The Walking Dead

"Don’t Open, Dead Inside” sounds like a slogan for existential alienation, but for our purposes it’s a warning Sheriff Rick Grimes encounters after waking up from a coma in an empty hospital to discover that he’s living in a post-apocalyptic world teeming with zombies. This is dreadful news for Grimes, but sterling for AMC, as The Walking Dead (based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series) is a legit hit, earning boffo ratings and critical acclaim. Essayist Chuck Klosterman advances this explanation: “A lot of modern life is exactly like slaughtering zombies,” i.e. monotonous and unrelenting. Compelling characters and chills galore surely help—qualities that executive producers Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) and Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, Aliens) know something about.