The return of The Walking Dead set a ratings record Sunday evening.
The 90-minute episode drew 7.3 million total viewers, becoming the strongest telecast for any drama in basic cable history among two key demos.
The zombie drama based on Robert Kirkman’s long-running comics drew 4.8 million viewers in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic, 4.2 million adults 25-54 and registered a 4.8 household rating, shattering a nearly 10-year-old basic cable record among the demos for a single drama telecast.
The 4.8 household rating and 7.3 million total viewers represent a 36 percent and 38 percent increase, respectively, over the drama’s freshman season ratings.
And yet they take money away from WD to give to “Mad Men”. I think the WD producers should be asking for that money back, right about….now!
Ironically, I see what AMC’s doing now as the similar journey TNT took 10-12 years ago when they first jumped into original programming. It took TNT about 6 years to get it right, so AMC still has another 2-3 years to go before feeling comfortable in their own ownership.
There was an article over at Hollywood Reporter back in August, about the firing of Frank Darabont, that echoed some of the same sentiments. It makes no sense that AMC would gut the show that has higher ratings in favor of two shows that get lots of Emmy attention, but aren’t great at drawing viewers (and one that’s going into it’s final season to boot). When that article went into the details about the costs and show ownership games going on, the first thing that came to mind was what TNT did with Babylon 5 and Crusade as their first show pickups.
I fear for the longevity of Walking Dead, but hey, maybe that means we can rail about it’s unfair treatment for years to come, much like we do with Firefly and a handful of other iconic shows.