America loves zombies: ‘The Walking Dead’ scores largest debut numbers in AMC history

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TV viewers want braaaaaains! The Halloween premiere of AMC’s zombie drama, ‘The Walking Dead,’ netted more than 5.3 million viewers, the largest audience for any original-series debut on the network. (It also garnered 3.6 million viewers in the age 18-49 demographic, the highest delivery for any cable series premiere in 2010.) By comparison, AMC’s ‘Mad Men’ scored only 2 million for its premiere.

Based on the comic-book series written by Robert Kirkman, the show follows Rick Grimes, a police officer who wakes up alone in a hospital in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are always looking for a hot meal. Grimes eventually joins a group of survivors in search of shelter from the groaning, half-decayed masses.

Considering the success of HBO’s ‘True Blood’ and the CW’s ‘Vampire Diaries,’ the ‘Walking Dead’ premiere seems to suggest that the undead drama trend is not dying anytime soon. We await the inevitable werewolf soap opera.

-- Melissa Maerz

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Coverage of ‘The Walking Dead’ on Show Tracker