Since today is Friday the 13th and some people are Blogging Like There’s No Tomorrow (ie, writing their blogs and livejournals as if the zombie apocalypse is happening around them), I thought I’d ask a really inane question that might be good creative fun for all involved.
How do you imagine the Zombie Apocalypse changing your favorite TV show?
Let’s say that a limited version of the ZA has taken place and approximately 1/3 of the world population has been killed. Since the virus/whatever is still around, there is still a general risk of outbreaks here and there (which might be a major issue in hospital shows).
Tell me about a TV show and how it is changed because of the Brave New Zombie World. What characters died? What characters were eaten? Which came back as zombies, and were they then shot by other characters? Which will remain zombies in minor recurring roles? How will the threat of zombie-ism change that show’s milleu and direction? How were some characters changed by the experience?
I keep thinking of House, Scrubs and Seinfeld, but I’m not an avid watcher of those shows and I’d like to see some prose about how those shows might be affected. (I keep picturing the usual Kramer “bust into the room”, only with him being a zombie.)
I can imagine that WWE would have to make some changes. Calling Mark Caloway “The Undertaker” and “The Deadman” might not be as generally appreciated by the audience after the zombie plague, unless of course he really is a zombie, in which case having him turn his opponent and then go after the audience might tend to discourage ticket sales.
The Dead Zone isn’t on anymore, but the name might be a bit more confusing after the plague.
Dead Like Me takes on a whole new meaning.
Shame I’m just not an avid TV watcher, at least not of sitcoms and stuff like that, or I’d be able to answer my own post with some really good plot twists. Can’t really pull off a decent Zombie Apocalypse story in the Battlestar Galactica universe, and unfortunately, versions of it are too overdone in The Whoniverse.
Supernatural would be about the same with just more people for Sam and Dean to kill.
Hell’s Kitchen would be a lot more fun. A zombie Ramsey would kick ass. “Arrrrrrrgh youuuuu stuuupid donkey youuu burnt the braaaaaaiiiiiins!”
Lost wouldn’t be that much difference. The islanders would be wanting to get off the island not just for the sake of going back home but to get more braaaaiiiiiiiins.
Smallville could go two ways. If Clark does not turn then he’d be fighting off a bunch of zombies but if he did then he probably eat everyone’s brains in just a couple of days.
Kramer would probably be one of the first infected. He’d burst into Jerry’s apartment out of habit, and of course attack Jerry. Elaine and George would happen by eventually, but have trouble getting buzzed in because Jerry wouldn’t have the mental capacity to hit the button. Once somebody let them in, they would arrive to see Kramer hunched over and eating the remains of Jerry.
The Law & Order franchises would certainly be interesting. For starters, New York would presumably have been the center of a very bad outbreak/ panic. At least half the show would have to revolve around the circumstances of functioning in a barely-restored-to-order city. Large parts of the city might be flagged as Uncleared Zones, and carrying a large caliber handgun would be a universal precaution. When every reported corpse could be a zombie, investigating crime scenes would begin by prodding the body with a long boathook while cops with shotguns stand by just in case. Heh, what if the deceased WAS a zombie? It would make gathering forensic envidence a little dicey. Unless she was very, very lucky Dr. Melinda Warner would probably not have survived the beginning of the outbreak, and the security at the morgue would be roughly the same as at a lab studying rabid gorillas. Certainly you would have stories in which murders were somehow zombie-related, such as using the zombie plague as a cover, etc.
Well, I was wrong about not being able to do it with Battlestar Galactica. Now would be the perfect point to turn it into Zombie Apocalypse.
Mmmm…Cylon Braaaaiiiiiinnnnnsss!
It could be done with Stargate SG1. As the zombie plague reaches Stargate Command, the mountain is sealed. Ongoing battles with zombies as they attempt to link up with Area 51 and other military bases. Attempts to recruit off-world humans and Jaffa to help. Trading with other worlds for necessary supplies and a desperate search for a cure. Zombie Gu’ould.
