Earlier this week, we reported that the writing staff for AMC’s hit series “The Walking Dead” had been let go.
According to producer Robert Kirkman, that’s not the case.
“It’s kind of unfortunate that it’s being reported that our writing staff has been fired because that’s not the case. It makes Frank look bad. I don’t think Frank wants it out there that he’s just firing people off of a successful show seemingly for no reason,” Kirkman tells TV Guide.
However, Kirkman did admit that fellow executive producer Charles Eglee has left the show.
“[Eglee] was brought onto The Walking Dead with the idea that Frank was going to work on the first season and then go off and do movies,” he said. “Chic didn’t want to be second-in-command on a show when he’s used to being a top dog, and so he decided to go off and do something else, which is something that happens and is not a big deal.”
“The Walking Dead” airs its season finale Sunday.
I find this article extremely irritating.
The original story about the writers being let go actually didn’t seem like news to me. Silly things like that happen all the time in television. But the idea that somehow it could get out that someone was firing the whole writing staff and for the whole thing to be made up? How the heck does that happen?
WAS the whole thing made up? Were some people fired but not others are they given a different deal? Is this an attempt to cover something up?
And if it was a rumor that was misreported, who screwed up? How did the fact checkers miss it? Where did the rumors come from? Apparently the source is TV-guide, were they the original reporters of the story or was it someone else? Where is the link to the TV-guide article?
Maybe I’m weird, but I’d almost rather not have an article at all if it’s just going to be some farted out blurb about something reported somewhere else without a link to any salient information.
I appreciate the job you guys are doing and enjoy being able to hear about the news going on in the scifi world. This article just rubbed me wrong though.
I’m not even sure whether or not the writers are going to change. The quote from Kirkman is a tad ambiguous. He says “it’s not the case” but then he says he doesn’t want people to think Frank is firing the writing staff “seemingly for no reason.” How can it seem like he’s firing the writing staff for no reason if he’s not firing the writing staff at all?
What the heck is going on?
Writers are typically lost and gained between seasons because they want to do other things or they get other offers. Losing an exec producer plus one or two of the staff writers on a show with such a small first season and a therefore likely a small creative team looks pretty bad. Other, bigger shows have lost the exact same amount of creative crew and it doesn’t seem like a big deal because they’re bigger.