I suppose now’s as good a time as any to admit that not only do I watch The Jersey Shore, but I’m also a fan of the after show After Hours, which features some or all of the cast members sitting around discussing (arguing, explaining, trying to remember...) what was shown in the episode. It’s a great way to continue the drama, get some answers and give the cast a chance to explain themselves or follow-up on the drama. There are a lot of shows that would work with a format like this, including scripted dramas. AMC is giving fans of The Walking Dead an opportunity to examine the show each week with a new half-hour talk show called The Talking Dead.
According to Deadline, the live after show will be hosted by Nerdist podcaster and Web Soup host Chris Hardwick and will premiere after the encore presentation of TWD’s Season 2 premiere on October 16th. After that, starting Friday, November 4th, the series will premiere after the show’s encore presentation at 11 PM, presumably airing on Friday nights each week after that.
The Talking Dead will have Hardwick speaking with fans of the zombie drama about the episode, as well as actors and producers. Each week they’ll discuss the episode and take questions and comments from the viewers.
As great as this sounds, I wish they’d consider airing it after each new episode, rather than putting it on Friday nights after the encore presentation. Obviously, from a production standpoint it would probably be more of a scramble to do it live right afterward, and it might limit online fan interaction, however an episode post-mortem that included the producers and actors discussing the series immediately following each episode would be a great way to cap things off on Sunday night (and encourage viewers to tune in for the episode’s first run).
Regardless of when it airs, The Talking Dead sounds like a lot of fun and between the special effects, the make-up, the character development, not to mention the comparisons between the graphic novel and the series, there will be plenty of ground to cover in a talk show like this that thirty minutes each week may not be enough!
