Survival drives us watching Walking Dead’s apocalypse or navigating everyday life’s streets

Big Head Todd and The Monsters via last.fm
I can pretty much tell you exactly what’s going to happen when it comes to anything that is produced by Hollywood these days–Hollywood being the term for mass-produced factory rubbish that is consumed at mass quantities by the public en masse.
If you had asked me if there could have been a better season premiere than AMC’s The Walking Dead this past Sunday, I would have told you there certainly was a chance for something to really be this good or better going into its fifth season. But that’s about all the chance for something that actually ended up being as good as this, to actually end up BEING as good as this was. The word “awesome” comes to mind.

Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I remember when Cheers ended back in 1993. I’m pretty sure it was a Thursday night. I remember I was playing in the shot and beer bar band called “The Predictors,” at that time in Boulder, Colorado.
It was pretty strange. We had a gig on Boulder’s Pearl Street where everyone who is everyone was always hanging out. It was in the days before legalized pot; so any cheeba smoking was done on the down low. We had a pretty good following for what was the Boulder music scene at the time. Boulder’s Big Head Todd and the Monsters was the breakout band of the time, too, but they still hadn’t risen to the national prominence they enjoy now, back then. The gig was eerily quiet for a Thursday night on the Pearl Street Mall. We finally figured out halfway through our first set that everyone was at home watching Cheers.
Anywho, The Walking Dead’s season premiere literally blew away anything The Strain had to offer all season long. I know I just yesterday wrote about the facetious battle of who would win a Strain vs. Walking Dead apocalyptic battle.
It’s pretty clear that the writing on Walking Dead is far superior to anything found on The Strain. The Strain may yet find its way with its host of compelling root core characters. But, for now, they will continue to take their cues in terms of “must see TV” like Cheers was back in the day, from Walking Dead.

The Cheers site in Boston (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Good horror features characters who are interesting and who know how to survive. That is one of the things that people who live long lives understand—survival.
Survivors know when to pick and choose their battles. Cheers was a show that played to the old time theme of happy hour and patrons who stopped in at local watering holes prior to going home to their crappy lives that left them glad they self-medicated at establishments like Cheers prior to heading home.
It was a different time back then. There was no stepped up onus regarding drinking and driving. People partied without consideration for designated drivers.
The fact is people still party without designated drivers (shamefully enough). The best-case scenario is when a person either has a designated driver or is within walking distance of their crashing/sleeping destination.
Cheers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Cheers ended before dial-up Internet service hit its peak back in 1995. It was a different time. Slower. People waited for their web pages to load and they took the time it took to get home after a night on the town. The overwhelming majority of people made it home without incident, too.
Sure, there were problems back then with respect to drinking and drug use. People did what they did as they do today.
Eventually, people who choose to live or continue to live as long as they possibly can, learn the rituals of surviving. Whether they’re fleeing or fighting a vampire or zombie on The Strain or Walking Dead, respectively, they have a chance at going the distance.
When you live fortunately and with survival in mind, prospering seems overrated. After all, you can’t smell the roses sometimes until you’ve endured the struggle.