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SpoilerTV - TV Spoilers

Zoo - First Blood (Pilot) - Advance Preview: "The animals take over"

Jun 30, 2015

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Premiering in a week, is CBS' latest summer addition Zoo. Along with returning series Under the Dome and Extant it rounds out a slew of unique concepts that CBS would never air during the regular season, but that the network instead opts to try out in summer. Ratings for Under the Dome's first season went through the roof, but waned during the second season, although they were still reasonable for summer television. Extant has seen pretty soft ratings in season 1, and I was surprised it was renewed for another season. Neither of the two returning shows have the benefit of having critical acclaim, so that doesn't help either. The question is: how will Zoo fare among them? I can't predict ratings, but I can tell you something about the show's pilot. CBS has been kind enough to send us a screener of the pilot, so here I am trying to give you an impression of what it looks like without giving too much away.

In case you haven't heard by now, the show is based on the novel of the same name by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge about a wave of violent animal attacks all over the globe. Basically the show asks the question: what if the animals that, for years, we have locked up, experimented on and whatever else suddenly decided to fight back and take over? The pilot starts with a flashforward in Botswana, where we meet Jackson Oz (James Wolk) and Abraham Kenyatta (Nonso Anozie), two of our main characters. They find an abandoned car in the middle of the savanna, which has blood all over it. Something happens and we go back to six hours earlier to Kituko Safari Camp. It turns out Jackson and Abraham offer safaris in Botswana and they live in that camp. The two friends go to Abraham's cousin Simon, who is running things at a different safari camp. However, once there, they learn that something horrible has happened. Jackson and Abraham then head over to the savanna, leading to the aforementioned opening scene.

Meanwhile, two lions escape from a zoo in Los Angeles and kill three people. This piques the interest of LA Telegraph journalist Jamie Campbell (Kristen Connolly), who thinks a change in the lions' food had something to do with them attacking people. She also suspects that the director of the zoo might know something more. During Jamie's research, she comes across animal veterinarian Mitch Morgan (Billy Burke). Mitch, who is investigating the bodies of the dead lions, is someone who prefers the company of animals over that of people. He is initially reluctant to work with Jamie, but the two later team up to research the strange animal behavior.

The premiere episode goes back and forth between Jamie and Mitch in Los Angeles and the three other regulars in Botswana. In addition to Jackson and Abraham, the third character appearing in the Africa part is Chloe Tousignant (Nora Arnezeder). Chloe is a tourist on one of the safaris and we meet her at about 20 minutes into the episode. The rest of her tour group has been attacked and now she's running for her life. In fact, from about half-way in the episode, the Africa part is pretty much non-stop characters running for their lives.

I consider the pilot a good start to an exciting new series. There is no time wasted in getting to the story, as it soon becomes clear that the show is about animal attacks. In this episode, we only see animal attacks in Los Angeles and Africa, but since the description of the series says that attacks will be global, I suspect we will soon hear of or see other places where animals start behaving strangely. It is safe to start the animal attacks in these two places and then build further upon that in future episodes. The division of screen time between the two locations is fair and gives a certain balance to the episode. On the character side, we get some hints at our characters' backstories but nothing major yet. I think the show is primarily story-driven, but I believe it's important to develop interesting characters in the midst of its story.

Something that I personally really loved in this episode was the scenery. Obviously we get to see a lot of the open savanna in Africa and I think it's beautiful to see. There is also some irony in that. While we see one of nature's most beautiful places, it hides animals that attack people in a gruesome manner.

A few other teasers from the pilot episode:
-The screener I've seen starts with a voiceover. And no, it's not like a superhero show voiceover that starts with "My name is". I'm also not sure if the voiceover is just for the first episode or if it will be featured in subsequent episodes as well.
-One of the characters' lives is pretty much in limbo when the episode ends.
-There is a mystery in the pilot that concerns cats that have gone missing. Where are they and what are they doing?
-If you have seen the promotional photos, promos and posters for the show, you will have noticed that they all focus on an animal's eye. There is actually a significance to that pupil that you see. The details will be explained in the episode.
-Throughout the episode, we hear bits and pieces about Jackson's father, who had some theories about strange animal behavior.
-During a safari, Jackson and Abraham encounter some illegal animal hunters. They later turn up at a surprising moment in the episode.

Zoo premieres Tuesday, June 30th at 9/8c on CBS. Watch a promo for the show below. Will you be watching Zoo? Tell us in the comments if you will and what your expectations are from the series.



About the Author - Daniel van der Veer
Daniel van der Veer is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Stalker, Madam Secretary and the upcoming show American Odyssey. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.
Recent Reviews by Daniel van der Veer (All Reviews)

37 comments:

  1. Thanks for the preview Daniel.

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  2. Sounds good Daniel, I'm looking forward to this one and I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

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  3. Scared crapless of the show but i'll try it LOL, is there hints that this phenomenon is man-made or supernatural?

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  4. wow .animals looking for payback.
    i m sooo gonna be there for this.:-)

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  5. Thanks Nirat! The pilot was great and I'm looking forward to the next episodes.

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  6. There are no hints that the phenomenon is either man-made or supernatural. I guess that will be explored in future episodes. I think both are possible.

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  7. I'm hoping you will enjoy the series!

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  8. I'm defo gonna check it out. I love it when animals strike backback.

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  9. Thanks for preview. I've never heard of the series, but after reading your article, and watching trailer I'm definitely gonna watch it. Can't wait for June the 30th.

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  10. I was going to watch the show for Billy Burke, but I think even if he wasn't on it I'd watch it as the story line sounds different from what we see on TV right now...and who doesn't think it's time the animals strike back lol.
    I have not read the book on purpose as it does seem to be a bit different to the series (both Billy's and Kristen's characters are not in it from what I have heard).
    Thanks for the preview...and looking forward to reading your reviews of the episodes.

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  11. I am reading the book now and if the series is as good as the book, then CBS has a huge hit. It is good to have Billy Burke back on our TV screens again. 1 more week until the premiere!

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  12. Lion, Ape, or dog as the Big Bad? LOL

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  13. Really excited for this next week! Tuesday will be packed! First, the USWNT might play in the World Cup semi-finals three hours beforeand Zoo will nicely accompany that for a great night in TV :)

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  14. This show has been so high on my anticipation list! I can't wait for it! I love the cast and the concept and the trailers looks so cool. It seems right up my alley! I wasn't aware you were reviewing this Daniel, cool! Thanks for the preview. It seems that I will get everything I've been wanting for it. Not much character development isn't particularly inspiring though but probably that's because it was the pilot and they wanted to establish the new world. At least I hope so. Looking forward to it!

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  15. I hope you enjoy the show!

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  16. Thanks for reading! I'm glad you are giving it a shot, it's a good series in my opinion.

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  17. It's certainly a unique concept that hasn't been done a lot before. I have not read the book either but I think the series will be different.


    Glad you liked the preview. One of our other writers will write the weekly reviews but I will write previews for the show if CBS sends us more screeners.

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  18. I have no idea how the show will compare to the book, but I guess some things are the same while others will be changed. If you say the book is good, than I hope the series will be just as good or even better.

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  19. Seems like a great night of TV for you! Hopefully you'll enjoy Zoo!

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  20. Hopefully you'll enjoy the pilot! I actually won't be reviewing it weekly (one of our new writers will do that) but if CBS sends us more screeners, I will write the advance previews.


    I think we will get to know the characters more and more. The pilot focused more on getting the story straight but I'm sure we will learn more about the characters in future episodes.

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  21. Fair enough. I personally enjoyed it but I realize the concept might sound somewhat ridiculous if you hear about it. I don't think the show is any more ridiculous than Under the Dome can be.

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  22. Ah thanks!

    Yeah that was what i meant too, i think that is a normal course of action. Looking forward to it! Do you watch Extant as well?

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  23. I don't watch Extant, though I have thought about watching it. The first season doesn't seem to have been well-received so that's holding me back a bit. I don't need another show that's on the same low quality level as Under the Dome.

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  24. I enjoy Under the Dome despite all the criticism. I want to binge watch Extant during the next week before its return, at least part of it (I won't have time for the whole season most likely since I have started with the Last Ship since then). I wanted to watch it last year but then the premiere ratings prevented me from doing it since I thought they would just cancel it. But I like what CBS is doing in the summer so I want to give this one a try as well

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  25. Thanks for the previe Daniel!

    Looking forward to this starting up next week.

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  26. You're welcome! I hope you enjoy the show!

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  27. I enjoyed season 1 of Under the Dome but during season 2 the quality dropped. I feel like the show has no clear long-term vision and as such, we have these random disasters of the week and random character storylines. They are not really building on the mythology of the show but instead give these filler episodes to stall giving answeres. However, I have some hopes for season 3 since the EPs promised answers.


