Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet Probably Won’t Be Doctor-Recommended

The secret behind Netflix’s forthcoming series Santa Clarita Diet has been revealed, and we don’t know if we’re suddenly very interested or very horrified. Both? Probably both.

The first statement Netflix originally released about the show seemed kind of, well, whatever:

In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant, Justified) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore, Blended) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction … but in a good way.

Vaguely intriguing, in a discontented-suburban-realtor kind of way. Death and destruction sounded promising, though. Perhaps Santa Clarita Diet was going to take the drug route and be the new Weeds?

Clearly our imaginations weren’t working hard enough. In conversation with Barrymore, USA Today revealed the truth about the Santa Clarita Diet:

We can reveal that the “dramatic change” Sheila undergoes in the series opener is, in fact, death. And while they tend to their open houses and teenage daughter, the couple must sate Sheila’s unbridled id and undead hunger, first with raw meat and, eventually, the human kind.

Okay, we’re listening.

Netflix’s new stills show Barrymore eating raw meat, with blood dripping down her shirt. Netflix has also launched a clever ad campaign featuring Barrymore as Sheila promoting the “diet.” “Look younger, have more energy, feel sexy, and eat whoever you want!” the poster promises. A second promo poster shows Olyphant shrugging in a you-gotta-try-it way, with the phrase “Get A Killer Body Today!” on the poster. The puns for this show are bottomless.

Despite the darkly comedic premise, Barrymore promises a softer side to the show, stating “It’s not heavy, but it’s not lacking in a sort of sweetness, if you will. But it’s also got bite and backbone and balls.” Bite, indeed.

The show is the creation of Victor Fresco, of ABC’s Better Off Ted and Fox’s Andy Richter Controls the Universe. The first season of Santa Clarita Diet is set to air on Netflix on Friday, Feb. 3. We will be watching. Check out the film stills and fake-diet ads below.