Regardless of what kind of guy Darabont generally is, it seems pretty daring of him to look at his hit show, decide it could be better, and then take the next step and actually try to improve it by replacing the writing staff wholesale. Most people would probably just let it ride and hope that the writers improved, or maybe add a couple to the existing mix. I don't know that it will work but it's an interesting move. I've actually been wishing that The Simpsons would try this, but that seems unlikely. Sucks for the writers who got fired though. Then again, as has been pointed out, there have been plenty of problems with the writing so far. Although the source material didn't give them much to work with in that regard, according to a lot of people.