Rob Thomas Bad Mouthed Santa Clarita Diet
And we fell for it. There’s a reason why this blog is called Blind Rats.
Obviously, the show was a bit different other than the similar zombie genre. But Rob Thomas bad-mouthed ‘Santa Clarita Diet’ because he is a petty person that the show was well received by the fans and critics alike, so much, that back then many VMars iZombie fans and followers of him (including myself, unfortunately), sorta boycotted and refused to watch the show and even had a cold fandom war against the fans of Santa Clarita Diet.
It’s one thing to have some sort of friendly competition between showrunners and shows, heck we see this every day with your favorite shows, it’s another thing to have THE show-runner actually badmouthing other show because it got better coverage, money, ratings, and big stars like Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. But this was the first time many fans hear a showrunner bad-mouthing a show and the fact that many fans ate up his words. We were such blind rats.
Fans still remember vividly when Rob Thomas tweeted that Santa Clarita Diet was a direct copy of iZombie, a show about zombies who can function in real life as long they eat brains or humans. The similarity stops there because tonally both shows were different. iZombie was more about police procedural with its case of the week episodes and an arc, Santa Clarita Diet was more about a suburb romantic comedy sitcom-ish type with an overarching arc.
What made it weird was why Rob personally attacked Santa Clarita Diet, but not other zombie shows? He didn’t say anything about The Walking Dead, which was waaay more popular than other shows, and still going strong for a decade. His show iZombie was also a critical hit with good ratings and an army of fans. So why this particular zombie show? Did he have a grudge against the showrunner Victor Fresco? This was not the first time Rob said something against other people, albeit in a very passive-aggressive tone.
This blog mentioned how Rob was a bit envious of other writers. But when he was being a fanboy, he would not hesitate to copy or reference them in his shows, even hired them if necessary. He hired Kareem Abdul Jabar, Andrea Estella, Joss Whedon, and even referenced/inserting many shows/movies into his shows. So to have him talking badly about other people/show, they must be getting on his nerves.
It all started with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel mocking iZombie on their Late Night shows. Fallon called the show a buffet of junk food because the show had everything; zombies, police procedural, supernatural, mystery, etc.
Kimmel said to Rose McIver, “The guys on the set must have been so happy when they came up with that premise.” He said it with a mocking tone. He even mocked Rose’s New Zealand accent. Many fans took it personally because let’s face it, Kimmel is a jerk in real life. Fallon is just Fallon.
Even Conan O’Brien sorta mocked the premise of iZombie. The man is known for not researching his guests’ projects, so when Rose McIver told him about the premise of the show, Conan with his typical joke, started laughing and said something about The Walking Dead and zombies 🧟♀️ having falling skins and such, even though the show was nothing like TWD. Rose, being a polite guest, laughing along and pretending to be grossed out with the falling skins.
Rob’s response? He tweeted, “Well. At least they are talking about the show. A promo is a promo 🥲.” (Or something like that. It has been years)
So when those same late-night show hosts were PRAISING and happily promoting Santa Clarita Diet (Fallon is BFF with Drew Barrymore) and how much the show was funny and such, it struck a nerve for Rob. Conan was also the guy who mocked Veronica Mars, and now he mocked iZombie?
Kristen Bell played it cool and said how much she hated the bust. But Conan kept going and seemingly mocking her show about the premise of teen detective.
Not only the late-night show hosts were mocking both of his shows, but they were also complimenting and praising Santa Clarita Diet, a show on paper that was basically similar to iZombie. Maybe that was the reason he started to badmouthing Santa Clarita Diet? Was that the reason why he put many A-Lister celebs on Veronica Mars roster so people wouldn’t mock his show?
When the ratings for iZombie started to decline, and the ratings for SCD started to rise, Rob immediately called Jason Dohring and cast him in his show as a recurring cast. But this casting, although it helped the show, was not a competition with SCD. At all. iZombie was a TV network series while SCD was a streaming service series - they both weren’t in competition whatsoever. But as the word of mouth and popularity, SCD was above iZombie.
Many people considered iZombie a good show, and it was. But it failed to recapture the same cult popularity as Veronica Mars. Many YouTube reactors who watched iZombie stopped in the middle as they lost interest and moved on to other projects. iZombie lost its momentum when it started to playing homage after homage from different genres of movies and TVs, even copying VMars plots, dialogues, and even music! It stopped being about the characters and became more about the plots. And we ALL know that it’s always been RT’s weakness.
And when Veronica Mars fans criticized Rob for recycling his own plots from VM and Rat Saw God, HE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND why the fans were so riled up. He thought the fans would be pleased. And until this day, he still didn’t get it.
From the very beginning, it was clear that Santa Clarita Diet was about a family handling bad circumstances together and funnily. Each episode delivered laughter and snarky dialogues with simple plots and complex characters. But the best part about the show was the relationship between Sheila and Joel; they are married and very much in love even though they have been married for 20 years since after high school. Everyone was astonished that they were brilliantly written. They were the ultimate couple’s goal.
It is possible to write a complex relationship about a married couple. It’s not a death sentence when two characters who are in love get married. In fact, they will have so much stuff to resolve and do. Joel and Sheila love each other, support each other, and if the show didn't get canceled, we would see more of their shenanigans and love.
Rob hates the idea of “stray away from the plan”. He had planned to have Liv and Major to be the ultimate goal from the beginning, and goddamn it, he would stick to the plan. He planned to have Duncan as Veronica’s soulmate, not Logan. He hated the idea of his work being dictated by fans or by the network. He didn't realize that sometimes plans can change. He didn't care whether the cast had chemistry or even good characterization; if he said that Major and Liv is the endgame, then they will be.
Major didn't have much of a personality at first. It wasn't until Diane Ruggiero decided that he needed some personality injection. Although not many people object to the pairing of Liv and Major, not many people cared that much. Rob, who didn't know to write personality, decided to copied Logan and Veronica’s confessions and even the music just to spice things up. The result was polarizing: the Veronica Mars fans thought that it was an insult towards LoVe storyline, but the iZombie fans who’d never seen VMars thought it was romantic. Again, he didn't understand why the fans got angry. He thought everyone would be pleased to see a homage or reference from VMars. Because he is so used to write homage after homage on his shows, he expected that the fans would be happy. He really is bad with gambling and reading the room.
The cancellation also was rumored because of actors Robert Knepper and David Anders who were problematic behind the scene. Robert Knepper was accused of raping a few women, and David Anders was accused of being racially insensitive to certain minority groups. And as always, Rob Thomas never wanted to say anything whenever there were problems on set. The only actors who bravely showing support to the victims were Rahul Kohli, Rose McIver, Robert Buckley, and Malcolm Goodwin. Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero’s silence were defeaning.
Santa Clarita Diet was canceled in the middle of a cliffhanger where fans still want more. iZombie was canceled in a dud way where hardly any fans clamoring for more seasons, especially when Rob decided to have an exposition - letting the characters talk about what happened instead of actually showing it. It was a sad thing because iZombie was a decent show, and many of the cast were nice.
Rob has proven so many times that he gets jealous whenever someone/something is better than him and people respond positively but not to him. He is stuck in this circle of hell writing old-style and always think that he is better than anyone else because he refuses to listen to other people besides his peers and friends. Very doubtly that there will be a revival of iZombie especially after the disastrous new VMars.
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