I am not a big fan of MTV. Most of their shows never caught my interest except the Hard times of RJ Berger. The only time I ever watch MTV is for the music awards, movie awards, and music videos. However, On August 29 MTV started to catch my interest. They debut a new show called "Death Valley." This show is a mix between walking dead and cops, but funnier. They have all your favorite classic characters; zombies, vampires, and werewolves. This is more of a comedy than anything else, but it still has the horror element of blood and guts that will keep you entertained while watching it. If you are a horror fan like myself than this show will guarantee to keep you entertained. The show brings a talented cast of actors and actress. The show stars Bryan Callen(Capt Frank Dashell), Caity Lotz(Officer Kirsten Landry, the Rookie), Bryce Johnson(Officer Billy Pierce), Texas Battle (Officer John-John Johnson), Charlie Sanders (Officer Joe Stubeck), and Tania Raymonde as Officer Carla Rinaldi.
The plot of the series is about vampires, werewolves, and zombies mysteriously appear in the streets of California San Fernando Valley, formely known as Death Valley. A camera crew follows the cops that capture the monsters. The newly formed Undead Task Force, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department created to combat the emergence of monsters in Death Valley. This show does demonstrate the brave men and women of the law working the streets of Death Valley, the toughest beat in the United States. The police department does a good job in keeping the civilians of Death Valley safe to contain the zombie infection, arresting the suspects in the blood for sex ring, and the many werewolves that cross their paths. The zombies are horrific and disgusting, the vampires are dangerous, intelligent blood suckers, and the werewolves are beastly and strong.
So far, there have been only two episodes that were aired. The pilot episode and the help us help you episode. I only watched the help us help you episode and I was impressed. I will have to say the cops did have me laughing quite a bit.
After watching one episode, I will have to say my favorite character of the show has to be Capt Frank Dashell. He was hysterical in the scene when him and officer Landy responded to the house call where the couple heard noises in their attic thinking it was a zombie when it was a rat. Before He goes into the attic he tells the couple how him and officer Landy are simply partners not partners that get sexually involved but simply partners (It's funnier if you watch the episode). Officer Landy talks him into taking care of the rat problem instead of having the couple call animal control. That is where the fun begins. The Captain eventually takes care of the rat problem, but almost catches the house on fire in the process. Other scenes I enjoyed with him in it was the beginning when they presented the Help us help you poster for the monster awareness campaign and the cops kept persuading him it was a gay poster. The Captain replies by saying "We are all God's children, when the lights go down we are all the same." You can't forget about when He tells Officer Landy the story about how his partner gets bit and turns into a werewolf. The line he said to officer Landy will probably be one of the best lines in the series, "I talk to his wife, last full moon she had her first orgasm."
Other characters I enjoyed were Officer Pierce and Stubeck. Officer Stubeck reminds me of the Angel that sits on the left of your shoulder and Officer Pierce would be the devil that sits on your right shoulder. Officer Stubeck seems to be the more compassionate officer on the force and believes in giving people a second chance and is very optimistic. He demonstrates that towards the vampire, Sophia. He tries to persuade her to give up the life of blood for sex and start fresh. He is persistent about taking her home because he wants to make sure she does the right thing. She tells him she will try to give up her life even though she needs blood to survive because that's what vampires feed on. While Officer Pierce on the other hand is being mean towards her and insulting her the whole time because he knows she is a vampire and will never change. He is downright cold hearted and retarded and he proves that at the begining of the episode after he saves his ex girlfriend from being bitten by a zombie, but minutes later she eventually gets bitten after they get in an argument. He doesn't care about the protection of his community, but only to collect a paycheck. I feel he is a good character for the series.
Officer Carla Rinaldi and Officer John Johnson are the bad asses of the task force. Officer John Johnson is always carrying his trusty baseball bat around just waiting to knock a homerun off the head of a zombie while Carla Rinaldi is famous for her head shots on the many zombies that she has killed so far in the series. Even though both of these officers are the muscle of the group, they still keep a good sense of humor under the circumstances. We can't forget about the Rookie, Officer Landy who is being mentored by Capt Frank Dashell. She seems to be a sweet, innocent officer who genuinely wants to protect the community from the monsters, but give it time, she will be just like the other regulars.
Death Valley is a good show to watch if you are a big fan of the horror comedy films. If you like Reno 911 than you will definitely like the series. The show probably won't become a hit series and I am sure there are already bad reviews for it as we speak. Hell, We might be lucky if we even see a second season. There are a lot of one liners and lame jokes that seem more directed for a audience of teenagers instead of adults. If you decide to watch the show make sure you keep an open mind because if you expect it to be scary or even hilarious than you won't follow it after the third episode. What attracted me to the show is that I am a big fan of horror and I am also a fan of Bryan Callen. The other actors/actress I have never seen in my life. If you watch it, please be nice remember this is MTV we are talking about so don't except more. This review is only based off one episode. I do hope it continues to get better, but I hope it doesn't get worse. In my opinion, I like it the way it is. MTV did a good job by presenting a new product to their music audience to try to attract an horror audience to their network. If this doesn't become a success, which I don't think it will, at least it will become a cult classic one day. I will make an effort to continue to follow the show as much as I can or at least until the walking dead comes to AMC next month.