About The Walking Dead Season 1 – TV Series

The Walking Dead Season 1

The first season of The Walking Dead, an American post-apocalyptic horror television series on AMC, premiered on October 31, 2010, and concluded on December 5, 2010, consisting of 6 episodes. Developed for television by Frank Darabont, who wrote or co-wrote four of the season’s six episodes and directed the pilot episode, “Days Gone Bye”, the series is based on the eponymous series of comic books by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. It was executive produced by Darabont, Kirkman, David Alpert, Charles H. Eglee, and Gale Anne Hurd, with Darabont assuming the role of showrunner.

The season received very positive reviews by critics. It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama at the 68th Golden Globe Awards and received nominations for the 63rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in several categories, winning Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie, or Special. The pilot episode received 5.35 million viewers, and the finale garnered six million viewers, including four million viewers among adults ages 18–49, making it the most viewed basic cable drama series at that time.^[4] Based on its reception, AMC renewed the series for a second season consisting of 13 episodes, which premiered on October 16, 2011.

This season adapts material from issues #1–6 of the comic book series and introduces notable comic character Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who awakens from a coma, after being shot, in a post-apocalyptic world filled with flesh-eating zombies, dubbed “walkers”. After befriending Morgan Jones (Lennie James), Rick sets out to find his family and discover the origins of the walker virus.

The Walking Dead

STORY

Episodes 01

“Days Gone Bye”

Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes is shot on duty and enters a coma, awakening to a post-apocalyptic world. He meets survivor Morgan Jones and his son Duane, who explain the pandemic that changed people into undead flesh-eating creatures they call “walkers.” Morgan’s wife, Jenny, was bitten and resurrected but Morgan let her go. Rick departs for Atlanta with a gun bag to find his wife Lori and son Carl, unaware that they are safe with his partner and best friend Shane. Rick encourages Morgan to put down Jenny, but he can’t gather the strength. Rick finds Atlanta filled with walkers and gets trapped inside a tank. Alone and losing hope, Rick hears a voice on the radio.

Episodes 02

“Guts”

Shane leads a camp outside Atlanta and, believing Rick to be dead, fills the role of Lori’s partner and Carl’s father figure. Meanwhile, Rick is rescued by Glenn, the man on the radio. Rick meets Glenn’s entrapped group, including Merle, a volatile racist who jeopardizes the group’s safety. Rick restrains him and masterminds an escape. He and Glenn pose as walkers, safely wade through the horde in the street, and return to rescue the group. In the chaos, Merle and the gun bag are abandoned.

Episodes 03

“Tell It to the Frogs”

Trapped in Atlanta, Merle begins losing sanity. Glenn leads Rick back to Shane’s camp, where he reunites with Lori and Carl and meets survivors Dale, Jim, and Carol. Lori warns Shane to avoid her and Carl, believing that Shane lied about Rick’s death to take his place. Angry, Shane brutally beats Carol’s abusive husband Ed. Rick feels guilty and leads Glenn and Merle’s younger brother Daryl on a rescue mission back to Atlanta, where they discover a bloody saw and Merle’s severed hand.

Episodes 04

“Vatos”

Inspired by a forgotten dream, Jim digs dozens of graves. In Atlanta, Daryl finds evidence that Merle cauterized his wound and fled. Meanwhile, Glenn is captured by a Latino gang. After a shootout nearly ensues, Rick learns that the gang is protecting seniors in a nursing home and gifts them several weapons. Jim reveals that walkers ate his family. That night, walkers attack the camp. Rick, Daryl, and Glenn return and kill them, but are too late to prevent losses, including Andrea’s sister Amy. Jim remembers his dream.

Episodes 05

“Wildfire”

After burying their dead, Shane blames Rick for leaving the camp vulnerable to attack. Jim reveals that he was bitten, spreading panic within the group. Rick proposes moving to the CDC, hopeful of a cure, but Shane is opposed. While they debate privately in the woods, Shane considers shooting Rick, but thinks better of it and conforms to Rick’s plan. They leave Jim, who wants to join his family as a walker, and arrive at the CDC. Rick pleads for their lives and the door opens.

