Z-Nation! (1 Viewer)

Okay, many moons ago I had this to say about Z-Nation (from the Halloween Challenge thread):

At least someone out there is enjoying it. I'm finding the show eye-rollingly bad - and this is coming from someone who enjoys the hell out of bad movies. It's just boring as dishwater.

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and then. . . .

Why do I keep watching this? It's such a terrible, badly written show with thinly written characters I cant be bother give two shits about. Is it a comedy? is it horror? Is it drama? I don't know - and it fails on all fronts. It's not funny, has zero suspense and as mentioned above, dumb ass characters doing dumb ass things. It's like it's doing it's level best to make the terrible episodes of Walking Dead look like works of art.

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I would go on throughout the month tolerating the show, watching it because it was Halloween. And then, something happened - the show found it's legs about half-way through. The characters started getting fleshed out, the story started being engaging and I found myself actually enjoying the series, so much so - well, let me cross-post this:

Well, color me shocked. I actually came around on this series. The season ending was actually really, really good! I found myself going from tolerating these characters to actually going "Oh shit! How do they get out of this?!?!?" - and man, how in the world do they pick up for season two from here? They've painted themselves into a serious corner with . . . . well, go watch for yourself.

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So yes, I came to realized that instead of being a cheap walking dead knockoff, it's actually - well, lets face it - it still probably got grenlit because of the Walking Dead, but I learned to stop making comparisons. One is drama and one is goofy zombie killing fun. If you passed the show up because the weak start to the season (and yes, I stand by those early day comments - the show was terrible back then), go try later on in the season. You might find yourself shocked like me!

I watched a good number of them yesterday with the marathon on SyFy. I have to say that my impression is right in line with your first two quotes. I didn't find my opinion changing to match your third quote however. I kept watching because I'm interested in the subject matter, but I really did not warm up to it. I also kept watching because I was interested in what was going on with the Murphy character, which is the most interesting aspect of the show.

Someone told me about Z-Nation when it started and I thought it sounded like a Walking Dead rip-off, but I watched the first episode to see for myself. Sure, some of the characters seemed similar to WD, but the show was more over the top and faster paced. I enjoy it, maybe it takes place in the same world as WD.

Just watched the season finale. Has the show been renewed? I'm thinking they don't know yet,

I've been watching since the beginning. Guilty pleasure. It's Zombies and it's fun. Just don't expect TWD.

Joe S said:

Just watched the season finale. Has the show been renewed? I'm thinking they don't know yet,

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As far as I recall they did - the news dropped a couple of weeks ago.

Ah, here we are: SyFy renews 'Z Nation' - so yeah, for good or for ill, the show is coming back.

Tony J Case said:

As far as I recall they did - the news dropped a couple of weeks ago.

Ah, here we are: SyFy renews 'Z Nation' - so yeah, for good or for ill, the show is coming back.

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Great. Like he said, a guilty pleasure.

And it looks like the "Walking Dead = Drama, Z-Nation = Zombie Killin' Good Time" dichotomy rolls on. Here, enjoy this goofy as fuck trailer for season 2!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=16&v=ljJavSdQ50Y


And here, a recap trailer in case you forgot all about season 1:

One more trailer before this Friday's premiere, one that's less goofy:





Mind you, I'll probably save the episodes for the October Horrorthon thread.


Oh, and a goofy trailer for Zombie Saturdays (including a perfect use of The Gonk)

It's back !

Sadly I missed the opening episode. Ticks me off because they're not re-running it. Come on, it's the SyFy channel, which normally repeats things about 15 times in the next week. Oh well, I'll find it on-line somewhere.

Strange but enjoyable show. Way to many zombie movies and TV shows, but this one is really well done.

And DJ Qualls is one of those goofy actors that I really enjoy watching. I still remember when he did an episode of "The Big Bang Theory", he was great.

I am going to save the first couple of Z-Nations for the Halloween Challenge, but they're on my hard drive ready to go!

