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Post by Ripley on Sept 21, 2016 10:53:13 GMT -5
"... What is Negan’s world view? How does he see this new post-apocalyptic world, what he should be in it, his relationship to other people? What does that mean to him?JDM: We’re going to find this out. We’re going to actually find out a lot more about his world. The last six seasons we’ve followed Rick and his band of merry men. Now you’re going to find out in that time Negan has been running his own show in his own way and coming across all sorts of people and taking care of business. So he has created his army of followers and some are probably reluctant followers, and if they’re reluctant followers he has a way to deal with that as well. If you read the comic books a lot of this isn’t coming as a huge surprise, but we’ll get to see a little bit of that. So basically Negan is going to impose his will one way or another. So in finding out more about Negan, we’ll find out how his life has been since the zombie apocalypse started, since the outbreak began, and we’ll find out sort of how Negan has come to be who he is. He rules with an iron fist and a sense of humor. He’s a very charismatic guy. But a lot of those questions will be answered and more are coming, but we’re going to find out some backstory very quickly on how the Saviors operate and how Negan operates. I think by mid-season or so a lot of those questions will be answered..." link
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Meggo358
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Post by Meggo358 on Sept 21, 2016 11:00:55 GMT -5
Thanks for posting, Ripley! I feel like ew posted almost this exact same headline a few weeks ago but maybe EWs articles are simply all starting to run together in my mind : ) No surprise that we're getting negan's backstory
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Post by dark sister on Sept 21, 2016 11:03:09 GMT -5
We're going to learn more about what drives Negan than we ever learned about Glenn.
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Post by Starlight on Sept 21, 2016 11:05:50 GMT -5
It will be interesting to see how the GA to react to the heavy load of Negan in season 7. I know in the comics Negan is loved by fans. But that love sometimes doesn't translate onto the show with certain characters. Carl being the big example. The character is loved in the comics but loathed on the screen.
I am interested in how the show handles Negan and the wives arc. Will they do the arc and just not focus on the details. or will they just gloss over the whole arc.
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Meggo358
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Post by Meggo358 on Sept 21, 2016 11:15:35 GMT -5
It will be interesting to see how the GA to react to the heavy load of Negan in season 7. I know in the comics Negan is loved by fans. But that love sometimes doesn't translate onto the show with certain characters. Carl being the big example. The character is loved in the comics but loathed on the screen. I am interested in how the show handles Negan and the wives arc. Will they do the arc and just not focus on the details. or will they just gloss over the whole arc. The wives stuff kind of concerns me - the subject matter is off putting on its own, but TWD isn't exactly known for handing gender dynamics well. Last season really shook my faith that she show understands how to avoid exploiting / disregarding its female cast in favor of their male counterparts. I've heard spec that they wouldn't be glossing over this part if the story which, if accurate, I worry about how it will come across. Overall though I'm betting negan will be popular. The show is clearly doing everything it can to make him "awesome" so he can carry the show for the season. It will never be a surprise to be that Carl isn't as popular simply because we're talking about a child actor on an adult tv show. That hardly ever goes well.
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Post by walkingdeadrules on Sept 21, 2016 11:18:57 GMT -5
Ok, unpopular opinion here, but to me it comes down to both the writing and the actor. JDM came out of the gates swinging. I know people who hate TWD now because of the cliffhanger ending, but everyone says what an incredible job he did as Negan and how they are interested in seeing him again. An actor can take not so good story lines and make them tolerable and sometimes even good(hello Melissa McBride). Conversely, the actor who plays Carl has made some worst actor on tv lists(which I think is brutal and unfair to do to a kid but that's the parent in me talking I know). Whenever I think he is getting better I am reminded by someone just watching the show that I am just "used to him" which is probably true. As a fan I am not happy about all of the focus on Negan and away from our core characters whom we've grown to love and I want to see more. But as a producer/director of the show I actually think it's very smart to take a very charismatic and very good actor and give him so much of the focus. It really CAN reinvent the show somewhat and keep it fresh. IF the writing is decent at least. If it's crap(eg...Morgan/Carol) the best they can hope for is mediocrity. But with well written material JDM can knock it out of the park. Chandler could never do that, sorry Carl lovers, but he can't.
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Post by deadhead on Sept 21, 2016 11:30:56 GMT -5
Oh. Good. More Negan.
