January, February, March… April! Let’s take a look at five premieres airing this month. Jump after the break. Continue reading TV reminder: 5 premieres to look out for in April
Tag Archives: AMC
TV reminder: 9 premieres to look out for in February
January has come and gone and as we fold into February it’s time to take a look at nine series/season premieres airing this month. Jump after the break for all the deets. Continue reading TV reminder: 9 premieres to look out for in February
Stars & producers discuss what’s next on ‘The Walking Dead’
The Walking Dead returns next Sunday for the second half of season four and [spoiler alert] it’s time to deal with the aftermath of losing the prison and Hershel’s death.
“It’s going to be about how do you get everybody back together, how do we stay safe, and how do we find sanctuary,” says EP David Alpert in the first look video at the back eight episodes posted above. Showrunner Scott M. Gimple, producers Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero, and Denise Huth, and many of the show’s stars also talk about the upcoming batch of episodes here.
“Everybody’s been separated and it’s a terrifying world that we inhabit, again,” Andrew Lincoln warns. The series is “moving into a much more psychological horror” he says and with a smirk he adds, “we’re jumping off the cliff in this back eight.”
The Walking Dead is back Sunday, February 9 on AMC.
‘The Walking Dead’ season 4B teaser
It’s not much but it’s something; here’s a tease at the upcoming second half of season four of The Walking Dead. The Governor’s gone and our band of survivors are displaced. The tagline: “Don’t look back.”
The Walking Dead resumes February 9 on AMC.
Preview ‘The Walking Dead’ 4B
The Walking Dead went out with quite the bang last Sunday (respectively rest in peace and burn in hell to those we lost). The back-half of season 4 (or as we TV types like to call “4B”) premieres February 9 on AMC and you can preview what’s to come in the short yet tantalizing teaser embedded above.
[Spoilers!] During last week’s Talking Dead, creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman teased, “Not only have these people lost Hershel, they lost the prison, but they also lost each other. They’re out on their own, they’re in different groups. There’s going to be a lot going on with these different people as they try to survive in the next half of the season.”
Star Andrew Lincoln describes the next batch of eight episodes as “the boldest, bravest, and most exciting this show has ever attempted.
Squee.
AMC renews ‘The Walking Dead’ for a fifth season
After clocking in a record breaking 20.2 million viewers for its season 4 premiere, it comes as no surprise that AMC is granting The Walking Dead a fifth season.
“We are very happy to make what has to be one of the most anti-climactic renewal announcements ever: The Walking Dead is renewed for a fifth season,” said AMC president Charlie Collier. “This is a show that has erased traditional distinctions between cable and broadcast. Its expanding base of passionate fans has grown every season, most recently – and most notably – with the season four premiere earlier this month, which broke viewership records for the series and became the biggest non-sports telecast in cable history. On behalf of the incredible team on both sides of the camera, thank you to the fans and here’s to more Dead.”
As of now, Scott M. Gimple will in fact remain the showrunner for next season. But the current season is still young and there’s plenty of time for him to go the way of Frank Darabont and Glen Mazzara, though it’d be nice for Dead to hold onto its showrunner for once.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9PM on AMC.
TV reminder: ‘The Walking Dead’ premieres tonight (10/13) at 9PM on AMC [Update: record ratings]
The highly anticipated season 4 premiere of The Walking Dead airs tonight, Sunday, October 13 at 9PM on AMC. When we last saw our band of survivors they let into the prison the straggling strangers from the defeated Woodbury. Trailers tease a mysterious danger from within that’s “not really walkers and it’s not other people.” Whatever it is, will it drive Rick and company out of their safe haven as alluded to in the prison break-out poster pictured above?
The premiere is called “30 Days Without An Accident” and its written by new showrunner Scott M. Gimple and directed by special effects specialist and executive producer Greg Nicotero. Following the episode is the return of Chris Hardwick’s after-show Talking Dead with special guests Gimple and Castle‘s Nathan Fillion.