    The Last Ship is also a show that has me interested and that I would like to watch. Maybe I'll give Extant a shot as well. For now, I'm binge-watching Breaking Bad (currently at season 3).

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  28. I agree with your take about Under the Dome I guess, but for the most part, I still felt entertained by the show. I didn't like the mid portion of Season 2 at all, I felt like it dragged a lot and we were in circles but I loved the late episodes, so I am hoping those are the ones that carry through for Season 3. By far my biggest issue with the show though is the Big Jim character. I don't think there is any show I watch in which I wish a character was killed off as much as this one. They have 0% clue what to do with the show and it is 0 realistic that he keeps swapping from good to evil and all that. I find him annoying and hate his scenes in general. I understood his purpose in Season 1 but he shouldn't have been around for Season 2. It is unbelievable that amidst all the chaos he hasn't been taken out by someone yet with all he has done. If the show kills him off, it wold improve maaaaaany points in my eyes. We'll see. Regardless, I still like the show and I am hopeful for the new season.

    The Last Ship is a show that I tried last year but some reason didn't click. I think it was because I tried doing it after watching The Leftovers and the tonal shock was too much, so I dropped it, but this year's Pitch Your Show Dahne's column convinced me to pick it up again at the end of last week and I am almost done with the first season now. It's really, really good, each episode is so action packed, it's amazing. And the characters are awesome too. I highly recommend it and I am glad I was convinced to give it a second try. Extant is next for me (Although I still have leftovers from the regular season as well, but I am mix those in with these binge watches as I like the mix).

    Breaking Bad is a show that I've tried my very best to like and I just couldn't. I even watched the entire first season because I had SOOO many people persuading me to do so but I just couldn't. I know it is blasphemy to say this since the show is beloved pretty much everywhere but it just wasn't for me.

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  29. Big Jim is also one of my biggest problems with UtD. The constant flipping of his character is so bad and he should have just died. Sadly it's been confirmed he will make an alliance with Julia in season 3 despite the fact that he tried to kill her. It's ridiculous if you ask me.

    Don't feel bad about not enjoying Breaking Bad. I started on it last summer, but stopped at three-fourths of season 2 when the fall season started. I resumed a few days ago and am now halfway through season 3. I enjoy the show for what it is, but its pace is so slow which I really don't like. Some episodes take such a long time to get to their point. It also didn't help that last summer, I binged Lost before BrBa. While Lost had its fair share of mistakes and unlikeable characters, I think it's the superior show of the two. I know a lot of people probably disagree, but I enjoyed Lost more than BrBa.

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  30. Urgh on that Big Jim-Julia spoiler, that really hampers my enthusiasm, that is precisely the type of thing that I dislike about the show. I still fairly enjoy it, don't misunderstand me, and I think the amount of hate it gets is undeserved, but stuff like that is really ridiculous as it is not realistic at all. Life and death stuff is not something people get over just like that, despite what some shows try to say otherwise.

    Oh, you are hitting a sensitive note ahah. Lost is my favorite TV show of ALL TIME, ever. And I honestly doubt there is ever anything that beats it. Not only because of the show itself but by how much it represented to me me at the time, it really became an experience in itself watching the show and following everything Lost related, the theories, etc. I miss it greatly. So yeah, for me it is not even a contest that Lost is the superior show but to each his own, of course ;)

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  31. Awesome. Looking forward to it. I just read the book and I liked it a lot. Other reasons to watch: Jeff Pinkner, Chris Tilton (who is doing the music) and Billy Burke. #FringeReunion :D

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  32. Great! I hope you'll enjoy the TV series as well!

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  33. Thanks for the preview. Sounds intriguing, I definitely am watching it tonight, I just hope the plot is sustainable, heh.

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  34. This seems to me like Birds but with a wider variety of animals. (Or a dry land version of The Swarm.) The review was very thorough and it made me think about watching it, but then I realised that in general I don't like the "these are the killing species, we don't know why they do it, but fear them" tv shows. Usually the are mostly about somebody is running for their life (I laughed at that part of the preview), plus some super secret dirty machination (or super careless human behaviour) in the background. Yes I'm guilty with being biased against this genre, but I think this won't be my cup of coffee. (Though I'm open to change my mind if the reactions after the airing suggests that I'm wrong.)

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