Coming soon to a television station near you?Really, if we can have multiple police procedurals that are “ripped from the headlines”, I see no reason why we can’t also have multiple horror serials ripped from, well, something gross. Zombieland was always intended to be a television show anyway (why else do you think “Zombie Kill of the Week” was a thing?) and done right it could be a nice combination of The Walking Dead’s subject matter merged with the deadpan humor of horrible people being horrible to each other, a la Arrested Development or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Zombieland clearly would differentiate itself as serving as the comedic answer to The Walking Dead’s insistence on taking itself so darned seriously.
The thing is, watching The Walking Dead, you can tell that there are occasionally scenes that the show wants you to find funnier than they actually are. The problem is that all the gravity of the show with its high-gloss premise about Humanity and Dealing With Tragedy tends to hold down the chance to really push a few good ol' fashioned LOLs. This is unfortunate, given that (as every student of Greek tragedy knows) comedic scenes can be used to make the tragedies that befall them immediately after feel that much greater. We’re never more affected by the big horrible event than if that event happens immediately after we’ve just been laughing at the wacky, good-timiness of it all.
So what do you all think? Do you prefer your undead monsters with the hearty weight of serious tragedy behind them or are you excited to see a little a little more slapstick action in your weekly zombie apocalypse?
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