THE WALKING DEAD is back, and back on top. It’s becoming a recognizable pattern. The ratings dip, we all predict that the show has jumped the shark, then it rallies and becomes as successful as ever. I am now convinced that the show will never go away. It will be the next THE SIMPSONS, a permanent pop culture touchstone, immutable and unmovable. It doesn’t even matter what the critics say. I, even I, a Horror junkie of the highest order, cannot quite understand the show’s insane popularity. There has to be a psychological/sociological/anthropological reason behind it, but I can’t grasp it. I’ll leave that one to the experts.
As far as things defying explanation, remember the Florida face-eating zombie? The guy who got jacked up on “bath salts” and attacked that homeless guy, biting off most the poor guy’s face? I was watching this show called ZOMBIES IN AMERICA on Destination America the other night, and they covered the case. Did you know that, contrary to what was widely reported, there were NO DRUGS in the guy’s system? No bath salts, no nothin’. And no explanation for why he went berserk and attacked that homeless guy. This would be troubling enough if it were an isolated incident–but it isn’t. Why didn’t the news report on the results of the toxicology report? (Maybe they did, but certainly not as vociferously as they did the initial attack, or I would have heard of it.) Were they afraid of starting a panic?