Dead Again: Fear the Walking Dead Starts at the Beginning

The Walking Dead has been infamously vague about the how and why behind its zombie apocalypse, but when the franchise's first spin off, Fear The Walking Dead, hits the air this week, fans should get a glimpse of, if not an actual explanation for, how this whole zombie plague thing got started.

The new series is being promoted as a prequel to the hit original series, in that its events take place before the events of the original series. The new series, however, is set in Los Angeles, rather than in the South where the original series is set, and at least in the beginning, there is no crossover between the characters and situations in the two series.

Instead, we are introduced to a cast of new characters--a high school guidance counselor, her teacher boyfriend and her two grown-ish children--who have to decide how to deal with quickly escalating dire events. These events include a virulent strain of flu and a bunch of strange-acting people. Could there be a some kind of connection?

The series promises to play on two elements that set it apart from the original series: characters who don't know anything about zombies yet, and the LA setting. The first seems like a promising opportunity, but the second raises the dangerous possibility that the franchise could descend into a CSI-style kind of dilution. Will zombie killing lose its appeal if we're eventually subjected to The Walking Dead: Miami and The Walking Dead: New Orleans?