11 underrated shows you probably aren’t watching but should be
By Sundi Rose
iZombie, The CW
The premise: A promising young doctor, Olivia Moore (Rose McIver), goes to a party and is promptly exposed to a zombie virus via scratch to the arm. Olivia, now Liv, immediately starts to see herself change — her skin turns pale and her hair becomes a creepy shade of grayish white. Her dreams of being a cardiologist are dashed because being a zombie really puts a damper on the amount of sunlight and social interaction you can handle. She also has to break up with her dreamy hunk of an all-American boyfriend, Major Lillywhite (yes, really), played by the dashing Robert Buckley.
She’s forced to take a job as a medical examiner at the Seattle police department where she has easy access to brains, and once she eats them, she takes on the owner’s personality and has access to their memories. This is very handy for crime-solving and for her fellow ME, Ravi (Rahul Kohl), and detective partner, Clive (Malcolm Goodwin).
Why you’ll love it: It’s the most un-zombie show of all time. You won’t find any gross, decaying corpses dragging themselves through the woods or gratuitously violent head shots. Zombies are treated almost like “the other” and creator Rob Thomas injects the same wit and style into this show as he did on another female-led show, Veronica Mars.
Based on the DC/Vertigo universe graphic novel, the show has equal parts grit and young adult appeal. Sure, there’s the fair share of abs and cheekbones, mostly on the part of Robert Buckley, but it also has quite a bit of heart. And pluck. Even though it’s not getting a lot of mainstream attention, it has a loyal and vocal fanbase. The show knows what side of the bread is buttered, and you get everything you would want from a show about zombies, government conspiracies, biological warfare, clairvoyance, and solving crimes.
How to watch it: You can catch up on seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix, but you’ll have to head over to CWTV.com for season 3.