I work for AMC as part of the SMP team and I posted the other night about how shitty the season opening did. And now we have proof.
BUT what they are not telling you is that, what you see there is only PART of what AMC gets info on.
The actual word of mouth is the lowest it's been since the midseason break a few years back. Ditto on the streaming sites and torrent link numbers (which we also track).
Essentially it's a very expensive show... that people aren't even bothering to pirate anymore.
You can AMA but keep in mind: A. I don't know or talk to the heads of AMC. B. I don't know or talk to the actors / cast / crew
To put it in wal-mart terms, I'm like a department manager, I know a rough idea of sales figures for one particular thing... and that's it.
The Walking Dead is literally all they have now over at AMC. Better Call Saul is good for awards and critical acclaim, but the viewership very low. AMC execs are now on suicide watch
Liam Jackson
Not happy. The boss is coming down on us which means we're going to have to start posting more to 'get the word out' about TWD.
No idea. I know I make about $17 / hr... so... at least more than that.
Caleb King
What's your favorite musical instrument?
Evan Jones
What is you're favorite ice cream?
Luke King
The word is out and it sucks
Kevin Williams
>I'm like a department head >I make 17/hr *inhales*
Jayden Reed
I don't get the stupidity of TV and film execs sometimes, I really don't.
The amount of successful ensemble genre TV series that hold people's interest for more than four or five seasons can be counted on the fingers of your hands. Star Trek TNG and DS9 instantly come to mind as exceptions and even they burnt out after six seasons. The decline in viewership is a natural consequence of the series' age. Instead of getting mad they should have been anticipating this two seasons ago and lining up a replacement cash cow.
Are these people really stupid enough to think TWD would remain some eternal magic money tree?
Samuel Gutierrez
Pretty much this. Here in Finland only a couple of people I know are still "hooked" on the show, but that's about it - no one else cares. No sane person talks about it before the episodes or after them, so there's not much buzz and no wonder. I watched the last season finale and I was laughing at how shitty the show is now. Just for the record I stopped somewhere around S2 and have seen a couple of episodes here and there.
To add to this post, when one of the newspapers posted about the new season, it was full of silly and pointless info. Under the picture of Daryl read: "Daryl rides a motorcycle and uses a crossbow."
Well, that pretty much sums up the state of the show. Top kek!
Ryan Nelson
Kek, I make more than you. I'd call bullshit but AMC is notoriously cheap
Brayden King
>Negan will never Lucille your boipucci
Why live?
Leo Bennett
>make a really interesting show about the end of the world with a good cast and a really really good director
>HAHAH THIS COSTS TOO MUCH FUCK YOU FRANK DARABONT
>his cast he created carries the show for nearly 100 episodes until they are almost all dead
>every new actor they hire is straight off the cum covered casting couch save for negan.
>the characters are cringey as fuck (the king ezekial)
>the writing is fucking awful and its like watching every episode is waiting for the end where plot usually develops a bit , with some episodes offering NO plot development but to color in the shitty goofy characters that die that season anyway
Its a shame this show is dead but the reality is they are going to have to fire entire writing and casting teams and actually invest money into the fucking thing.
Firing darabont was a mistake , and its obvious with every new season they continue to cut costs. I mean these people cant afford to put weapon sights on most of the guns.
Jack King
What are your thoughts on adding more black people and more interracial romance in the show to boost ratings?
Leo James
The show is so dumb it's an insult to my intelligence. How the fuck did this van land on all fours? It hurts my brain to see stupid shit like this.
Mint cookies and cream (check walmart, it's freaking BOMB).
The only real 'uptick' we saw was during / after the initial kiss between Rick and Michonne.
Actually funnily enough (I wasn't working at the time but...) I heard like NOBODY seemed to care that T-dog died. Despite being around for 3 seasons.
Eli Jackson
thia gave me a hearty laugh thanks
Lucas Gutierrez
The show has been underfunded since season 2. There are too many episodes. Ditch the mid-season shit, do 10 episodes in 10 weeks and invest some in them.
Kevin Bailey
this is extremely reasonable to be honest
Michael Ramirez
Stopped watching before they killed Glenn. Also, was tired of they never creating permanent "roots" and trying to find a cure, while they did a little better at staying in that place, I came after they lost too many before.
Luke Jenkins
Has the idea of reducing the amount of episodes per season in order to keep the pace up come up?
Nathaniel Cruz
Actually we ALWAYS see a uptick for the midseason finale. So that is why they do that. It's kind of like getting two season finales per season. There was actually talk a few years ago about doing 3. Splitting the season into 3 parts, but fortunately they didn't.
Ryan Cooper
>splitting the season into 3 parts >actually even suggesting this
Hearing this means that the people at AMC are completely incompetent and were saved entirely from bankruptcy by breaking bad and the walking dead.
Im watching the shit out of fearfest right now but the lineup is a joke and they have entire movies missing. Its like they are not even trying
Connor Rodriguez
kill off that fat dyke, i'll start watching again.
Cooper White
Why doesnt AMC just adapt another book series?
Luke Kelly
I want to see a adaptation of world war Z.
Like an actual adaptation and not brad pit name grabbing shit
Kevin Jackson
>department head >17/hr I am a low-level button monkey and I make 25 an hour. OP is a LARPer
Adam Gray
No shit sherlock
Camden Carter
sorry I came to the thread late.
Owen Miller
I'm pretty sure he told us about the ratings before they were publicly released
Daniel Jackson
>the walking dead >expensive show
hilarious joke friend
>literally 90% of every episode is walking down a road >a cgi deer
Luke Perry
I'm not a department head. I was using that as a comparison.
Kevin Davis
You aren't the head of shit if you're making 17 dollars an hour.
Adrian Ward
>literally 90% of every episode is walking down a road and it's the SAME DAMN ROAD since S2
Austin Rodriguez
It's a relative term. Other shows on the channel were MUCH cheaper to film (Comic Book Men for example) and pulled in a lot higher relative presence.
Yeah, again, that was just a comparison. I'm not a department head. I said that twice. Technically our department doesn't have a 'head' we have a boss we answer to, who answers to someone else who answers to someone else who answers to someone else who answers to AMC.
Joseph Garcia
>torrent link numbers (which we also track)
Doesn't it bother you that people are watching the show and not giving you money?
Cooper Williams
This. If Walking Dead is expensive then they're laundering money because there's no way a show that has effects this bad and locations this bland can be "expensive". Unless of course you're comparing it to some sitcom drivel along the lines of The Big Bang theory.
Caleb Ross
Impoverished fuckwit thinks he can talk down to me, his better. Get a new job, you're overqualified.
Levi Evans
Not at all. I don't care at all. I imagine the higher ups don't either and just accept it as an unavoidable loss.
Henry Campbell
>we have a boss we answer to, who answers to someone else who answers to someone else who answers to someone else who answers to AMC Sounds like you're about as "in" as a janitor. What exactly is the point of this AMA?
Mason Lee
It would probably take an army of makeup artists to get all those extras done up.
Nicholas Thomas
it's called pocketing, someone is pocketing all the money cause they don't care about the show itself, all they care about is the money it's produced. the people didn't even want to make the show to begin with, I think the guy who was pitching it had a lot of trouble just to get the show made.
Nathan Perry
I think the execs dont care because they usually make it up on merchandising. As long as people are liking it and talking about it its all good
Lucas Brown
>Sounds like you're about as "in" as a janitor. Pretty much. Basically two tiers above the low guys. And the AMA was kind of tongue in cheeck, just because last time i posted people were telling me to give messages to the heads of AMC or the actors, not realizing I have talked to them not once. And will NEVER be in a situation where they talk to me.
Luke Richardson
>Essentially it's a very expensive show... that people aren't even bothering to pirate anymore.
No shit, it's both predictable and ridiculous. The Glenn/dumpster plot armour bullshit in S6 was incredible. Haven't watched any more since. Blue ball cliffhangers every episode and because of how lazy the writing is there are no surprises.
