Fresh Air TV critic David Bianculli reviews two very different new television projects – IFC's spoof show, Documentary Now!, and AMC's prequel series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Nothing serves a horror story like a good build. Or, in the case of L.A., a slow crumble.

This companion piece for AMC’s ratings monster the Walking Dead gives fans an origin story that’s full of the same addictive brand of guts, gore and gloom

The new episodes take to the high seas. Ahoy, mateys!

AMC's 'Fear the Walking Dead' starts off slow and trite, but picks up steam in the second episode

"The Walking Dead" did well enough for AMC that they spawned a prequel. Is "Fear the Walking Dead" worth the effort?

While Fear the Walking Dead is a good drama, it asks viewers be very afraid of the rabble on the street – the homeless, panhandling drug addicts you usually avoid.

The sister show to the zombie master is progressing well with visuals to make it different — but right now it lacks a breakout cast of characters.

Fear the Walking Dead, AMC’s new spinoff of The Walking Dead, itself spun off from Robert Kirkman’s series of comic books

The "Walking Dead" spinoff/prequel, "Fear the Walking Dead," picks up momentum in the second episode.

Fear the Walking Dead, the new spinoff of AMC’s monstrously popular The Walking Dead, put a pit in my stomach, made me jumpy and jangly, and generally...

Fear The Walking Dead builds tension in increments and gives its story room to breathe, resulting in a strong start to the season.

Give AMC's Walking Dead spin-off a chance, says Rebecca Hawkes CONTAINS SPOILERS

The general cluelessness of characters is just the start of the troubles in AMC zombie spinoff 'Fear the Walking Dead.'

Fear the Walking Dead: Drama Adrift Escaping the Los Angeles zombie invasion by hopping on a yacht—it’s such an L.A. thing to do, don’t you think? The shift off-shore puts more of the drama on the shoulders of wealthy bully-commander Strand (Colman Domingo), who gets to say, “It’s my boat” at least three times in the opening hour. When the series first premiered, I liked it for its emphasis on something other than The Walking Dead’s constant zombie-killing and its game of “Who in the cast will die next?” In Kim Dickens, Ruben Blades, Cliff Curtis, and Domingo, the show had strong actors who could pull off a lot of the show’s melodramatic dread without being excessively histrionic about it.

AMC's spinoff depicts the early days of the outbreak that eventually leads to 'The Walking Dead.'

A palpable dread pervades The Walking Dead prequel and the uncannily true-to-life Utopia.

Occupying its own coast and universe, 'Fear the Walking Dead' feels like a much different animal than its megahit sire 'The Walking Dead.'

Here’s the big reveal about “Fear the Walking Dead”: Those weird lurching figures are zombies!Don’t bother screaming about spoilers — we know...

‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Season 4 review: Lennie James joins cast in major makeover of AMC series