Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 144: A good American TV series with low production cost

Many American TV series flashed through Shi Lei's mind, and finally Shi Lei set his sights on an American TV series that had twelve seasons.

The Walking Dead ended in 2022. So far, it has surpassed The Big Bang Theory to become the longest-running American TV series that Shi Lei has followed. The actual time is 12 years, and the span is as long as 13 years (2010-2022)

Shi Lei has experienced the rise and fall, development, and future of "The Walking Dead" over the years, as well as some of the meanings of the show to him.

Shi Lei has a little trick to judge whether a work is popular in China, which is to look at the number of people who rated it on Douban. If it is a TV series spanning multiple seasons, then the number of people who rated its first season is the most valuable reference. "The Walking Dead" currently has over 11.7 ratings.

There are only a handful of American TV series with over 10 viewers. Only a few phenomenal works such as "Game of Thrones", "Friends" and "House of Cards" can achieve hundreds of thousands of viewers... It can be said that almost all older American TV series viewers have watched "The Walking Dead".

At the end of 2010, Shi Lei watched this popular TV series out of admiration - there was no other way, as it was discussed too much in the small circle, and it was even a bit like going viral. As someone who has been watching American TV series for three or four years, Shi Lei couldn't miss it.

As for why it became so popular, it’s actually very simple, just two words: it looks good!
A sleeping man wakes up in an abandoned hospital. The world around him is full of zombies. He not only needs to survive in this world, but also find his family, establish bonds with more people, and face countless problems he has never considered... This is a wonderful story about survival, unity and struggle.

Having said that, Shi Lei believes that there is another potential factor for the popularity of "The Walking Dead": the audience subconsciously wants to make this "zombie drama" popular.

Since George Romero created the new era of zombies, countless zombie-themed movies, games, and animations have emerged in the world over the past few decades. Although "zombies" have countless fans, they have never been able to get rid of various "subculture" labels such as niche, plasma, and B-level movies, and are not taken seriously (welcomed) by mainstream public opinion. In the words of Shi Lei and others, "dog meat cannot be served at the table."

In fact, even the show's creators were unsure about the project. At the time, everyone knew that this was a pilot series with 6 episodes in the first season, and no one knew whether there would be a next season.

Then, unexpectedly or not, "The Walking Dead" became popular due to its excellent quality and the audience's desire to "legitimate" zombie dramas - it was not the first to try it, but it was the first to succeed - the audience proved with practical actions who is the mainstream.

He personally did not like the second season that was aired later, because its pace was much slower than the first season, the zombie elements were significantly reduced, the proportion of plots related to "people" increased significantly, and his desire to watch a cool movie was not satisfied.

However, looking back afterwards, you will find that most of the conflicts and human entanglements in "The Walking Dead" were truly established in the second season. The ideological disputes between Rick and Sean, the estrangement between the brothers, and the changes in the team's management style before and after the trip to the farm are also quite classic passages.

Besides, at that time, "The Walking Dead" was still in its overall rising stage, and the audience felt fresh no matter how they watched it, and few people cared too much about the momentary excitement... Then, Shi Lei ushered in its heyday.

To this day, Shi Lei still thinks that the "prison storming" at the beginning of the third season is the best action scene in the history of "The Walking Dead".

In order to turn the prison into a safe habitat, the protagonists advance in stages in a planned manner, using different environments to effectively eliminate the zombies. The assault group on the front line, the long-range sniper group, and the weak women group in the rear together form a well-paced emotional picture with a very comfortable rhythm.

As the attack progresses, the difficulties faced by the protagonists gradually escalate. The environmental props they can rely on are getting fewer and fewer, the number of zombies is increasing, and even fully armed "riot suit zombies" appear, making it more difficult to kill them. When the battlefield moves from the open periphery to the dark interior, the series provides a more familiar "claustrophobia" plot...

In short, "The Walking Dead" provides many similar famous scenes that are reasonable and serious, and full of excitement and entertainment.

In addition to the exciting "zombie fight", there is also the thought-provoking "human fight".

In the third season, the first real villain in the history of "The Walking Dead" appeared: "Governor" Phillip.

Woodberry's apparent glamour and darkness behind the scenes highlight the difficult-to-escaped cage of human nature, while the avoidable but unstoppable conflict between the Governor and the protagonists also foreshadows the arrival of the "Dark Forest" system in the end times.

The Governor is not only a poor man who is heartbroken after losing his daughter, but also a despicable pervert. The audience's love for this character also reflects that the series is further on the right track.

The third to fifth seasons are generally recognized as the "peak period" (at least he thinks so). Whether it is the rich content and exciting plot in the series or the extremely high ratings and hot topics outside the series, they are all worth writing about.

How popular was "The Walking Dead" at that time?

According to the production special, the show had a peak of 2100 million viewers in history (this is data from North America, which has a population of 3.35 million. Excluding children and the elderly, the viewing rate is about 10%. If overseas viewers are included, the number is terrifyingly high.)
What is the concept of 2100 million?
Well, the Game of Thrones finale had 1900 million viewers, which is a record in every sense of the word... and that shows how popular The Walking Dead was back then.

At that time, the cultural exchange environment at home and abroad was also good. He even watched the "genuine premiere" of the fourth season on Youku for a while - of course, the viewing experience was not good, so not long after, he returned to the habit of downloading raw content with subtitles or directly watching the cooked content of the subtitle group.

The fourth season of "The Walking Dead" should be the season with the richest story content and theme exploration.

In terms of story scenes and plot development, this season has experienced the survival life in prison, the violent counterattack of the governor, the wandering of the survivors after the prison was broken, and the gathering at the final "terminal";

In terms of the protagonist's mental changes, Rick has experienced many ups and downs, such as retiring from the army, being forced to hold the Colt Python again, and sincerely longing for peace talks but being ruined by the Governor. He will never forget the scene where he "transformed into a beast" to save Carl by biting Old Joe's throat.

From the perspective of personality formation and social forms, this season also has many outstanding performances, including the unbearable and glorious nature of human nature in peacetime inside and outside the prison, the completely different outlooks of the two children, Liz and Mika, and the performances of various small and medium-sized groups, which together illustrate the bizarreness of the end of the world.

(End of this chapter)