AMC’S THE WALKING DEAD IS THE MOST WATCHED DRAMA SERIES AMONG ADULTS 18-49 IN BASIC CABLE HISTORY SUNDAY FINALE ATTRACTS 4 MILLION ADULTS 18-49; GARNERS A 4.1 HH RATING WITH 6 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS

New York, NY – December 6, 2010 – Sunday night’s finale of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” attracted four million viewers in the Adult 18-49 demo. With a series average of 3.5 million Adults 18-49, “The Walking Dead” is the most watched drama series in basic cable history for the demo.* The finale was the most-watched episode of the season, garnering a 4.1 HH rating and attracting six million total viewers. The final episode ranks first for Adults 18-49 delivery among basic cable for a drama series.

*Source: NMR (1993-12/05/2010), Adults 18-49, program indicator general drama, ad supported cable networks.

Key Ratings Highlights for the finale of The Walking Dead:

10pm airing – 4.1 HH rating with more than 6 million total viewers;
10 pm, 11:00 pm and 1am airings – Gross audience to a 5.7 HH rating with 8.1 million total viewers;
Adults 18-49 – 4 million viewers;
Adults 25-54 – 3.5 million viewers.

Recently greenlit for a second season, “The Walking Dead” is AMC’s first wholly-owned production. Following its debut on AMC on Sunday, October 31, the series premiered globally in 120 countries and in 33 languages, through an unprecedented partnership between AMC and Fox International Channels. Following record breaking ratings for the international premiere, “The Walking Dead” has continued to deliver stellar ratings on Pay TV in all Fox International Channels’ markets, including the UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

“The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. The series tells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, who travel in search of a safe and secure home. The comic goes on to explore the challenges of life in a world overrun by zombies who take a toll on the survivors, and sometimes the interpersonal conflicts present a greater danger to their continuing survival than the zombies that roam the country. Over time, the characters are changed by the constant exposure to death and some grow willing to do anything to survive.

“The Walking Dead” received rave reviews from countless critics, who heralded the series as “the best new show on TV” (Entertainment Weekly), “visually stunning…and daring in its artful use of silence” (TV Guide), “…breathtaking in its small moments, in which the pain and glory of being human are conveyed with only the flick of a filmmaking wrist.” (Wall Street Journal), “…evocative, suspenseful” (Boston Globe) “…surprisingly scary and remarkably good” (The New York Times) ”…a triumph of tone and mood” (Contra Costa Times) and “a real achievement for a horror show on a basic-cable network” (Rolling Stone). In addition, “The Walking Dead” received “4 Stars” from People and “3 Stars” from the New York Daily News and New York Post, among other outlets.

“The Walking Dead” premiered on Sunday, October 31st as part of AMC FEARFEST, the highly anticipated horror movie marathon of the Halloween season.

About AMC

AMC reigns as the only cable network in history to ever win the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Drama Series three years in a row, as well as the Golden Globe® Award for Best Television Series – Drama for three consecutive years. Whether commemorating favorite films from every genre and decade or creating acclaimed original programming, the AMC experience is an uncompromising celebration of great stories. AMC’s original stories include the Emmy® Award-winning dramas Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and entertaining non-scripted programming such asAMC News. AMC further demonstrates its commitment to the art of storytelling with curated movie franchises like AMC Hollywood Icon andAMC Complete Collection. Available in more than 96 million homes (Source: Nielsen Media Research), AMC is a subsidiary of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, which includes sister networks IFC, Sundance Channel, WE tv and Wedding Central. AMC is available across all platforms, including on-air, online, on demand and mobile. AMC: Story Matters HereSM.

Warning: This article contains spoilers that some readers may prefer to avoid.

AMC
The Walking Dead actor Michael Rooker has teased when fans can expect to see his controversial character Merle Dixon return to the series.

However, Rooker claims that despite hints in the series suggesting he may return to plague the other survivors for the conclusion, this is not the case.

“I won’t be back, I’m still going to be MIA,” Rooker told The Hollywood Reporter about tonight’s US season finale. “But it’s really set up well for me to bounce back, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Full Article: http://www.digitalspy.com/ustv/s135/the-walking-dead/news/a291555/rooker-teases-future-on-walking-dead.html

BROADCAST: December 05, 2010 10:00PM ET

Rick and the group are allowed into the CDC, by a strange doctor. But all is not what it seems in their newfound haven.

