Here are two new Limited Series that being back to life a genre or an era. In the case of All Of Us Are Dead, it’s the zombie genre that has seen its heyday. With the Gilded Age, it’s late 19th century, period New York.

All Of Us Are Dead (Netflix - South Korea) - This dropped with a lot of buzz, and I’ll never fault Netflix for going all out to promote selected new shows. They’ve carved out a successful formula for doing so, such that the shows are talked about and make the rounds of social media with regularity. This one hails from South Korea, and it’s a 12-episode Limited series that attempts to revive the zombie genre, by situating the story in a suburban High School. So you can see right away where it’s heading to, a mix of campus romance and drama, factions and loyalties to particular students and teachers, all overlaid by the presence of zombies. The original material is a webtoon that dates back to 2009, when zombie shows still had relevance and some degree of novelty. Unfortunately, it’s 2022, and while I know this will still find an enthusiastic audience (it zoomed to #1 here), I found it to be a tired formula.

Pity, as the opening sequences had some smart ideas, like the zombie in a zippered suitcase. But after visual delights like these, the first episode became a plodding exposition of the main characters - like how many times do we have to watch one female lead let down her hair, by removing her hair clip? We all know what we’re waiting for, the scenes of zombie carnage; but when they do come, there’s energy and impressive choreography, but nothing new anymore. There’s also an 18+ rating that the show’s producers are trying too hard to live by - with mature themes and blatant profanity that seem to spring out with too much regularity. The narrative stands seem stretched to breaking point, and we could have done with an episode or two less.

The Gilded Age (HBO, USA) - Julian Fellowes is the creator behind this new Limited series, and he’s a very familiar figure, as he’s behind Downton Abbey. Now, understand that Fellowes has always been something of a polarizing figure on both sides of the pond. Some begrudge him his success, critical that Downton merely expanded on the Upstairs, Downstairs formula, and wasn’t all that creative or imaginative. Others point out that his writing is often speech-making and stilted, that you won’t often find people in the real world talking like the characters he creates. But then, you also can’t argue with the kind of success he has enjoyed. I’ll confess I’m not a big Downton fan, but I’ve enjoyed his novels through the years - Snobs and Past Imperfect my favorites.

With Gilded Age, Fellowes takes on late 19th century New York, pitting Old Money versus the growing power of the new ‘arrivistes’, while simultaneously incorporating Upstairs, Downstairs narrative strands. This, of course, raised a ruckus with American critics, who questioned why we needed a British writer to come up with ‘our’ story, and wrote that it was all rather simplistic and facile a treatment, that Fellowes was making it easier for himself by just cramming everything, and not giving justice to any particular aspect of the broad canvas he was creating. But for viewers who are enjoying this, they’ve loved the sense of time and place, the snooty behavior of the Old Money van Rhijns, and how the Russells (new money) are staking their own territory with brashness and assuredness. So it’s all vicarious fun, as both sides misbehave to our watching content.