Santa Clarita Diet

Santa Clarita Diet
Genre	Horror-comedy
Created by	Victor Fresco
Starring	Drew Barrymore Timothy Olyphant Liv Hewson Skyler Gisondo
Composer	John Debney
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	20 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Victor Fresco Tracy Katsky Aaron Kaplan Drew Barrymore Chris Miller Ember Truesdell Timothy Olyphant Andy Weil Jane Wiseman Brittany Segal Ruben Fleischer
Producers	Leila Cohan-Miccio Nancy Juvonen Jimmy Simons
Cinematography	Todd McMullen
Editors	Shawn Paper Andrew Doerfer Lawrence Maddox Steven Sprung
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	26–34 minutes
Production companies	Kapital Entertainment KatCo Flower Films Garfield Grove Olybomb Entertainment
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03) – present

Santa Clarita Diet is an American horror-comedy web television series created by Victor Fresco for the streaming service Netflix, starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. Fresco serves as the showrunner, and is an executive producer alongside Barrymore, Olyphant, Aaron Kaplan, Tracy Katsky, Chris Miller, Ember Truesdell, and Ruben Fleischer.

The single-camera series premiered on February 3, 2017 and consists of 10 episodes. The first season has received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the cast and premise, but criticizing the number of graphic scenes. On March 29, 2017, it was announced that Netflix renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on March 23, 2018.

Plot

Joel and Sheila Hammond are everyday suburban real estate agents in Santa Clarita, California. The couple face a series of obstacles when Sheila has a physical transformation into a zombie and starts craving human flesh. With Joel and the family trying to help Sheila through the trying time, they have to deal with neighbors, cultural norms and getting to the bottom of a potentially mythological mystery.

Cast

Main

• Drew Barrymore as Sheila Hammond, Joel's wife and Abby's mother
• Timothy Olyphant as Joel Hammond, Sheila's husband and Abby's father
• Liv Hewson as Abby Hammond, Sheila and Joel's daughter
• Skyler Gisondo as Eric Bemis, the Hammonds' neighbor, Lisa's son and Dan's stepson

Recurring

• Ricardo Chavira as Dan Palmer, a sheriff's deputy, Eric's stepfather and the Hammonds' neighbor
• Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Lisa Palmer, Dan's wife and Eric's mother
• Richard T. Jones as Rick, a Santa Monica police officer, the Hammond's neighbor, and Joel's friend
• Joy Osmanski as Alondra, Rick's wife
• Natalie Morales as Anne Garcia, a sheriff's deputy and co-worker of Dan's
• Thomas Lennon as Principal Novak, Abby's school principal
• Grace Zabriskie as Mrs. Bakavic, Novak's Serbian grandmother
• DeObia Oparei as Loki Hayes, a convicted felon
• Portia de Rossi as Cora Wolf, a scientist focused on the undead

Guest

• Nathan Fillion as Gary West, a realtor and the Hammonds' co-worker
• Andy Richter as Carl Coby, the Hammonds' boss
• Patton Oswalt as Dr. Hasmedi, a virologist
• Ryan Hansen as Bob Jonas, Lisa Palmer's lover
• Derek Waters as Anton, a conspiracy theorist
• Ravi Patel as Ryan, a convention goer
• Ramona Young as Ramona, a pharmacy worker whose unenthusiastic attempts to help customers trigger epiphanies in them
• Joel McHale as Chris (season 2), a realtor who is married to Christa
• Maggie Lawson as Christa (season 2), a realtor who is married to Chris
• Gerald McRaney as Ed Thune (season 2), a retired army colonel
• Zachary Knighton as Paul (season 2), the chill descendent of Serbian ancestors who has been tasked with pursuing the truth of the undead, no matter who or what stands in his way

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally released
1	10		February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
2	10		March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)

