‘Walking Dead’ Showrunner On Why Frank Darabont’s Season 2 Opener Idea Was Nixed

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday January 14, 2012 @ 7:25pm PST

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

During AMC’s session for The Walking Dead, the producers of the hit zombie drama were asked about recent reports that ousted showrunner Frank Darabont had a different idea for the show’s second season premiere than the one that aired, but it was rejected.  “The story was one we discussed internally; that was Frank’s pitch and it was one of many ideas examined in the writers’ room,” said executive producer Glen Mazarra, Darabont’s successor at the helm of the series. “It just felt like a stall and we wanted to get to our characters. We have a lot of ideas like that. … That was not something that was rejected by another party. That’s not accurate.” Darabont’s plan was allegedly a flashback to the early days of the zombie apocalypse. It told the story of a zombie soldier The Walking Dead lead Rick (Andrew Lincoln) came across in the series’ pilot, ending with their encounter before the show were to pick up with Rick and his crew in Episode 2. READ MORE »

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AMC Sets 2-Hour Premiere For ‘Mad Men’ & ‘Killing’ Return, Supersizes ‘Walking Dead’, Promises ‘Killing’ Killer Will Be Revealed

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday January 14, 2012 @ 4:27pm PST
Nellie Andreeva

UPDATED: During its portion of TCA, AMC confirmed that the fifth season of Mad Men will debut on March 25. (Star Jon Hamm had let the date slip in an interview late last week.) But in a twist, the … Read More »

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‘Goodfellas’ Series In The Works At AMC With Film’s Nicholas Pileggi & Irwin Winkler

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday January 10, 2012 @ 8:02am PST
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: AMC’s 1960s mad men may be soon joined by some goodfellas from the same era. The cable network, home of such acclaimed series as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, has put in development a series version of one of … Read More »

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Season 5 Of ‘Mad Men’ To Bow March 25

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday January 9, 2012 @ 2:02pm PST
Nellie Andreeva

The wait is almost over — AMC’s period drama Mad Men will return for Season 5 on March 25. Series star Jonn Hamm let the news slip on Friday’s episode of comedian Doug Benson’s Doug Loves Movies podcast. AMC, which … Read More »

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It’s Official: AMC Renews ‘Hell On Wheels’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday December 27, 2011 @ 9:20am PST
Nellie Andreeva

AMC Renews ‘Hell On Wheels’ For Season 2

December 27, 2011 – AMC has announced the renewal of Hell on Wheels for a second season. The original series reigns as the second highest rated series on AMC, averaging 3.2 million viewers and 1.5 million Adults 25-54.* Season one’s finale is Sunday, January 15th at 10pm EST. Hell on Wheels is created and written by Joe and Tony Gayton, who also serve as executive producers. John Shiban, Jeremy Gold, Endemol’s SVP of scripted programming and David Von Ancken, who also directed the pilot, serve as executive producers. The series is executive produced by Endemol USA with Entertainment One serving as the studio. eOne’s Television CEO John Morayniss and EVP series television Michael Rosenberg oversee production in partnership with co-producers Mike Frislev and Chad Oakes at Nomadic Pictures.

Read More »

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AMC Renews ‘Hell On Wheels’ For Season 2

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 1:39pm PST
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that AMC has renewed its newest series, period Western Hell On Wheels, for a second season. That means that 5 out of the network’s 6 original scripted series to date have now gone beyond their maiden season. … Read More »

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AMC Acquires Off-Network Rights To ‘CSI: Miami’, Boosting Series’ Renewal Chances

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday December 9, 2011 @ 12:16pm PST
Nellie Andreeva

This is an odd pairing — Don Draper and Horatio Caine will now be on the same network! In its first off-network acquisition, AMC, home of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, has picked up off-network rights to … Read More »

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AMC Networks Chief Weighs Programming Revamp: UBS Confab

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday December 6, 2011 @ 7:52am PST

AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan told analysts at the UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference that he’s “exploring changing the mix of content on AMC” based on the recent success of its zombiefest The Walking Dead – and four non-fiction series he plans to introduce beginning next year. He wasn’t specific about how a revamped channel would look, though. “We’ll see how it goes,” he says. It’s easy to appreciate why he wants to shake up people’s perception of AMC. Pay TV companies currently pay about 25 cents a month for each home that receives the channel. But Sapan says that, with its many original shows, in a perfect world it’s “at minimum a 75 cent channel. …. We’re way underpaid.” He’s a realist, though, acknowledging that “we’re not necessarily going to get that tomorrow.” As a result, Sapan talked up his company’s efficient management of costs. For example, he says that his development costs are “modest.” Although it owns most of its non-fiction shows — “they’re not that expensive,” he says — for most of the shows on AMC “we have chosen not to 100% own.” Sapan says that ”it’s about risk appetite. … If a studio partner is going to come in and fund 30-odd percent of the cost, it’s sensible to de-risk that transaction.” Of course he has second thoughts about not seizing the chance to own AMC’s hit Mad Men. He wasn’t convinced that AMC would do so well with a talky series about ad execs in the 1950s and ’60s. ”It took everybody by surprise,” he says. But he was more confident about Walking Dead. ”That ownership decision was the wisest and best one,” Sapan says. Read More »