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Post by Starlight on Sept 21, 2016 11:38:02 GMT -5
It will be interesting to see how the GA to react to the heavy load of Negan in season 7. I know in the comics Negan is loved by fans. But that love sometimes doesn't translate onto the show with certain characters. Carl being the big example. The character is loved in the comics but loathed on the screen. I am interested in how the show handles Negan and the wives arc. Will they do the arc and just not focus on the details. or will they just gloss over the whole arc. The wives stuff kind of concerns me - the subject matter is off putting on its own, but TWD isn't exactly known for handing gender dynamics well. Last season really shook my faith that she show understands how to avoid exploiting / disregarding its female cast in favor of their male counterparts. I've heard spec that they wouldn't be glossing over this part if the story which, if accurate, I worry about how it will come across. Overall though I'm betting negan will be popular. The show is clearly doing everything it can to make him "awesome" so he can carry the show for the season. It will never be a surprise to be that Carl isn't as popular simply because we're talking about a child actor on an adult tv show. That hardly ever goes well. I don't think the show can gloss over the Negan/ wives arc, due to Dwight and Sherry. But I have no faith that the show will handle the arc properly. I think Negan will be popular with the fandom, especially with comic fans and females / males fans who will ship themselves with him and other characters. But the the show could be misreading the GA reaction to Negan.. Yes JDM is hot and a good actor. But Negan will kill at least 4 characters on 7a and two will be Glenn and Abe.. He will kidnap and torture Daryl. And then there'should the Negan and wives arc. The GA will want to him dead and will want revenge for the deaths and the GA will get neither. I disagree about Carl... the character could be popular if the show had choosen a better child actor. Every child actor who has been hired on the show has acted circles about CR...and those child actors were younger than CR.
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Meggo358
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Post by Meggo358 on Sept 21, 2016 11:38:07 GMT -5
Ok, unpopular opinion here, but to me it comes down to both the writing and the actor. JDM came out of the gates swinging. I know people who hate TWD now because of the cliffhanger ending, but everyone says what an incredible job he did as Negan and how they are interested in seeing him again. An actor can take not so good story lines and make them tolerable and sometimes even good(hello Melissa McBride). Conversely, the actor who plays Carl has made some worst actor on tv lists(which I think is brutal and unfair to do to a kid but that's the parent in me talking I know). Whenever I think he is getting better I am reminded by someone just watching the show that I am just "used to him" which is probably true. As a fan I am not happy about all of the focus on Negan and away from our core characters whom we've grown to love and I want to see more. But as a producer/director of the show I actually think it's very smart to take a very charismatic and very good actor and give him so much of the focus. It really CAN reinvent the show somewhat and keep it fresh. IF the writing is decent at least. If it's crap(eg...Morgan/Carol) the best they can hope for is mediocrity. But with well written material JDM can knock it out of the park. Chandler could never do that, sorry Carl lovers, but he can't. I think you're absolutely right about it all coming down to performance and writing. The former I have zero concerns about - JDM isn't the most likable actor to me but he's charismatic and talented. The writing, though, is where things could fall apart. Will the audience like him enough for the amount of focus he's about to get? And will his characters popularity translate enough onscreen? I'm guessing it will but it will be interesting to see how much the audience is willing to go on this journey with the show away from the original story and original characters many signed up for.
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Post by Starlight on Sept 21, 2016 11:41:41 GMT -5
Ok, unpopular opinion here, but to me it comes down to both the writing and the actor. JDM came out of the gates swinging. I know people who hate TWD now because of the cliffhanger ending, but everyone says what an incredible job he did as Negan and how they are interested in seeing him again. An actor can take not so good story lines and make them tolerable and sometimes even good(hello Melissa McBride). Conversely, the actor who plays Carl has made some worst actor on tv lists(which I think is brutal and unfair to do to a kid but that's the parent in me talking I know). Whenever I think he is getting better I am reminded by someone just watching the show that I am just "used to him" which is probably true. As a fan I am not happy about all of the focus on Negan and away from our core characters whom we've grown to love and I want to see more. But as a producer/director of the show I actually think it's very smart to take a very charismatic and very good actor and give him so much of the focus. It really CAN reinvent the show somewhat and keep it fresh. IF the writing is decent at least. If it's crap(eg...Morgan/Carol) the best they can hope for is mediocrity. But with well written material JDM can knock it out of the park. Chandler could never do that, sorry Carl lovers, but he can't. Completely agree on the CR stuff...
