Fresco serves as show-runner and is an executive producer alongside Barrymore, Olyphant, Michael A. Ross , and Brittany Segal. The series officially premiered on February 3, , with an initial release of 10 episodes. The show was cancelled after three seasons on April 26, The couple's lives take a dark turn after Sheila goes through a transformation — becoming a zombie who feeds on human flesh. Show creator Victor Fresco is well known for writing off-kilter family comedies, which prepared him for crafting a surreal series like Santa Clarita Diet.
He ultimately wanted to take a crazy idea and then ground it, and his goal was to create a family show with an interesting twist we've never seen before and make it different than just a family living in the suburbs dealing with everyday problems. As a writer, you just try to do something that you feel is going to be really fun for you to write, and this felt like — and was — fun to write.
He was also interested in narcissism and how the undead are the ultimate narcissists. He wanted to experiment with how Sheila will adjust to getting what she wants all the time while also staying in a relationship.
He also says it was important for the Hammonds to remain a strong couple, telling EW, "I personally would rather watch and write that kind of love and then the challenges from the outside coming in and how do we navigate this together as a team rather than, are we a team?
When asked about why Victor chose Santa Clarita as the location, he clarifies that he wanted the family to be in a middle-class, working-class suburb and didn't want them to have wealth. He also says he enjoyed how organized and groomed the Santa Clarita community was and thought it played well against the complete chaos that happens with the Hammonds. He also reveals why he chose to make Sheila and Joel realtors, explaining that he likes the forced friendliness required in the real estate business.
