iZombie (TV series)

iZombie
Logo of the television series
Genre
Based on iZOMBIE
by Chris Roberson
Michael Allred
Developed by
Starring
Narrated by Rose McIver (as Liv Moore)
Opening theme "Stop, I'm Already Dead"
by Deadboy & the Elephantmen
Composer(s) Josh Kramon
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 32 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Rob Thomas
  • Diane Ruggiero-Wright
  • Dan Etheridge
  • Danielle Stokdyk
Location(s) Vancouver, British Columbia
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time 42 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network The CW
Original release March 17, 2015 (2015-03-17) – present
External links
Official website
Production website

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 ran for 19 episodes.[3][4][5] On March 11, 2016, The CW renewed the series for a third season of 13 episodes, which is set to premiere on April 4, 2017.[6][7][8]

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. In order for Liv to survive, she eats the brains of murder victims whose bodies are delivered to the morgue. Her secret is guessed by her boss, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti. Gradually, Ravi becomes Liv's friend and confidant, and as a scientist, he is intrigued with Liv's condition. Whenever she eats a victim's brain, Liv temporarily inherits some of their personality traits. She also experiences flashbacks which often give her clues about 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 affliction in hopes that one day she will resume her former life.

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
113March 17, 2015 (2015-03-17)June 9, 2015 (2015-06-09)
219October 6, 2015 (2015-10-06)April 12, 2016 (2016-04-12)

Cast and characters

Main

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.[9] 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. When Liv enters so-called "Full-on Zombie Mode" her eyes turn red and her strength is vastly increased. The change is triggered by intense stress (or hunger), and the zombie has very little control over the trigger.
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. Eventually Liv tells him she is a zombie and that her "psychic skills" are actually a side effect from eating the brains of the victims. She does this to get Major out of jail.[10]
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.[10]
Liv's ex-fiancé; she ended the relationship to prevent him from becoming "infected" by her condition.[9] 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 the future. He eventually returned to zombie form, after learning the cure was only temporary.
A drug dealer-turned-zombie whose experimental drug, Utopium, caused the zombie outbreak.[9] His rich father considers him "a disappointment" after giving him money for failed businesses.[11] 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 before injecting himself with another attempt at a cure; after which he becomes an amnesiac. The character has often been compared to Spike from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer mythos.[12][13][14][15] Coincidentally, Anders consulted Spike's portrayer, James Marsters, prior to bleaching his hair for the role.[16]

Recurring

Production

Thomas was approached by Warner Brothers to develop 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.[29] Prior to iZombie, Thomas was attempting to pitch his own zombie television series; when AMC picked up The Walking Dead, it was "so similar to what we were doing, it just killed that project," according to Thomas.[29]

Alexandra Krosney originally played the part of Peyton Charles.[30] After the show was ordered to series, she was replaced by Aly Michalka, and the role was changed from regular cast to recurring.[31] Michalka was later promoted to series regular for the show's third season.[32] Nora Dunn was initially attached to play Liv's mother; this was changed when it was realized that her character was going to play a smaller role than initially envisioned. She was replaced by Molly Hagan.[33] Thomas has stated that this move was a financial decision.[33]

The opening credits for the series are drawn by Michael Allred, the main artist of the original comic book.[34] The show's theme tune is "Stop, I'm Already Dead" by Deadboy & the Elephantmen.[35]

On October 5, 2015, The CW ordered five additional scripts for the second season,[36] and on November 23, 2015, the network ordered six additional episodes into production, bringing the season order to 19 episodes.[5]

On May 22, 2016, it was announced that Aly Michalka was promoted to series regular for season three.[37]

Reception

Ratings

Season Timeslot (ET) Episodes First aired Last aired TV season Rank Avg. viewers
(millions)
18–49 rating
(average)
Date Viewers
(millions)
Date Viewers
(millions)
1 Tuesday 9:00 pm 13 March 17, 2015 2.29[38] June 9, 2015 1.45[39] 2014–15 154 2.51 1.0[40]
2 19 October 6, 2015 1.53[41] April 12, 2016 1.22[42] 2015–16 174 1.68 0.7[43]
3 13 April 4, 2017[44] TBD TBA TBD 2016–17 TBD TBD TBD

Viewer ratings

iZombie: Viewers per episode (millions)
SeasonEp. 1Ep. 2Ep. 3Ep. 4Ep. 5Ep. 6Ep. 7Ep. 8Ep. 9Ep. 10Ep. 11Ep. 12Ep. 13Ep. 14Ep. 15Ep. 16Ep. 17Ep. 18Ep. 19
Season 12.291.991.811.771.851.801.691.621.701.501.561.801.45N/A
Season 21.531.221.291.471.431.401.171.551.371.171.431.431.251.451.211.251.071.361.22
Season 3TBDTBDTBDTBDTBDTBDTBDTBDTBDTBDTBDTBDTBDN/A

Critical response

The first season received positive reviews.[45] 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."[46] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[47]

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.[48] 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".[49] 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".[45]

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."[50]

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Recipients Result
2015 SXSW Film Festival[51] Episodic Diane Ruggiero and Rob Thomas Nominated
mtvU Fandom Awards[52] Best New Fandom of the Year iZombie Won
Teen Choice Awards[53] Choice TV: Breakout Show iZombie Nominated
2016 Leo Awards[54] Best Cinematography in a Dramatic Series Michael Wale for "Zombie Bro" Nominated
Best Make-Up in a Dramatic Series Amber Trudeau, Malin Sjostrom, Cory Roberts and Rebekah Bak for Method Head Won
Teen Choice Awards[55] Choice TV Show: Sci-Fi/Fantasy iZombie Nominated

References

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  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.
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  14. http://www.ibtimes.com/izombie-season-1-spoilers-6-things-we-learned-about-new-cw-show-sxsw-1848946
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  25. "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.
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External links

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