Milly Gaines
Santa Clarita Diet is an American horror-comedy series created by Victor Fresco for Netflix. The show follows married real estate agents, Sheila and Joel, whose lives take a dark turn when Sheila dies and comes back as a zombie. As Sheila and Joel navigate her new cravings for human flesh and primal instincts, they seek a cure for her condition. The show received generally positive reviews for its cast, humour, and engaging premise, although the level of gore might not be to everyone's taste. One of the doctors featured in the show is Dr. Cora Wolf, a scientist focused on the undead, portrayed by Portia de Rossi.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Genre | Horror Sitcom |
| Creator | Victor Fresco |
| Streaming Platform | Netflix |
| No. of Seasons | 3 |
| Main Cast | Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Thomas Lennon, Ramona Young, Sydney Park, Grace Zabriskie, DeObia Oparei, Jonathan Slavin, Joel McHale, Maggie Lawson, Zachary Knighton, Jee Young Han, Ethan Suplee, Shalita Grant, Matt Shively, Linda Lavin, Goran Visnjic, Portia de Rossi, Markie Post, Patton Oswalt, Ryan Hansen |
| Plot | A married couple who are real estate agents in Santa Clarita, California, experience a change in their mundane lives when the wife, Sheila, dies and turns into a zombie with a craving for human flesh |
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What You'll Learn
Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant star as realtors
Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant star in the Netflix original series Santa Clarita Diet as realtors Sheila and Joel, a married couple living in Santa Clarita, California. The show centres around the couple's quiet lives, which take a dark turn when Sheila dies and becomes a zombie. As Barrymore and Olyphant's characters navigate Sheila's new undead state, they must also deal with her cravings for human flesh and her newly impulsive and primal personality.
The show was created by Victor Fresco, who also serves as showrunner, and premiered on Netflix on February 3, 2017. The first season received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the excellent cast, frequent laughs, and engaging premise. However, it was noted that the level of gore might not be to everyone's taste. The show's setting in Santa Clarita was chosen to reflect the middle-class nature of its residents, while the lead characters' profession as realtors allowed them to interact with a variety of people and maintain a "forced friendliness".
In addition to starring in the series, Barrymore and Olyphant also served as executive producers, alongside Fresco, Aaron Kaplan, Tracy Katsky, Chris Miller, Ember Truesdell, and Ruben Fleischer. The show ran for three seasons, from 2017 to 2019, and featured a range of guest stars, including Cara Santana, Eva, and Karl T. Wright.
Santa Clarita Diet is an American horror-comedy sitcom that blends humour and gore, offering a unique take on the zombie genre. While the show received positive reviews for its acting, cast, and premise, it also sparked some controversy with its advertising in Germany, where posters depicting a human finger sliced like currywurst were criticised for glorifying violence. Despite this, the show developed a dedicated fan base, with many praising its smooth acting and wicked humour.
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Sheila becomes a zombie with human flesh cravings
In the Netflix horror-comedy series *Santa Clarita Diet*, Sheila Hammond (played by Drew Barrymore) becomes a zombie and starts craving human flesh. The series centres on Sheila and her husband Joel (played by Timothy Olyphant), a pair of real estate agents living in Santa Clarita, California, whose lives take a dark turn when Sheila dies and becomes a zombie.
Sheila's transformation is sudden and dramatic. In the first episode, she vomits a "crazy amount" of yellow liquid and expels a shrivelled red ball that is most likely an organ. From there, she is dead but still alive, with a radically altered personality that is more primal and impulsive, and a craving for human flesh. The exact cause of her transformation is unclear, but it is likely that she has contracted a zombie virus. Sheila herself wonders if she could have contracted it from eating clams at a restaurant.
Sheila's new cravings lead her to kill and eat Gary West, a realtor and the Hammonds' co-worker. She also kills and eats Dan Palmer, a sheriff's deputy and the Hammonds' neighbour. Although she is undead, Sheila still needs to eat, and she finds that human flesh is the only thing that satisfies her hunger. She is initially able to eat non-human flesh in the form of raw beef and a snail, but once she tastes human flesh, she can no longer consume animal meat. Eating human flesh is not about sustenance for Sheila, but about enjoyment, and she compares it to an orgasm.