Episodes 06

“TS-19”

In a flashback, Shane attempts to rescue Rick from the hospital but mistakenly presumes him dead. The group enters the CDC in search of answers but find only one scientist left. Dr. Edwin Jenner reveals the brain scan of an infected patient, showing the disease to be incurable. Jenner locks the group inside and reveals that the building will self-detonate. After losing his wife, the subject of the brain scan, Jenner nihilistically believes that suicide is best. Rick learns a secret from Jenner and persuades him to let them escape. Andrea and Jacqui stay behind but Dale convinces Andrea to leave with him. Jenner and Jacqui await a painless death while Rick leads the group on.

CAST

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, the series’ protagonist and former sheriff’s deputy from King County, Georgia, who awakens from a coma into the apocalypse. After becoming aware of the apocalypse, Rick sets out to find his wife, Lori, and son, Carl.
Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh, Rick’s best friend since high school and former colleague, who helped Rick’s family escape the apocalypse and is the leader of the Atlanta camp. Believing Rick to be dead, he also started a relationship with Lori, leading to complications when Rick unexpectedly returns alive and well.
Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes, Rick’s wife and mother of Carl. Lori is an emotionally fragile yet independent woman, who started a relationship with Shane out of her grief for losing Rick, leaving her off-guard and very conflicted when Rick returns.
Laurie Holden as Andrea, a former successful civil rights attorney and sister of Amy. Andrea has a slight temper, but has a compassionate side and is very protective of her sister; both of them share a close bond with Dale.
Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale Horvath, an elderly survivor, who owns the RV around which the survivors have formed a camp. Dale is a wise man of morals, who isn’t afraid to voice his opinion and is very protective of everyone’s well-being, physically and emotionally. He serves as an adviser to Shane, then to Rick. Dale also has a close bond with Andrea and Amy.
Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee, a former pizza delivery boy, who knows his way around Atlanta and often embarks on dangerous supply runs for the group. Glenn is a highly intelligent and resourceful, though slightly cocky yet hopeful individual, who cares for everyone yet he is easily taken advantage of by the other group members; Rick trusts him on supply runs.
Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Rick and Lori’s son. He and his mother are taken to Atlanta by Shane after the initial outbreak.

PRODUCTION

Robert Kirkman, who created the comic book series in 2003, says he had considered the idea of a Walking Dead television series, but never actively pursued it. “I certainly wanted it to happen, just because I knew it would be good for the book… I’m certainly not against adaptations, like some creators.” When Frank Darabont became interested in adapting the comic books for television, Kirkman said it was “extremely flattering” and went on to say that, “He definitely cares about the original source material, and you can tell that in the way he’s adapting it. It’s an extreme validation of the work… Never in a million years could I have thought that if Walking Dead were to ever be adapted that everything would be going this well. I think that that’s all because of Frank.”

Darabont himself had been a fan of the zombie genre since seeing George A. Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead when he was fourteen years old. “”Night of the Living Dead” had this weird vibe that was almost – it was like pornography… It had this marvelously attractive, disreputable draw… I loved it immediately.” Darabont recalls walking into a comic book store in Burbank, California and seeing The Walking Dead on the shelf in 2005. “Being that I’ve always had “the love of zombies genre,” I of course grabbed it, took it home and read it, and immediately started pursuing the rights to it. I thought it would make a great TV show… I loved the idea of an extended, ongoing, serialized dramatic presentation set in the zombie apocalypse.” He described the process of developing the series and getting it set up at a network as “four years of frustration,” and credits executive producer Gale Anne Hurd with finally getting the series on AMC. “I can’t remember what the hell prompted her to read it [the script], but she said, “Wow, I really love this pilot you wrote. What are you doing with it?” I said I’d been trying to set it up forever… She said “I think AMC might be the place to take this.” She did, and then bam! They were immediately interested. I had to credit Gale, her insight into marrying the material and the buyer.”