Finally got round to watching the premier episode of the Walking Dead. While the first 15 min or so are very effective at setting up the world and our main protagonists I think the rest of the episode is wasted. Perhaps its because I've become to all things Zombie related but I think its more to do with the setting: The Zombie apocalypse has already taken place.
Fear The Walking Dead does a much better job at setting up the tension as we don't really know what to expect. We invest so much into each character especially in the premier that when things start going south we can't help but fear for them. Also, I think that because the entire first season focuses on school teachers and a school district in particular, plus all the baggage that comes with this thematically: Drug addiction, broken homes, academics, etc we are able to live out the apocalypse vicariously through the characters on screen. Each of us can relate to any of the characters' predicaments if not all of them.
The walking dead seems to focus on a much larger segment of the populace. This takes away from some of the tension becaue it does feel like hope is already lost. With Fear The Walking Dead, as we are dealing with a small concentration of characters and events that feel personal e.g. sick boyfriends, drug addicted children, estranged wives, etc we have hope for each one as we not only want the characters to survive the apocalypse but we also want the best for them on a personal level and in their interpersonal relationships. In many ways, their personal struggles over shadow the global struggle for humanity. This is more inline with reality hence why we identify with these characters so easily(Think of current events over the past few years).
I also do think that in FTWD, Zombie appearances are scarce and only come make cameo appearances in the first few episodes. This enhances the horror. In TWD, they are essentialy eye candy and litter the scenes. While the character and costume design here does help retain some of the horror of their appearance a lot of it is lost due to ubiquity.
Much like FTWD which came after it, season 1 of TWD seems to have been set out as a mini series with a few episodes(6 I think). This often helps the show runners as the budget isn't stretched out to last many episodes which helps maintain high production values.
