Rose McIver
Malcolm Goodwin
Rahul Kohli
Robert Buckley
David Anders

Developed by:
Rob Thomas
Diane Ruggiero-Wright

Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery
2015-
The CW

TV-14

The CW’s “iZombie” comes to us from the creator of “Veronica Mars,” Rob Thomas, and one of that show’s executive producers, Diane Ruggiero-Wright. And that’s no surprise: Like “Mars,” this show’s lead is a sleuthing female with voice-over duties. The difference lies in this show’s only significant distinguishing trait: The lead is a zombie. She’s not the kind of zombie that you might expect, though. As long as she eats human brain matter periodically, she’s able to function as any normal human would. But, in addition, she has access to some of the memories of the person whose brain she has eaten. (She eats the brains of dead people only, by the way.) If she goes too long without brain food, she’ll gradually turn into the classic zombie that we all know and love.

Before she became a zombie, she was an overachieving medical resident with the perfect fiancé. After becoming a zombie, she abandons both her career and her fiancé. She gets a job at the morgue as a medical examiner’s assistant, instead. How convenient for her. Her boss, the medical examiner, finds out about her (uh-hem) condition, but this makes him even happier to have her as an employee. (He hopes to find a cure.) A police detective who comes to the morgue for help isn’t as enamored; she and her boss tell him that she’s a psychic to account for her inexplicable knowledge of the details of one of his cases, but he doesn’t quite buy it. Well, not at first.

All of this sounds interesting, but it doesn’t play as interestingly as it sounds. This isn’t bad, though. Actually, it’s pretty good. But I want it to be even sharper. I had similar feelings about “Veronica Mars,” but this show is actually a bit sharper than that one. I also want this show to have even more of its comic book source material’s sensibility. The style is there, but it could be amped up much more. There’s too much of the procedural stuff and not enough of the zombie stuff. The two aren’t integrated seamlessly.

While the pilot shows promise, I don’t expect future episodes to pack more of a punch. Regardless, this show should work well for younger folk who want a procedural that has a hint of coolness. For me? I’m not so sure. We’ll see. I do have a bit of hope, though. (By the way, the “i” in the title stands for “I,” as in “I, Zombie.” It doesn’t stand for “Internet.” There’s a play on that, though.) …

I’m sorry; this just doesn’t give me enough to keep watching. It’s certainly not bad, though. And I think that The CW should keep in on the air.

Verdict: Somewhat Good

About: (Source: izombie)

Olivia “Liv” Moore (Rose McIver) was a rosy-cheeked, disciplined, over-achieving medical resident who had her life path completely mapped out…. until the night she attended a party that unexpectedly turned into a zombie feeding frenzy. As one of the newly undead, Liv is doing her best to blend in and look as human as possible. Her appearance now passes for “Goth,” with shockingly pale skin and nearly white hair, and her demeanor has gone from exuberant to exhausted.

The change in Liv is baffling to her mother (Nora Dunn), her former fiancé, Major (Robert Buckley), and her best friend and roommate, Peyton (Alexandra Krosney), who still has the high-energy, Type-A personality that Liv has completely abandoned. Despite her post-traumatic ennui, Liv has devised a way to resist her baser urges to devour fresh human brains – she’s taken a job in the Seattle coroner’s office. In this appropriately dead-end job, Liv can secretly snack on the brains of the many Jane and John Doe corpses that make a final stop in the morgue.

Despite carefully covering her tracks, Liv’s boss, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti (Rahul Kohli), discovers her secret and is surprisingly excited about the scientific possibilities. Even with her boss’ enthusiasm, Liv remains resigned to an eternity without hope or purpose, until she realizes that with every brain she consumes, she retains a portion of that person’s memories. Liv begins to experience visions from the point of view of the murder victims.

Much to the surprise of Dr. Ravi and homicide detective Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin), Liv often has detailed knowledge of crime scenes and motives that she can’t easily explain. Posing as a psychic, she works with Detective Babineaux to investigate these crimes and discover who is responsible. It’s not the same as being alive again, but at least Liv can find purpose in her undead existence by helping Clive solve the murders of those who are indeed fully dead.