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iZombie (TV series)

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iZombie
Promotional poster for iZombie which shows the main character Liv
Genre
Based oniZOMBIE
by Chris Roberson
Michael Allred
Developed by
Starring
Opening theme"Stop, I'm Already Dead"
by Deadboy & the Elephantmen
ComposerJosh Kramon
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes27 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Rob Thomas
  • Diane Ruggiero-Wright
  • Dan Etheridge
  • Danielle Stokdyk
Production locationVancouver, British Columbia
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time42 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkThe CW
ReleaseMarch 17, 2015 (2015-03-17) –
present

iZombie (stylized as iZOMBiE) is an American television series developed by Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright for The CW; it is a loose adaptation of the comic book series of the same name created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, and published by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint.

The series was officially picked up on May 8, 2014, for the 2014–15 season and premiered on March 17, 2015 with an order of 13 episodes.[1][2] The series was renewed for a second season, which premiered October 6, 2015 and will comprise 19 episodes.[3][4][5] On March 11, 2016, The CW renewed the series for a third season.[6]

Premise

Further information: List of iZombie episodes

Seattle medical resident Olivia "Liv" Moore is turned into a zombie while attending a boat party. To cope with her new appetite for brains, Liv takes a job at the King County morgue and shares her secret with her boss, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti. In order for Liv to survive, Ravi encourages her to eat the brains of murder victims whose bodies are delivered to the morgue. Whenever she eats a victim's brain, Liv temporarily inherits some of their personality traits. She also experiences flashbacks which often give her clues as to the nature of the murder. Those visions can be generally triggered by sights (events or objects) or sounds (repeated sentences). Liv uses this new ability to help the Seattle Police Department solve crimes, passing herself off as a psychic consultant, while Ravi works to develop a cure for Liv's zombism in hopes that one day she will resume her former life.

SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedRankAverage viewers
(in millions inc. DVR)
First airedLast aired
113March 17, 2015 (2015-03-17)June 9, 2015 (2015-06-09)1542.51[7]
219October 6, 2015 (2015-10-06)April 12, 2016 (2016-04-12)1741.68[8]
313April 4, 2017 (2017-04-04)June 27, 2017 (2017-06-27)1601.37[9]
413February 26, 2018 (2018-02-26)May 28, 2018 (2018-05-28)1911.24[10]
513May 2, 2019 (2019-05-02)August 1, 2019 (2019-08-01)1401.01[11]

Cast and characters

Main

Liv is a former medical resident who became a zombie when she attended a boat party that was attacked by people who had just taken a new designer drug called "Utopium". She now works as a coroner's assistant for the King County Medical Examiner's Office to have access to the human brains she must frequently consume to maintain her humanity and suppress her hunger.[12] Without feeding, she becomes increasingly less intelligent. She experiences flashes of memories from the brains she eats, and temporarily takes on random quirks from her subjects—ranging from a fear of pigeons to a sudden appreciation for art to martial arts skills—and has demonstrated the ability to take a bullet to the chest with little damage. She graduated from the University of Washington.
A Seattle PD detective, newly transferred from vice to homicide when the series starts, who gets Liv's help to solve crimes. Liv and Ravi claim that she is "psychic-ish" to account for her knowledge of victims.[13]
A medical examiner and Liv's boss. He knows Liv's secret and assists her whenever he can to protect as well as study her, expressing an interest in finding a cure for her condition. He used to work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but was fired for his obsession with preparing for an attack with biological weapons.[13]
Liv's ex-fiancé; she ended the relationship to prevent him from becoming "infected" by her condition.[12] Like Liv, he is a University of Washington alumnus, and he worked as a social worker at the local teen center in season one. After temporarily being a zombie, he becomes a covert zombie hunter in season two, freezing his targets so they can be cured in future.
A drug dealer-turned-zombie whose experimental drug, Utopium, caused the zombie outbreak.[12] He claimed to Liv that he resorts to grave-robbing to access brains, but in reality he has set up a new "drug ring" whose customers are other zombies and product is the brains of murdered local homeless teens. His base of operations in season one is a local butcher shop from which he runs a home delivery service of gourmet prepared brain meals for wealthy zombie customers. In season two, after being cured, he moves his brains business to a funeral home. In keeping with his drug-dealer approach, he has been shown attacking his former criminal associates and rivals, and creating new zombies to drive up demand. He eventually reverts back to a zombie state.

