Oh, I'm not saying the show should have killed those same characters I mentioned. I was using them to show that the comics were willing to kill characters that you didn't expect to see go at all. Had the show wanted to raise the same kind of shock factor the Prison Attack had in the comics, they would have had Dayrl be the one to get his head chopped (his character was equivalent to the character in the comics who had it happen) still kill Hershcel, and have someone like Maggie get the axe too.
But the show hasn't ever done that, it's never killed a character that I was surprised to see go. Sure I guess Lori was unexpected, but at that point they had handled her character so poorly that I was expecting them to kill her soon. Same with Andrea. I was actually happy that Andrea was dead. Especially since her character in the comics was so great! And they completely mishandled her on the show.
The show hasn't really killed any characters that the audience really cares about and doesn't expect would die. Sure, people like Dale and Herschel, but as I said, they both fall into that class of character that people are never too surprised to see get killed. The old man mentor/voice of reason type. The comics created a feeling where you truly don't know if anyone is safe. However, on this show, the only people I expect to die are either the old characters, the annoying ones, or the redshirts.
Did you notice the poll results during Talking Dead this week? The question was "Who were you the happiest to see alive?", and out of the four possible choices (Carol, Judith, Glenn, Tara), the one the fans voted overwhelmingly for was Judith.
It wasn't even close:
http://polls.amctv.com/chart/data/4148.html
And those are the fans voting. Plenty of them are familiar with the comics, but they're still OK with Judith surviving (so far). On another forum I read, they were more horrified with Lizzie smothering her than they were by the bloody baby carrier cliffhanger.
Judith's death in the comics was more shocking, sure...but right now, I think it's better storytelling. Same with Lori's death. I was expecting the Governor to take them both out, and I was floored when she went out the way she did, and as quickly as she did. Lori was a hard character to put up with, but honestly, she didn't deserve that. Carl having to do what he did was horrible too.
I've known Herschel was on borrowed time ever since he lost his leg...he virtually had his swan song two episodes before his death. But it didn't matter that it didn't shock me, because it was the actual weight of losing that character that made it terrible. Killing Daryl would have been a shocker, but so what? It would have been a bigger deal because his fangirls would have had a meltdown than any long-lasting weight it had on the show.
Just because it's *shocking* doesn't mean it's better. You're complaining the show has no teeth, but...they killed Sophia, who didn't die in the comics, and in front of her mother, no less (Carol is also a much better character on the show). They opened the series with Rick shooting a little zombie girl in the face. Penny's zombie death was brutal - and that didn't happen in the comics either. They let Judith survive, but poor little Megan was bitten and killed in that same finale - and then we saw the Governor blow her head off in front of her mother. To be honest, that kid had more story than Judith ever did in the comics.
Carl getting shot was worse than it was in the comics. It wasn't life-threatening, and Otis never had to leave the farm over it. The barn reveal was more shocking (Herschel just casually mentioned that they "kept their dead ones in there"), and Shane's meltdown was better than how it originally ended.
If Lizzie is indeed Ben from the comics, it's actually worse already. Ben never smothered a baby.
And you mentioned Game of Thrones - that show actually
has toned down plenty from the books. Dany was only 13 when she married Drogo and was essentially being raped by him for the first weeks of their marriage. They conceived their son in front of the entire camp. Tyrion lost his nose during the Battle of Blackwater and was left totally disfigured, but he just has a scar on the show. Sansa was left half-naked in front of the court when Joffrey had his fit over the cousin being killed - and she was only 12. Tyrion decided not to consummate their marriage on their wedding night...but only after they were both naked in their bedroom, which didn't happen on the show. Joffrey is now 17, because as lenient at HBO has been with the show, they weren't going to have a 13-year-old boy torturing naked prostitutes.
Like Walking Dead, Game of Thrones' TV adaptation has had to make certain concessions for TV audiences, particularly their child characters, while still staying brutal and violent.
It may be different than the comics, but it's been different since the beginning. And it definitely has teeth.
