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Preacher will return in 2017

I finally saw the first episode of Preacher, based on the Garth Ennis,- Steve Dillon Vertigo classic last night; “finally” even though it won’t air until the official premiere on Sunday, this episode has been screened at cons and events for a few months now, and review copies have been floating around. I like to […]

Garth Ennis is  having his moment with the debut of the AMC tv series based on Preacher coming on this Sunday, May 22 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on AMC. YOu can catch the man himself in converstion with producer Seth Rogen and the stars Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga and Joseph Gilgun tonight at the 92nd Street Y […]

It’s Friday, so we’re about to call it a weekend over here on the Entertainment side of The Beat, but here’s a couple of quick items of interest: Marvel and Netflix’s Iron Fist has added its second cast member, following Finn Jones as Danny Rand, as the series has enlisted another Game of Thrones alum […]

With The Walking Dead‘s finale coming this Sunday, AMC has just released a teaser image of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, last seen playing Thomas Wayne in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as Negan. As you can see, he comes equipped with his trust weapon Lucille, which surely can’t bode well for anybody. The season six […]

On Friday, in a small back meeting room of the Los Angeles Convention Center we talked for a few minutes  with the executive producer Sam Catlin from AMC’s Preacher along with Jesse Custer and Tulip O’Hare themselves Dominic Cooper and Ruth Negga. Along with development from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, executive producer Sam Catlin knows […]

In the wake of The Walking Dead‘s on-going (and growing) success, AMC is gearing up for what it hopes is its next big comic book success. Here’s hoping they find it in Preacher, their adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s critically acclaimed DC/Vertigo series. The series pilot is set to debut on Sunday, May […]

AMC's Vertigo adaptation adds its villain

During tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, AMC premiered the first trailer for their upcoming adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s DC/Vertigo series Preacher. Starring Dominic Cooper in the lead, along with Joseph Gilgun and Ruth Negga, AMC’s hopes are high that the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg produced series will be their next […]

I’ve always thought Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg would have been the perfect writing team for a rebooted Spider-Man, certainly far better than the team that mishandled the Vacation reboot is likely to give us. But, as this duo is about to gear up for what AMC is surely hoping will be their next big comics-based […]

Hall H fans got a special treat today during The Walking Dead panel when AMC revealed the first trailer for the series spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead.  Luckily for you, we have the trailer here.

The series will debut on August 23rd.  The season finale will be followed by a special talk show entitled Fear the Talking Dead, hosted by Chris Hardwick.  After judging ratings performance, the talk show might return for Fear the Walking Dead‘s second season.

– My favorite discovery from the 2014 television season has to be Cartoon Network’s Rick and Morty, which takes the character relationship of Doc and Marty (more or less) from Back to the Future and transplants them into Doctor Who style adventures with some the sharpest humor I’ve seen in an animated program since Archer first hit the air. The series, created by Dan Harmon (Community) and Justin Roiland, has had its first season available on Blu-ray for awhile now. If you can handle some cruder, gross-out moments, I highly recommend it.

This week, Cartoon Network announced that Rick and Morty will return on Sunday, July 26th. Additionally, Roiland and Harmon guest-wrote the couch gag for the upcoming season finale of The Simpsons, which you can watch below:

– Speaking of The Simpsons, yesterday saw the news that Harry Shearer, the longtime voice of characters like Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, and many other members of the show’s rich world, would be parting ways with the series. According to some reports, there’s still a chance that Shearer may come to terms with the show’s producers, but the roles are expected to be recast at this point.

I haven’t watched The Simpsons in years, but I’m hoping this paves the way for a Spinal Tap reunion.

– From the set of Captain America: Civil War, via JustJared, here’s the first image of Crossbones’ costume:

– Seth Rogen tweeted out the first on-set image from AMC’s Preacher last night, which sees Dominic Cooper’s Jesse Custer talking with Ian Colletti’s Arseface:

– According to Collider, the sequel to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes now has a title: War of the Planet of the Apes. It’s a bit of a mouth-full, but I guess no one would go see a movie called “Monkey Fight”, which I was lobbying pretty hard for.

