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Movies => Bad Movies => Topic started by: Dr. Kobb on June 20, 2005, 09:30:18 AM



Title: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Dr. Kobb on June 20, 2005, 09:30:18 AM
No, not another reality show(yet!), but I was thinking, with the breakout success of the new Battlestar Galactica series and it's overwhelmingly dark tones, why not have a TV-series based on a group of people trying to survive a "Day of the Dead"-style scenario.  Grim premise, granted, but if they didn't screw it up too badly, it could be terrific.  Hell, they could have prominent actors and actresses as 'guest'-zombies every week!  What would they call it?  Who would you choose as leads?



Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: odinn7 on June 20, 2005, 09:40:06 AM
To put something like this on TV, you would need to omit one element that many of us zombie fans need in a zombie movie: gore, lotsa gore.



Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Menard on June 20, 2005, 09:45:26 AM
Seen any of the CSI shows?



Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: odinn7 on June 20, 2005, 10:03:44 AM
If you're referring to CSI as in blood and guts, it's still not gore as you would get from a zombie movie. It's also looked at differently. CSI could almost be considered on an educational level because of what the subject is dealing with (I said "almost" so don't get out of hand on that comment) and censors will allow certain things because of this. For example, Dr. Ruth in the late 70's and early 80's talked about stuff that horrified people but she was allowed to do it on TV and the radio because it was "educational". No other shows were allowed to use those words at the time and talk about the things that she did the way she did it. I doubt the censors would look at a show that includes gruesome things now and then in the name of solving a crime the same way that they would look at a show that deals with zombies taking huge bites out of people and pulling intestines out onto the floor. My opinion of course but I just can't see a show like this being allowed because of this and if they did allow a zombie show, it would be so watered down that nobody (except possibly for naughty little kids) would want to watch it.



Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Menard on June 20, 2005, 11:13:21 AM
But ain't zombies educational? They could call it the eating habits of the recently departed. Think of it; where would Scott be if it weren't for his zombie education? (:



Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Jim H on June 20, 2005, 07:08:15 PM
They could also just have it be shown at 11 PM or midnight.  There aren't any governmental censors (the FCC) after 10 PM.


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: odinn7 on June 21, 2005, 07:48:25 AM
There's plenty of censoring done after 10 PM. You see the same chopped up versions on SciFi after 10 that are on before 10. Granted, it may not be as strict in theory, but it's still there. Bottom line, I defy anybody to point out a basic cable channel that will show us a zombie film that has not been cut. The closest I can remember is years ago NotLD was shown on MTV supposedly uncut but I attribute that to the fact that the movie is older and it was B&W. Nobody's going to show Dawn of the Dead or anything like it in full blown, head exploding, flesh eating, intestine spilling color on a basic cable channel as much as I would like to see it. There's too many groups out there complaining about every bad thing that they see or hear.



Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: DaveMunger on June 21, 2005, 07:27:22 PM
How about if they make it less gory, but more scary, like Jaws? How about a show about real zombies, like in Haiti? That way, it's educational, although again, probably not that gory.


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: nobody on June 21, 2005, 07:56:35 PM
Is everyone forgetting cable channels like HBO, Showtime, etc? It wouldn't have to be a basic cable series.

The only real problem I see in producing such a thing would be trying to keep it interesting. After a while I imagine the premise would get old and tired. Perhaps if it was a miniseries, or a single season effort, then it wouldn't wear out it's welcome.

I'd definitely tune in for the first episode, though, regardless.


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Zapranoth on June 21, 2005, 09:57:07 PM
It could sorta become a Stubbs the Zombie sort of thing, with main characters, and perhaps certain running gags...  lotsa brain eating... a dancing midget singing backwards... a log lady... you know.

(It totally wouldn't fly.  But that doesn't mean that it's right that it totally wouldn't fly.  Or maybe that is right.)

By the way, if you are into video games at all, you've gotta play this (http://www.stubbsthezombie.com/main.html) when it comes out.


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Dr. Kobb on June 21, 2005, 11:27:30 PM
It's a risky proposition, but if they played it right, it could be gold.  I could see this on even a basic cable station like Sci-Fi(they played Brian Yuzna's gory Lovecraft tribute, "Necronomicon" virtually unedited, and it's a gory enough movie).  I'm a big zombie movie fan, but I don't automatically need the gore.  It helps to keep the Italian zombie flicks from being totally sleep-inducing, I'll grant.  If I needed gore that badly, I'd be visiting ogrish.com.  Plenty of wet stuff there.  Real-deal, too.

The recent "Dawn of the Dead" remake wasn't really all that gory, but it was nonetheless effectively scary and intense.  While the original splatterfest "Dawn of the Dead" is one of my favorite horror movies EVER, I don't think it'd be absolutely necessary to have gut-munches every episode.  Often, the best horror movies/stories allow the viewers/readers' imagination to fill-in-the-blanks, which can often be more effective(at least if you're a sick little puppy like me).