Update (10/14): Another Walking Dead premiere, another series high ratings record. 16.1 million viewers tuned into the season 4 premiere last night; 10.4 million of them fall into the coveted adults aged 18-49 demographic. TWD reigns as the #1 show on TV in that demo. AMC proposes that after factoring in time-shifted playback (DVR, etc.), last night’s premiere should exceed 20 million viewers. The previously most-watched episode was the season 3 finale which attracted 12.4 million viewers, 8.1 million of which fell into the 18-49 demo. In other words, the Dead continue to rise…exponentially. Talking Dead also saw big gains; it too debuted to its biggest numbers with 5.1 million viewers, including 3.3 million in the 18-49 demo.
AMC President Charlie Collier commented on the expected yet still exciting news, as he does. “Sincere thanks to the fans, who have welcomed The Walking Dead back for its fourth season with the highest-rated episode in the show’s history. We could not be more proud of this show and everyone on both sides of the camera who work so hard to give life to this story of character, leadership and survival. It starts with series creator, writer and executive producer Robert Kirkman, show runner and executive producer Scott Gimple and the director of last night’s episode (and the man behind the make-up) executive producer Greg Nicotero, their fellow executive producers and an extraordinary cast and crew who are giving their all every day. So clearly, thanks to them, the dead have never been more alive.”
Update 2: The Walking Dead season 4 premiere is now being hailed as “the most watched non-sports telecast in cable history” after factoring in Live+3 data; an additional 4.1 million viewers watched the episode in the three days following the live Sunday airdate bringing its total viewership to a whopping 20.2 million.
‘Breaking Bad’ goes out on top
And just like that, arguably the greatest show to air on television has come to an end. Breaking Bad went out on its highest note, both creatively and in the ratings. The finale–or should I say “Felina”–drew 10.3 million viewers, a series high spanning all five seasons. Among the coveted group aged 18-49, 6.7 million people watched the final episode live. Thanks to streaming outlets like Netflix and iTunes, the show was able to break out not only as a critical darling but also as a pop culture phenomenon.
In an informative interview with EW, mastermind creator/producer/writer/director Vince Gilligan shared his feelings about ending on top. “Every story has its running time, and it’s just hard in television to know what that running length should amount to, and I feel very happy and satisfied by the fact that we’re wrapping up now. I can’t even believe that the ratings have increased with each episode — I just think it’s wonderful — and people have asked me, ‘Does it make you want to go on and do a bunch more episodes now?’ Just the opposite. It makes me think, through quite a bit of good luck being involved, we really did pick the right moment to exit the stage, and I feel even more confident of that now than I did before.”
In a statement AMC president Charlie Collier expressed his gratitude to the successful series. “Breaking Bad is simply unique. It all starts with Vince Gilligan who really only ever asked for one thing – the opportunity to end the show on his own terms. That is exactly what Vince did last night and, as always, brilliantly so. Congratulations to Vince and to every single person involved in this remarkable journey. We’re proud that AMC will forever be known as the birthplace and home of this iconic show and, at the same time, we tip our Heisenberg hat to the fans who made this a truly shared experience.”
The final episode proved to be the perfect ending to the perfect series. In fine Gilligan fashion, all loose ends were neatly tied up; it was supremely satisfying. In a TV landscape where many shows these days like to leave things up to the viewer’s imagination, it felt so refreshing to watch a story close with all the i’s dotted and all the T’s crossed. It concluded unapologetically and peacefully and right. Rock out to Badfinger’s “Baby Blue,” the best song to come along since “Crystal Blue Persuasion,” and remember it was all in the chemistry. Bitch.
‘Breaking Bad’s final two episodes get supersized
There are only two episodes left of Breaking Bad. Now, what’s the best way to send off arguably the greatest show in television history? By super-sizing its remaining episodes, that’s what! Executive producer Peter Gould confirmed it in a tweet: the final two installments of Bad have a runtime of 75 minutes with commercials included. That’s tight, tight, tight, yeah!!
And if you’re up for it, AMC is airing a major marathon leading up to the series finale. Starting Wednesday, September 5 at 8PM through Friday the 27th the network will air all 46 episodes that make up seasons one, two, three, and four. On the 28th at 11PM the marathon will resume by showing all of season 5 leading up to the big series finale on Sunday the 29th.
