In light of what I feel are some overly harsh critiques of the show, i.e. the plot isn't what AMC advertised when the show started, the wrong cast members have been chosen since Madison's, Travis', Nick's, Chris' and Jake's characters, to name just those characters who received the most screen time, were written off the show in a very permanent way, etc., I should say a few things that others might have missed.
First, shows almost always evolve when the statistical sampling reveals a drastic change in the number of viewers. The shows are filmed for entertainment but there must be a steady stream of funding to keep them on the air. The majority of that funding is derived from advertisements, and businesses will only pay what they believe is a fair price based on revenue estimates which are calculated based on the aforementioned statistical estimates of how many viewers are watching the show. Businesses must have reasonable advertising budgets, and those allocated funds must be spent wisely in order for the businesses to remain profitable.
Second, writers are afforded a great deal of artistic wiggle room when writing scripts for movies and TV shows. Some writers are better than others when it comes to best utilizing that artistic wiggle room. After all there are reasons why some movies succeed while others fall.
Please give everyone involved a little credit for being capable of turning $5 graphic novels into multi-million dollar TV shows...it takes a lot more time, effort and funding than most people realize to succeed in that endeavor especially when one considers this TV show's rival, "The Walking Dead" is one of the most popular shows in the history of broadcast television!
Thank you for taking the time to read what I honestly thought would take me 5 minutes to write because that 5 minutes has turned into several hours!