By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 8, 2023 |
By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 8, 2023 |
I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll mention it again: I am rooting for AMC. It feels like one of the last few little fishes in a big pond that hasn’t been swallowed up by a bigger fish yet. Home to Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Mad Men, and Killing Eve, the network at one point was poised to become a legitimate HBO competitor.
Then came the success of The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead was like Jamie Tartt in the opening season of Ted Lasso, the guy scoring all the goals while the rest of the team atrophied. However, there was no Lasso around to bench The Walking Dead for the good of the network. AMC made it even more of the focal point and then made mediocre-to-bad Jamie Tartt clones to support it. Unfortunately, after 11 seasons, the show got old and hobbled, and the network didn’t have a proper plan to replace it.
They’ve brought in some decent supporting players — Interview with a Vampire, Dark Winds — but some of the additions they were hoping would be their next Dani Rojas have struggled (Mayfair Witches, Lucky Hank). Now AMC is forced to push their second-rate Jamie Tartt clones back onto the field.
To wit: This weekend, long-in-the-tooth Fear the Walking Dead returns for its eighth and final season, as AMC squeezes the last drop of blood from that stone. Next month, meanwhile, AMC is trotting out the first of its post-The Walking Dead spin-offs, The Walking Dead: Dead City, which is essentially the network’s cost-cutting way to keep its popular The Walking Dead cast members around without having to pay the necessary fees for a 12th season.
Here’s a new trailer for The Walking Dead: Dead City, which combines the unlikely pair of Negan and Maggie for a trip to New York City. Based on the trailer, the dynamic between the two hasn’t changed since The Walking Dead.
I hope AMC can quickly find their next big hit, because The Walking Dead spin-offs aren’t going to do it, and the network is dangerously close to relegation. The Walking Dead: Dead City premieres on June 8th.