SOA started out not bad. The wife and I watched several seasons. Then it got cartoonishly violent and p.c. ridiculous...especially with the plot deviation of one of the bikers and a transsexual.
It could have had a decent story line with the lead character's doubts about being a member. But it just descended into ultraviolence and weird stuff.
Yeah the gratuitous violence for the sake of violence isn't really good TV and I abandoned the show after a couple of seasons.
Walking Dead has headed in a more hopeful direction. The zombies have become kind of a background threat that is easily dealt with and the true threat comes from other living people. Alliances to fight that human threat are building and the show is heading toward an ending on a hopeful note.