TV News: ‘The Walking Dead’ Breaks Basic Cable Drama Telecast Record

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CHICAGO – Maybe you heard earlier today that the Grammys had between 37 and 38 million people tuning in last night. Well, apparently almost everyone stayed in to watch TV last night. In the middle of the Grammy telecast (between 8 and 9 p.m. CST), the mid-season premiere of season two of “The Walking Dead” premiered on AMC and set basic cable records.

The drama, about a group of survivors during a zombie apocalypse, set records as the strongest drama telecast in basic cable history against key demographics. The mid-season premiere brought in 8.1 million viewers during the premiere, 5.4 million adults between 18-49, and 4.4 million viewers in the 25-54 year-old demo. The previous record was held by (you guessed it) “The Walking Dead” for the season two premiere on October 16, 2011, but the demo totals were up 12% and 6%, respectively. Including the replays from later in the night, the mid-season premiere totaled 10.1 million viewers.

“It is a great night for AMC,” said AMC president Charlie Collier. “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.”

The premiere of “Comic Book Men” that Collier mentioned came in with 2 million viewers, 1.3 million of which were in the coveted 18-49 demo. The show is a six-part series that dives into the fanboy culture inside of executive producer Kevin Smith’s comic book shop in New Jersey.

AMC can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that splitting up the second season of their most watched show did not hurt viewership. In fact, it brought in bigger totals than the show (or any other basic cable show for that matter) has ever seen before.

By TIM MARTENS Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com tim@hollywoodchicago.com