– Lastly, there’s a pretty great True Detective Season 2 teaser out now via HBO. I may be more excited about this premiere than any other show this year, even the Mad Men finale!

It’s Friday! Here a few of the Entertainment-related headlines that just hit the wire:

– After weeks of negotiations, AMC has found its lead for its adaptation of DC Comics/Vertigo’s Preacher, and it’s a face familiar to comic book movie fans: Dominic Cooper. The British actor, who you surely recognize as the younger face of Howard Stark (Mad Men‘s John Slattery plays him in his middle aged years) in Captain America: The First Avenger and Agent Carter, will be playing the role of Jesse Custer, with production on the pilot beginning this summer. Preacher‘s Executive Producer Seth Rogen confirmed the news on twitter today.

For you Garth Ennis experts out there, what do you think about this casting choice? Did AMC make the right move?

- 12 Years A Slave is easily one of my favorite films of this decade, and one of the only movies that’s moved me to near-tears in the theater. It is truly that moving and engrossing. So, it was with great shock today that I saw EW reporting that its screenwriter (and winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for his work on the film) John Ridley is teaming up with Marvel for a mysterious television project aiming to reinvent an existing Marvel character for ABC. This project is reportedly a separate entity altogether from the already announced Agents of SHIELD spin-off that’s in the works.

Given that it’s for ABC, something like the Punisher seems like a no-go, and really, neither does Blade (both of which Marvel recently regained the rights to back to a few years back). I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Moon Knight perhaps, but really any guess is a good one at this point.

Ridley is no stranger to comics, having written The Authority and the graphic novel The American Way.

– Yes, we know all about the leaked Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer, and we won’t be posting it here for obvious reasons. Plus, the presentable version will make its way online by Monday, if not over the weekend. We’ll hold out for that. In the meantime, here’s a related unconfirmed rumor, according to Jeff Sneider (of TheWrap) on his latest episode of Meet the Movie Press, he stated that the Green Lantern that we’ll see in the 2020 reboot (and presumably the Zack Snyder directed Justice League films) will be John Stewart.

Sneider’s sources on this kind of information are generally pretty strong, so there’s likely something to this. Many fans had hoped/figured the new Green Lantern post-Ryan Reynolds would be Stewart given the younger audiences greater familiarity with the character over Hal Jordan thanks to the Justice League animated series.

Plus, he’s just an awesome character. Green Lantern: Mosaic anyone?

Here’s your Friday round-up of all things Entertainment-related, have a great weekend everybody!

– Yesterday, recently announced Deadpool star Morena Baccarin tweeted out a photo while on set. The photo in question was of her chair, which lists her character name as “Vanessa”. Presumably this means the actress will be playing Vanessa Carlysle aka the mutant shape-shifter Copycat, who meets and falls in love with Deadpool before becoming a mercenary herself.

Here’s the photo in question:

Let’s do this. pic.twitter.com/pNqcCGReSz

— Morena Baccarin (@missmorenab) March 19, 2015

– After adding Ruth Negga as Tulip this week, AMC’s Preacher cast is starting to grow rapidly, as last night it was announced that young actor Ian Colleti has joined the series as “Arseface”. Deadline describes the character thusly:

Even with his horribly disfigured face and severe speech impediment, Eugene’s still the nicest kid you’ll ever meet and really looks up to Jesse. Stomach-churningly difficult to look at, Eugene’s the town’s reviled Frankenstein’s monster, but that won’t change his earnest, sweet and pure outlook on life. However, he is troubled by something terrible he’s done in the past — something he fears might have turned God himself against him.

– Surprise, surprise, another Mark Millar comic has been picked up for a movie deal. This time, it’s his brand new collaboration with Sean Murphy: Chrononauts. The series is centered around the concept of the first two scientists to travel back through time (and we’ll have a review of the first issue up shortly). Chris Morgan, who has written 5 of the Fast and Furious franchise films, will produce under his Chris Morgan Productions banner in a deal negotiated by Paradigm and the law offices of Harris M. Miller II.

