More Networks Creating Their Own Zombie Shows
Zombie shows are hot hot hot, and the big TV networks want to join the bandwagon. A number of zombie shows are being created for networks like Fox and ABC — by taking existing shows and “turning” them. How do you make a zombie show that way? Simple….you take the show’s center, the core appeal, the reason it’s amassed a fanbase that’s kept it on the air….and you cut the heart right out of it. The show becomes like unto a zombie, having lost its soul, shambling around aimlessly until it’s finally put out of its misery.
The easiest way to turn a show into a zombie is to find one that revolves around a couple or pairing, and end that pairing by getting rid of one of the actors. ABC announced today that, henceforth, Stana Katic would be eliminated from the cast of their show Castle as a “cost-cutting measure.” The series will return for Season 9, but only with its titular character Nathan Castle, and not with the woman that the last eight seasons has centered around his relationship with. Experts predict the same amount of longevity and fan devotion that was granted to CBS’s Beauty and the Beast (1989) after the Beauty was killed off, as well as NBC’s MacMillan and Wife, which was renamed just “MacMillan” in its last season (which we’re sure was coincidental).
Fox may have its own zombie show at the ready this fall if Sleepy Hollow is renewed for a fourth season. The quirky comedy-horror series found a massive fanbase in its first season due to the chemistry between its lead characters, which a revolving door of showrunners have tried endlessly to break up. New and secondary characters were forced onscreen and brought to the forefront in repeated efforts to say “Who needs Abbie? You’ve got THIS person!” None of them seemed to take, so the series will be turned into a zombie directly by eliminating actress Nicole Beharie from it entirely.
At the moment it is unknown if Sleepy Hollow will return, but it’s still on the table, and without American Idol to plug 1,000 holes in Fox’s schedule, the network is looking for some quick zombies. One confirmed zombie for the 2016-2017 season will be Prison Break, reanimated as a dessicated corpse well after it was cancelled and its premise was beaten into the ground.
When asked if they would be joining the zombie bandwagon too, a representative of CBS commented “It’s doubtful. We serve a demographic base of zombies, and we wouldn’t want to offend them.”