Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

Millennials Are Living 'The Walking Dead'

No faith in government, no optimism about the future, no trust in other people. That’s what we’ve bequeathed to the young.

October 15, 2014 at 5:27 PM UTC

Updated on

October 16, 2014 at 1:53 PM UTC

By Stephen L. Carter

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

Has she paid off her student loans?
Photographer: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

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Time magazine this week has a big cover feature speculating on why "The Walking Dead," just back for its fifth season on AMC, remains so popular. With more than 17 million viewers, the zombie-show's premiere on Sunday easily won the night.

So, what’s going on, asks James Poniewozik, the magazine's television critic? The characters are cardboard, the dialogue is often wooden, the plot turns are implausible (yes, I love Carol too, but come on!), and the violence is brutal. The show, writes Poniewozik, is not just gory, but “unrelentingly, punishingly ... grim.” Grim indeed. At the end of last season, one of the main characters shot and killed a little girl who had turned into a psychopath. Not into a zombie -- into a murdering pre-teen psychopath.