Zombie movies have been around a couple of decades or more, so it is not really anything new. AMC just managed to have a show that developed into a hit. Partly, that was because none of the other networks bothered to develop any good Sunday night programs. Although, PBS did manage some competition when it picked up the British Downton Abbey.
Look at other shows: The werewolves and vampires have been in the movies for nearly a century. Current theme-related TV shows are numerous and new ones spring up each new year. Fad TV.
And the ‘comics’ TV series with heroes and anti-heroes and dysfunctional-heroes are now ‘the thing’ as they show up on nearly every network.
At least they are preferrable to the non-scripted, but highly directed and staged ‘reality’ TV shows.
Now, it seems the medics and doctors are ‘in’ again as the proliferation of medical examiners and CSI detectives wane. How many different ways can they show a mangled corpse?
Funny you should mention vampires.
This Washington Post piece (which I didn’t read - lol) is probably propaganda along the lines of the trend noticed a few years ago that the public tends to swing between the vampire and zombie themes.
Here’s the rub:
When a Democrat is in the White House, it’s zombies. During Republican administrations, it’s vampires.
Supposedly, the psychology boils down to how the voters view their political opponents.
Zombies are unthinking consumer masses, swarming over everyone else and attacking them until they conform. In other words, the cartoon version of Republicans.
Vampires turn others evil with their deceptive, clandestine attacks usually centering on sexuality, cultural sophistication, and sometimes supernatural persuasion. In other words, the cartoon version of Democrats.