Kellita Smith
DJ Qualls
Michael Welch
Keith Allan
Anastasia Baranova
Tom Everett Scott
Harold Perrineau

Created by:
Karl Schaefer
Craig Engler

2014-
Action, Drama, Horror
Syfy
TV-14

Syfy’s “Z Nation” must be kidding. It’s a “new” zombie series that should be known as “The Walking Dead: Piggyback Edition.” Of course, there’s an outbreak of zombies (a “Zompocalypse”). …

The series focuses on the time period starting in year three, which is three years after the start of the outbreak. (There’s a brief glimpse of year two at the beginning of the pilot episode.) Of course, civilization has been displaced. Of course, people travel in groups and have mistrust for outsiders. Of course, of course, of course. …

“Z Nation” does have good production values, but everything does nowadays (even Lifetime’s “The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story” did). Those values aren’t particularly great, though.

The crux of this show’s problems is the writing and the acting. The writing is an amalgamation of better to much better zombie material: It’s a blend of “28 Weeks Later” and “The Walking Dead.” But this time, there’s a potential cure that (or who) needs to be taken from the East Coast to California in order to immunize humanity from the zombie virus. That’s not enough of a twist to set this show apart.

At the beginning of the pilot, they throw viewers immediately into the action. But we don’t know these people, so much of the impact is lost. In regards to the acting, it’s mostly stilted and poorly timed during the pilot. It seems like the actors didn’t have enough time with the material to nail it. Some of these actors know what they’re doing, for the most part, so I don’t think it’s just their fault. Was this a rush job? The rhythms just aren’t smooth enough to compel.

Unlike its recent predecessors in zombiedom, “Z Nation” tries to provide more action and a bit of humor to justify its existence. It could work as a spoof of the genre, which started as a criticism of contemporary society, but it’s neither funny enough nor does it go far enough to pull that off. They even held back on the zombie baby that was thrown into the mix. Yes, zombie baby. That could’ve been a lot of campy fun. They did cast DJ Qualls as a military communications officer, though. But he seems out of place, because this show doesn’t seem like it wants to be an actual comedy. Is it supposed to be or not?

The ultimate question is: Why was this made? Just to capitalize on the voracity of the fan base of “The Walking Dead” while that show’s on hiatus?

Instead of taking it to “The Walking Dead,” “Z Nation” settles for its scraps. It’s so sad, because “The Walking Dead” isn’t infallible. There’s room to improve on that show’s ideas, but “Z Nation” certainly isn’t the show to do it.

Verdict: Pretty Bad to Whatever

About: (Source: znation)

Zombies invade Syfy! A group of survivors must cross the country with a possible cure for the zombie apocalypse.