It's so weird that I'm really looking forward to the show, but I cant really be bothered to watch Walking Dead much anymore. How things have changed!

Stan said:

And DJ Qualls is one of those goofy actors that I really enjoy watching. I still remember when he did an episode of "The Big Bang Theory", he was great.

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He also has a recurring role on Supernatural as the hunter "Garth," another memorable character.

regarding DJ Qualls - is he even on this show anymore? Can't recall the last Citizen z appearance....

ChristopherG said:

regarding DJ Qualls - is he even on this show anymore? Can't recall the last Citizen z appearance....

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He's still listed on the DISH schedule as being in the cast, so hope he's still around.

Stan said:

He's still listed on the DISH schedule as being in the cast, so hope he's still around.

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and no sooner do we mention it and he's back...

Noticed that some of the outdoor settings looked awfully familiar. Boring beige with loads of pine trees.

Turns out, it was actually filmed in Spokane, WA, where I live. Never knew it was happening, not much publicity about it. They did film in an old hotel I recognized that's been vacant for decades, which should have clued me in.

The place is a dive, but somebody finally bought it, it's being remodeled and may become something more than the old eyesore that it is now.

The city itself is actually very nice, or I would have moved years ago. But go 10-15 miles out, and blah....

An interesting development - my mom came over the other day and wanted to watch the latest Walking Dead. Thing is, TWD hit the jump the shark point for me, so I haven't been watching Season 7 at all. I mention that it was Z-Nation upping it's game that really tipped the balance for me.

"Z-Nation? What's that?"

And so I fired up Netflix and put the first season on. It's been the first time for me watching it since the series premiere 3 years ago, back when I hate-watched the show instead of actually enjoying it. You know what? Those first 3 or so episodes aren't nearly as bad as I remember. Now that I know the characters, now that my expectations have been properly calibrated, I find that the first season is not as weak as I remember it.

Imagine that.

Stan said:

Turns out, it was actually filmed in Spokane, WA, where I live. Never knew it was happening, not much publicity about it.

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Apparently they've shot an episode at Fort Casey, about 30 miles from home. I though that was kind of cool!

Tony J Case said:

Walking Dead. Thing is, TWD hit the jump the shark point for me, so I haven't been watching Season 7 at all.

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I'm still watching, but barely. They really blew it Negan and Lucille. I'll give it a few more weeks, but it continues to move further down my list.

Z-Nation seems to be slipping this season, but I'll stick with it. The only reason I'm still watching is because it was filmed here, which is actually pretty cool. The only other thing I recall was "Vision Quest", back in the '80s, I was an extra in the bar scene, on screen quite a while.

What's the deal with the bluish/gray guy? Is he getting better? Seems like patches of his skin are improving.

They havent said one way or other other - yet - but it does look like Murphy is swinging back towards more human. I wonder if that'll come into play down the road?

To borrow from Tony's opening post....

Why do I keep watching this? It's such a terrible, badly written show with thinly written characters I cant be bother give two shits about. Is it a comedy? is it horror? Is it drama? I don't know - and it fails on all fronts. It's not funny, has zero suspense and as mentioned above, dumb ass characters doing dumb ass things. It's like it's doing it's level best to make the terrible episodes of Walking Dead look like works of art.
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Why oh why have I kept up with this? Well, no more. I said a few nice things earlier, but I'm doing a total 180°. After the past 2-3 episodes, I just can't go on with this. Truly awful, and not awful in the fun sense where it's "so bad it's good", it's just awful.

Writing, convoluted storyline, and some of the worst acting ever put on screen. Done.

Maybe just general burn-out on zombies. FTWD, TWD and now Z-Nation have all joined the trash heap for me.

Meanwhile I'm the other end of the spectrum. I've completely come around on the show - I like the characters (even an insufferable asshole like Murphy) and I want to see where they're going with this.

Mind you, I thought last weeks election parody was a weak episode. Eh, it's gonna happen from time to time - although I liked that "You told me he was dead!" "I thought he was - the dumpster was surrounded by zombies" dig at TWD.