Fear the Walking Dead: Season 1

"Unfortunately, despite strong performances, particularly from Dickens and Curtis, it's hard to care what happens to anyone, or to listen to the dialogue and not pray for some kind of bear attack."

"Fear the Walking Dead is far less satisfying from a creative standpoint than Vince Gilligan's prequel offering. It's neither as original or relevant, and it certainly failed to break free of any formal restrictions. Perhaps most importantly, though, the new series lacks a beating heart."

"A second episode, fortunately, improves matters considerably, mostly in charting how the uncertainty of what’s happening begins to break down society, from civil unrest to rampant fear of the unknown. This hour points in a more promising direction, although as yet the characters still seem a little malnourished, particularly compared with the original."

"The 90-minute first episode and the hour-long second episode are, while not actually boring, certainly less magnetic than the original."

"Shades of new angles to the zombie genre fleetingly emerge, but too often they're smothered by the writers' slavish devotion to their own established norms."

"Production values are strong and the entire cast is effective, although they’re not given quite enough to do in episode one. The second episode (only two were available for press) is notably better..."

"In Curtis and Dickens it has two of the best performers the franchise has ever featured, and it knows how to use them. Both are able to balance the sense that they're simultaneously terrified for the state of society and worried they won't be able to save their kids from becoming zombie chow...."

"Since Fear The Walking Dead isn’t featuring any pre-end-times people or places from the other show, it’s missing a sense of irony that might’ve made its early scenes more meaningful.... What makes Fear The Walking Dead so promising is that it doesn’t require any knowledge of The Walking Dead to jump in and watch."

"The first two episodes are creepily suspenseful--they’re great examples of how effective a slow pace and a moody atmosphere can be."