America's love affair with zombies continued with last night's record-breaking premiere of “Fear the Walking Dead.”
According to AMC, the spin-off's 90-minute debut drew 10.1 million viewers in its initial airing, 6.3 million of whom were adults 18-49. Both are records for a cable series premiere, according to AMC.
That number is well short of the 17-odd million who watched the most recent season premiere of the parent show, but “Fear” didn't bring over any pre-existing characters from “TWD,” and it takes place at a much earlier stage of the apocalypse, which limits the amount of zombie mayhem. For the premiere of any new show, especially on cable, it's an impressive number. (Way back in 2010, “TWD” debuted to 5.4 million viewers.)
I was lukewarm about the show, and many of you seemed unimpressed by the premiere, but it's a hit for AMC, and a 15-episode second season has already been ordered to follow these initial six episodes.