People need time to adjust from "softy" to "hardass" number 1, and number 2 they're going to surely kill some of these folks off - just give it time. If they kill off random guy number 3 nobody cares, but if they kill main character number 3, everybody has time invested in that character and they're either happy that character is gone or they miss him/her.
Just give the show time to devolve into the full-on apocalypse we all know is upon them.
I was hooked on TWD after episode 1....they have had plenty of time to make FTWD even somewhat interesting. They have failed.