Here it is, our first glimpse into season 2 of AMC’s The Walking Dead. The scene follows Rick Grimes as he confronts not one but two zombies. His weapon of choice? A rock.
Watch it again, and then again, and anticipate the premiere coming this October.
Update: Hop after the break to see the new Walking Dead Comic Con poster; it features Rick and the gang of survivors atop the winnebago fending off a horde of zombies. Continue reading TV teaser: ‘The Walking Dead’ season 2
LOTR fans, check it: To celebrate the ultimate Blu-ray release of Peter Jackson’s masterpiece, AMC is going to screen all three Director’s Cuts of the Lord of the Rings films this summer! They will be release chronologically over the course of three weeks leading up to the Blu-ray collection release date that is June 28. Here’s the plan. Each movie will be see new life in theatres for one night only. Fellowship of the Ring will play on June 14th, The Two Towers June 21st, and the trilogy will conclude with the screening of The Return of the King on June 28th. Tickets can be ordered today. Head over to AMC’s website and see if the extended cuts will be playing near you. And if you’re curious, the twice aforementioned LOTR ultimate Blu-ray collection is up for preorder at Amazon; it’ll cost you $83.99. So worth it! Should hold you over until Jackson’s next journey to the Shire.
[Via TheOneRing]
Exciting news, fans of stellar television! Today Netflix has nabbed exclusive rights to off-network reruns of the one of the most highly acclaimed shows on television. Mad Men is produced by Lionsgate TV, and according to Variety, Netflix has agreed to pay a license fee upwards of $1 million per episode to bring the show to its streaming subscriber base. All four seasons of Mad Men will hit the streaming service on July 27.
And in case you haven’t heard, AMC and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner recently struck a deal to produce three more seasons of the period drama. Seasons five, six, and seven won’t find their way onto Netflix until their seasons have run their full course on the cable network.
[Via Variety]
Typing that post title makes me feel so happy. Anticipation was high before AMC debuted The Walking Dead on Halloween, and creatives Frank Darabont, Gale Anne Hurd, Robert Kirkman and special effects artist Greg Nicotero knew they had to perform well enough to at least appease the rabid Dead comics fanbase if they were to succeed in the TV format. They succeeded and then some. 5.3 million people tuned into the series premiere and AMC renewed the show after only two episodes had aired. It was by all means an instant success. The season finale managed to top the premiere numbers across the board and crowned Dead the most watched drama series in basic cable history in the coveted 18-49 demo. Over 6 million viewers tuned into the finale making it the most watched episode of the season–it gained viewers over the course of one month. Not many network freshman dramas can say they did that. More stats: 4 million viewers in the 18-49 demo watched the finale (boom, new record for cable!); and on top of the 6 million viewer total, an additional 2.1 million people watched the finale during its 11PM and 1AM encore airings.
The show looked great (Nicotero’s zombies were fantastic), the writing and acting were impeccable, and I can’t wait for season two to premiere. Though it hasn’t been confirmed, most speculate that it won’t return until Halloween 2011 so it can help promote AMC’s Fearfest week again.
As a series reaching more adults 18-49 than any other show in the history of cable television, it doesn’t come to much surprise that AMC has greenlit The Walking Dead for a second season. While the first season includes just six episodes, season two will pack 13 of ’em! AMC prez Charlie Collier had this to say about the renewal: “The ‘Dead’ has spread! No other cable series has ever attracted as many Adults 18-49 as ‘The Walking Dead.’ This reaffirms viewers’ hunger for premium television on basic cable. We are so proud to be bringing back ‘The Walking Dead’ again, across the globe.” Dead aired on FOX International Channel, and it was the highest-rated original series premiere ever to air on FIC simultaneously worldwide. If you want to read some more impressive stats, look after the break for the full PR.
If you haven’t been sucked into the Dead universe yet (comic books or otherwise), you need to starting watching this show! It’s not too late to play catch-up. Head over to AMC’s website to watch the pilot episode in its entirety, and episode 2 is already available on iTunes (AMC also airs it multiple times throughout the week). Catch the fever, that is if you’re not of the faint of heart.
[Via Deadline] Continue reading AMC renews ‘The Walking Dead’
After many years of anticipation, tonight zombies will invade our living rooms like never before. The Walking Dead, a comic book series created by Robert Kirkman and adapted for television by Frank Darabont, follows a group of survivors dealing with a world overrun by zombies. The collaboration between Kirkman, Darabont, producer Gale Anne Hurd, and makeup effects artist Greg Nicotero promises to result in a frightening drama about the human psyche featuring the best looking and most convincing zombies made for television. The 6-episode season one arc begins tonight at 10PM on AMC. The series premiere runs an hour and a half in length, so set your DVRs accordingly. And if you plan on celebrating Halloween night outside the home, don’t forget to record it! Happy Halloween!
