the second season and caused Frank Darabont to quit, despite the great ratings. They don't seem to understand the principle of "if it works, don't fuck with it".

Like I said...

Paging Fred Freiberger.

 

[Morpheus 02]

i'm waiting for the announcement that Kevin Smith will be replaced on COmic Book Men.
So who's the exec in charge of this at AMC? Who are TWD's major sponsors? Let's let THEM know what we think!

 

[shivkala]

I'm guessing we won't be seeing Glen on The Talking Dead much, if at all, the back half of the season!

You have to wonder about the person who takes the job, if they'll sign on because of the high profile, or if they will be hesitant to do anything but kiss AMC's ass.

 

[Kegg]

You have to wonder about the person who takes the job, if they'll sign on because of the high profile,

Glen Mazzara was a writer for WD before he was the showrunner. I'd assume the next showrunner will be one of the show's current writers.

 

[shivkala]

^
I was referring more to the personality than the actual person. Will it be someone who comes in, expecting not to last long or someone who comes in, ready to kiss ass in hopes of staying.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

AMC has a history of f-cking with their Creative Talent. They're run by corporate eggheads who don't know or care about the effect of creative quality.

 

[Snaploud]

They're obviously still hoping to find a showrunner that can do a zombie show entirely from the set of an apartment.

 

[shivkala]

Ooh, the new Odd Couple: one's an orderly, anal-retentive, type-A personality, the other is undead!

 

[Silvercrest]

Felix: Will you please clean up after your meals! Just yesterday I found two fingers buried in the sofa cushions. Do you know how hard it is to get bloodstains out of the upholstery?!
Oscar: Urrggh....
Felix: And no more keeping brains in your room "for a midnight snack".
Oscar: Urrggh....

 

[Mojochi]

They don't seem to understand the principle of "if it works, don't fuck with it".

That & they don't understand that the more times you disrupt the show & lose people who know what they're doing, the more you run the risk of bringing in a show runner that will damage the show irreparably

 

[Jax]

WHY am I reading AMC wants to cut the budget? the show is the biggest show in U.S cable history and god knows how well it also does around the world.

 

[Tom]

...And, their cost for a 30 second ad is only second to the Super Bowl.

 

[bigdaddy]

WHY am I reading AMC wants to cut the budget? the show is the biggest show in U.S cable history and god knows how well it also does around the world.

AMC was seen as the network for great shows, kind of like how HBO was several years back. It's now know that was't due to planning, but pure luck. The network will be dying a slow death because if I was a writer I wouldn't send my projects to a network that treats hits as poorly as AMC does. They have become a joke.

 

[Snaploud]

AMC was seen as the network for great shows, kind of like how HBO was several years back. It's now know that was't due to planning, but pure luck.

There may be different skill-sets at work. It may be that they really are great at choosing show concepts and picking decent creative teams. They just have a mental block when it comes to recognizing the importance of keeping those creative teams happy and stable long-term. It could also be a different set of executives choosing the shows from the ones negotiating the day-to-day expenses and year-to-year contracts.

Another explanation is that they got screwed in their negotiations over Mad Men and that the whole network is on a death spiral as a result (higher costs on one show leading to a a penny-saving mentality for other shows).

 

[bigdaddy]

They get 11 million viewers a week for Walking Dead, there is no excuse for budget cuts to that show. The show has to be printing money for them, even if the show cost 5 million an episode. There are no excuses for their stupidity.

 

[the G-man]

Is there confirmation Mazzara's out because of budget issues? I've also heard that he's out because of conflicts with Kirkman.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

It may be budgetary because at one time AMC wanted less expensive location shooting and wanted lots of episodes filmed on standing sets which would've meant our character wuld be holed up in buildings for large segments of the show.

 

[Snaploud]

I'm sure the budget had something to do with it. Of course, it's questionable whether or not the proposed budget cuts were necessary or just a means of inflating profits.

I'm curious about any disagreements with Kirkman, though. Feel free to post a link.

 

[Cutter John]

You can pretty much see where this is headed. They'll burn through all the available showrunning talent (who'll put up with their crap) in a couple more years, and end up putting someones cousin in charge. Storyline will suck, ratings will tank, and that'll be that.

 

[Dream]

It may be budgetary because at one time AMC wanted less expensive location shooting and wanted lots of episodes filmed on standing sets which would've meant our character wuld be holed up in buildings for large segments of the show.

That's pretty been what has been happening this season with the cast being stuck in the Prison and Woodbury. We have had barely any outdoor location shooting.

AMC will only be happy if all the entire show took place inside a giant cardboard box.