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AMC’s The Walking Dead returned last night from its third-season break with 12.3 million viewers, a series high for the zombie apocalypse drama. Up against the Grammys, the 9 PM midseason premiere pulled in 7.7 million viewers among Adults 18-49, a basic-cable record for a series and up 6% from the show’s previous high for its October 14 season premiere. In total, 16.6 million viewers watched Walking Dead last night combining the 9 PM premiere and 11 PM, midnight and 2 AM encores on AMC. The series was back Sunday for the last eight episodes of its third season after a break of more than two months.
The big numbers Sunday come after a record-breaking third season so far that saw the show pull in a massive 10.9 million Live+Same Day total viewers for its October 14 premiere, which bested all other telecasts cable and broadcast. The Walking Dead’s midseason finale on December 2 garnered 10.5 million viewers in its 9 PM time slot and 15.2 million for the entire night with encores. The Walking Dead’s Season 3 series average in the 18-49 demo is ahead of the averages for big network shows like The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family and NCIS.
Walking Dead was renewed for a fourth season late last year. That season is expected to begin in October, according to series executive producer Gale Anne Hurd.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.
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Toonces the Cat has just been named the showrunner for season 5.
It just goes to show how strong writing, acting, directing, editing, and production detail can draw in viewers, regardless of downtime.
Where are the awards for this show?
People watch this for the zombies… that’s it. Everything since Season 1 has been average at best.
F off mate. I watch for the characters and the fight to live and keep humanity, sane or other wise.
I would suggest that you watch more TV. The characters are far better on Breaking Bad, Homeland and House of Cards.
I don’t think season 1 went above average (aside from the premiere).
I think people watch for the characters and the acting. This show has some of the best acting on TV. The writing is a mixed bag (I think the peak was late season 2), but Melissa McBride, Norman Reedus, Andrew Lincoln, Scott Wilson David Morrissey, Lauren Cohan, Michael Rooker – this is just damn good acting. I think this show has very possibly the strongest ensemble cast on TV.
Andrew Lincoln is terrible
The best ensemble cast? Don’t make me laugh. Andrew Lincoln is quite possibly in the bottom 5 of lead actors on cable and Norman Reedus can’t act, plain and simple. If you want to see a strong ensemble cast, watch Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Homeland, Boardwalk Empire, The Good Wife, hell even American Horror Story.
I disagree. This show’s acting is executed very well. The different personalities and the connections within the groups of characters is perfect. To each’s own.
It’s great that so many people are tuning into a show that’s not another procedural or generic take on the medical/cop/legal drama.
But… the show still isn’t actually very good. The production design and gore effects are excellent but the escape sequence at the beginning of last night was poorly staged and really showed the limits of the budget. The acting is inconsistent. The writing has been all over the place. They’ve largely bungled the Governor and Michonne. Most of the characters are still thin. And for every effective scene or development there are two that are two that are terrible.
The ratings are great and hopefully the show will figure out a way to be as good.
What are some examples you’ve seen?
Watch the show and you’ll find plenty.
Examples of AMC’s cheapness? How about the PAINFUL lack of extras in the Woodbury day scenes that were horribly staged by Leslie Linka Glatter. The Gladiator Arena had a handful of poorly-acting extras shouting “kill them” and it looked SyFy Channel ridiculous to me.
Worst episode in a loooong time. And not just the directing. Some really bad writing (not sure which is worse, Rick’s painful hallucinations that don’t approximate any real mental illness, or Andrea’s big Braveheart speech). As a fan who liked episodes 1-8 of season 3, I was really disappointed by it.
Worried about Gimple, if even under Mazzara a turd like this ep sneaks through.
I love how the product placement Hyundai is always sparkling clean!
Couldn’t agree more. Last nights direction / staging was lacking. It was flat across the board. First time i’ve disconnected from an episode.
Ok, let’s get it clear – we watch it for zombies and how people will survive in that apocalyptic world. That’s why it so popular. Let’s not confuse it with quality.
What awards? Acting and writing has been so “good” that people hate almost every character on this show. Only Glenn, Maggie and Daryl are enjoyable. What acting and writing was good? When?
- People applauded when Lori died. Because they wanted her dead from Season 1. So bad actress and her character were.
- People wanted Carl to die in season 2. So annoying actor and his character were. Now he is just not that annoying anymore. So people hate him less. Same with Hershel.
- They call Beth Luna Lovegood because that is all that can be said about character. That she looks like Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. And that character has been in every episode from Season 2!
- Don’t even remind me of poor T-Dog. Who was turned into token black character and became joke. And then we forgot about him 10 minutes after he died.
- Michonne is so badly written and actress is so bad that she became joke.
- Shane was such a cool character is Season 1 because actor Jon Bernthal was good. And then writing turned him into some crazy idiot and killed him off.
- This season character development was so bad that people almost want Andrea to die. And I am annoyed by Rick for a few episodes now. They could easily kill him off like Shane and I won’t care. He became crazy idiot too. I don’t care about him as a person anymore.
- It’s been only 9 episodes but I’m so tired by Governor that I only wait till they will kill him.
