Talking Dead: Because Chris Hardwick Wants to Beat Ryan Seacrest

[HighMaintenance]

They really need YNB to become one of the writers for either ZA show.  She could bring some fresh ideas - as long as she doesn't abuse the shipping aspects of the characters.

I only watched the first 10 minutes of TTD. Did anyone else think Alecia/Alycia was talking too much at the beginning of the show?  I kept thinking, "ok, thanks Alycia... now shut up.  Ok,shut up. We want to hear from someone else now. Thanks, dear, now shut up.".  Also, Jesse McCartney is working some Gary Busey level chompers there.  So big and SO white: Maybe he's auditioning for a remake of "The Mask"?

[callmebetty]

Just watched the show. Why didn't they ask Alycia what she thought about her boyfriend who was sick and died? I'm sure there is backstory that was never shown in the show like 75% of it. Thats a question I would have asked.

[TVFan17]

Chris Hardwick is now going to do a Talking Preacher show too?  Talking Dead 1.0 and 2.0, Talking Bad, Talking Saul and now Talking Preacher.  He is the face of AMC.

[walnutqueen]

1 hour ago, Sherry67 said:

Chris Hardwick is now going to do a Talking Preacher show too?  Talking Dead 1.0 and 2.0, Talking Bad, Talking Saul and now Talking Preacher.  He is the face of AMC.

Yet, I somehow cannot imagine anyone else talking me through my shows.  ;-)

[kj4ever]

WTF Chris Hardwick.  You are supposed to explain shit that happened.  I mean in TWD we usually have like one or two things that they explain but this episode we needed the whole thing explained and you just talk about the most non-character Ofelia for the whole show?

[lulee]

11 hours ago, kj4ever said:

WTF Chris Hardwick.  You are supposed to explain shit that happened.  I mean in TWD we usually have like one or two things that they explain but this episode we needed the whole thing explained and you just talk about the most non-character Ofelia for the whole show?

What do you feel was left unclear? My brother called during the episode and so I was only half paying attention plus had the sound down. I missed the part with the walkers in the basement, the dog fed to them, and that Celia poisoned the communion, and only knew about it from Hardick and guests talking about those events. Not disputing your experience, just saying that they filled in blanks for me.

Edited May 16, 2016 by lulee
clarification

[Armchair Critic]

On 5/16/2016 at 10:37 PM, Sherry67 said:

 

Chris Hardwick is now going to do a Talking Preacher show too?

 

I thought you were joking. WTF? Talk about beating a dead horse.

[lulee]

3 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

I thought you were joking. WTF? Talk about beating a dead horse.

Yes, although it's only for the premiere and season finale, not every episode.

[TVFan17]

19 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

I thought you were joking. WTF? Talk about beating a dead horse.

I think that Chris is doing for Preacher what he did for Talking Saul this year.  He did a post-show for the first episode of Season 2 of Better Call Saul, and a post-show for the season finale.  I guess that's AMC's way of determining if there is enough of an audience for them to warrant running Talking Saul for a full season next year.  Even when Chris did Talking Bad it was only for the final 8 episodes of Breaking Bad, but not for the entire final season or series.

Still, though, for people who are not big fans of Chris Hardwick, I guess it might be a bit much.  He is quite prolific on the network.  I haven't even decided if I am going to watch Preacher yet, so I may not watch Talking Preacher either.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Sherry67

[rab01]

I prefer Chris Hardwick in small doses but running these "Talking _____" shows makes perfect sense for the network. If you can run a cheap interview show that lands in the top 20 for the week and gives you a platform to promote upcoming shows, why wouldn't you see if you can make it an every week thing?

[TVFan17]

The lady who plays Celia is much more likable in real life than she is on the show!  She seems like a lovely, upbeat person.

[mightysparrow]

Ruben Blades answer to the question 'if Daniel was a barber, why didn't he do something about Nick's hair?' (He's a barber, not a magician) was not only the best line in this entire season of FTWD, it was better than 99% of the past season of the mothership as well.  If Ruben is leaving the cast, could he please join the writing staff?  PLEASE!

[TVFan17]

2 minutes ago, mightysparrow said:

Ruben Blades answer to the question 'if Daniel was a barber, why didn't he do something about Nick's hair?' (He's a barber, not a magician) was not only the best line in this entire season of FTWD, it was better than 99% of the past season of the mothership as well.  If Ruben is leaving the cast, could he please join the writing staff?  PLEASE!

There is just no explanation for Nick's hair.  I don't understand it -- and I have always liked long hair on guys (the right ones, who can pull it off).  Nick's hair is not good long hair.  And the fact that it always covered in grime or blood doesn't help.