Along with Superior and Starlight being in development for feature length adaptations, it looks as though Millar’s presence in multiplexes will be getting bigger than ever.

– Captain America: Civil War begins shooting in two weeks here in Atlanta, and I’ll certainly be fighting the temptation to drive down and stand outside the set every day. Word spread about the upcoming shooting via a casting notice that went out for extras in the area, which included the following synopsis:

Following the events of Age of Ultron, the collective governments of the world pass an act designed to regulate all superhuman activity. This polarizes opinion amongst the Avengers, causing two factions to side with Iron Man or Captain America, which causes an epic battle between former allies.

Sounds about right.

– Upcoming Sandman feature producer, and kinda-sorta former Robin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has signed on to produce and star in a Fraggle Rock feature film for New Regency, though what role he’ll be playing has not been revealed. Variety got the scoop along with Levitt’s thoughts on the project:

“The first screen personas I ever loved were Henson creations, first on ‘Sesame Street,’ and then on ‘Fraggle Rock,’” Gordon-Levitt said. “Jim Henson’s characters make you laugh and sing, but they’re also layered, surprising, and wise. From Oscar the Grouch, to Yoda, to the Fraggles. I’ve never stopped loving his work, even as a young frisky man, and on into adulthood. Collaborating with Lisa Henson makes me confident we can do something that Jim would have loved. I’m grateful and excited to be working with New Regency on this project.”

We’re in the homestretch for the weekend, and after a pretty eventful day in the comics world, let’s take a look at a few headlines being discussed on the Entertainment side of things:

– AMC’s Preacher has acquired its first cast member and it is someone not wholly unfamiliar to the comic book world. Ruth Negga, who plays Raina on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has joined the new series as Tulip. For those unfamiliar with Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon‘s much loved Vertigo series, Tulip is one of two compatriots of Jesse Custer, a man who merges with an escaped creature from heaven and goes on a quest to find God.

Here’s how Tulip is described by Deadline:

a volatile, action-packed, sexified force of nature, a capable, unrepentant criminal with a love of fashion and ability to construct helicopter-downing bazookas out of coffee cans and corn shine who’s not afraid to steal, kill or corn cob-stab her way out of a bad situation.

The pilot for Preacher is written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and the series will be showrun by Sam Catlin (a writer for Breaking Bad). The indication with Negga’s casting means she will likely be written out of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is a shame given she’s one of the few highlights of that series.

– Another day, another interesting Latino Review rumor; this time they report that Watchmen actor Jackie Earle Haley‘s name is being tossed around Suicide Squad for the role of The Thinker. While they say to take this one with a grain of salt, more interesting to me is the fact that The Thinker is in the film. Based on comics history, the character will likely be one of the film’s antagonists.

– Were you keeping your fingers crossed for a possible Dredd sequel? Well, you can loosen those digits up a bit, as Alex Garland, the screenwriter for Dredd, has stated that it’s pretty unlikely to happen in an interview with Collider:

GARLAND: And I also feel a sense of responsibility because I know there are these people who do this stuff like they’ve got money and they spend money on a DVD to try and up the chance of a sequel getting made. Because I don’t have an online profile or persona or anything like that I can’t speak to these people directly, but what I want to say is that’s so good of you, and thank you, but keep your money because the people who make the decisions don’t get moved by that kind of thing. They’re moved by other stuff, other equations, other algorithms…How can I say this without being soppy? It’s touching. It means something that these people support the film in that way, but the thing people want, which is a sequel, I don’t think is going to happen. I think it will happen (let me rephrase that) I don’t think it’s happening with me and the people who made the last one.

It’s worth noting that Garland’s directorial debut, Ex Machina, is getting great reviews from the UK crowd where it has been screening. Hopefully that reaction will carry over here stateside. It’s easily one of my most anticipated movies of the year.