Recurring

  • Aly Michalka as Peyton Charles: Liv's best friend and roommate, who expresses concern about Liv's declining interest in life after the boat party. She works as an assistant district attorney for the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Peyton learns of Liv's secret at the end of season 1, prompting her to leave. Peyton returns in season 2, in charge of the task force against Utopium. Peyton also carries a on and off again relationship with Ravi. Since season 2 episode 3, Peyton has reconciled with Liv. She has also slept with Blaine unknowing he turned Liv into a zombie. [14]
  • Molly Hagan as Eva Moore: Liv's mother, who often attempts to encourage Liv to get over what Eva thinks is "PTSD" from the boat party.[15] Eva works as a hospital administrator.
  • Nick Purcha as Evan Moore: Liv's brother.[16]
  • Aleks Paunovic as Julien Dupont (also called the Candyman), a zombie thug who works for Blaine. (season 1)[17][18]
  • Bradley James as Lowell Tracy, a musician and fellow zombie who is romantically interested in Liv. (season 1)[19]
  • Hiro Kanagawa as Lieutenant Suzuki, Babineaux's senior officer who is secretly a zombie in Blaine's employ. When kids abductions get too much attention, he starts to worry about being discovered. (season 1)[20]
  • Steven Weber as Vaughn Du Clark, the CEO of Max Rager, an energy drink company that is under investigation.[21]
  • Leanne Lapp as Gilda, Vaughn's daughter and assistant who is tasked with spying on Liv while posing as her roommate.[22]
  • Jessica Harmon as FBI agent Dale Bozzio[23]
  • Eddie Jemison as Stacey Boss, Seattle's most dangerous crime lord who controls the majority of the city's organised crime. Also revealed to be a certified Public accountant [24]
  • Greg Finley as Drake,[25] one of Blaine's dealers who is turned into a zombie and befriends Liv. But it was revealed that he's an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated Mr. Boss. (season 2)

Production

Thomas was approached by Warner Brothers to adapt the show while he was editing the film version of Veronica Mars. At first he refused, but Warner Brothers was insistent, and he eventually took the job.[26] Prior to iZombie, Thomas was attempting to pitch his own zombie television series; however, when AMC picked up The Walking Dead, it was "so similar to what we were doing, it just killed that project", according to Thomas.[26]

Alexandra Krosney originally played the part of Peyton Charles.[27] After the show was ordered to series, she was replaced by Aly Michalka, and the role was changed from regular cast to recurring.[28] Nora Dunn was initially attached to play Liv's mother; however this was changed when it was realized that her character was going to play a smaller role than initially envisioned and was replaced by Molly Hagan.[29] Thomas has stated that this move was a "financial" one [29]

The opening credits for the series are drawn by Michael Allred, the main artist of the original comic book.[30] The show's theme tune is "Stop, I'm Already Dead" by Deadboy & the Elephantmen.[31]

On October 5, 2015, The CW ordered five additional scripts for the second season,[32] and on November 23, 2015, the network ordered six additional episodes into production, bringing the season order to 19 episodes.[5]

Reception

Critical response

The first season received positive reviews.[33] Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the series a 92% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.7/10 based on 49 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "An amusing variation on the zombie trend, iZombie is refreshingly different, if perhaps too youth-oriented to resonate with adult audiences."[34] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[35]

Amy Ratcliffe of IGN rated the pilot episode 8.4/10, praising the show's "casual take on zombies" and Rose McIver's performance as Liv.[36] LaToya Ferguson of The Onion's The A.V. Club graded the series a A- and stated the show is better for diverging from its comic book origins. She praised the show for having same quick-witted banter as Veronica Mars and observed it measures up well against Pushing Daisies, noting: "Television can only be better for having the voices of Thomas and Ruggiero-Wright back on a weekly basis".[37] Inkoo Kang of the Dallas Observer called the show, "dazzlingly, tirelessly witty" with an "acute attention to human relationships", and praised it as "the summer's most underrated series".[33]

The second season has been met with positive reviews. It holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews with an average score of 8.3 out of 10. The website's consensus states: "iZombie smoothly shifts gears in its second season, moving between comedy and dramatic procedural while skillfully satirizing modern society along the way."[38]

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Recipient(s) Result Ref
2015 SXSW Film Festival Episodic Diane Ruggiero and Rob Thomas Nominated [39]
mtvU Fandom Awards Best New Fandom of the Year iZombie Won [40]
Teen Choice Awards Choice TV: Breakout Show iZombie Nominated [41]

