On June 30th, James Patterson’s words from his critically acclaimed novel, Zoo, are going to come to life in a 13 episode event that should not be missed. On Monday, I attended the CBS Studios Summer Press Day and Patterson, the producers and the cast talked about the series that takes a look at what happens if the animals take back what is rightfully there’s.
When the producers were asked if animals will be vilified on the show, Scott Rosenberg answered what he wants the viewers to take away from it. He said, “Listen, we all love animals and nobody wants to create an environment that are anti-animal.” Then he added, “That said, in July, when mom, dad, Buddy and sis are sitting on the couch and they just finished watching episode five of Zoo and the dog is sitting over there, Skippy the Spaniel, we really want a place where, ‘So ma, it’s your turn to walk Skippy’; ‘I ain’t walking Skippy, you walk Skippy’. We really want, I keep saying this, we want the whole world to fear their Schnauzer, then we’ve done our job right.”
As someone who is already afraid of her cat, I am not sure how to handle what he said. Luckily, I spoke to Zoo’s star James Wolk, who has a dog, after the panel and I asked him if he is afraid of his four-legged friend since he started working on the show. He told me, “No! She’s too sweet. She’s such a wimp.” Then he added that 9 year old Flea (named after the bassist from Red Hot Chili Peppers), “Afraid of the dog, I can’t even tell the dog not to sleep in bed with me because she’s such a softie.”
Wolk also wanted to make it clear how the animals will most likely be perceived after the show debuts. He said, “We don’t vilify the animals. We really don’t. You’ll see when the show happens, there’s reason to be frightened of animals in the show, but they are not vilified. I think audiences, actually in part, will hope for their success.” Then he explained, “How we treat animals, we put them behind bars. It is a reminder that we need to treat the animal kingdom in our environment with respect. I think in that way the show is going to surprise people. It’s just not going to be animal attack of the week.”
So be prepared to be scared, surprised and excited for what happens next on Zoo starting June 30th on CBS.
