Is this THE stupidest premise you ever heard of or what?

Just a very brief one here, while most of us are dealing with more serious stuff…

I got an email last night from Netflix urging me to watch a new series called “iZombie,” and here is the premise:

A medical student-turned-zombie tries to retain her humanity by eating brains at the morgue and finds she has an uncanny new gift for solving crimes. More Info

Yeah… I’m gonna skip that, because I’m afraid that watching something that stupid would eat my brain…

21 thoughts on “Is this THE stupidest premise you ever heard of or what?

  1. Dave Crockett

    I don’t know who “The CW” is aiming its programming toward, but they certainly have missed the mark in my household. Their new catchphrase is “Dare to Defy”. WTF is that supposed to mean, anyway? The ONLY thing we ever watch on the local CW affiliate is the 10 p.m. news (which is produced by the CBS affiliate’s staff). I can’t think of a single CW program that we have ever even paused to consider, including iZombie which is no entering its new season and spinning reruns to Netflix…

  2. Brad Warthen Post author

    Now, see, that shows I was out of it. I didn’t realize this was on CW or that there has been a whole season already. I thought this was some Netflix-original series they were announcing.

    So now I know whom to blame…

    I wonder what the pitch for this was like: “It’s ‘Walking Dead’ meets ‘Dexter’ meets ‘Quincy M.E.’…”

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      I think of “The Walking Dead” as the gold standard, as the “real-life” zombie depiction.

      When I see something like “World War Z,” I think, “Everybody knows zombies don’t move like THAT. Haven’t these people seen ‘Walking Dead’?”

      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        Not that everything on the Walking Dead is realistic.

        I can suspend disbelief on the whole zombie apocalypse thing. I can even, if I strain a bit, believe that the survivors put up with that hyper-irritating Andrea for as long as they did.

        The one really incredible thing is seeing average people score head shot after head shot on moving walkers at something like 20 and 30 feet away, with handguns. THAT beggars belief…

        1. Brad Warthen Post author

          Also… ahem… when they show that scan of a walker’s brain at the CDC, you see that the active part of the brain is tiny, like golf-ball sized, and right at the very center.

          And yet, any blow to pretty much any part of the head puts them down. Which doesn’t seem likely…

    2. Brad Warthen Post author

      Speaking of walkers…

      If you see me staggering down the street, snuffling and snarling inarticulately, do NOT shoot me in the head. I’m still alive. It’s just that the last few hours, I’ve been here at the ADCO office drinking one glass after another of tap water, not thinking anything of it…

      And then someone reminded me of the boil-water advisory. Which was dropped where I live a couple of days back, but is still in effect downtown.

      Great… Hey, at least I was drinking from the filtered tap…

  3. Karen Pearson

    You’ll probably be ok, unless of course it turns you into a zombie. If so, please post.

  4. Jim Cross

    “iZombie,” like “The Walking Dead” is based on a comic book. It has received very favorable reviews and has performed well for the CW. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 91% approval rating and its critical consensus states “An amusing variation on the zombie trend, iZombie is refreshingly different, if perhaps too youth-oriented to resonate with adult audiences.” I would point out that the premise of any number of popular and critically praised shows would sound stupid if made as a typical Hollywood pitch. After all, you could describe “The X-Files” as “FBI Agents chasing aliens,” “M*A*S*H” as “docturs operate on wartime casualties–hilarity ensues,” or how “Star Trek” was actually described (even titled) as “Wagon Train to the Stars.” It’s not my cup of tea but it appears to be a lot smarter than it might first appear on the surface.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Just as “Firefly” is “Space Cowboys.” And awesome…

      I think the “youth” thing is key. Adults will only go so far with high-concept…

    2. Brad Warthen Post author

      Speaking of graphic novels and the like…

      I am currently reading my birthday gift, “The Comic Book Story of Beer: The World’s Favorite Beverage from 7,000 BC to Today’s Craft Brewing Revolution,” and enjoying it very much…

      1. Norm Ivey

        It’s on my wish list. Your recommendation means I’ll have to purchase it now.

        I’m reading The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer right now. One of the better ones for getting to know beer styles and their differences, and it has a few craft beer recipes. (We made a stout stew a couple of weekends ago.) It takes just the right tone for writing about beer. Informative and accurate, but not too serious.

        I’m also reading a history of Halloween that gives a little more depth than the Druid-Catholic history that’s pretty well-known. Turns out Halloween is a pretty good example of the melting pot concept.

  5. Jeff Mobley

    I’ve actually seen this show, because it comes on after The Flash, which is pretty much my favorite show. iZombie (like the Walking Dead) is actually based on a comic book.

    We didn’t bother to watch iZombie after the first few episodes. We already watch too much TV. But The Flash – I’m glad it’s back (Season 2 started this past Tuesday).

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