CW's iZOMBIE a Mid-Season Premiere to Die For

The CW Network has yet another DC Comics show to add to its programming schedule -- but don't expect any crossovers with THE FLASH or ARROW.

iZombie was the creation of comics veterans Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, and was part of DC's Vertigo line of horror comics. In the comics, the lead character was named Gwen, a girl who was a zombie who lived undetected among the living, but she had to eat a brain every month or lose her memories. Fortunately, her job as a gravedigger gave her ready access to food, at the cost of gaining the dead person's memories upon consumption of the brain.

The television adaptation of iZOMBIE replaces Gwen with Olivia "Liv" Moore -- yes, she's a zombie named "Live More" -- played by ONCE UPON A TIME's Tinkerbell, Rose McIver. Liv begins the series as a promising doctor, whose boyfriend urges her to have a night out with her friends on a yacht. What could go wrong? Cue a zombie attack. Liv gets bitten, returns from the dead, and before you know it she's pale, her hair is white, and she's given up medicine for a dead-end job at the morgue. Her family doesn't know what happened, and Liv can't really explain it to them without sending them off screaming for fire and pitchforks. As far as she knows, she's the only zombie in existence, and nobody's ever heard of them before.

Liv gets outed, however, by her co-worker, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, a breakout role for Rahul Kohli, who catches her dipping into the brains (with hot sauce). He volunteers to study her, to find out what causes the zombie condition. Meanwhile, Liv's last snack was a murdered Jane Doe, whose memories of her identity and crimes pop up in Liv's head just in time for an interview with investigating police officer Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin of BREAKOUT KINGS).

From the previews I've watched, this series has a lot of potential watchability. McIver brings some surprises to her character that makes her more than just someone who regurgitates knowledge from eaten grey matter. Kohli's Chakrabarti is immediately likeable, and Goodwin does a great job of being kept in the dark by the 'psychic' Liv. With interesting plot twists and some great character and story development, iZOMBIE is a mid-season premiere you'll simply die for. Premiering Tuesday, March 17, on the CW, right after a hotly anticipated new episode of THE FLASH.