I think AMC is envisioning a CSI or Law and Order-type run for this show. They can pretty much kill off and recast indefinitely - the series is not dependent on any one actor or location.

The comic is on issue 124 or so. We are on about issue 55 of the TV show (issue 53 was the intro to Abraham and friends, the TV show has been nothing like the comic this 2nd half of the season other than ep 9). As you said it's not 100% the same. Probably not even 50% the same. Episode #9 of this season though was straight out of the books.

Kirkmann I believe expects his comic to go 300+ issues. As many issues as they are pumping out a year seems to be on the same pace that this show is delivering. 12-15 issues per year. So the comic is always 4-5 seasons worth ahead of the show, so if the comic ended there'd be that many seasons left.

Funny you said this. My wife and I watch this show as it airs live every week but last week we DVR'd and went to dinner instead and came back and watched it. We also used to watch Talking Dead and we've been skipping that entirely. This show is losing us.

My anecdotal evidence is that my wife can't wait to watch it every week. I think she's a more typical viewer than people posting here. The show is definitely not slowing down in the ratings department so they must be doing something right.

Yup, my wife too, she absolutely loves it.

My wife likes the show as well but it is going to be hard to convince her to keep watching if they ever kill off Daryl.

My wife thinks that this season is going too slow.

It seems like the consensus is that this second half is too slow, I'm actually enjoying the second half of this season a lot more than the first half with the governor (which should have wrapped up at the end of S3). Their are some inconsistent episodes, like last week which I think was just badly written, but for the most part I enjoy the slower pacing. What I really like is the mystery looming in every episode as they explore new locations. The mystery of the unknown in a show like this is much more interesting to me than some big plot device that everyone is asking for. Every new group or new location is a potentially different opportunity to explore a new facet of the post apocalyptic world. My guess is that all of these storylines will converge into everyone ending up at Terminus in the last episode of the season.

I'm enjoying the character development and the wandering around zombie-infested roads. Much better than camping out at a farm or wars with the governor.

Like its been said before. The siege on the prison should have been the end of Season 3. Cut out all the outbreak virus stuff cause it was useless and went nowhere, and season 4 could have been on the run/regroup, plus whatever.

Yeah I much prefer them wandering around, as long as what they find or run into is different from time to time. I imagine they will at some point, but I'd like them to start a march to someplace "real" (not Terminus...to the the ocean, a major port city, something like that).

I'm not sure why you think she was hitchhiking. Or was that meant as a joke?

The thing is: the comic currently has the beginning(S1), the very long story with the Gov(S3-S4), the short part they are at now, them wondering around after the prison, (S4-), and of course the current comic storyline which has been going on for sometime. I'm really hoping they don't draw the latest comic storyline out too far on the show to be honest.

Anyway, I noticed all of the characters seemed to be headed to terminus except Daryl and Beth. I wonder if those two characters will be separated from the terminus storyline and brought right into the next one ....

Daryl spinoff!

So ballpark speaking is the show just about caught up to where the comics were when S1 started? Also, I wonder if the comics that came after the show started were affected at all knowing they were headed for the small screen some day.

They were on issue 78 or so when the TV series started

Worst case scenario I believe they have said if the show catches up to the comic it will go in it's own direction.

What I meant about Daryl and Beth and the comic storylines ...

When I saw Kirkman at an Arizona comic con earlier this year, he mentioned where we are in the comics is like Season 8 on TV. I don't think they plan on moving this any faster where it will catch up with the comic that fast.

Yeah. I thought this week's opening with Bob was great stuff.

Kirkman is on reddit next week doing an AMA (Q&A) for 2 hours.

I have not followed this seasons threads so I am sure this has been mentioned before but this season reminds me too much of a similar season of Lost and that is not a good thing.

I really don't have any major issues with the pace of the show. I'm just watching whatever they film. The wait for a new season can be a bit long based on the pace of the show. Zombies really do come out of nowhere. Why are they going up to that house out of nowhere? It would have been more surprising if it really was the dog again.

Joe the leader of the group was the guy on the porch in the Rick under the bed episode

That was the only groan-worthy item in this week's episode. Why not close some doors behind you as you run?

I can kind of let opening the door pass. He had a false sense of security in the environment they were in (although that doesn't fit with the Daryl we know so far), and he just assumed it was the dog again.

Maybe if the dog had come back 2 or 3 times before the zombies, this would have made more sense. Kind of a "boy who cried wolf" situation.

But the going into the basement where he knew he would be cornered was pretty darn bad.

They had even had the change in mindset in that very episode. If you remember that hitchhiker episode, on the return to camp after encountering Morgan, they were all in different spirits and would likely have picked him up on the return. But the hitchhiker was already dead.