Season 1 (2017)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"So Then a Bat or a Monkey"	Ruben Fleischer	Victor Fresco	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Joel and Sheila Hammond are realtors leading a normal suburban life with their daughter Abby. They are trying hard to sell a house but while showing it Sheila begins to violently throw up copious amounts of yellow liquid, including what might be an organ. Joel takes Sheila to the emergency department but it’s slow and they go home. Sheila is acting oddly including an increased libido. Sheila shows the family that she had no heartbeat and her blood is thick. They then talk to Lisa’s son Eric who informs them Sheila is dead and undead, thus driven by her Id. Sheila is okay with her new state. Eric tells them Sheila must always be fed, and if she degrades they may have to kill her. Later, Sheila and Abby sneak out and buy a car then Sheila goes to party with her neighbors. Sheila and Joel's co-worker, Gary, shows up and entices Sheila into dancing with him when Joel finds them. They leave and Sheila thinks her new behavior might be who she really is. Sheila is at home when Gary comes by and tries to force himself on her, threatening to tell others she was unfaithful if she refuses. Sheila begin to lick his fingers, suddenly biting two of them off and begins to devour Gary in the backyard. Joel comes home, and walks into the backyard to see Sheila eating Gary. She tells Joel she wants to make this work as Joel looks on in astonishment and horror.
2	2	"We Can't Kill People!"	Ruben Fleischer	Victor Fresco	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
They bury Gary’s remains in the desert. Abby and Eric follow them discovering Sheila killed Gary. While covering up the murder Dan sees Joel spraying his grass in the middle of the night and gets suspicious. Joel consults a virologist but he thinks Joel is crazy. Dan comes to inspect the grass and Joel tells him they have ants. Abby ditches school with Eric. Joel tries to get Sheila to eat meat but she says since she ate Gary she does not want anything but humans. Joel suggests that maybe it is the freshness that matters. Sheila continues to act impulsively including killing a rooster. After they make the sale on the listing Sheila tells Joel she couldn’t eat the rooster. Joel reiterates that they cannot kill people. Joel and Sheila try to find an alternate food source at the morgue but Sheila can’t stand the cadaver flesh. Sheila’s hunger in growing so Joel tells her they are going to kill people so she can eat. They have been together since high school and he is not going to leave her now. Abby comes and sleeps in their bed because she is worried about the changes.
3	3	"We Can Kill People"	Marc Buckland	Clay Graham	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Joel and Sheila discuss balancing killing people and being parents. Abby is grumpy with them for being overbearing. They make a plan to find a bad person to kill. Dan talks to them about never having a sloppy kill referring to the ants. They get supplies for killing people. Joel smokes pot in the bathroom to calm down. Eric and Abby have lunch while ditching school where Abby’s friend leaves with her 26-year-old drug dealer boyfriend, but he breaks up with her. Joel and Sheila talk to Rick, their other neighbor who is a cop, looking for where to find people to kill. He says that a pedophile lives in the area and the couple consider killing him. Sheila and Joel overhear the teenagers talking about how bad the ex-boyfriend was and decide to kill him. Once Joel talked to him he decides to let him go much to Sheila’s annoyance. The teenagers go to the ex-boyfriend's house; one of them teargasses it and retrieves her friend's sweater. On the way home, Sheila and Joel have a road rage incident then Sheila kills the driver of the other car. They put him in the freezer in their storage unit hoping he will not be missed. They go to family dinner and all three of them tell the others how wonderful everything is.
4	4	"The Farting Sex Tourist"	Ken Kwapis	Michael A. Ross	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Sheila makes a smoothie from the body in storage then goes walking with her neighbors. She suggests the women should live life to the fullest. She tells them her new attitude is due to her new high protein diet. Joel goes to paranormal stores researching zombies. He finds two prints from Serbia that show someone vomiting up a red ball and then eating someone. Rick talks to the couple about their new car and then Dan interrupts bringing them more ant spray. Abby’s school calls them in and Principal Novak tells them Abby is missing school. They insist everything is normal. Sheila gets upset with Novak and she wants to eat him when he threatens to suspend Abby. Sheila tells Abby she should drop out causing Joel to confront Sheila about her behavior concluding he is not sure their family can survive it. Sheila talks to Eric who tells her the undead have no impulse control and she cannot change. Meanwhile Joel talks to Abby and they steal Rick’s motorcycle before they bond over freaking out about Sheila. Joel realizes Novak is Serbian. Dan sprays Joel’s yard for ants and finds Gary's finger.
5	5	"Man Eat Man"	Marc Buckland	Chadd Gindin	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Abby goes to the storage unit and finds the dead man in the freezer. Joel talks to Novak’s Grandmother for help translating the prints. She tells him it is an old story about zombies from a book that might have a cure. Sheila is reluctant about a cure at first as she likes the side effects of being a zombie but finally agrees she wants a cure. Joel finds a possible source for the book, Anton. Abby tells Eric about the dead guy she found. Eric tells Abby he found out his mom is having an affair. Joel asks Rick to run a check for Anton. Dan blackmails Joel into killing a guy named Loki. Joel tells Sheila that Dan knows about Gary. Sheila wants to kill Loki for food and is willing to go alone. Abby complains to Eric about her parent’s lying and he tries to kiss her. Sheila and Joel try to kill Loki and fail. Sheila is worried she bit Loki. Abby notices blood on Sheila’s briefcase but does not confront her mom about it. Loki is on the floor of a hotel room surrounded by vomit like Sheila was before.
6	6	"Attention to Detail"	Craig Zisk	Leila Cohan-Miccio	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Joel and Sheila stake out Loki and debate the possibility that he was turned into a zombie. With no resolution they go to a party at Dan’s house and Joel has to lie to Dan about Loki. Sheila realizes she left a pen with her contact information at Loki’s house. Abby and Eric have a hard time recovering from the kiss. Dan wants Joel to kill another guy who he claims is a bad guy but when Sheila goes to kill him it turns out to be the guy Lisa is having an affair with and she does not kill him. Abby and Eric plant a flash bang in Dan’s rose garden to freak him out. In the process they find a stash of money concluding Dan is a dirty cop. Joel runs into Loki’s friends and is held hostage. They knock him out but he is OK and he finds the pen. Joel and Sheila decide they are going to do everything together moving forward. Joel confronts Dan telling him he will not be killing people for him anymore. They get into a fight and Joel kills him with a shovel.
7	7	"Strange or Just Inconsiderate?"	Lynn Shelton	Ben Smith	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Joel and Sheila bring Dan’s body to their house and they make a plan to dispose of him. Sheila begins to worry about Joel, who is obsessed with retaining the family's "normality." Rick finds Anton for Joel. Abby finds Dan’s body in the tub and confronts her parents about lying to her. Abby tells Eric that Dan is dead and he is fine with it. Abby and Eric have a plan to help cover up Dan’s murder by revealing he is a dirty cop to the other cops. With the sheriff's department all over the neighborhood following Dan's disappearance, Sheila undertakes to eat him completely to hide the evidence but fails. Joel decides to take the remaining body parts out of the house in a cooler. The cops find Dan’s stash and with it Gary’s finger. Rick tells Joel that Gary’s disappearance is being blamed on Dan. While Sheila is taking a bath her little toe falls off.
8	8	"How Much Vomit?"	Steve Pink	Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Sheila keeps the fact that her toe has fallen off from Joel. As the police discover more about Dan's corrupt activities, Joel and Sheila hear that Loki is still alive and appears to have turned undead as well. They find him doing an acoustic performance at a local club, and he becomes obsessed with Sheila, forcing them to kill him when he tries to murder Joel. As Joel is coming to terms with Sheila's toe having fallen off, they are both shocked to notice that her right eye is now hanging out of her head.
9	9	"The Book!"	Tamra Davis	Sarah Walker	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Joel and Eric head to a paranormal convention to meet Anton, a popular and mysterious figure in the paranormal community, who claims to have an ancient book containing the cure for Sheila's condition. Anton accuses Joel of being a government agent, and when confronted later, admits he is a fraud and does not have the book—however Joel is approached by another attendee, who puts him in touch with the book's real owner, Dr. Cora Wolf. Meanwhile, Sheila tries to bond with Abby, as the two try to get her money back from the brother of the deceased chop shop owner.
10	10	"Baka, Bile and Baseball Bats"	Dean Parisot	Clay Graham	February 3, 2017 (2017-02-03)
Dr. Cora Wolf moves in with the Hammonds to work on a cure for the virus, which has previously only been tested on rats. Wolf tells Sheila that as her condition progresses, she will become uncontrollably violent and could harm her family and others. With Eric's assistance, Wolf synthesizes the cure, only requiring the final ingredient: the bile of a pure-born Serbian. Joel and Sheila visit Principal Novak's "baka" and attempt to get her to vomit by getting her drunk, however Novak calls the police and Joel is arrested and committed to a mental institution. Sheila gets Abby to chain her up in the basement, to prevent her harming anyone. She takes a call from a real estate client, telling them that she hopes either she or her husband "will be free next week".

Season 2 (2018)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
11	1	"No Family is Perfect"	Ken Kwapis	Victor Fresco	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
12	2	"Coyote in Yoga Pants"	Marc Buckland	Michael A. Ross	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
13	3	"Moral Gray Area"	Ken Kwapis	Clay Graham	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
14	4	"The Queen of England"	Adam Arkin	Chadd Gindin	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
15	5	"Going Pre-med"	Marc Buckland	Ben Smith	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
16	6	"Pasión"	Steve Pink	Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
17	7	"A Change of Heart"	Jaffar Mahmood	Melissa Hunter	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
18	8	"Easels and War Paint"	Steve Pink	Caitlin Meares	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
19	9	"Suspicious Objects"	Jamie Babbit	Romi Barta	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
20	10	"Halibut!"	Marc Buckland	Victor Fresco	March 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)

Production

Development

Fresco came up with the premise from wanting to make "a family show with an interesting approach that we haven’t seen before". The zombie angle also allowed Fresco to explore the concept of Narcissism stating that "the undead are the ultimate narcissists. They want what they want when they want it and will do anything to just have what they want and don’t care about other people’s needs"

For the setting Fresco drew from his own experience growing up in San Fernando Valley. Santa Clarita was chosen because of its middle class inhabitants. The Hammonds' profession of realtors was chosen because "It gets them out into the world" as well as the "forced friendliness" inherent to the profession.

Advertising Controversy

In February 2017, advertising for the show sparked criticism in Germany, where Netflix promoted the show with posters depicting a human finger sliced up like a currywurst, a popular German fast food dish. After receiving more than 50 complaints that the advertising was glorifying violence and inducing fear, especially in children, the German Advertising Council, a self-regulatory institution, forwarded the complaints to the company. Netflix then decided to end the campaign and remove all posters.

Critical reception

The first season of Santa Clarita Diet received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 74% based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus 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." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

External links

• Official website
• Santa Clarita Diet at IMDb