One thing i don't understand is that the staff behind the main series keep using lack of budget as an excuse as to why the writing went downhill and why there's multiple episodes that re-use settings/props/stages for long periods of time but now they have enough $$ to do a whole new spin off?

I'll watch, I still like the show but it pales in comparison to the comics.

It's worth checking out the omnibus edition imo. It has more of a "anyone can die" kind of feel to it and makes it more suspenseful.

That being said I still really like the TV show, it's just a show that to me feels like it'll have 2-3 mediocre/boring episodes that has my girlfriend and I getting sick of it and then it'll throw out a great couple of episodes that has us hooked again. I remember hearing the writers say they had tight budget constraints which is what leads to those dull episodes and saving money for the big ones which is why I thought a spin off was an odd idea. Maybe with Mad Men finished they are going to funnel the cash in to the walking dead I hope.

Yulp most of the actors I felt were subpar have been weeded out and the remaining main characters are all pretty good. Carl's come a long way from the early seasons too, I was initially worried that as he aged and become a more prominent character he'd be bad but he does a good job. It's always hard when a show casts someone young who may never turn in to a decent actor.

I think volume one of the large omnisbus edition takes you up to the prison arc. More happens in the in between parts though than in the show.

Is Z nation worth watching? I watched the first 4-5 episodes but didn't continue. I have the rest of the first season just haven't gotten around to watching it. Have the strain season 2 to watch too.

I remember that episode, I quite liked that one. I think what put me off z nation a little is my girlfriend didn't want to watch it with me. I'll have to give it another shot when I get a chance. The strains pretty decent too, not great but still watchable.

Shpw already feels slow lacks consistenecy in characters actions and alrealy has people acting totally different to how real people would

The show still has characters acting totally unrealistically. People do/see things in one episode then next episode it's like this writing team hasn't watched the previous episode. I'll stick with it being a big twd fan but at this point I wish they'd just increased the main shows budget as the team behind that keep blaming the budget for when they have some slow stories or reuse an area for 5 episodes in a row.

On a side note I just finished watching Jonathan strange & mr norrell, seem a lot of people didn't hear about it but if you get a chance it was a great series. Highly recommend it.

Fear the walking dead was utterly terrible. Not one likeable character and not one fully developed character. They kept reacting inconsistently to situations and none of them seemed real or would explain/talk about things in the way a real human would, the whole government plot line kind of fizzled out too. i was expecting some big shocking finale but it was just a whole bunch of "meh". The strand character just doesn't work either and seems like they are trying to hard, he seems like a bad copy of Johnson from peep show but that show is a comedy not a horror/drama! If it wasn't part of the walking dead universe we would have dropped it after the first few episodes it's that bad.

Going to watch twd tonight, hopefully it's better. twd is a show that frustrates me for 3-4 episodes then delivers a great episode to make up for it.