Also OP stop LARPing, you're not impressing anyone
Eli Bailey
If I was LARPing I would have gone with a more impressive position.
This is like your friend LARPing as a directv call center employee.
Jeremiah Butler
How much profit are they losing from the show? A lot? Is the show in any danger of getting cancelled? Also, are they aware that fans think the overall quality has dropped?
Kayden Mitchell
>How much profit are they losing from the show? No idea > Is the show in any danger of getting cancelled? No idea >Also, are they aware that fans think the overall quality has dropped? Yes
Christian Williams
dafuq is SMP?
Josiah Martin
people have lost interest in the characters, once you're at that stage the only thing you can do is kill it gracefully and put all your money into a replacement honestly it's not even AMC's fault, the problem is with the advertising-funded model. good programming is just not sustainable without paid subscription or state funding
Alexander Barnes
Simian Mating Pioneer
Brody Foster
Social Media Presence Essentially we keep track of what people are saying about the show, try to generate hype, check numbers on streaming sites , torrents, etc. I don't handle the FB page or anything like that though. I think they get their analytics direct from FB.
Aaron Barnes
Are there any plans to try and hire different writers that you're aware of? Any whispers at all?
Cooper Reyes
The only extras that are done up are the ones that are in focus, the rest are literally painted grey with some blood splattered on and their clothes tattered. If you count how many zombies are actually shown up close during each season, you'll realize that the number isn't even close to being impressive.
David Walker
so you're a shill. is this right now an assignment? are you shilling right now in some reverse psychology shit?
how often do you shill here?
Jordan Moore
yo, that first explosion they showed on screen was some of the worst special effects I have ever seen in my life
Jayden Sanders
No idea. I would think there are BIG changes coming just based on the shitty pre numbers and cratering ratings. But I have no idea.
Colton Sanders
it sounds like he's more like the guy who checks if the shilling is working
Charles Walker
It's would be perfect for a miniseries. Bookend each episode with the interviews the characters are giving in the book, like Band of Brothers did but for the fictitious characters.
Adam Johnson
I never shill here, but I do have several accounts on forums where I have to bump walking dead threads when the season comes back on air.
Alexander Kelly
like seriously, I know that's added in post production but jesus christ, someone had to make that, look at it, and then sign off on it saying "looks good enough to me" and it was probably more than 1 person
Levi Bailey
Everyone on the show are massive pussies, holding hands and shit. I like my post-apocalyptic characters unhinged, the way Rick used to be. The good guys have no edge to them at all. They kill so much but they don't come across as bad ass while they do it. It's a contradiction. They need to be a bit more rowdy in nature, more masculine.
Landon Scott
Well should have done a better job
Wyatt Rivera
does anyone in your organization shill here, that you know? Is Sup Forums considered important at all as social media?
David Smith
how is FTWD doing compared to TWD?
Jonathan White
No idea. For some reason that is handled separately. The only info I have is what I can get from Google.
Alexander Garcia
>I make about $17 / hr So about as much as an entry level fry cook at Wendy's
Henry Taylor
well no shit. walking dead has not been good in ages and the zombie fad has been dead for at least 3 years.
Justin Cook
What that's a lot to be a fry cook at wendy's are you crazy
Jeremiah Kelly
and internally? is it more liked? i have the impression that it's a "love child" while TWD is treated like duty.
Benjamin Ross
maybe in seattle or something, minimum wage is 10 most places
Jack Sullivan
different user, I like to think that Sup Forums is considered untameable by execs.
Connor Peterson
if milhouse can become a meme Sup Forums is tameable dude, I just suspect that it doesn't represent a lucrative demographic
Jayden Gray
>NOBODY seemed to care that T-dog died. No one on the show cared either I remember his death literally being relegated to an afterthought from Carol, she said something along the lines of "and Tdog died too" and then that was that
Thomas Sullivan
Nah. Image boards are pretty much "don't bother" territory. Too hard to get engagement.
James Ross
Are you aware that pairing rick up with the uncharasmatic black girl is part of the reason this show was dropped?