Happiest of Fridays everyone! I just got back from a big lobbying trip in D.C. for a cause I’m pretty passionate about, so I’ve been a little off the radar this week. Let’s get back into the swing of things:

– iZombie‘s premiere is next week, and while its delays have left me feeling a little nervous about the potential end product, involving Mike Allred in any capacity is a nice way to salve that wound. He’s been tasked with designing the opening credits, and they’re lovely as anything he touches usually is:

– Latino Review is reporting that former True Blood star and one-time Flash Thompson actor Joe Manganiello is the front-runner to play Deathstroke in David Ayer‘s Suicide Squad. According to their sources, he’ll be the hired gun of the film’s primary antagonist, ONSLAUGHT. Manganiello has long been on WB’s radar, having come in second to Henry Cavill for the role of Superman.

He also kind of reminds me of Manu Bennett, who plays Deathstroke on Arrow, but maybe I need to get my eyes checked.

– Dominic Cooper, who famously plays the younger version of Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, may be wading into the comic book waters again; this time he’s being considered for the role of Jesse Custer in AMC’s upcoming Preacher pilot, via a rumor published by The Tracking Board. Much to a few of my friends’ dismay, I’ve never read Preacher, so I’ll let you decide if Cooper would be a good fit or not.

– After yesterday’s Star Wars announcement, we’re already starting to see some schedule shuffling. The first of which being the already announced sequel to Fantastic Four is moving back a week. Fantastic Four 2 will now open on June 9, 2017 (from its original June 2nd, 2017 date). Whether the movie actually happens or not still depends on the success of this year’s first installment. On that note, here are some new images from Total Film (via GamesRadar) that showcase the team’s new costumes, with nary a 4 in sight.

– Lastly, per Disney-Pixar’s Twitter, Josh Cooley, the story head for the upcoming Inside Out, has been announced as the co-director for Toy Story 4. He’ll be working with John Lasseter in the role. For this one, my interest is mostly piqued by Rashida Jones co-writing the script with Will McCormack.

Following the success of Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul, AMC has pre-emptively ordered two seasons of a Walking Dead spinoff series, which is set in a time period prior to the original show.

AMC ordered a pilot episode in 2014 and has greenlit a 6-episode first season run, set to debut late this summer, and has also ordered a second season for 2016. The spinoff is said to be a prequel that takes place in Los Angeles during the early stages of the zombie outbreak. AMC has confirmed the setting, but has not yet confirmed all of the plot details. The pilot was penned by Robert Kirkman, creator of the comic series, and Dave Erickson, who will serve as showrunner.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will star New Zealander Cliff Curtis (Gang Related) as Sean Cabrera, a teacher who shares custody of his son with his ex-wife and is trying to do good. Kim Dickens (House of Cards, Sons of Anarchy, Gone Girl) will play Nancy Tomkins, a guidance counselor working at the same school as Cabrera. Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Alycia Debnam Carey (Into the Woods) have also been tapped to play Nancy’s children.

Given that The Walking Dead is the most-watched scripted program on cable, the move isn’t a huge surprise. The Walking Dead is already well into its 5th season, and AMC has recently said goodbye to its groundbreaking series Breaking Bad. AMC will also see the sun set on Mad Men, one of its more critically-acclaimed series, this year. The network seems to be ushering in a second generation of companion programs in hopes to continue the success of these properties and broke records with the series premiere of Better Call Saul.

The question is whether the series will do as well in spite of its prequel status – can it maintain audience interest while headed towards a known, inevitable world state?

The Walking Dead, America’s favorite cable television series, returns this Sunday for its mid-season premiere. In anticipation of what’s sure to be another ratings smash, AMC has released the first two minutes of the upcoming episode, “What Happened And What’s Going On”.