So please… Writing and acting are the weakest part in Walking Dead. We watch it because we want it to be good and because it is about apocalypse and end of the world. And because directing, editing, and production detail are good. But nothing awards worthy.
couldn’t agree more on all your points. i think where it all went wrong is that it’s trying to be a faithful comic book adaptation as well as a different interpretation for tv at the same time. this is where all the plot holes are coming from — for example michonne — they completely cut out her rape and torture for tv, yet we’re still supposed to believe her inherent rage and hatred for the governor is reasonable? no — it makes no sense, and they just made her look like another hysterical woman — like all the other women on the show.
the writers need to make up their mind on whether to go with the original storyline, or create a new one, and stop intermingling the two because too many things look contrived and nonsensical. for example, i bet they’ll keep the baby alive (instead of dying like it’s supposed to at the end of the season) because “everyone loves babies” — just like they made lori out to be a “noble sacrifice” instead of smothering the baby with her dead body when she gets shot.
Amazing show amazing cast cant wait for more!
I wonder what the broadcast networks make of this? None of the new shows have been as strong as “The Walking Dead.” The SyFy Channel, whose specialty is genre entertainment, has come close to ever creating a program with this level of impact.
Disagreed. SyFy’s Battlestar Galactica was at the same level for me and many others. But since then, we haven’t seen a show from SyFy that compares.
The funny thing about your comment is SyFy actually passed on Walking Dead before it was shopped to AMC, then considered their last chance.
It would be nice if I could actually watch it on the website, but its unavailable in my country..
Ahh sooo happy it’s back!!! Finally! I have been going through zombie withdrawals.
http://kissesfromk.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/the-walking-dead-recap-episode-9/
Good creative team
minus
unnecessary layers of network note givers
equals
Something worth watching
Maybe AMC will realize that they don’t need to change showrunners every 5 seconds. Mazzara elevated the show, I’m scared to see what will happen without him.
“People watch this for the zombies…” Problem with your argument, Spike, is that, even though the quality of the show has gone up and down over the seasons, it’s pretty obvious that people don’t watch it for the zombies. For better or for worse, the story increasingly revolves around the developing battles between humans. Zombies barely register in the drama these days. Your comment tells me you’ve barely watched this show at all. I’m not blindly defending WD – the quality goes up and down -but please try to criticize from a position of actual familiarity, rather than succumbing to the modern disease of lazily condemning everything because it feels cooler
.
yeah didja notice outside woodbury they’re all talking and there’s just zombies wandering on the street and in the woods behind them, no one seems to care!
Well that’s a load of crap. I watch for the entire story. And Daryl Dixon.
Yes!! ^^ Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) makes the show.
Your idiot 12.2 million viewers but its terrible besides graphic design??? Hahaha glenn mazzara is a genius look at the shield!! Your a dumbass
Is this your way of saying the show is about to go over a cliff?
Story, characters, and walkers keep getting better and better. I heart this show.
Trolls be trolling
This just proves exactly what people have been saying for the longest. The coveted demo is out there that will watch a television show when it airs. You have to make a show that is different. Even if you criticize The Walking Dead, it is still unique.
There are something like 90 broadcast pilots, a little more than half of which are drama. Most of the dramas are legal, cop and medical. Just derivative stuff, year after year. What seriously makes Rake so special? Greg Kinnear?
AMC has the critical darlings and now they also have the highest rated series. Might want to explore that in some depth Deadline writers.
Broadcast networks need to examine this and ask themselves why they are tanking. Enough excuses. Has nothing to do with the idea that cable can show more adult content…. and if that’s really the problem, then guess what, broadcast: You should too. Advertisers need shows with mass 18-49 #s and they will come.
I started watching for the zombies, but the characters are what keep me coming back every week. Especially Daryl
Our whole family waits for Sunday night just to watch the walking dead….It’s the best show on besides True Blood
I enjoyed the new episode. I absolutely believe the show is character driven and that they are being developed. Are some things “strange” well yes they are. I think those are problems with AMC not keeping the same show runner which is huge. I do hope they get their internal issues solidified or the show will suffer more.
The broadcasters could learn so much from the programmers at AMC. I don’t mind a broadcast show every now and then – last night I left ABC on during primetime after the NBA game just to give Once Upon a Time a look – but most of it is basically the same thing we were watching 30 years ago.
Network execs had a ball disparaging M. Men and B.B. over the years as “niche,” but what about The Walking Dead? I think we have to really consider that audiences (esp younger ones) are somewhat tired of procedurals, particularly ones that play on the same formulae from decades past.
ohhh, thanks for that! lol made my day…
I watch this show in spite of myself. If there was a better zombie show on tv i would watch it in a heartbeat. The plot and the majority of the characters are just SO standard.
Maybe AMC will finally stop f—ing with their shows? No? Yeah I doubt it too. Almost lost Mad Men, Sony almost ditched AMC when they were being cheap for a planned season 5 of Breaking Bad. Now The Walking Dead is the number one show in the history of cable and the network still pisses off the bosses of the show, and still have cut backs and more cutbacks. Idiots.
I only watch two TV, shows. Breaking Bad and Walking Dead.
Even a marketing idiot knows, when you have an in demand product, “You Don’t Fuck With It.”
A question to the writers: Please give us fans some background on Michonne and The Governor, before the zombie apocolypse. What exactly were their professions.
Norman Reedus, as Darryl Dixion, is outstanding. He is my favorite character, and a very charismatic actor.
“Rock that crossbow Darryl. Yo!”
if you want background, read the comics and the book Rise of the Governor
Shane died way sooner in the comics, and you can’t kill rick. He’s the main character! I like how he struggles to keep everyone alive and struggles with his sanity. How would you be acting during a zombie apocalypse my friend?