"Death Valley" and Hit and Miss Comedy: A Television Review ("Two Girls, One Cup")

Director: Drew Daywalt.

Writers: Spider One, Eric Weinberg, Curtis Gwinn, and David A. Weinstein.

"Death Valley" is a welcome addition to the small screen community of horror comedies. Its style is almost like "Seinfeld," a show about nothing, and where this show takes its inspiration from is almost like "COPS." Viewers are riding along in the backseat to witness what the LAPD Undead Task Force does throughout the day.

Cameras are supposed to follow two teams as they deal with vampires, werewolves and zombies that have decided to take up residence in the San Fernando Valley. No explanation is required for these appearances, and for the most part, the citizens have learned to deal with it. The authorities simply organized a special strike force to handle these beasts as though they are another category of criminals. While these officers will not last a moment in an actual police force (they're nothing like "NYPD Blue"), this television show is a MTV style fantasy that falls in the same vein as "Celebrity Deathmatch" — there is gore to be spilled, and the effects pulled off look like they belong on the big screen than small.

Producer Spider One (born Michael David Cummings and brother to Rob Zombie) has a product that is very much like Zombieland. The humour is very similar. The buddy film format with Officer Billy Pierce (Bryce Johnson, "Nip/Tuck") and Joe Stubeck (Charlie Sanders, "Cedar Rapids") actually works. They make a good team, and viewers can't help but chuckle at their antics. Stubeck pulls off the innocent routine very nicely, especially in episode four, “Two Girls, One Cop.”

The other team of Officers Carla Rinaldi (Tania Raymonde, "Lost") and John-John Johnson (Texas Battle, Final Destination 3) is more traditional and they are not the straight-laced team one would expect to encounter in a Resident Evil game. They provide support when the undead run amok.

And there is Officer Kirsten Landry (Caity Lotz, "Mad Men"), the hot rookie. She can hold her own and her go-get-‘em attitude can easily light some young male viewer’s heart afire. In the show, Capt. Frank Dashell (Bryan Callen, The Hangover) tries and epically fails at overstating his attraction to her. The laughs created here do not always work. Callen is over the top in his interpretation of the character, and viewers have to wonder how the character even managed to make the rank of captain. Some of the behaviour the character pushes is just plain ridiculous.

The only huge problem with this series is that it loses visual continuity very fast. If the entire series is to be seen through the lens of a cameraman, then it should stick to the format. There are moments where the cameraman would have to put himself in the line of fire to get those shots. Or, in those intimate moments, they technically should not exist on film; that is distracting. Maybe there's a ghost filming the series, and we're all looking at life in the valley from high above.

"Death Valley" has potential, but with this one major flaw, some patchwork is required to make it stand out.

Overall: 7 out of 10.

*this episode aired September 19th, 2011.

"Death Valley" at MTV:

Death Valley's Homepage

Comparable (satirized cop show):

Reno 911 Seas. 1 on DVD

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