"The Walking Dead" - about as fresh as a zombie

So I finally got around to watching the rest of "The Walking Dead," and I have to say I was kind of...underwhelmed. For all the hype and critical love, it didn't wow me like I was hoping it would. All October and Halloween weekend I've been revisiting tons and tons of horror movies, among them lots of zombie movies. So when I got to watching a zombie TV show, I was really hoping for something different. But what I got was a well-done example of zombie cinema, drawn out longer, but basically the expected elements were all there.

We open, after the credits, on the protagonist, Rick, and his partner Shane talking about women in a police car. It ends with the required set-up - Rick's wife asked him if he even cares about them at all, right in front of their child. Now we've established Rick's quest. Prove your love. Find your wife and son. Reconcile. Then the zombie apocalypse won't matter because you all have each other. A shootout occurs, and 28 days later (or so I like to say), Rick wakes up in the hospital after he ended up getting shot. And, oh my god, total zombie apocalypse! He walks around for a while finding bodies and some zombies, er, excuse me, walkers, before running into another survivor and his son. They give the necessary exposition about what causes you to turn and they bring up a "safe haven" in Atlanta, since that's where the CDC is located and the military can protect you. They eventually split ways. For some reason, the other survivor doesn't want to bother traveling to Atlanta, because he and his son are doing so well where they are? So by all means, shack up in a little house and engage in some target practice to draw in all the zombies in the surrounding area after you kept emphasizing that gunshots attract them.

Rick radios ahead to try to find any other survivors, and would you believe it? His partner Shane hears the broadcast but isn't able to respond. Also, apparently the woman there is Lori, Rick's wife, but for some reason I missed that the first time around. Probably because I was losing interest. That must be why Shane and Lori kissing didn't shock me like it should have. How long has it been since the apocalypse happened? Because if it hasn't been that long, Lori sure moved on quickly. Or maybe she and Shane just resorted to some good old fashioned crisis sex. Oh, and for some strange reason, no one recognizes Rick's voice on the radio. When Rick can't find gas for his car, he makes like a good cowboy and ropes himself a horse to ride into Atlanta. He wanders through the city and spots a helicopter in flight (the survivors from the original "Dawn of the Dead?") only to turn the corner to find tons of zombies waiting for him. The horse gets eaten, which is incredibly sad, and Rick gets trapped in a tank. As hope looks lost, a voice calls into the tank's radio, calling out to Rick aka the "dumbass in the tank."

• First thing I'm missing - did they ever explain what caused the zombie apocalypse? Did Rick ever bother to ask what caused all the insanity?
• Second thing I'm missing - why is no one saying the word 'zombie?' Okay, I know, that's Zombie Movie Rules 101, that you don't say that word, but 'walkers?' Really? A lot of times you really do have to follow the law that pop culture takes place in a void where there is no pop culture, at least as we know it.
  
• The show is based on a graphic novel. Is it just me, or is there some sort of flawed expectation that any show or movie based on a graphic novel should be a huge hit? The nerd population is not as big as execs thing, despite the impressive turn-out at ComicCon.
• I also had to check the facts of the original graphic novel and if it was really set in the South. I have this creeping fear that any show that doesn't take place in New York or California automatically ends up in the South. Not that I have anything against Southerners, but I feel like the "flyover state" mentality causes TV execs to forget about the entire Midwest. Not everyone in a "flyover state" talks with an accent. Just FYI.
  
• I feel like this show wanted to show off its big budget. The lingering shots of zombie killing, zombie feasting, zombified people, etc. Nothing wrong with being well funded, but it always makes me nervous when a show has a huge budget and lots of hype.
  
• I'm eager to know what the drop-off will be in the second week. Will people be up for a zombie show every week after October? Will horror fans forgive the show's utter predictability?
• I'm wondering how on earth they are going to sustain this as a TV series when we've all seen zombie movies. What I need to know is what is this show doing different? What is going to be on this show that I haven't already seen before? You can predict from here that there is going to be some human on human violence, themes of man's inhumanity to man under crisis, echoes of "Lord of the Flies," etc.

Sorry if I sound bitter or if I'm not taking the show seriously enough. But every other professional critic is treating it so seriously, I just wanted to be honest. This show is very well acted and well done, but it's also very predictable at this point and it's nothing you haven't seen before if you don't live under a rock.