[Jordan27]

I have watched most of the Talking Dead from FTWD, but I just couldn't get through the last one.  Talking about a boring ep. isn't my idea of fun.

I think like many of you that Chris is doing his best to act excited about this show and it's getting a little uncomfortable watching him.

[patty1h]

Sorry if this came up already...  I'm watching old episode of Married With Children when I spot Chris Hardwick!  It's the one called "Spring Break" and he plays a reporter who interviews Kelly and her girlfriends while they party in Florida.  

He looks about the same except he has a typical 90's haircut.

[TVFan17]

So the episode was all about Nick, and yet they have Kim Dickens on the show tonight?  That makes sense.

[SoSueMe]

12 minutes ago, Sherry67 said:

So the episode was all about Nick, and yet they have Kim Dickens on the show tonight?  That makes sense.

And...it's her favorite episode so far!!!

[TVFan17]

This version of Talking Dead is struggling -- they are having Kim Dickens on as a guest again next week!  Two weeks in a row.  Why?

[dirtydi]

I actually watched this show to see what happened on the actual episode.  I found the episode boring and switched it off and figured I would find out what happened.  I like the showrunner,  Dave.  He is straightforward and doesn't come off as a douche.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I didn't watch more than half an hour, but I saw that it was listed to go for 2 hours. Did it really go that long? I can't imagine how boring that would be. 

[xaxat]

I don't usually watch TTD. But I did tonight because Danay Garcia is gorgeous I was interested in a deeper exploration of the themes of the show. 

What I find interesting is how much rationalization occurred on the show. People telling me that plot aspects made sense because of things that we didn't see on the show. Annoying.

Frank Dillane looked/sounded like he was auditioning for a role in Tim Burton's next movie.

[rab01]

2 hours ago, Superclam said:

I didn't watch more than half an hour, but I saw that it was listed to go for 2 hours. Did it really go that long? I can't imagine how boring that would be. 

My cable guide said the same thing but, on our system, the second hour was actually Halt and Catch Fire.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Thank you. The thought of two hours of that... 

3 hours ago, xaxat said:

I don't usually watch TTD. But I did tonight because Danay Garcia is gorgeous I was interested in a deeper exploration of the themes of the show. 

I've never seen her before. She really is stunning. 

[kj4ever]

I made it through about 20 minutes and couldn't take it anymore.  I was embarrassed for Chris.  You know he knows this show is shit but he has bosses like we all do.

I will say that Kim Dickens annoys me just as much IRL as she does as Madison on the show.  Her face does move a bit more so maybe we are giving her to much credit when we blame her atrocious acting on botox.

[Nashville]

14 hours ago, kj4ever said:

I will say that Kim Dickens annoys me just as much IRL as she does as Madison on the show.  Her face does move a bit more so maybe we are giving her to much credit when we blame her atrocious acting on botox.

Q: What's the primary difference between Kim and Madison?

A: With Kim, it looks like the tetanus shots to relieve that severe case of lockjaw are starting to have an effect.  Slowly.

[HighMaintenance]

That short 20 second video clip from Frank Dillane that Chris featured on TTD was all kinds of awkward, odd and stoned.  Aside from the sense that FD seemed to be auditioning for "Robert Smith - My Life with The Cure", he seemed drunk or high.  His bombastic lack of eloquence was front and center as he was unable to communicate about the episode (or the show) he just starred in.... "thank you for watching my thing... about some things, and I hope to be in more things that you will watch.......and ...... stuff..."

ALSO!  Hardwick!  Quit asking the guest starts on the couch what they can tell you about their characters!  Because, A> they can't tell you much because *spoilers and reasons* and B> because they probably don't have any "insight" on their character's past or motivations due to the shitty, non-sensical writing!

[Nashville]

26 minutes ago, HighMaintenance said:

That short 20 second video clip from Frank Dillane that Chris featured on TTD was all kinds of awkward, odd and stoned.  Aside from the sense that FD seemed to be auditioning for "Robert Smith - My Life with The Cure", he seemed drunk or high.  His bombastic lack of eloquence was front and center as he was unable to communicate about the episode (or the show) he just starred in.... "thank you for watching my thing... about some things, and I hope to be in more things that you will watch.......and ...... stuff..."

Nah, I just think Dillane got put on the spot with no prep to give them five minutes of filler.  I also think that in that situational context (in Mom's house with no audience except a smartphone and, possibly, Mom) didn't exactly engage FD's improv skills.  :)

[Muffyn]

Has Dillane made a major life choice to never comb his hair?  It is only accenting his hairline's rapid retreat from his forehead. 

