"DON'T SHOOT, SHE'S STILL DO-ABLE!"
The premiere of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” wasn’t just a tense and terrifying success creatively — the show also pulled in huge numbers.
The 90-minute Halloween night debut delivered 5.3 million viewers and 3.6 million adults 18-49. That’s the largest demo audience for any series premiere on any cable network this year. It’s also the highest numbers for any series in AMC’s history. [The Live Feed]
Those numbers are especially impressive given that (a) the World Series and Sunday Night Football were big draws for male audiences, (b) cable channels rarely outdraw networks, and (c) the show was littered with R-rated gore. I mean, the first scene featured a little girl zombie graphically getting her head blown off. I don’t know about you, but that’s when I knew it was going to be a great show.
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You think you can change how things get done zombie little girl… IN RURAL GEORGIA?!??!
BLAM!
I hope the show retains enough of that 5.3 to keep going.
Show online? Or do I have to find, uh, alternate sources…
It’s always nice to see something deserving do well.
And if the rest of the season is as good as the preview makes it look, it’ll be one of my new favorites.
this was pretty cool i guess, but I’m fucking burnt out on zombies. they’re the bacon of entertainment.
dont you dare speak ill of bacon!
My only complaint is Sarah Wayne Callies. She is terrible.
I’m totally with you, D. This would have been awesome had it been made in 2002 or something, but there’s too much Zombie-hipsterism clogging up the culture pipes right now. Meh.
Also, anyone notice the blatant sexism in the first episode? Women are either zombies or stereotypically hysterical. “Whur you runnin’ from the camp, wummin’? Goin’ to NOT turn off a laaght sweeyitch?”
Awesome ratings, gotta watch it yet on the dvr but waiting on my oxy guy to come through this week before watching in a numb trance
I liked it very much, but I gotta echo Fredrock on the timing. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to finish Zombie Nightmare on RDR before CoD: Black Ops comes out next week and I spend the next month shooting zombies with my buddies Castro and JFK.
Also, CGI blood looks bad.
Actually, according to Aintitcool, they downgraded the rating to 2.7. That’s still pretty fucking awesome but a zombie show premiering on Halloween is a perfect storm. It’ll problem drop down to Sons of Anarchy/MadMen levels in future weeks.
Great debut but I agree, Sarah Callies blew on Prison Break and blows on this. Whose she blowing to get these jobs?
“…but that’s when I knew it was going to be a great show.”
My thoughts exactly.