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Meggo358
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Aspiring Furiosa
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Post by Meggo358 on Sept 21, 2016 11:49:17 GMT -5
The wives stuff kind of concerns me - the subject matter is off putting on its own, but TWD isn't exactly known for handing gender dynamics well. Last season really shook my faith that she show understands how to avoid exploiting / disregarding its female cast in favor of their male counterparts. I've heard spec that they wouldn't be glossing over this part if the story which, if accurate, I worry about how it will come across. Overall though I'm betting negan will be popular. The show is clearly doing everything it can to make him "awesome" so he can carry the show for the season. It will never be a surprise to be that Carl isn't as popular simply because we're talking about a child actor on an adult tv show. That hardly ever goes well. I don't think the show can gloss over the Negan/ wives arc, due to Dwight and Sherry. But I have no faith that the show will handle the arc properly. I think Negan will be popular with the fandom, especially with comic fans and females / males fans who will ship themselves with him and other characters. But the the show could be misreading the GA reaction to Negan.. Yes JDM is hot and a good actor. But Negan will kill at least 4 characters on 7a and two will be Glenn and Abe.. He will kidnap and torture Daryl. And then there'should the Negan and wives arc. The GA will want to him dead and will want revenge for the deaths and the GA will get neither. I disagree about Carl... the character could be popular if the show had choosen a better child actor. Every child actor who has been hired on the show has acted circles about CR...and those child actors were younger than CR. I don't know what to think about the GA. Yes negan is killing a number of characters in 7a, but really how many members of the GA care about them with the exception of Glenn? Oh, and hurting Daryl. I like to think that you're right but the GA seems to accept what it's given without much pushback. I actually wonder if it's the comic fans who will end up much more critical if the execution doesn't work. And we'll probably have to agree to disagree about Carl. I absolutely think CRs acting is a contributing factor but if he had the same role with improved skills im not sure if that would maje him popular. Hard to say.
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Post by Ripley on Sept 21, 2016 12:34:18 GMT -5
I think JDM casting was brilliant not only to revitalize the show and use JDM huge talents. Another factor is his sexual appeal to fans and the age-old trope of the villain viewers "should" hate, but don't for whatever reason. Physicality, sex appeal, charm, pathos, whatever. Merle, Shane, The Governor & Gareth actors (Rooker, Bernthal, Morrissey, West) all had that quality along with fans who overlooked the deeds or minimized the actions & their choices for " bangability" or other factors. I've seen it on Tumblr and other social media for years . I saw a post on Facebook yesterday from a newbie saying "JDM was too sexy to be evil" so she hopes what she has heard is wrong. Nothing wrong with having a bad guy who is easy on the eye too abd charming- it creates a dichotomy which keeps viewers invested. JDM, like other TWD villains before him, has huge talent so I think unlike Norman Reedus, his talent recognition may not be outweighed by the bangability factor. I feel bad for Reedus sometimes because of that since I think he really wanted respect for his talent, more than say his biceps.
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Post by buttercup on Sept 21, 2016 12:42:35 GMT -5
The wives stuff kind of concerns me - the subject matter is off putting on its own, but TWD isn't exactly known for handing gender dynamics well. Last season really shook my faith that she show understands how to avoid exploiting / disregarding its female cast in favor of their male counterparts. I've heard spec that they wouldn't be glossing over this part if the story which, if accurate, I worry about how it will come across. Overall though I'm betting negan will be popular. The show is clearly doing everything it can to make him "awesome" so he can carry the show for the season. It will never be a surprise to be that Carl isn't as popular simply because we're talking about a child actor on an adult tv show. That hardly ever goes well. I don't think the show can gloss over the Negan/ wives arc, due to Dwight and Sherry. But I have no faith that the show will handle the arc properly. I think Negan will be popular with the fandom, especially with comic fans and females / males fans who will ship themselves with him and other characters. But the the show could be misreading the GA reaction to Negan.. Yes JDM is hot and a good actor. But Negan will kill at least 4 characters on 7a and two will be Glenn and Abe.. He will kidnap and torture Daryl. And then there'should the Negan and wives arc. The GA will want to him dead and will want revenge for the deaths and the GA will get neither. I disagree about Carl... the character could be popular if the show had choosen a better child actor. Every child actor who has been hired on the show has acted circles about CR...and those child actors were younger than CR. I agree that the show could be misreading the GA reaction to Negan. Or maybe they aren't. I think they are concerned, a little bit. Hence, the bike rides with NR - well publicized by both of them - and yes, I know they are friends but it has been a bunch of them and they just scream - LOOK AT HOW CLOSE WE ARE AND WE LOVE EACH OTHER AND HE IS SUCH A GOOD GUY!! Put that with the major promotion of him and I think AMC is a teensy bit concerned. I know I won't like him, I don't like him and seeing him bash the heads in of two characters I like a lot is not going to make me like him any better. SY and MC have many fans. I am interested to see how it plays out.
