AMC’s The Walking Dead returned to its largest ever audience with last night’s midseason premiere “The Suicide King”.
Press release follows:
AMC’S “THE WALKING DEAD” SEASON THREE PREMIERE DELIVERS 12.3 MILLION VIEWERS MAKING IT THE LARGEST AUDIENCE IN SERIES HISTORY
LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE CEMENTS AMC’S “THE WALKING DEAD” AS THE #1 TELEVISION PROGRAM OF THE SEASON AMONG ADULTS 18-49 WITH SERIES AVERAGE OUTDELIVERING HITS INCLUDING “MODERN FAMILY,” “NCIS,” “THE BIG BANG THEORY,” “TWO AND A HALF MEN,” “DUCK DYNASTY,” AND “AMERICAN HORROR STORY”
“TALKING DEAD” DELIVERS 2.7 MILLION ADULTS 18-49 AND 4.1 MILLION VIEWERS
New York, NY – February 11, 2013 – Last night, AMC’s mid-season three premiere of “The Walking Dead” returned with its largest audience ever in series history delivering 12.3 million viewers at the 9pm premiere. The previous record was 10.9 million viewers from the season three premiere on October 14, 2012. The episode is also the strongest telecast for a series in basic cable history for adults 18-49 with 7.7 million. These results shatter the hit series’ previous record with an increase of +6% (A18-49) over the October 14, 2012 season three premiere. “The Walking Dead” season three series average for adults 18-49 delivers 6.8 million outperforming other television series season averages including “Modern Family,” ‘The Big Bang Theory,” “Two and A Half Men,” and “NCIS.” In addition to the 9 PM premiere, the show encored at 11 PM, midnight and 2am, delivering 16.6 million viewers for the night.
Following the 9 PM premiere of “The Walking Dead,” AMC premiered a new episode of “Talking Dead” at 10 PM. 4.1 million viewers tuned in to the live show. Hosted by Chris Hardwick, “Talking Dead” is a companion series to “The Walking Dead” and features Hardwick and fans, actors, producers and other TV enthusiasts, discussing and dissecting that night’s “Dead” premiere. The series expanded to a full hour with the final 8 episodes of season three.
“When you look at numbers like this, the first thing that comes to mind is how grateful we are to the fans of this show. They embrace ‘The Walking Dead’ in a way that we wanted to believe was possible but we never take for granted,” said Charlie Collier, AMC’s president. “The cast and crew put everything they have into making this show. They’re a phenomenally talented group who truly give their all. We congratulate everyone involved.”
Key Nielsen Highlights for the season three B premiere of “The Walking Dead”:
· 9pm airing – 7.3 HH rating with 12.3 million viewers; a +40%/+51% increase respectively over last year’s season 2B premiere
· 9pm airing – Adults 18-49 delivered 7.7 million viewers; a +44% increase over last year’s season 2B premiere
· 9pm airing – Adults 25-54 delivered 6.7 million viewers; a +51% increase over last year’s season 2B premiere.
· 9p premiere, 11p, midnight and 2a airings grossed to 16.6 million viewers, 10.7 million Adults 18-49 and 8.9 million Adults 25-54
Key Nielsen Highlights for the season three B premiere of “Talking Dead”:
· 10pm: 2.6 HH rating with 4.1 million viewers, +225%/+371% vs. last year’s season 2B premiere.
· 10pm: 2.7 million Adults 18-49, +396% vs. last year’s season 2B premiere.
· 10pm: 2.3 million Adults 25-54, +369% vs. last year’s season 2B premiere.
HT: Sals
That’s amazing. I was seriously worried because of the 2 month break, but it goes to show a loyal fan base will follow a fantastic show. Why doesn’t AMC keep Glen Mazzara as showrunner, seriously his vision of the show seems to be hitting all the right notes.
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Shame this was one of the show’s weakest episodes. Shame it was pretty everything the typical audience member enjoys.
Am I hipstering out too much?
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Because there were no constant zombie kills?
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Not at all! There were some good character moments that were acted well, but the script was just predictable and unexciting. That made for the episode feeling like a weak one.
I think the only surprise was Beth getting some lines and development. Walking Dead is the type of show that becomes very uninteresting if you already know what’s going to happen. Obviously, that can be changed if the predictable were just executed better…
I wanted more with Daryl and Merle vs Rick’s group, more logic behind the group’s discovery of Andrea, less cheesiness with Andrea and Governor, a bit more mourning for Oscar, etc. Of course, as per usual, the prison scenes were the best. I loved Beth and Carol’s scene, Hershel talking with Tyreese’s group, Tyreese and Sasha taking the shovels from Beth and Axel, etc. Rick’s ending scene was good up until Lori popped up. The lighting on her ruined the whole feel of the scene and it was a stupid “cliffhanger.”
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