[Nashville]

36 minutes ago, Muffyn said:

Has Dillane made a major life choice to never comb his hair?  It is only accenting his hairline's rapid retreat from his forehead. 

Immutable fact of life: long hair falls out quicker.  :>

[frogzapper]

23 hours ago, kj4ever said:

 

I made it through about 20 minutes and couldn't take it anymore.  I was embarrassed for Chris.  You know he knows this show is shit but he has bosses like we all do.

 

I usually love TTD, but that had to be the most painfully awkward and boring hour of it that I've seen to date (and I found this week's episode of FTWD really boring and stupid at times too). It really looked like Chris was grasping at straws to find something interesting to talk about with his guests. The whole show felt off (was there a quiz this week?). Even the part where Chris gave the parting gift to the guy who asked a question felt really awkward. And not to jump on the Kim Dickens hate bandwagon, but she really didn't add anything of value. Halfway through the show I started fast-forwarding anytime Chris talked to her. And we have to sit through her again next week?!

[ottoDbusdriver]

3 hours ago, frogzapper said:

The whole show felt off (was there a quiz this week?)

Nope, no quiz because it wasn't a live show -- it was pre-taped before the weekend.

[Janimo]

I did like Danay Garcia, thought she was interesting....especially compared to Kim Dickens.

[rab01]

On 8/23/2016 at 1:22 PM, HighMaintenance said:

ALSO!  Hardwick!  Quit asking the guest starts on the couch what they can tell you about their characters!  Because, A> they can't tell you much because *spoilers and reasons* and B> because they probably don't have any "insight" on their character's past or motivations due to the shitty, non-sensical writing!

It also makes almost every actor look stupid to talk about the character they play as a separate person. Chris should focus on questions about their craft, not the people they play. Danay was more interesting than Kim, in part because she got to joke about things like the make-up team giving her just a light smudge of blood while others got doused in it.  Ask Kim questions like: "how do you go about portraying the difference between Madison's relationship with Nick and with Alicia?" Or, "many viewers feel an ambivalence in the relationship between Madison and Travis, is that what you are going for? How you do and Cliff Curtis go about preparing for those scenes?" (Rather than, "Madison's backstory is really dark isn't it? I keep thinking she's some secret assassin or something." - actual "question" from Hardwick)  Then maybe, we'd see a side of Kim Dickens that doesn't suck. 

[meep.meep]

Kim Dickens was really great on the show last night.  Maybe she needs Coleman Domingo to bring it out!

I couldn't remember the other guy, who kinda kept behaving like the other guy.

[ljenkins782]

This last episode was much more entertaining than the show itself. Ethan Embry is very understatedly funny as is Coleman Domingo, and Kim Dickens actually had some life to her. Plus, Chris Hardwick's running fascination with that horribly cheesy "as a seducer of people" line (which I completely missed in the actual show because I can't seem to really pay attention) was cracking me up. 

[Muffyn]

I'm pretty sure Ethan Embry forgot who Daniel was when answering the question of whether he could still be alive.  Coleman nicely reminded him Daniel was the one on the fire.  Suddenly Ethan's answer changed to "Oh, he's dead."  These characters are so dull that even people on Talking Dead can't remember who they are. 

[HighMaintenance]

So, I'm watching TTD as one does after previous questionable TV viewing and this guy in the middle of the couch... you know the lead backup singer for Chris and the Gring-bros... well you look up the word "sullen" in the dictionary and his picture is there.  Dude, did you agent book you on this show by mistake?  Are you missing out on some OT on your barista job at the Sunset Strip Starbucks?  What is your problem, bruh?

[mightysparrow]

17 minutes ago, HighMaintenance said:

So, I'm watching TTD as one does after previous questionable TV viewing and this guy in the middle of the couch... you know the lead backup singer for Chris and the Gring-bros... well you look up the word "sullen" in the dictionary and his picture is there.  Dude, did you agent book you on this show by mistake?  Are you missing out on some OT on your barista job at the Sunset Strip Starbucks?  What is your problem, bruh?

It might have something to do with Hardwicke calling him 'Kevin'.

[dirtydi]

25 minutes ago, mightysparrow said:

It might have something to do with Hardwicke calling him 'Kevin'.

Nah, he had that look on since the beginning.  He seemed humorless. 