Look in the gallery below for character profiles and spooky stills from the premiere.
Update: The Walking Dead premiere was a record-smashing success! The 10PM showing attracted 5.3 million viewers–the largest audience for an AMC original series ever. Want another record-breaking stat? In the 18-49 demo, the show netted 3.6 million viewers making it the highest rated cable series debut in 2010. The adults 25-54 and 18-34 demos netted 3.1 million and 2.1 million viewers, respectively. AMC aired the premiere two more time during the night (at 11PM and again at 1AM), so if you take those showings into account, the premiere garnered a grand total of 8.1 million viewers. Says Charlie Collier, AMC president: “It’s a good day to be dead. We are so proud of this series, its depth of storytelling and the remarkable talent attached. As the network dedicated to bringing viewers the best stories on television, we are so pleased to have the opportunity with The Walking Dead to raise the bar within this popular genre and continue our commitment to being the home of premium television on basic cable.” So Mr. Collier, how about renewing this flipping success for a second season, hm?
[Images via IGN; Deadline; EW]
Can you believe it!? The highly anticipated TV adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book The Walking Dead is set to premiere this weekend! To promote the upcoming series premiere, AMC and Fox International Channels have teamed up to stage real live “zombie attacks” in 26 cities around the world over a 24-hour period. Inspired by the show’s makeup artist Greg Nicotero, hundreds of undead extras will begin the invasion tomorrow, October 26 at daybreak in Taipei and Hong Kong. After speading the outbreak to major landmarks including the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., Big Ben in London, the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, and the Acropolis in Athens, the zombies will end their spree in Los Angeles, just in time for the big LA premiere event. Look after the break for a full listing of the promotional zombie tour stops.
The Walking Dead premieres this Sunday, October 31 at 9PM on AMC.
Update: Jump after the break to watch an “Invasion Compilation” of the day’s events. Hundreds of zombies literally roamed cities all around the globe–and they looked very convincing! Unfortunately no one was harmed in the filming. Want to see more? Head over to the FICTheWalkingDead YouTube channel to watch more footage categorized by city and time of day.
[Via THR; IGN] Continue reading Prepare for the ‘Walking Dead’ zombie invasion, coming to a city near you! [Update: video compilation]
Sure this 30 second spot may not reach the epicness that was the original (nearly) 5 minute sneak peek into AMC’s upcoming horror series The Walking Dead. But it does include new footage and enough zombies to whet your appetite. Mash play and shower in the anticipation of the series premiere. The zombie apocalypse begins October 31 at 10PM on AMC.
[Via IGN]
Check out this utterly brilliant piece of art created by Daniel Kanemoto, a long-time fan of Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel The Walking Dead. In his spare time, talented graphic designer Kanemoto used After Effects to combine Charlie Adlard and Tony Moore’s The Walking Dead artwork and music from Eels (the track is called “Fresh Blood”, how fitting) to create an animated spec title sequence for the upcoming AMC adaptation. You certainly do not have to be a fan of Kirkman’s work to truly appreciate what Kanemoto has done here.
He says: “Just so there’s no confusion, I’m not affiliated with the production in any way — I’m simply a huge fan of both Frank Darabont and Robert Kirkman, and this is my attempt at creating a cinematic introduction to one of the all time great “continuing stories of survival horror.””
Word got out about Kanemoto’s masterpiece when Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof tweeted about it (“We are arriving at that unique moment in time where the term “fan-made” becomes moot. This is extraordinary.”) and blogger Cory Doctorow posted it on BoingBoing. The video reached an even wider audience when EW’s Jeff Jensen interviewed Kanemoto to discover his inspiration for the spec. You can read said interview here.
Now I am oh-so-interested to see if the editors and animators of the upcoming show can out-perform Kanemoto’s fan-made title sequence. We shall find out when The Walking Dead premieres October 31 at 10PM on AMC.
[Via @DamonLindelof; Vimeo]
It’s mid-September, my favorite time of year. Brand new television programming begins and old favorites return. I’m going to run through the new network and cable shows that I’m most anticipating, let you know which returning shows you should be watching, and I’ll hypothesize about which new shows are likely to get the axe. Not so interested in my opinions? Simply click here to view the 2010 fall schedule for the big four networks (including synopses, cast/creator info, and trailers) and decide what to watch on your own terms.