WATCH THE EPISODE THEN COME BACK AND LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS BELOW OR JOIN US IN THE FORUM FOR LIVELY DISCUSSION (GUEST POSTING ENABLED)!

In an interview with EW, The Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, Aliens) denies reports that director Frank Darabont fired the hit AMC show’s writing staff. She also confirmed that all of the principal cast — or, presumably, the actors whose characters are still alive at the end of this Sunday’s season finale — are signed up for multiple seasons of the zombie show.

Earlier this week, Deadline reported that Shawshank Redemption filmmaker Frank Darabont — who developed the Walking Dead for television and directed the pilot — had let go the show’s writers, including Murder One co-creator Charles “Chic” Eglee. But earlier today, Hurd refuted that allegation. “It’s completely inaccurate,” she told EW exclusively. “[In] the writers’ room, there are people that have set up other projects that will be their first priority if their own series is picked up as a pilot or if it’s a series. I think [Eglee] just decided that he wants to run his own show.”

Full Article: http://insidetv.ew.com/2010/12/03/walking-dead-darabont-hurd-writers/

As the resident score nerd at Splash Page HQ, I sat down with “The Walking Dead” composer Bear McCreary to discuss writing music for zombies vs. music for humans, and various other elements of his “Walking Dead” work. Now that the bulk of the season is behind us, we can finally publish one of our meatiest McCreary bites: a discussion of character deaths and how to address them musically, which scenes he’s looking forward to scoring in upcoming episodes, and a little video of the man in action, conducting “The Walking Dead” musicians.

“So much of the first few episodes is about external forces,” McCreary told MTV News. “It’s about the apocalypse. It’s about trying to get from Point A to Point B. We’re trying to understand what’s going on.”

“It’s not a lot about internal forces, and when a character that we know and love passes away, that’s a moment when it’s not about the events, it’s about what these people are feeling,” he explained. “And this show is one of those rare opportunities where you get to do both. So, the character deaths are just such a moving experience, and I love writing them, even though I hate saying goodbye to these characters that I love. . . But at the same time, it’s just an opportunity for incredible drama and great storytelling.”

Full Article: http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/12/02/the-walking-dead-composer-bear-mccreary/

In a recent exclusive interview with Collider, Laurie Holden talked about this being her third collaboration with executive producer/director/writer Frank Darabont, how much fun she’s had with the physical side of Andrea, how emotionally draining the work is and how surreal the huge success of the series has been for everyone involved. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

How did you originally get involved with The Walking Dead? Since you’d worked with Frank Darabont before, did he specifically reach out to you for this?

LAURIE HOLDEN: Well, I’ve worked with Frank on two other collaborations, The Majestic with Jim Carrey and Stephen King’s The Mist. When The Walking Dead officially got greenlit, he called me up and said, “My passion project just got off the ground. There’s a role I think you’re perfect for. Would you consider the role of Andrea?” And I was like, “Wow, I’d love to take a look at it.” So, I read the pilot script and was knocked out. And then, I picked up Compendium 1 of Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel and was just blown away by the storytelling, and I signed up immediately.

Full Article: http://www.collider.com/2010/12/01/laurie-holden-interview-the-walking-dead/

Deadline is reporting that executive producer Frank Darabonthas let go of the show’s entire writing staff, including his number 2, Charles H. Eglee (Dexter, The Shield). As Deadline notes, many shows have some writer changes in-between seasons, but it’s unusual for such a major overhaul.

In addition, Deadline says they hear Darabont wants to go forward into Season 2 without a set writing staff, instead assigning all scripts he doesn’t write himself to freelancers. Deadline points out that Darabont fully wrote two episodes of the first season (and co-wrote or re-wrote the others) and that two of the others were written by non-staff writers, including Walking Dead comic book creator Robert Kirkman. They also note that Darabont would be using the same model employed byTorchwood, which has several writers working on episodes for the upcoming re-launch on Starz (including Buffy’s Jane Espenson), but no full time writing staff.

Full Article: http://tv.ign.com/articles/113/1137550p1.html

The end is near. That’s right, kids, it’s been a hell of a ride, but AMC’s six-episode mega-hit series “The Walking Dead” is drawing to a close. In the end the show has lived up to all expectations, and the wait for Season 2 is going to be nothing short of agonizing. Missed an episode? No worries. You’re going to be able to catch up or relive the goods in succession.