The Walking Dead airs this Sunday at 9 pm.

by Edie Nugent

From L to R: Dalton Ross, Robert Kirkman and Sean Mackiewicz at Skybound’s The Walking Dead panel at NYCC 

“The Walking Dead is a very unreal way to explore some very real topics: there’s loss, triumph and accomplishment against all odds,” creator Robert Kirkman explained Thursday to a packed audience of fans at the 2014 NYCC panel for his Eisner award-winning comic series. “Also there’s the zombie killing, that part’s pretty cool,” he added.  Kirkman was joined by Walking Dead Editorial Director Sean Mackiewicz, and the panel was moderated by Entertainment Weekly’s Dalton Ross. Ross had his hands full with quick-witted Kirkman who at one point jokingly informed Ross that he would be canceling his EW subscription based on Ross’ weak selection of twitter-submitted fan questions.

Kirkman proved an engaging and thoughtful speaker, and gave many hints to the future of The Walking Dead comic series as well as the hit AMC television show. Ross began his series of questions by asking about the recent time jump in issue #127 which both Kirkman and Mackiewicz affirmed is roughly two years after the events of the “All Out War” story arc. Kirkman confirmed he intentionally left the length of the time jump vague so he could craft the narrative without specific time restrictions. He cited that aging Carl helped move that character forward, and noted that Carl’s recent adoption of his one-sided sunglasses was an indicator of the character’s insecurity: “He wants to kinda hide that aspect of himself, and we’ll be exploring that a lot moving forward. You can expect Carl’s look to possibly evolve over time.” He also told the crowd to “be on the lookout for issue 134″ [due to be released November 12] to see big changes in Carl’s character. In terms of Carl’s eye loss eventually becoming a part of the AMC television series, Kirkman said: “I’m not saying it’s definitely happening-but it’s definitely an option. We don’t adapt the comic book directly, as everyone can see from watching the show, but we certainly wouldn’t shy away from a thing like that.” Kirkman then jokingly added: “so you know-season 7!”

Ross inquired when comic fans would finally get a good look at the ‘Kingdom’ and the ‘Sanctuary.’ “There’s a lot yet left to reveal,” Kirkman said, “there’s a lot of characters out there that haven’t been seen in a while.” This led Ross to reply: “Yes, Michonne!” Kirkman agreed, and said fans should anticipate the return of Michonne around issue #150.

When asked about the future of Rick’s character, Kirkman explained: “This current plan for Rick and the outcome of ‘All Out War’ is something that I’ve been working towards for a few years now…everything up to this point [in the comics series] was planned before the show existed-you know I never really go: ‘oh, I could make them go live on an island’ or ‘grow a vegetable garden.’ It always seems to just come to me and I go: ‘yeah, we’re doing that!'” Kirkman further explained that although he’d always had a road map for that particular story arc, he did adjust it along the way because he loves having the ability to “turn on a dime.” He went on to say that there were “certain deaths that I’ve just decided to do that issue because in life I feel like tragic events can happen without any kind of preparation, and I like to try and infuse that in the book.” He also said his decision to kill Shiva, Ezekiel’s pet tiger was one of these of-the-moment decisions. Kirkman then added: “Neegan was at no point going to die.”

In terms of character design, Kirkman indicated that artist Charlie Adlard often has the final say. He elaborated on how collaborative the process was between himself and Adlard in terms of creating Rick’s evolving appearance. Often, Kirkman said, Adlard will shoot down looks he imagines for the character. He also noted that he gave Adlard “no guidance” on how the Governor should look: the design was entirely Adlard’s creation.

Kirkman did not hesitate in his answer to the twitter-submitted question: “Will we ever see Lucielle again?” “Yeah, definitely,” Kirkman replied.  After a few cheers went up from the audience he continued: “these are questions you should be asking: ‘Where’s that bat? Who has it?’ Everything will be revealed eventually. There’s a lot of stuff people may not be thinking about that has been pulled out of the book that will be put back in when the time is right.”

Another twitter question asked-regarding the television series’ recently released season 5 teaser trailer: “Is the cop from the trailer female-Negan?” Kirkman answered: “What? No, that is definitely not female-Negan in the trailer,” then teased the audience by adding: “Close, though!”