References

  1. ^ Ausiello, Michael (May 8, 2014). "The CW New Series For Fall 2014 – 'The Flash' and 'iZombie'". TVLine. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  2. ^ Goldman, Eric (January 11, 2015). "iZombie Premiering March 17th; Supernatural Moving Back to Wednesdays". IGN. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  3. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (May 6, 2015). "'iZombie' Renewed by The CW for Second Season". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  4. ^ Abrams, Natalie (June 24, 2015). "'CW announces fall premiere dates for Flash, Vampire Diaries and more". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Petski, Dennis (November 23, 2015). "CW's 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' & 'iZombie' Get Additional Episodes". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  6. ^ Abrams, Natalie (March 11, 2016). "'The Flash,' 'Vampire Diaries,' 'Supernatural,' and 8 more renewed at CW". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  7. ^ de Moraes, Lisa (May 21, 2015). "Full 2014–15 TV Season Series Rankings: Football & Empire Ruled". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 23, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  8. ^ de Moraes, Lisa (May 26, 2016). "Full 2015–16 TV Season Series Rankings: Blindspot, Life In Pieces & Quantico Lead Newcomers". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 28, 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  9. ^ de Moraes, Lisa (May 26, 2017). "Final 2016–17 TV Rankings: Sunday Night Football Winning Streak Continues". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  10. ^ de Moraes, Lisa; Hipes, Patrick (May 22, 2018). "2017–18 TV Series Ratings Rankings: NFL Football, Big Bang Top Charts". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  11. ^ Porter, Rick (June 10, 2019). "2018–19 TV Season: Live-Plus-7 Ratings for Every Broadcast Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  12. ^ a b c "Shows A-Z - iZombie, on The CW". The Futon Critic. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
  13. ^ a b Moore, Debi (January 11, 2015). "TCA Winter 2015: The CW Announces Early Renewals; Reveals iZombie and The Messengers Premiere Dates; Moves Supernatural Again but Spinoff Still in Play". Dread Central. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  14. ^ "Aly Michalka Joins The CW's 'iZombie'; Michael Beach In ABC's 'Secrets & Lies'". Deadline.com. August 6, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  15. ^ Abrams, Natalie (August 20, 2014). "'iZombie' recasts mom, adds 'Devious Maids' star". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  16. ^ Ferguson, LaToya (March 17, 2015). "iZombie feeds the craving for quick wit left by Veronica Mars (and then some)". A.V. Club. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  17. ^ "Simon Kassianides Joins TNT Pilot 'Lumen'; Aleks Paunovic In The CW's 'iZombie'". Deadline Hollywood. December 12, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  18. ^ Morrell, McKenzie (May 11, 2015). "'iZombie' star Aleks Paunovic talks the Candyman, and NUMB, his new film co-starring The 100's Marie Avgeropoulos". nowhitenoise. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  19. ^ "iZombie Writers Room on Twitter: "@VMarsConfession It's Tracy."". Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  20. ^ ChinLin Pan (April 15, 2015). "TV Recap: iZombie, 1.5, "Flight of the Living Dead"". The Horn. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  21. ^ Abrams,Natalie (December 2, 2014). "Steven Weber heads to CW's 'iZombie'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  22. ^ "Vaughn's Assistant Gilda 'Puts A Lot Of The Other Characters In Compromising Situations' According To Her Portrayer Leanne Lapp". enstarz. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  23. ^ Stanley, T.L. (November 4, 2015). "'iZombie' recap: Pep talks, cold showers in 'Love & Basketball'". LA Times. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  24. ^ Abrams, Natalie (October 5, 2015). "iZombie taps Eddie Jemison as new villain". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  25. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (November 2, 2015). "TV News Roundup: 'The Flash' Alum Joins 'iZombie,' Trevor Noah Special Set for Nov". Variety. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  26. ^ a b Woerner, Meredith. "Rob Thomas Explains Why iZombie Is More Like Buffy Than Veronica Mars". io9. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  27. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 20, 2014). "NBC's 'Bad Judge' & CW's 'iZombie' Recast Roles". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  28. ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (August 6, 2014). "iZombie Recasts BFF With Aly Michalka". TVLine. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  29. ^ a b Friedlander, Whitney. "Q&A: Rob Thomas on Giving Life to 'iZombie'". Variety. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  30. ^ Armitage, Hugh (March 13, 2015). "iZombie opening credits reveal Michael Allred art". Digital Spy. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  31. ^ Template:Twitter status
  32. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 5, 2015). "CW's 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' & 'iZombie' Get Backup Script Orders Ahead Of Premieres". Deadline.com. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  33. ^ a b Kang, Inkoo (June 3, 2015). "Five Reasons iZombie is Summer's Most Underrated Show". Dallas Observer. Dallas, TX. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  34. ^ "iZombie: Season 1 (2015)". Flixster/Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  35. ^ "iZombie: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  36. ^ Ratcliffe, Amy (March 12, 2015). "iZombie: "Pilot" Review". IGN. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  37. ^ Ferguson, LaToya (March 17, 2015). "iZombie feeds the craving for quick wit left by Veronica Mars (and then some)". Archived from the original on April 1, 2015.
  38. ^ "iZombie: Season 2 (2015-2016)". rottentomatoes. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  39. ^ "SXSW Film Festival 2015 Lineup". SXSW Film Festival. Retrieved March 2015. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  40. ^ "best new fandom of the year". mtv.com. MTV. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  41. ^ "2015 Teen Choice Award Winners – Full List". Variety. August 16, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
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