A one-hour version of Chris Hardwick’s after-show Talking Bad will come on immediately after the final episode airs (Low Winter Sun will have to wait) with some really special guests like series creator Vince Gilligan, current and former cast members Aaron Paul, Jesse Plemons, RJ Mitte, Giancarlo Esposito, and Jonathan Banks, and “super fan” Jimmy Kimmel.
The end is upon us. Brush up on your Ozymandias and reminisce all the fun cooks we’ve been on by staring endlessly into the new promotional poster posted above. It was all in the chemistry.
AMC greenlights a ‘Walking Dead’ companion series with Robert Kirkman at the helm
Shortly after announcing a spinoff series from the land of Breaking Bad in the tentatively titled Better Call Saul, AMC is more than kicking around the idea of launching a new series set in the post-apocalyptic world of their other hugely successful show The Walking Dead. The cabler is calling it a “companion series” and Walking Dead executive producers Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, and David Alpert are all on board with it. Essentially the new series will take place in the world that Kirkman created in the comics, but it won’t be shackled to his story since it will follow a completely different group of people surviving the zombie apocalypse. The following statements paint a clearer picture for what’s in mind.
Kirkman: “After 10 years of writing the comic book series and being so close to the debut of our fourth, and in my opinion, best season of the TV series, I couldn’t be more thrilled about getting the chance to create a new corner of The Walking Dead universe. The opportunity to make a show that isn’t tethered by the events of the comic book, and is truly a blank page, has set my creativity racing.”
AMC president Charlie Collier: “Building on the success of the most popular show on television for adults 18-49 is literally a no-brainer. We look forward to working with Robert, Gale and Dave again as we develop an entirely new story and cast of characters. It’s a big world and we can’t wait to give fans another unforgettable view of the zombie apocalypse.”
Seems like a fun idea to me. Can you imagine if storylines intertwined and all of a sudden you saw Rick’s camp interfere with the people in the spinoff. It’s not so far-fetched since the same creative minds are in control of both series. We shall wait and see.
The Walking Dead spinoff won’t air until 2015, so for now you can look forward to the return of the flagship series on October 13.
‘Mad Men’s final season will air in two separate halves
Just like it did with the last season of Breaking Bad, AMC is splitting the seventh and final season of Mad Men into two halves. Fourteen episodes will air in 7 episode chunks across two years; the first batch of seven is set to air in the spring of 2014 (act one is dubbed “The Beginning”) and the final seven installments (dubbed “The End Of An Era”) will bow in spring 2015.
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner agrees with the cable network that this is indeed the best way for his show to end. “We plan to take advantage of this chance to have a more elaborate story told in two parts, which can resonate a little bit longer in the minds of our audience,” he says. “The writers, cast and other artists welcome this unique manner of ending this unique experience.”
AMC president Charlie Collier backs up Weiner’s statement: “This approach has worked well for many programs across multiple networks, and, most recently for us with Breaking Bad which attracted nearly double the number of viewers to its second half premiere than had watched any previous episode. We are determined to bring Mad Men a similar showcase. In an era where high-end content is savored and analyzed, and catch-up time is used well to drive back to live events, we believe this is the best way to release the now 14 episodes than remain of this iconic series.”
So what do you think about this not-so-unexpected news? Do you prefer to sit and watch everything unfold without a sudden, potentially fragmenting break, or do you find solace in knowing that Mad Men will live on until the distant future that is the year 2015?
[Via EW]
A mysterious danger lingers in ‘The Walking Dead’ season 4
The Walking Dead‘s season 4 premiere is creeping closer and AMC is giving fans another inside look at the new episodes. We learn quite a bit from this new teaser. Six-to-seven months have past since we last saw our band of survivors…Carl makes friends his own age…Carol becomes a teacher of sorts lecturing the kids about the use of knives, of course…and the prison begins to fall apart. “It’s not really walkers and it’s not other people,” says co-exec producer Denise Huth. The dangers is “from inside,” hints special FX lead Greg Nicotero. Every character will be pushed to their breaking point, remarks TWD creator Robert Kirkman. And for those of you hoping for happy ending, new showrunner Scott M. Gimple has these morose words for you: “There might not be any hope.”
The Walking Dead returns October 13.