The Walking Dead series opener

Well, it was violent.  So that will get some points.

The debut of the new hit series the Walking Dead did not answer how the series would go forward, unless the interminable search for other humans is going to somehow hold our attention.  That is not going to work, by the way.

And beginning the series with killing a child filmed in close  and gory was obviously an edgy start, even if she was obviously a part of the great undead horde.

All these lead ins though, are minuscule compared to the major one.  There is a hugely fundamental issue with Rick, the deputy sheriff and one of the main characters.  You see, he's an idiot.  And that is going to be a problem and very difficult to watch if it continues.

Never mind that he is seemingly unable to vocalize his circumstances (even an "I was in a coma" would do) even when confronted with a rightfully wary refugee holding a gun to his head.  In fact, if he'd kept up his own strict rules for escaping the horrors of the undead, Rick would be dead by now.  But that's an ongoing theme, even in the pilot.

Later, we watch dumbfounded as Rick chooses to enter one of the larger populations in the Southeast not in the comforts and safety of a huge 8 cylinder big block metal machine, but fully exposed on a horse he can not ride.  This guy deserves to die.

He not only runs willy nilly into thousands of the undead astride a horse, but promptly loses his guns and ammunition.  How quaint.  The audience is left with no recourse but to mutter, "Die already, and get this over with."

Except we're not quite so lucky.  As the mentally challenged idiot scrapes under a vehicle to get away, and ends up in the cockpit of a tank, we're all left to wonders if things could have gone a whole lot better if adults were in the room during the writing and filming.

Is this supposed to be heart rending TV?  Not if the lead character is too stupid to live.