Edited September 5, 2016 by dirtydi

[katenm]

Did you know Chris Hardwick got married? And that they had a 2-week

honeymoon in Japan? Each time he mentioned it, I thought it was because he couldn't think of anything positive to about FTWD

[Morgan of Hed]

11 hours ago, dirtydi said:

Nah, he had that look on since the beginning.  He seemed humorless. 

He came off just as douchy as his character. Bro has RDF. 

[Madding crowd]

I like Chris, but this show is trying so hard to have something interesting to say. Chris really seems like he is straining to find something witty or even relevant to the story. You could tell when he handed out the wedding cake prop, that he was sinking and trying to find something funny to say. The guests last night were dismal. The guests for the Talking Dead (TWD) segments are hit or miss, but the actors from the show always have something to bring.

It makes me wonder if the show is not following any kind of real storyline but drifting along so the actors really have no idea what the main story is supposed to be or where it is going. I also thought Kelly seemed uncomfortable and had little to say. Chris talking about his honeymoon was the only interesting/funny thing. 

[CloudySky]

Oké so maybe they couldn't get (or are saving for later) Cliff, Lorenzo or Alycia but did they have to settle for NotKevin?? A writer, props person, stunt coordinator or something would have been better considering how much of it was in this episode and they might have had something interesting to say for once.

Chris is making this show all kinds of awkward too with his bad questions and fake enthusiasm. Get it together, man. You may not like it as much as TWD but it's your damn job to fake it till you make it.

[Muffyn]

This was probably the best episode of Fear the Walking Dead.  However, having one solid episode still does not leave much for them to talk about.  Having two actors that play new characters on also leaves a gap.  There is not much to say about their characters yet.  With longer term characters you can talk about their transition.  Not so much when we've just met douchebro and the hotel manager.  Also, it seems FTWD has bought their own hype so much, contending that everyone is desperate for spoilers, that they cannot say much about what is coming up.  It often feels like they so very much limit what the actors know about their characters that they don't know what will be significant in their stories either. 

[Black Knight]

Given the conversational limits people have to operate under - no spoilers, and honestly it's like there's not even a lot to talk about for the episodes themselves - it seems like the show works best when they have a couple of actors who actually have worked together enough to have a relationship that lets them bounce off each other. In the first episode of this season of TD, you had Kim Dickens and Danay Garcia, who clearly haven't worked together much (if at all - given that their characters are in completely separate groups/locales) and barely know each other, and in last night's episode you have two new actors for whom the same can be said. But last week's ep had Dickens and Coleman Domingo, who have worked together a lot and have become friends offscreen, and that was really enjoyable. And in episodes from earlier seasons, there's often only one actor there from the show. When you have three virtual strangers sitting together on the couch, well, that's just generally not going to go well most of the time. They really should try to get actors who have worked together. Danay Garcia should have gone on with Frank Dillane or Paul Calderon. Karen Bethzabe should have gone on with ADC or one of the other actors playing a character at the hotel (since Elena will presumably be interacting further with them next week and hopefully for weeks to come - I like Elena). The bro-migo guy should've gone on with Lorenzo James Henrie or Cliff Curtis. I realize not all actors are available all weeks, but I feel like there are enough different combinations now of people who have worked together to be able to avoid sticking two who haven't on a couch together.

[magdalene]

IMO this show just isn't interesting enough to merit an after show.  It all seems so forced.

Did BREAKING BAD have an after show? Now that one certainly would have been fascinating.

[Madding crowd]

Even the regular Walking Dead TD seems forced at times, this one seems kind of forced every week. In the regular show, there are so many quizzes and polls etc and now I see they are bringing some back here too. In the very beginning, Chris would bring up several guests from the audience and they were able to discuss things about the show without the stupid handing out of props. Now one person is allowed to come up, mostly so Chris can them some ridiculous thing they no doubt leave behind. During this particular episode, I thought Chris actually looked nervous, like he just didn't know how to fill the time. I do agree the show with Kim and Domingo was better because they are seasoned actors and were able to ad lib a little. Having brand new people on is always a crap shoot. 

[Nashville]

On 9/5/2016 at 5:46 PM, magdalene said:

Did BREAKING BAD have an after show? Now that one certainly would have been fascinating.

Talking Bad - hosted by one Chris Hardwick.

[Armchair Critic]

I only made it through half of the episode, the after show just does not work for FTWD and they would be better just to have one after the first show of the season and just one more after the last show of the season.

[Madding crowd]

I agree this just isn't working for FTWD-I found myself playing computer games during the show. I almost feel sorry for Chris Hardwick because he is trying so hard to make the show interesting and it's just not. I think the overall point is that not every show has enough content to have a Talking show about it.