Professional wrestling was born out of the Carnie culture, and the two largely share a common lingo. In Carnie/wrestling parlance, a “Mark” is a fan, where as a “Smart” is an outsider, or fan, who knows what’s REALLY going on. A fan who is “in on it.” What does any of that have to do with zombies or THE WALKING DEAD? I mention it only so I can make the following point, that all fans today—fans of WHATever—are “Smarts.” Thanks to this Internet thingamajig, today’s fans are privy to all the inner workings of their favorite TV shows and movies, the behind-the-scenes drama and shenanigans affecting the production that might not otherwise be noticeable from watching the finished product. Thus it is that the saga of Frank Darabont is well known to hardcore fans of THE WALKING DEAD.
Darabont was fired by AMC as head honcho of their billion dollar undead baby, and he was, and is, none too happy about it. He claims their reasons for booting him are spurious at best (actually he says that they outright lied) and that the studio screwed him out of money. The show has not faltered without him; far from it. The finished product hasn’t suffered. It’s just an interesting thing for fans to know and talk about. Who doesn’t love a little juicy gossip, after all?