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SUNDAY CABLE RATINGS: ‘Walking Dead’, ‘Kourtney & Kim’ And ‘After Lately’ Up

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday November 28, 2011 @ 11:50am PST
Nellie Andreeva

While broadcast series suffered across-the-board ratings declines last night, some of their cable brethren were sizzling. AMC’s The Walking Dead wrapped its fall run with 6.6 million viewers — a whopping 4.5 million of them in the adults 18-49 … Read More »

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Joel Gretsch, Gillian Vigman And Todd Stashwick Among Latest Cable Castings

Nellie Andreeva

Joel Gretsch (V) has joined Lifetime’s original movie Of Two Minds. The film chronicles the relationship between a woman (Kristin Davis) and her younger sister (Tammy Blanchard), who has schizophrenia. Gretsch, repped by APA and Mosaic, will play Davis’ husband. Jim O’Hanlon is directing from a script by Richard Friedenber.

Gillian Vigman and Dan Bakkedahl have joined Jim Jefferies and Peter O’Fallon’s FX comedy pilot presentation Legit. Directed by Peter O’Fallon, Legit centers Jim (Jefferies), a misanthrope trying to go legit. Former Daily Show correspondent Bakkedahl, repped by Paradigm and Principal, will play Jim’s world-weary, floundering, divorced roommate. Vigman, repped by APA and Brillstein, will play a funny and smart Harvard-trained psychiatrist forced to diffuse Jim’s endless advances. The actress, best known for her role in The Hangover franchise, has been recurring on ABC’s Suburgatory and Fox’s New Girl. Read More »

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AMC Buys Sci-Fi Drama From Paul Boardman, Scott Derrickson & David Eick

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday November 11, 2011 @ 4:27pm PST
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: After hitting gold with horror series The Walking Dead, AMC is looking to expand its genre portfolio with a sci-fi drama. The cable network has bought Thunderstruck, an hourlong UFO project from feature writing/directing duo Paul Boardman and Scott … Read More »

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VIDEO: HBO Roast Is Medium Well

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday November 8, 2011 @ 2:17pm PST

AMC, USA and other competitors in TV’s world of letters take turns lobbing barbs at HBO and each other in this number from College Humor.

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AMC’s ‘Hell On Wheels’ Debuts With 4.4 Mil

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday November 7, 2011 @ 12:21pm PST
Nellie Andreeva

AMC’s newest series, period Western Hell On Wheels, was off to a strong start last night. It drew 4.4 million viewers and ranked as the cable network’s second-highest-rated series premiere behind mega-hit The Walking Dead, which opened with 5.3 million … Read More »

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AMC Renews ‘Walking Dead’ For Season 3

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday October 25, 2011 @ 11:01am PDT
Nellie Andreeva

After shattering cable ratings records with its second-season premiere, AMC’s zombie drama The Walking Dead has been quickly rewarded with a third-season pickup. “Today we are pleased to announce that the ‘dead’ shall live as we proudly renew The Walking Read More »

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‘The Walking Dead’ Premiere Shatters Cable Demo Ratings Records, Draws 7.3 Million Total Viewers

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday October 17, 2011 @ 12:02pm PDT
Nellie Andreeva

Behind-the-scenes turmoil did little to slow down The Walking Dead ratings behemoth, which opened its second season at 9 PM last night to staggering numbers:

4.8 million viewers in Adults 18-49
4.2 million viewers in Adults 25-54
7.3 million total viewers for … Read More »

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AMC’s ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale Up, FX’s ‘AHS’ On Track For Top 18-49 Spot In L+3 Ratings

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday October 10, 2011 @ 3:03pm PDT
Nellie Andreeva

Last night’s Season 4 finale of AMC’s Breaking Bad drew 1.9 million viewers in its original airing. That was up 19% from the series’ third-season finale last year. For … Read More »

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AMC Orders Comedy Presentation From Rob Roy Thomas

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday October 3, 2011 @ 1:25pm PDT
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: AMC is venturing into half-hour comedy with a presentation order to Rob Roy Thomas’ How To Cheat On Your Wife. The single-camera comedy, which Thomas is writing, directing and executive producing, centers on four nice guys in flyover country … Read More »

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AMC Orders Live After-Show ‘Talking Dead’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday September 22, 2011 @ 7:02am PDT
Nellie Andreeva

AMC is launching Talking Dead, the network’s first live after-show that will discuss AMC’s series The Walking Dead. The half-hour program, produced by Michael Davies’ Embassy Row and hosted by Chris Hardwick, will premiere Oct. 16, immediately following the encore … Read More »

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AMC Makes Greg Nicotero Co-EP On ‘Walking Dead’, Inks Him To First-Look Deal

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday September 15, 2011 @ 11:40am PDT

Greg Nicotero, who just won a make-up award over the weekend at the Creative Arts Emmys for his work on The Walking Dead, has been named co-executive producer of the AMC zombie drama, the network said today. As part … Read More »

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