Walking Dead Three-peat

Good news, Walking Dead fans: AMC just announced the hit show has been picked up for a third season. Apparently the first two episodes of Season 2 were such blockbusters in terms of the all important 18-49 year old demographic that they wanted to keep it going.

The AMC announcement said that the October 16 premier set a new basic cable record for viewers, scoring a 4.8 household rating and 7.3 million total viewers (I was one of them).

No doubt they got their money's worth out of the show. Was anyone else annoyed by all the commercials? I liked how the opening sequence went on for extra long, but AMC made up for it by seemingly cramming commercials in every 5 minutes.

Regardless, I enjoyed both episodes so far but hope they keep the advertising to normal lengths going forward. Sure they want to pay the bills, but the interruptions really spoil the flow. In anticipation of the show's return I had watched all six Season 1 episodes on Netflix and it was a pleasure not getting interrupted with commercials all the time.

But it's good to know that the series is making a big impact with viewers, enough that the studio wants to greenlight more of them.

Bicycle Girl

Like many people, I became an instant fan of the TV series The Walking Dead after it premiered on AMC last October. It's been a long wait for the second season, but it's set to air on October 16. Count me amongst those eagerly anticipating its return.

However, there's an interesting side project being developed, a six-episode series surrounding Bicycle Girl, the half zombie dragging herself across the ground that Rick Grimes meets when he first gets out of the hospital.

The webisodes, to be shown on AMC's website, will follow Bicycle Girl's life prior to her zombification up until the point she is dispatched by Grimes. Best yet, it will start this coming Monday, October 3. I'll be tuning in for certain!

Below is a time-lapse session of the actress getting into her Bicycle Girl makeup.

Zombie Kills

From the website, Bloody Disgusting, every single zombie kill from the awesome AMC TV series "The Walking Dead."

Is That All?

I just found out this first season of The Walking Dead is an abbreviated one. Only six episodes instead of the usual(?) 13. WTF?!

I guess everyone had to see whether there would be any interest in a zombie apocalypse TV series, but the overwhelmingly positive reaction has convinced them to re-up it for a second season. Good thing, because I love, love, love this show. Okay, sometimes the dialogue can be a little corny, and some of the characters seem like caricatures (Merle Dixon, could he be anymore a allegory for the Mason Dixon line?). But I can't argue with the contents of what they're showing and the gore has all been appropriate. Yes, I do like my zombie gore.

Looking forward to episode 4 next week and here's to hoping we get a flashback on how Merle escaped his handcuffs!

And Done!

Whew! I spent the better part of the day putting away the props and there's not a trace left that there were some very spooky goings on here. I'll be back in a day or so with a review of how things went this year, but the immediate assessment was it was very successful. Relatively nice weather, more ToTs than ever before (and I didn't run out of candy this time!), and basically the fruits of a very full year of preparation coming together nicely.

And to top it off, I got to sit back and enjoy the most awesome premiere of "The Walking Dead." I'll post more of my thoughts about that too soon, but it looks like it's going to be a great series. I mean, what other TV show could get away with a head shot of a child with brain splatter and all, all within the first few minutes of its start? It was a great way to end Halloween (as if that doesn't sound just a tad odd).

I can't relax too much, though. There's only 364 days till Halloween!