On Sunday, December 5th, starting at 4:30/3:30c, AMC will air the entire first season of “The Walking Dead”, culminating with the season finale at 10/9c.

Full Article: http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/41186/walking-dead-marathon-amc-sunday

While notification subscription has been available on Amazon for a few weeks now, the official PR arrives today…
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AMC TEAMS WITH ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT FOR HOME ENTERTAINMENT DISTRIBUTION FOR “THE Walking Dead”

DVD: Blu-Ray:

New York/Beverly Hills – November 30, 2010 – AMC and Anchor Bay Entertainment announced today that Anchor Bay Entertainment will distribute AMC’s original hit series, “The Walking Dead,” on Blu-ray™ and DVD in the U.S. and Canada. “The Walking Dead” premiered on AMC on Sunday, October 31st – Halloween night and its debut reigns as the biggest series debut in cable’s history among Adults 18-49 with 4.2 million*. The series is based on the comic book written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. Season one consists of six, one-hour episodes. Today’s announcement was made jointly by Bill Clark, President of Anchor Bay Entertainment and Marci Wiseman, Senior Vice President of Business Affairs for AMC.

*Source: Nielsen Media Research. Live + 3 data

“We’re pleased to be working on ‘The Walking Dead’ series with the team at AMC,” Clark said. “We have some unique plans for the release and can’t wait to put them into motion. We’re lucky to have such talented and committed partners at the network.”

“Anchor Bay is the leading distributor for the horror genre, and we could not have a better partner as we expand into this lucrative new market,” Wiseman said. “‘The Walking Dead’ is an epic, edge-of-your-seat drama and we are excited to extend its life into the retail marketplace.”

“Anchor Bay is the perfect home for ‘The Walking Dead,’” added Kevin Kasha, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Acquisitions and Co-Productions of Anchor Bay Films. “Over the years, the Anchor Bay Entertainment brand has become synonymous with the horror genre and this series is horror at its absolute best.”

“The Walking Dead” tells the story of the months and years that ensue after a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, who travel in search of a safe and secure home. He goes on to explore the challenges of life in a world overrun by zombies who take a toll on the survivors, and sometimes the interpersonal conflicts present a greater danger to their continuing survival than the zombies that roam the country. Over time, the characters are changed by the constant exposure to death and some grow willing to do anything to survive.

The deal for “The Walking Dead” was negotiated by Bill Clark, Kevin Kasha, and Richard Turner for Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Marci Wiseman for AMC.

About AMC

AMC reigns as the only cable network in history to ever win the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Drama Series three years in a row, as well as the Golden Globe® Award for Best Television Series – Drama for three consecutive years. Whether commemorating favorite films from every genre and decade or creating acclaimed original programming, the AMC experience is an uncompromising celebration of great stories. AMC’s original stories include the Emmy® Award-winning dramasMad Men and Breaking Bad, and entertaining non-scripted programming such as AMC News. AMC further demonstrates its commitment to the art of storytelling with curated movie franchises like AMC Hollywood Icon and AMC Complete Collection. Available in more than 96 million homes (Source: Nielsen Media Research), AMC is a subsidiary of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, which includes sister networks IFC, Sundance Channel, WE tv and Wedding Central. AMC is available across all platforms, including on-air, online, on demand and mobile. AMC: Story Matters HereSM.

About Anchor Bay Entertainment

Anchor Bay Entertainment is the home entertainment division of Starz Media, LLC. It includes the Anchor Bay Films and Manga Entertainment brands. It distributes feature films, children’s entertainment, fitness, TV series, documentaries, anime and other filmed entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray™ formats. It is the exclusive distributor in the U.S. of the theatrical titles from Overture Films. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Anchor Bay Entertainment has offices in Troy,MI, as well as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Starz Media (www.starzmedia.com) is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group (NASDAQ: LSTZA).

Hot on the hills of promo photos for episode 5, comes several still from the season finale of The Walking Dead – episode 6 “TS-19″:

More / Larger Images: AMC The Walking Dead Photos: S01E06 / WALKINGDEAD-TV.INFO : AMC The Walking Dead TV Series FanSite & Forum