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Post by Starlight on Sept 21, 2016 12:50:53 GMT -5
I don't think the show can gloss over the Negan/ wives arc, due to Dwight and Sherry. But I have no faith that the show will handle the arc properly. I think Negan will be popular with the fandom, especially with comic fans and females / males fans who will ship themselves with him and other characters. But the the show could be misreading the GA reaction to Negan.. Yes JDM is hot and a good actor. But Negan will kill at least 4 characters on 7a and two will be Glenn and Abe.. He will kidnap and torture Daryl. And then there'should the Negan and wives arc. The GA will want to him dead and will want revenge for the deaths and the GA will get neither. I disagree about Carl... the character could be popular if the show had choosen a better child actor. Every child actor who has been hired on the show has acted circles about CR...and those child actors were younger than CR. I agree that the show could be misreading the GA reaction to Negan. Or maybe they aren't. I think they are concerned, a little bit. Hence, the bike rides with NR - well publicized by both of them - and yes, I know they are friends but it has been a bunch of them and they just scream - LOOK AT HOW CLOSE WE ARE AND WE LOVE EACH OTHER AND HE IS SUCH A GOOD GUY!! Put that with the major promotion of him and I think AMC is a teensy bit concerned. I know I won't like him, I don't like him and seeing him bash the heads in of two characters I like a lot is not going to make me like him any better. SY and MC have many fans. I am interested to see how it plays out. The GA at home haven't a clue that NR and JDM hang out together.. The GA is oblivious to what the actors do away from the show. Most don't even know the actors names... from what I have seen / read Norman and Jeff are friends and have been friends do for a while. So I don't think them hanging out together has anything to do with promoting Negan.
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Post by buttercup on Sept 21, 2016 13:20:54 GMT -5
I agree that the show could be misreading the GA reaction to Negan. Or maybe they aren't. I think they are concerned, a little bit. Hence, the bike rides with NR - well publicized by both of them - and yes, I know they are friends but it has been a bunch of them and they just scream - LOOK AT HOW CLOSE WE ARE AND WE LOVE EACH OTHER AND HE IS SUCH A GOOD GUY!! Put that with the major promotion of him and I think AMC is a teensy bit concerned. I know I won't like him, I don't like him and seeing him bash the heads in of two characters I like a lot is not going to make me like him any better. SY and MC have many fans. I am interested to see how it plays out. The GA at home haven't a clue that NR and JDM hang out together.. The GA is oblivious to what the actors do away from the show. Most don't even know the actors names... from what I have seen / read Norman and Jeff are friends and have been friends do for a while. So I don't think them hanging out together has anything to do with promoting Negan. Well, we can agree to disagree. I was pointing out that, while they have been friends for awhile, we have never been privy to their motorcyle adventures before. I actually have never seen them before in anything, anywhere hanging out, until he joined the show. THIS is all happening, IN MY OPINION, for promotion of JDM as Negan.
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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Sept 21, 2016 13:51:15 GMT -5
I'm not worried about JDM's acting or charisma, in fact one of the reasons I was upset about the cliffhanger was that it overshadowed JDM's (and AL's) fantastic acting. The inconsistencies in writing and pacing will always be this show's speed bumps. David Morrisey and Lennie James, each great actors in their own right, have fallen victim to a showrunner's vision.
Gimple: Hey, let's put two Guv'nor focused episodes smack dab in the middle of 4A. GA: Eff that! We want to see the fallout from Daryl finding out Rick banished Carol.
Gimple: Let's have a 90 minute episode about a black guy, a white guy, and a goat. Best idea evah! GA: So...yeah..uhm...is Glenn dead or has he decided to permanently live under the dumpster?
So my question is, any guesses as to where the placement of these Negan focused episodes will be? And which storyline they will interrupt? This will be a clue as to how well Negan will be received by the GA.
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Post by walkingdeadrules on Sept 21, 2016 13:53:03 GMT -5
LMAO @ Ripley's line "Bangability". People came in my office to ask me what was so funny I was a bit loud.
