Were you watching the season 2.5 premiere of The Walking Dead Sunday night? Wasn’t it excellent? Don’t worry, if you haven’t seen it yet, you won’t get spoiled here. We’ll even give you a link to watch it online for free, courtesy of AMC, at the end of this post.
If you were watching, however, you were apparently not alone. Including probably all of the SciFi Mafiosi, there were 8.1 MILLION viewers last night. Comic Book Men also did well on its series premiere last night. Here is the AMC press release:
AMC’S “THE WALKING DEAD”
MID-SEASON TWO PREMIERE
REIGNS AS THE STRONGEST DRAMA TELECAST
IN BASIC CABLE HISTORY AGAINST KEY DEMOS
8.1 MILLION VIEWERS
5.4 MILLION ADULTS 18-49
4.4 MILLION ADULTS 25-54
New York, NY – February 13, 2012 – Last night, AMC’s mid-season premiere of “The Walking Dead” became the strongest telecast for any drama in basic cable history against key demos including 5.4 million adults 18-49 and 4.4 million adults 25-54. These results shatter the previous record, which was held by the series two premiere from October 16th with increases of +12% and +6% respectively. The show delivered 8.1 million viewers for its 9pm premiere and delivered 10.1 million viewers for the night (9pm premiere and 11pm and 12:30 am encores). At 10pm, AMC also premiered its newest unscripted series, “Comic Book Men,” executive produced by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy), Charlie Corwin’s Original Media (LA Ink, Storm Chasers, Swamp People) and Elyse Seiden (Red State). The series delivered 2 million viewers.
Source: The Nielsen Company, Live+SD, M-Su/8P-11P (telecast level data, originals, series-drama program type, 1993-2/12/12). Strongest telecast among A18-49 and A25-54 AA (000).
“It is a great night for AMC. We’re thrilled to see this incredible record breaking response to ‘The Walking Dead,’ and ‘Comic Book Men’ is off to a strong start as well. Congratulations to the teams behind both of these shows,” said Charlie Collier, AMC’s president.
Following are the Key Nielsen Highlights:
Mid-season two premiere “The Walking Dead”:
- 9pm airing – 5.2 HH rating with 8.1 million viewers
- 9pm airing – Adults 18-49 delivered 5.4 million viewers
- 9pm airing – Adults 25-54 delivered 4.4 million viewers
- 9 pm, 11 pm and 12:30 am airings – 10.1 million viewers
“The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. Glen Mazzara serves as series’ showrunner and executive producer. Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Frank Darabont are executive producers with Greg Nicotero as co-executive producer. Season two of the critically acclaimed global hit series continues to deliver the strongest telecasts for any drama in basic cable history against Adults 18-49, as well as, top international pay-TV ratings on Fox International Channels’ (FIC) major markets.
At 10pm, the network premiered its newest unscripted series “Comic Book Men,”
Premiere of “Comic Book Men”
- 10pm airing – 1.3 HH rating with 2 million viewers
- 10pm airing – Adults 18-49 delivered 1.3 million viewers
- 10pm airing – Adults 25-54 delivered 1.1 million viewers
Executive produced by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy), Charlie Corwin’s Original Media (LA Ink, Storm Chasers, Swamp People) and Elyse Seiden (Red State), the six-part series dives deep into fanboy culture by following the antics in and around master fanboy Kevin Smith’s New Jersey comic shop, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, where both staff and customers geek out over mind-blowing pop culture artifacts and the legends behind them.
Leading the crew behind the Secret Stash counter are moody manager Walt, uber-nerd Mike, career slacker Brian, and Ming, the shop’s go-to whipping boy. As the team buys, sells and discovers the treasures of the comic collecting world, they share all the juicy details with Kevin through their outrageous podcast, which is woven throughout the series.
“The Walking Dead” is also back on all Fox International Channels’ worldwide this week. FIC plans to release its global numbers early next week.
If you missed The Walking Dead‘s midseason premiere, click here to watch the episode online, but do it soon; AMC says that it will only be available for a limited time.
The Walking Dead, starring Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Scott Wilson, Laurie Holden, and Sarah Wayne Callies, airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.