CBS: There’s a reason why CBS is the most watched network–they mostly air procedural crime dramas that do not force viewers to tune in every week. Take, for example, the CSI franchise (which now includes CSI, CSI: NY & CSI: Miami) and the NCIS franchise (NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles). Sprinkle in some fantastic comedies like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother plus popular reality shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race, and Undercover Boss and you’ve got a worthy lineup that does not require weekly viewing. Though I am not not the biggest fan of the procedurals, The Mentalist does a fine job of drawing me in when I happen to channel surf to the network. Also, I’ve only heard good things about The Good Wife, so you might want to give that a try as well.
Of the five new shows premiering this fall on CBS, there’s only one that I’m fully interested in: Hawaii Five-O. Again, crime procedurals are usually not my cup of tea but there’s no denying how action-packed and fun this 1960s reboot looks. (The show originally aired on CBS for 12 seasons from 1968-1980.) Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Fringe) serve as executive producers and stars Alex O’Loughlin (Three Rivers), Scott Caan (Entourage), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), and the beautiful Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan) will work together to take down the villains. Except tons of explosions, violent action scenes, and quick, witty banter from Caan. It only helps that the backdrop to all of this is Oahu! Premieres Monday, September 20 at 10PM.
Getting the axe? $#*@ My Dad Says.
I’m sorry I can’t contain myself. YES! *Breath* Ok, that’s better. Now where was I? Oh, right…
Frank Darabount, showrunner/director/producer/writer of AMC’s upcoming horror drama The Walking Dead (based on the comic book by Robert Kirkman), told Fangoria magazine that a second season of the zombie apocalypse show is official. Fans of the most anticipated new fall show must be teeming with excitement–The Walking Dead hasn’t even aired a single episode yet and the network gave it a green light to continue producing new content! Filming for season 2 will begin February 2011. Ready for some more good news? Producer Gale Anne Hurd confirms that season 2 will expand the episode count. While the first season will carry a short 6-episode arc, season 2 will contain 13 episodes.
Darabount hinted at what to expect in the second season. Perhaps some of the “environmental elements” from volume two of Kirkman’s comics will play a pivotal role? “It would be great not just to get out of the heat, but to present a different idea to the audience visually and tonally by having it be winter. There’s some really cool stuff that Kirkman did, where they find the one zombie that’s frozen to the ground. I’d never seen that before and that’s really cool.”
Yes, yes it is. Darabont goes on to share his excitment about how the team plans on introducing a fan favorite from the comic book series. “Or when Michonne shows up – and boy, is she a character I can’t wait to get to – when she comes striding out of the wasteland like a Clint Eastwood f***ing spaghetti western character cross-melded with some samurai movie, like the Baby Cart character with the f***ing sword, and there’s just a little drift of snow in the air. I would love to put that on film.”
Hyped? Me too. The Walking Dead premieres October 31 at 10PM on AMC; it’s a two-hour episode so set your DVRs accordingly.
Update: Numerous sources say that Darabont spoke too soon. According to AMC reps news of a second season is pure speculation and “rumor.” Oh well. It will be made official soon enough.
[Via ComicBookMovie; IGN]
I have not anticipated the premiere of a new fall TV series like this in quite some time. The Walking Dead, the famed comic book series from Robert Kirkman that follows a band of survivors in a zombie-infested world, is being adapted to the small screen with executive producer/director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) at the helm. I have attempted to hook you in from the start–reporting cast additions, production stills, and behind-the-scenes looks from the set. Today the four-and-a-half minute trailer, originally screened at Comic Con in July, has hit the ‘Net and boy does it impress. If nothing caught your attention in the past surrounding the development of the AMC series, this will. In it you will meet Rick Grimes, a man who gets shots and wakes up after a prolonged period of time in a hospital to find his home infiltrated by a hoard of flesh-hungry zombies. Said zombies look horrifyingly spectacular thanks to makeup/special FX extraordinaire Greg Nicotero. I implore you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the first in-depth peek at The Walking Dead.
We’ve been told that The Walking Dead would premiere in October sometime during AMC’s Fearfest schedule, which will include 14 consecutive days of horror-themed programming. Today THR reports that the zombie series will premiere on Halloween night, Sunday October 31 at 10:00PM ET. If you’re planning on spending the night trick-or-treating, don’t forget to set your DVR! The pilot episode, written and directed by Darabont, will run 90 minutes long.
[Via THR]