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Post by Starlight on Sept 21, 2016 14:02:17 GMT -5
I'm not worried about JDM's acting or charisma, in fact one of the reasons I was upset about the cliffhanger was that it overshadowed JDM's (and AL's) fantastic acting. The inconsistencies in writing and pacing will always be this show's speed bumps. David Morrisey and Lennie James, each great actors in their own right, have fallen victim to a showrunner's vision. Gimple: Hey, let's put two Guv'nor focused episodes smack dab in the middle of 4A. GA: Eff that! We want to see the fallout from Daryl finding out Rick banished Carol. Gimple: Let's have a 90 minute episode about a black guy, a white guy, and a goat. Best idea evah! GA: So...yeah..uhm...is Glenn dead or has he decided to permanently live under the dumpster? So my question is, any guesses as to where the placement of these Negan focused episodes will be? And which storyline they will interrupt? This will be a clue as to how well Negan will be received by the GA. So far we have episode 2 in 7a and episode 11 in 7b focusing on Negan / Sanctuary / Saviors.
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Post by Keiran on Sept 21, 2016 14:21:50 GMT -5
I really want to go to the writers and drill into them the following sentence: "We do not need to know backstories"
Bottle episodes can get in the bin. Instead of producing 16 episodes, and padding them out with meaningless waffle (Negan is just Negan, we don't know what makes him tick and we don't need to know, he's crazy!) how about producing 12 - 14 episodes with the surplus budget being spent on better CGI and writers, and producing a quality season, not an "OK" season with 2-3 standout episodes.
The fans deserve more!!
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Post by dark sister on Sept 21, 2016 14:55:29 GMT -5
Does Gimple think Michael Meyers for example was scary because we knew all about how he came to be? No. He's scary because he randomly showed up and started stabbing people. It's okay to present a villain like that.
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Post by nana on Sept 21, 2016 18:58:43 GMT -5
The hotness factor creates quite a dichotomy for Negan. He is good looking and charming with a great smile so that adds to the creepiness for wont of a better word about how evil he is. It is disarming. You may think you are part of his inner circle and then you find out in a most cruel way and suddenly that you are not.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if AMC has asked JDM and Norman to pal around together on their bikes. A lot of fans follow Norman on Twitter where all that publicity is going.
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Post by MorganBGone on Sept 21, 2016 19:51:44 GMT -5
I'm not worried about JDM's acting or charisma, in fact one of the reasons I was upset about the cliffhanger was that it overshadowed JDM's (and AL's) fantastic acting. The inconsistencies in writing and pacing will always be this show's speed bumps. David Morrisey and Lennie James, each great actors in their own right, have fallen victim to a showrunner's vision. Gimple: Hey, let's put two Guv'nor focused episodes smack dab in the middle of 4A. GA: Eff that! We want to see the fallout from Daryl finding out Rick banished Carol. Gimple: Let's have a 90 minute episode about a black guy, a white guy, and a goat. Best idea evah! GA: So...yeah..uhm...is Glenn dead or has he decided to permanently live under the dumpster? So my question is, any guesses as to where the placement of these Negan focused episodes will be? And which storyline they will interrupt? This will be a clue as to how well Negan will be received by the GA. So far we have episode 2 in 7a and episode 11 in 7b focusing on Negan / Sanctuary / Saviors. Ep 2 will rely on Daryl's presence. Ep 11 will likely have viewers, as happened with the gov episodes, tuning in, thinking they will get resolution or fallout from something team family related (in this case, potentially what daryl will do going forward, knowing Carol's in proximity to Kingdom... Will he tell Rick... Will he encourage Ezekiel to fight despite Carol's presence... Etc), only to be hit with a savior-only episode. JDM might be charismatic, but I still expect a villain-only ep to be unpopular with the GA... And I suspect that's the reason it's being immediately preceded by a reunion that will likely raise questions for the audience about its ramifications for the story and the core group. This is one of Gimple's worst patterns: use something the audience is actually interested in to drag them through episodes they're not as they tune in expecting resolution to something from the preceding ep and instead get newbies and/or villains and/or something else they weren't remotely asking for that gimple, in his infinite brilliance, thought they needed.
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Post by reckon on Sept 22, 2016 0:40:06 GMT -5
Lots of Negan, more bottle eps, huh? Eenie, meenie, meinie,
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Post by Ripley on Sept 22, 2016 6:24:56 GMT -5
I'm thinking NR & JDM may not have just been able to hang out and ride bikes in the past due to their work schedules keeping them separated , so I'm not seeing the bikes thing as being mandated by TPTB or the show. We know others such as Austin Amellio, Steven Yeun (last year) & Austin Nichols rode with NR in the past. Being seen riding seems better for "Ride with Norman Reedus", waiting for news of a season 2 or cancellation.
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