Sheila's condition causes significant disruption to her and Joel's lives, and they seek a cure for her condition while dealing with the consequences, including her new cravings and altered personality. They also have to navigate their relationships with their neighbours and cultural norms, and try to get to the bottom of the potentially mythological mystery of the zombie virus.
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The show's advertising sparked controversy in Germany
The advertising campaign for the Netflix show Santa Clarita Diet sparked controversy in Germany in February 2017. The show, starring Drew Barrymore as a flesh-eating zombie, was promoted with billboards depicting a sliced-up human finger. The image was designed to resemble currywurst, a popular German fast-food dish. The billboard, hung in Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, where the Berlin Film Festival was recently held, was accompanied by food trucks serving the sausage dish.
The German public found the advertisement campaign to be in poor taste, with more than 50 complaints filed to Germany's advertising regulator, the Deutscher Werberat. The regulator cannot force advertisers to remove ads but can advise them to do so. The complaints alleged that the advertisement was "offensive to children and young people" and "disgusting", glorifying violence and inducing fear.
Netflix took swift action and voluntarily pulled the graphic advertisements from across Germany. A spokesperson from the Deutscher Werberat confirmed that the streaming service had immediately stopped the campaign upon receiving the complaints. Less graphic ads for the show continued to run in other cities.
The controversy surrounding the advertising campaign for Santa Clarita Diet highlights cultural sensitivities and the importance of considering local contexts when promoting content internationally. While the show's creators likely intended to capture the attention of potential viewers with edgy and provocative marketing, the campaign ultimately sparked outrage and negative attention. This incident serves as a reminder that what may be considered humorous or entertaining in one cultural context can be perceived as offensive and inappropriate in another.
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The show has received positive reviews
The Netflix original series Santa Clarita Diet has received generally positive reviews from critics. The first season of the show received a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 78% based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 7.20/10. Metacritic reports that the first season received "generally favourable reviews" with a score of 67 out of 100, based on 30 critics. Rotten Tomatoes's critical consensus for the first season reads:
> "Santa Clarita Diet serves up an excellent cast, frequent laughs, and an engaging premise – but the level of gore might not be to everyone's taste."
The second season of the show received even more positive reviews, with a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 89% based on 19 reviews and an average rating of 7.85/10. The critical consensus for the second season states:
> "Santa Clarita Diet rides the momentum of its freshman season with non-stop comedic gore and a big heart that bleeds – profusely – for its lovable characters."
Drew Barrymore, who stars in the show, has been praised for her performance, with one review stating that she "shines in a stylised affair that revels in a refreshing juxtaposition of viscera with middle-class suburbia." Another review calls the show "pretty funny and entertaining" with "perfect smooth acting and wicked humour."
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The show has a range of directors and writers
The show's setting was chosen by Fresco, inspired by his own experience growing up in San Fernando Valley. The choice of Santa Clarita was deliberate, due to its middle-class residents, and the profession of realtors for the central characters was chosen to get them "out into the world".
The show has a range of writers, with Fresco writing the pilot episode. Other writers include Steve Leff, Tina Healy, and Michael Hobert, who each contributed two episodes to the first season. The show's directors include Andy Fickman, who directed the pilot, and Beth McCarthy-Miller, who directed two episodes in the first season.
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Frequently asked questions
'Santa Clarita Diet' is an American horror-comedy sitcom that centres on a husband and wife real estate team, Joel and Sheila Hammond, whose lives take a dark turn when Sheila dies and comes back as a zombie.
Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant star as Sheila and Joel Hammond, alongside Thomas Lennon, Ramona Young, Sydney Park, Grace Zabriskie, DeObia Oparei, Jonathan Slavin, Joel McHale, Maggie Lawson, Zachary Knighton, and more.
'Santa Clarita Diet' was a Netflix original series.