During the fan Q&A portion of the panel Kirkman and Mackiewicz didn’t shy away from hinting at spoilers.  When Kirkman was asked “Will you ever bring the character of Morgan Jones back in the television series?” he replied: “It’s just a matter of when it’s right for the story and when Lennie James,  the fantastic actor that plays Morgan, will be available.” He went on to confirm: “that’s something we’re working toward, he will appear in the Walking Dead show again.”

Another fan asked how Kirkman came up with the character of Rick. The series creator went into great detail, explaining:”really the reason that Rick is this small town police officer-I mean, he’s a crappy police officer-he never really fired his gun, he’s not super-cop-often times in apocalyptic stories or action stories like ‘The Walking Dead’ you kind of deal with the best of the best: this guy who is uniquely capable of dealing with the situation, he’s Bruce Willis and he’s bulletproof.” By contrast, Kirkman continued, “I wanted to do a story about the normal people, the people that aren’t necessarily capable of handling this or accomplishing anything or really surviving-and see how long they survive and how they rise to the challenge,” at which point he added, “though I guess he [Rick] is a little bulletproof if I’m honest.”

When a nervous, star-struck fan timidly asked: “Which character in the comic book so you think is most like how you think you’d react in the zombie apocalypse?” Kirkman’s reply of: “Eugene maybe? The guy who lies so people will protect him” drew a wave of laughter from the audience, prompting him to quip: “just being honest!” More brutal honesty was displayed when both Mackiewicz and Kirkman answered which of the many deaths in ‘The Walking Dead’ comic was their favorite. “Probably Glenn’s,” Mackiewicz began-and continued over the sounds of anguish from the crowd-“it just affects me-in that I wonder what a miserable human being Robert is sometimes-every beat is just that much worse and is’ twist the knife,’ he can’t even get [Maggie's] name out and his eyeball is just on his cheek: like he can see himself dying!”

At that moment an audience member shouted “Masochist!” at Kirkman who conceded, “a little bit.” Kirkman went on to say that while Glenn’s death was important, his favorite death scene was probably Abraham’s “because it was so sudden” and that he thought Abraham’s ability to finish talking to Eugene as he was dying was weird, but cool. Mackiewicz added that Abraham’s death was a “last minute decision” and Kirkman agreed, saying that he originally planned to have both Eugene and Abraham survive issue #98, but ultimately decided it would be unrealistic. He jokingly noted that Eugene must have survived “so he could build a windmill.”

When asked why his Atlanta didn’t have more black people, Kirkman answered: “I feel like our cast diversified a bit as we moved on, but there’s always more we can do towards that.” He then joked: “we try to keep the cast as not-white as possible because white people are terrible.” The same fan asked if we would get to see the response to the zombie threat from places other than the Atlanta/greater Washington D.C. area we’ve seen so far. Kirkman explained that the companion/spin-off series to AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ announced last fall would find it’s characters battling the zombie threat in new locations.

Further questioning led Kirkman to hint that Rick or Negan may not survive the coming events, and that if Rick did die Kirkman believed Andrea would be the most likely character to fill his shoes. But what if Kirkman was forced to choose a Walking Dead character to survive the zombie apocalypse with? Kirkman chose either Negan: “if I was on his good side” or “Carol-from the TV show-she’s pretty tough. She’d probably keep me safe the longest.”  When asked: “Could there be a female villain and could she be a Latina?” Kirkman replied, “Absolutely-there’s a very good chance of that, so keep reading! It’s possible that character’s already been introduced. There’s a spoiler for you!” A few murmurs from the crowd indicated that Rosita was the character they believed Kirkman may have been referring to.

Towards the end of the Q&A a young girl approached the microphone and asked: “Is there ever going to be an end to the zombie apocalypse?” Kirkman replied: “You look about my daughter’s age so, not ’till you’re in college! I mean, logically… the zombies aren’t going to last forever, and it’s true that there’s new zombies being created all the time, when people die,” he paused, then mused: “I’m talking about this to a child, which is awkward,” before continuing: “but you know, logically as the population’s getting smaller fewer zombies are being made, so it really is just a game to outlast them. It could end at some point if all the human beings don’t die before that point-which is an upbeat thing to think about-sweet dreams, kiddo!”

