It was a very happy Halloween indeed for horror fans: “The Walking Dead” came, saw, and ate everything in sight in its debut!
The final numbers are in, and “The Walking Dead” chomped on 5.3 million viewers and a 3.3 adults 18-49 rating – the largest audience in that all-important demo for any series premiere on any cable network this year. It was also largest audience AMC has ever had for any of their shows, which include the critics’ darlings “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad”.
According to Deadline.com, even the reruns were a hit; AMC showed “The Walking Dead” again at 11:30pm and 1am (after its 10pm debut) for a cumulative audience of 8.1 million viewers. Big numbers for a series that had a few question marks surrounding it. (Would non-horror nuts go for it? Would the fact that it was airing on Halloween actually hurt it?)
While I’m sure the network will wait and see how the subsequent episodes fare, I think it’s safe to say that the dead will have a second life. Don’t be surprised if the second season is announced real soon…
(Doesn’t hurt that the premiere episode was damn good television. )
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed