Deadline reports say that Frank Darabont, executive producer of The Walking Dead, has let go of the entire writing staff of the hit series.  Also, it is said that Frank is not looking to replace the bunch, and instead the show will deal with freelancers for the next season.  Darabont himself has written two of the six episodes from season one, while co-writing and re-writing the remaining four.  Although ditching a writing team for freelancers has been done before (the article notes the Starz/BBC‘s Torchwood series), going from the manageable six episode season to thirteen in season two may not be as easy as Frank may think.  Deadline says,

“Sources tell me that no final decision has been made yet with all options open, including using some combination of a writing staff/freelances.”

Of course, I believe that it is a bold decision that most likely wasn’t made by Mr. Darabont alone.  But, I’m pretty sure the last thing the writers of the show thought after seeing the tremendous praise and ratings for The Walking Dead was that they’d be hunting for new jobs before season’s end.

Read more about the story here.

AMC has provided us with preview pictures and the official description for tonight’s fourth episode of “The Walking Dead” titled “Vatos.’ The full gallery and official description are after the jump for those that want to avoid spoilers.

After the second episode of AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ scared up 4.7 million viewers last night, the show has been renewed for a 13 episode second season. Sharon Tal Yguado, SVP of Scripted Programming  had this possible zombified pun to say about the show’s speedy renewal:

“I wish all programming decisions were no brainers like this one. ‘The Walking Dead’ is a TV masterpiece on so many levels. We want at least 10 seasons, if not more.”

We’ve got the full press release after the break, but I’m very glad to hear that AMC is committed to keeping ‘The Walking Dead’ around for not only another season, but for 13 more episode.

Did you miss Sunday’s premiere of ‘The Walking Dead’? AMC has now posted the entire first episode online if you weren’t one of the 5.3 million people to check it out and we’ve got it embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

Note: This review will be spoiler-free for those of you who are crazy enough to have not yet seen this episode.

Finally, the show I’ve been waiting for has arrived on our televisions!  Needless to say, I was very pleased while watching Days Gone Bye, the 90 minute pilot for The Walking Dead.  And it seems like the other 5.3 million people who tuned in to the pilot were equally as impressed.  ”But Cory, could you please go into more detail about what it is that makes this series special, without spoiling the events that take place” you ask? Why reader, I’d be glad to!