Kirkman went on to affirm that he does know how he plans to end the comic series, but that it’s “a very long way away-you know, my daughter getting through college and all.” He added that telling the story over a number of years is what “excites him” the most, and that he wants to fulfill that dream-a dream he’s had since he began the series over ten years ago.

Are you looking forward to seeing the mancave that is Secret Stash evolve into a place full of well rounded human emotions? Well, that could happen.
It seems that ratings were better than expected, for the show featuring Kevin Smith and four employees/customers of his Redbank, NJ comics shop. AMC President and CEO Joshua W. Sapan mentioned that the show had done well in a recent earnings call. “Then we did this second show called, the Comic Book Men, which was somewhat similarly designed to take advantage of people very interested in the genre content that The Walking Dead represents. So, it features Kevin Smith, who is a bit of a – if I can use the word, fanboy icon, who directed Clerks and it examines the world of people who are very interested in that genre of content, and it too exceeded our expectations and performed very strongly.”

There had been some talk that a female cast member might be introduced in a second season, something which might break up the cellar-dwelling stereotypes that the show tends to reinforce with its present lineup.

Combined with chat show The Talking Dead’s strong ratings, it sounds like the Sunday night nerd-a-palooza of Walking Dead, Comic Book Men, and Talking Dead may return intact when Walking Dead is back with Michonne and the Governor.

Walking Dead season three debuts in October.

The cast of Mad Men. Copyright American Movie Classics Company LLC. Source: amctv.com.

With the season five premiere of AMC’s Mad Men coming this weekend, we thought we’d use this opportunity to introduce you to one of the most highly respected scientists in the field of Persuasion. As a matter of fact, many people consider Dr. Robert Cialdini as the “Godfather of influence”. What better way to do that then provide you with the forward he wrote to a just-released book, Six Degrees of Social Influence: Science, Application, and the Psychology of Robert Cialdini. Enjoy his words below and enjoy the premiere.

By Robert Cialdini, Ph. D

The capacity to persuade — to capture the audience, convince the undecided, convince the opposition — has always been a prized skill. But, thanks to relatively recent developments, it is no longer only an elusive art, the province of those with an intuitive grasp of how to time an argument or turn a phrase just so. For most of us, this is welcome news. After all, one problem with an art form is that only artists can truly manage it. But, what about the rest of us? Must we resign ourselves to fumbling away open opportunities to move others in our direction because we so frequently fail to say the right thing or, worse, say the right thing at the wrong time? Fortunately, no. As is evident in the pages of this book, the delicate art of personal persuasion has been transformed into a solid social science.

There is now a substantial body of systematic research into how people can be moved to agree with a request. It is worth noting that the persuasive practices covered in this work rarely concern the merits of the request itself. Instead, they concern the ways in which the merits are presented. There is no question that having a strong case is crucial to success. But having a worthy argument or set of arguments is not enough, because other worthy (yet competing) arguments are likely to exist as well. So, although making a good case is important, it’s the person who can make a good case well who will gain the lion’s share of assent. For the optimal persuasive effect, our focus should be on methods for communicating our case in the most effective manner.

Dangerous Fruit

Before encountering that information, though, a brief foray into the past is in order. The renowned scholar of social influence, William McGuire, determined that in the four millennia of recorded Western history, there have been only four scattered centuries in which the study of persuasion flourished as a craft. The first was the Periclean Age of ancient Athens; the second occurred during the years of the Roman Republic; the next appeared in the time of the European Renaissance; the last was the 20th century, which witnessed the advent of large scale advertising, information, and mass media campaigns (McGuire, 1985). Although this bit of background seems benign, it possesses an alarming side: Each of the three previous centuries of systematic persuasion study ended similarly when political authorities had the masters of persuasion killed.

A moment’s reflection suggests why this should be. Information about the persuasion process was dangerous because it created a base of power entirely separate from those t