In the show I'd like to someday see, it would as often as not be the fault of the humans(or other humans that the core group might run across/interact with) that would have as much impact on survival as the zombies.  As for the zombies, I'd have to roll with the shambling, slower-moving style rather than the sprinting-style.

As the series roll along, some characters would no doubt perish, but they might pick up new members, all the while, running into a variety of kooky humans who have found ways to keep themselves safe, if only for a temporary time.  They might meet crazy militia-types, military-types ala "28 Days Later", people living in an underground bunker, ala "Day of the Dead", roving bands of people in armor-reinforced vehicles and such.



Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Scott on June 22, 2005, 07:33:41 AM
I think it could work, but they would have to hint at a surprise element throughout the series along with some interesting characters. At the end something very unpredictable and meaningful in a archtypical way would have to happen. The series would have to have a planned conclusion. Making it maybe a one season show. The problem might be that TV producers can't let go of and try to milk the life out of everthing which would ruin a good ending. I don't think they  know when to stop in some cases because even if they had a planned conclusion and it became very successful they would still try to bring it back the next year.

Even in CSI (I haven't watched the show much) I don't think we have seen intestines being devoured lately.

As for my Zombie education I think I still have about four films I'd wish to view. : ) Also looking forward to LAND OF THE DEAD.



Post Edited (06-22-05 07:53)


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Master Blaster on June 22, 2005, 11:34:52 AM
Name - World of the Damned
Leads - Bruce Campbell and Tom Savini
Premise - The world is overun by zombies. Bruce Campbell is the leader of a zombie extermination squad trying to restore order to society. Tom Savini is the leader of a maurading biker gang. Both groups are extremely well armed and unbalanced (Bruce's side, severely militaristic and almost facist, Tom's side gone almost completely primitive). The two groups are at war with eachother among the hordes of walking dead. Awesomeness ensues. You could have episodes where one side tries to use zombies against the other, where they have to team up in order to survive, where they fight over resources, etc. Guest stars should all be horror movie legends like Argento, Romero, Joseph Pilato, Robert Englund, etc. No big name actors or rockstars to screw it up.


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Alan Smithee on June 22, 2005, 01:11:26 PM
I don't know about this idea. You've seen one zombie movie, you've them all.


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: nobody on June 22, 2005, 07:49:29 PM
Alan Smithee: "I don't know about this idea. You've seen one zombie movie, you've them all."

The reason you're totally right, Alan, is because most everyone jumps on the same burnt out bandwagon all too quickly. For example- and no offense to Master Blaster- but the idea to give Tom Savini yet another zombie movie roll plays right into that "same old crap" catagory. Also, Tom is too comical to cast in a serious zombie movie or TV show. If you saw Tom's name in the opening credits you'd know you were in for yet another goofy zombie feature. The only reason Tom was good in the "Dawn of the Dead" remake was because the director hacked and slashed his performance in the editing room, keeping only the small, quality tidbits for the big screen.

But fresh zombie-related premises are still quite possible. It would just take a good writer to create them- a writer who is a fan of zombies, but not stale zombie movies.


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Alan Smithee on June 22, 2005, 11:20:46 PM
You can only do so much with Zombie movies. They all have essentially the same plot. And what seperates a Grade A zombie movie from a Grade Z zombie movie is the quality of the fx/gore/make-up. Everything else is virtually the same.

I imagine there are some people here that have seen practically every Zombie movie there is out there and will defend this genre. But I've seen a handful of Zombie movies in my day, and they all seem to be interchangable.


Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Dr. Kobb on June 23, 2005, 07:12:42 AM
Well, yes and no.  I mean, the same could be said about most any genre.  Westerns, gangsters, peplum, at this point in time, and in this day and age, everything's been done to death.

I think a decent writer could bring life into a series such as this.  Fer instance, few zombie movies propose much of a reason for the dead rising beyond shifty things like radiation or a passing comet, etc.  A series might delve into some background there.  Perhaps the dead return due to some horrid mistake at a secret weapons experimentation facility?  Y'know, maybe the military is trying to create a super-soldier and it gets out of hand.  Some of THESE zombies could be still around, maybe as a sort of Uruk-Hai of the dead?  Heck, I dunno.

Or, the producers could look into the apocalyptic nature of the show.  Maybe get kinda mystical with it, with Satan coming to rule the Earth on top of the whole plague of zombies?

Or, we can all just go back to watching "Super Nanny" and "Trading Spaces"...

Hrrumph.



Title: Re: Zombie TV(Well, why not?)
Post by: Master Blaster on June 23, 2005, 11:01:44 AM
My show is soo original and awesome. you just didnt "get it" : )