Given that “Walking Dead” is the most popular scripted series on American television, it may be fair to ask why there aren’t more zombie-apocalypse series shambling about.
And Syfy’s brainless, underfunded “Z Nation” may provide the answer to that question.
Dull, silly and devoid of interesting or relatable characters, “Z” has perhaps only one thing going for it: its zombies (like the ones in “World War Z” and James Gunn’s “Dawn of the Dead” remake) move fast enough to credibly take over the world.
Emanating from the producers of Syfy’s “Sharknado” series and the mind of writer Karl Schaefer – who also created the short-lived NBC sitcom “Eerie, Indiana” more than two decades ago – the “Z” pilot – which in its first hour provides suspense-free action sequences aplenty – proves more tedious than even the talkiest farm episodes of “The Walking Dead.”
Aware perhaps of the high bar set by some of the most recent “Walking Dead” episodes (“Look at the flowers, Lizzie!”), the witless “Z” pilot tries to compensate with dollops of lazy, poorly crafted humor.
The “Z” premise mirrors recent developments on “The Walking Dead,” with survivors of the zombie apocalypse engineering the cross-country transport of The One Man who may have the key to ending all the horror.
The “Z” cast is led by Tom Everett Scott (“That Thing You Do!” “Southland”) as a former national guardsman and D.J. Qualls (“Legit”) as an enlisted man who decides to turn his army communications equipment into a Top 40 station.
Caveat: I don’t find much entertainment value in “Sharknado” or any of the other Syfy original movies I’ve seen. If you do, you may enjoy “Z Nation.”
... The mundanely self-aware screenplay includes references to the zompocalypse and lines like “God, I hate moral dilemmas.” …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... why does SyFy Channel waste so much time and money making junk like this? …
... The show’s creators have been taking notes and believe they can improve [“The Walking Dead’s”] terrifying world. That kind of thinking should be encouraged; this show, not so much. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... There’s no question that “The Walking Dead” is more thoughtful than “Z Nation” with greater thematic and character depth. But ultra-low budget “Z Nation” – it cost less than $700,000 per episode versus at least $2.5 million per hour for most TV dramas – is a lot more fun in its series premiere …
... Unwilling to waste even a minute on plot or story ... …
10 p.m. Friday. Syfy.
