Fringe, Supernatural, Bob’s Burgers… zombies pop up in all kinds of surprising places.
Remember that time Ramsay Street was invaded?
ZOMBIES, OH, CHRIST ZOMBIES, THEYRE EATING MY EYES!
and I CLAW-HAMMERED MY ZOMBIE GRANDMAS HEAD OFF.
Ultimately, the budgets were as low as the interest paid to them by the media-consuming public.
And thenThe Walking Deadcame along, arguably kick-starting our modern obsession with the genre.
Goodbye vampires, you pale-faced emo sex-freaks: youve had your time in the sun.
(Well, in the twilight, I suppose, if you want to be pedantic about it.)
Its unclear exactly how zombies managed to usurp the vampire throne.
Were through the looking glass, people.
And its looking deliciously rotten.
That would be too obvious.
These…
Supernatural
Supernatural is currently in its 9605thseason.
The show really should be renamed Natural.
Longevity-related gripes aside, the show has always proved itself adept at putting new hats on old tropes.
Ive just high-fived myself, so who cares what you think.
In fact, that very point has been argued in the pages ofthis esteemed website.
Nowhere is its inventiveness more apparent than in the annualTreehouse Of Horrorepisodes.
In any other town that would be considered unusual.
Community
LovingCommunityand sticking with it for six seasons is a lot like being in a long-term relationship.
The first year is a blast, a blur.
You cant stop talking about them.
You want other people to meet them and love them as much as you do.
The second year is even better.
Youre smitten, obsessed, your baby can do no wrong.
Half-way through the third year, the cracks start to show, but nothing you cant forgive.
The odd bit of nose-picking, a few stray farts.
You dont recognize them anymore.
They dont make you laugh like they used to.
You want to end the relationship.
And they reward your patience with another great year, with moments in it comparable to the first.
By the sixth year youve made peace with the relationship.
You wholly accept them for who they were, who they are, and the person theyre still becoming.
And then they leave you.
When people recommend an episode ofCommunityto newcomers, its usually one of the shows many pop-culture pastiches.
Be the first black man to make it to the end.
Fringe
Finishing a show can feel like a bereavement.
What a legend, what a show.
Im jealous of the alternate universe me whos just sitting down now to watchFringefor the first time.
The only time true zombies appeared was in the mostly cartoon-ified season 3 episode Lysergic Acid Diethylamide.
Peters bout of slickly-animated high-rise zombie ass-kicking is a genuine joy to behold.
You wont meet a more horrid bunch of human beings.
No prizes for guessing which guests are the architects of this near-apocalyptic destruction.
Thats why you should never, ever invite the gang to your wedding.
Or your birthday party.
Or your bar mitzvah.
Or anything at all, really.
But you really should watch the show.
Its genuinely one of the funniest things Ive seen in years.
Eee, lad, thy ca as just etten uz.
Theur owe uz ten chickens neur ferret.
Tha cowpat thy just stood in was uz son!
Corpse-nation Street:Ken Barlow argues with his local MP over Weatherfields disproportionately high Defence Against the Dead tax.
Also, Betty makes a hotpot.
Which then comes to life and kills her.
Deceased-enders:Dirty Den comes back… again.
Neighbours Vs Zombiesis actually pretty good, to which I add the qualifier for what it is.
Dont go in expecting some undiscovered body of work from George A. Romero.
Its all a bit of silly fun, after all.
Subjecting it to harsh criticism is rather like lamenting the dearth of symbolism in an episode ofThe Chuckle Brothers.
The plot is straightforward enough.
At first, they seem reasonably tame.
The supremely irritating Stingray goofs around calling everyone a cake-taker.
David Bishop mopes around looking like a cross between a vampire and a ventriloquists dummy.
Dead Drew is just as stiff an actor as living Drew.
Things are calm for a while.
The zombies just seem to want to chat and reminisce.
And then they start eating people.
Theres a bit of screaming and running, chewing and gnawing.
We finally discover the limits of Karl Kennedys medical knowledge.
The zombie extras shuffle around unconvincingly like people whove been kicked in the balls.
What is surprising is my lingering affection for the show, even after all these years.
I was a lad at the height of 80s Aussie-mania: everyone lovedNeighbours, everyone was talking about it.
Permed mullets and denim were de rigueur.
Cockatiels were out, gallahs were in.
I got married so many times in that playground Im practically a Mormon.
The show continued to hug me tight throughout my stoned adolescence.
Ultimately,Neighbourswas a harder habit to break than smoking.
When the show moved to Channel 5 it felt like an intervention, my best chance of being cured.
If theres one thing I hate more than soap operas, its ad breaks.
Who are these people?Where was zombie Jim Robinson?
That doesnt concern me too much.
Id gladly forgive Paul Robinson for the zombie apocalypse.
What I will never, ever, ever forgive him for is releasingDont It Make You Feel Goodin 1987.
Have a happy Halloween, folks.
