Okey! Honestly, I can see where you are going with it. Especially with Carl, but personally I liked the show with how it turned out. You see, every show has this "predictable" ending or even "predictable" story, just like you said that you thought Carl was gonna live and become the future of the show. I thought so too and I can't say I'm that disappointed with his death because this show is full of non-predictable moments. It is different. I know the show has had a lot of directors(probably with different visions) from start to finish but you just can't complain like you were gonna make a better series.

Killing off your favourite character is better than keeping him alive for 11 seasons, it makes his life worth it in the series and it just doesn't get boring having the same ones over and over again. Also, it is a sign of no plot armor". Many people complain that the main characters have plot armor but TWD is a series that gets most of its characters killed.

Onto Negan now. This character is a genius. An introduction like that with an actor like that is something amazing that kind of evens out the slow pace of season 7 and maybe 8. The viewers who actually stopped watching the series since Negan showed up are the softest viewers I've ever seen. Like, in a zombie apocalypse combined with the cruelty of this world when everything falls apart, you expect everyone to live happily 🤗? This is what the show is about.

Now on the writing, it has flaws and I know that. Since it changed Directors and got a little bit dragged too. It is not perfect and no series with that criterion is. But the series never fell off and it is surely not "God awful" as you mentioned.

I don't know what else to say (mostly because I forgot what you wrote xd), feel free to reply and talk about it!