Blake Garcia
Tell your boss you need more diversity in your department.
Jackson Long
Actually there was an uptick when they got together and then the next episode. So (I assume) in the execs eyes that was a good thing.
Dylan Jenkins
memeing is different, I'm talking about shilling. we can sniff that shit out in seconds, like the guy who kept making Channel Zero threads some weeks ago.
Cooper Cruz
People like to watch car wrecks. Is rick paired up with her in the comics anyone? What we need is a Seven of nine character and more zombie deaths, I stopped watching in mid season last/this year and I had to look up the last time someone was actually killed by a zombie, it was fucking years ago
Isaiah Scott
shilling for youtube here would be harder than shilling for tv, all you'd have to do is make hype threads, which blend right in but it probably wouldn't be worth it
Colton Perry
>rubs head WHY ARE THE RATINGS LOW REEEEEEK.
IT'S ALL ABOUT SURVIVAL NOW DO YOU THINK YOU CAN SURVIVE ANOTHER SEASON YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR IT RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW I'M TALKING ABOUT FIGHTING.
Dominic Richardson
>Is rick paired up with her in the comics anyone? Rick and Samurai Black have never been a thing in the comics.
Jason Gonzalez
wow, shocking.. also her getting with rick ruined her character + all the other characters, they used to all be badass and now they're fucking pathetic, this is the zombie apocalypse and they're playing fucking house. this is not what I tuned in to watch when I started watching this fucking series
Jeremiah Sanchez
>keep the kino iron maiden sequence and I'll be diamonds
Andrew Powell
That's because it's like one of only 3-4 episodes worth watching out of the entire 16 episode season.
That's why we hate it, because we know the budget goes into the first episode, the 'mid-season' cash grab, and the finale. The rest is all bullshit filler garbage.
I mean, how the fuck does the show even survive? The writing sucks, the casting has gone to shit(JDM the only exception), the plot is piss poor, the pacing is cringe-worthy, the dialogue makes me wanna kill myself, the forced Rick-Michonne romance where they have literally no chemistry is awful, and the fact 12-13 episodes per season is boring ass filler that has no real impact on anything is an insult to the viewer.
And for fuck's sake, how come we barely get 40 minutes of show per episode? Breaking Bad averaged 50+ yet TWD barely breaks over the 60 minute mark with their 90 minute specials.
Why do we need 16 episodes with 40 minutes of content? No wonder we constantly get still shots or shots of the cast just standing around doing nothing or talking. Way too many episodes per season and it's obvious.
10 episodes at 50 minutes of actual show each and maybe a 90 minute special for the finale is all that's needed to fix this shitshow.
10 episodes where shit actually happens, no mid-season cash grab, and new writers.
But really, AMC needs to start looking into other ventures. TWD is 8 seasons in, it's time to go.
They got rid of shit like Halt And Catch Cock, hopefully Fear The Walking Pleb is next, then this shit.
Nathaniel Walker
Who dies this season?
Cameron Ramirez
stopped watching after they killed Hershel off, kinda glad I did looking back
Ian Phillips
Apparently, the viewers.
Nicholas Robinson
The show.
Dylan Fisher
It's a terrible show
Do they not realize this? It's a miracle it's lasted this long. I believe people watched it ironically, for the fact that it was so ridiculous
Hudson White
That, Yonkers, and the Submarine.
Wyatt Martinez
this also the fact that its a soap opera tier show its unerving. its always 2 peopel talking about and rehashing the shit that just happend. and then another two people and then another with the ocasional zombie in the background. id seriously rather watch paint dry than twd.
Mason Rivera
shilling on Sup Forums is like telling a nazi skinhead to love niggers. its so fucking pointless that i dont think it ever happens only by accident or as a trial.
Landon Watson
that and killing off shane, shane at least was logical, saw the world for what it was and behaved accordingly, he wasn't trying to play house and remake things as they used to be. Neither of those characters were weak in any way
James Howard
They unironically came out and said they could milk TWD out for decades