7.6 /10 1 Votes7.6
64% Rotten Tomatoes Original language(s) English Final episode date 11 September 2016 | 8.1/10 IMDb 8/10 TV Country of origin United States First episode date 13 June 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Genre Political satireComedy-dramaScience fiction Starring Mary Elizabeth WinsteadDanny PinoAaron TveitTony ShalhoubNikki M. JamesJohnny Ray GillCharlie SemineJan Maxwell Cast Profiles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BrainDead is an American political satire science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Robert and Michelle King. BrainDead stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Laurel Healy, a documentary film-maker who takes a job working for her brother Luke (Danny Pino), a U.S. Senator, when the funding for her latest film falls through. Assigned as his new constituency caseworker, she discovers that Washington, D.C. has been invaded by extraterrestrial insects which are eating the brains and taking control of people, including members of Congress and their staffers. Much of the internal comedy of the series was that in the altered reality of Washington DC politics only a few people noticed.
Contents
CBS announced a 13-episode straight-to-series order on July 22, 2015. The show premiered on June 13, 2016. After four episodes, the show moved from its Monday timeslot to Sundays to make room for the network's coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. The show had a planned four-season arc, which would have seen the bugs then invade Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but on October 17, 2016, CBS cancelled the series after one season.
Premise
The series centers on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where alien bugs infect members of Congress.
Documentary filmmaker Laurel Healy agrees to take a job working for her brother, Democratic Senator Luke Healy, in order to secure funding for her next film. However, she comes across a conspiracy in which alien bugs have partially replaced the brains of several people, including members of Congress. Sometimes, the bugs cause their victims' heads to explode. The song "You Might Think" by The Cars is used frequently in the series as a leitmotif for characters who are infected by the aliens.
Singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton writes and performs the recap opening song for each episode.
Main
Recurring
Guest
Broadcast
The series premiered in Australia on Monday June 20, 2016, on Eleven, part of the Ten network.
Reception
BrainDead has received generally favorable reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 64% approval rating based on 44 critics. The site's critical consensus reads: "While admittedly uneven, BrainDead remains a charmingly idealistic sign of the political times". On Metacritic, the show holds a 61 out of 100 Metascore based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
About the show's cancellation, Robert King, the show's creator said: "“It was a show that was trying to be as weird and anti-network as could be, and it was probably a mistake to do that on a network. But I loved that show.”