THE WALKING DEAD Runs Away!

We all knew The Walking Dead has become AMC’s most popular series, but I’m not sure anybody could have predicted just how record shattering its midseason premiere would be. It not only broke its previous record, held by the second season’s premiere, but it now holds the record of largest adult audience, ages 18-49, in basic cable history. I’ll get to the exact numbers in a second, but let’s just take a moment and congratulate TWD for being a strong enough show to bring new viewers every week.

When I first read of the record breaking viewership on EW, I had to blink a few times to make sure I was really seeing the right numbers. This past Sunday saw TWD’s midseason premiere, “Nebraska,” bring in 8.1 million viewers, 5.4 million of which were in the key adult demographic. The creative team behind the show must have done a group fist pump when they heard the news. It was numbers like these that secured the series for a third season of 16 episodes. If it can continue to bring in viewers like this we might be watching zombies for years to come.

“Nebraska’s” numbers are up 12 percent from the Season 2 premiere, and when combined with the episode’s encore it had 10.1 million viewers. I can just imagine Frank Darabont out in the world somewhere filled with mixed emotions. He’s probably happy the show is continuing to do well, but also angry he’s not a part of it anymore.