I did not/do not watch The Walking Dead aside from the first season, so I can't make comparisons, but I thought this was pretty decent. It was obviously all character-building and setting up the family-life issues that will intermingle with the Walker outbreak to provide more actual "character" to the show. I was intrigued when they were stopped in traffic on the highway, and then the gunshots rang out, and then the teachers were all watching the video of the Walker the next day.
I know that there is no such thing as "Zombies" in the universe of TWD, but it still frustrates me when these people don't realize what is happening lol. I have to constantly remind myself that they wouldn't have heard of reanimated dead things that have an appetite for flesh and that can only be killed by forcibly shutting down brain activity.
It will be interesting to see how the creators account for the dynamic of a vastly populated world that is coexisting with a spread of the epidemic. I've seen enough bits and pieces of TWD to know that this show, though the premise is different, could essentially turn into the exact same thing, just with more people around.
Like Phork, I want to see the story of Patient Zero... that's really what interests me.
