10 Brilliant Short-Running TV Shows That Proved Less Is More

8. The Returned

How do you say zombies in French? The Returned (Les Revenants) is a supernatural drama set in a small French mountain town. One day, out of the blue, dead people reappear, apparently alive and normal. Road accident victim teenager Camille, suicidal groom Simon, a small boy named "Victor" and Serge. Despite having passed away some years earlier, these ghostly characters have not aged, and they are completely unaware of their own fatality. Determined to reclaim their lives and start over, they slowly come to realize that they are not the only ones to have been brought back from the dead. Along with their return, the town experiences some other weird phenomena such as recurring power outages and the lowering of the reservoir€™s water level. Much like In The Flesh, this show deals with the matter of the undead in a new fashion. But whereas the British show is all drama, The Returned is a mixture of tears and suspense. So much so, that it counts Stephen King as one of its biggest fans. Without revealing too much away, it's safe to say that the acting is excellent in portraying how each character deals with its unusual situation. Le Monde wrote that the series marked resurgence in the fantasy genre and Libération wrote that the series recalled the atmosphere of Twin Peaks by David Lynch. In 2013 it even won an International Emmy for best drama series. All of those suggest that you can make the effort to read the subtitles, and prepare yourself for season 2 in 2014.