© AMC / "Walking Dead"
'The Walking Dead' breaks basic cable record, scores 10.9M viewers
Oct. 15, 2012, 5:02 PM EST
By Tim Molloy
TheWrap
"The Walking Dead" returned in its Season 3 premiere to 10.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched basic cable drama telecast ever.
The episode, which found a band of survivors cleaning out a prison full of walkers, grew more than 50 percent over last season's premiere, scoring an astonishing 7.3 million viewers in the key 18-49 demographic.
In addition, the Season 2 premiere of the wrap-up show "Talking Dead" at 11 p.m. attracted 2.1 million viewers, growing 85 percent over the Season 1 premiere.
Including the 10 p.m. and midnight encores for "The Walking Dead," it scored 15.2 million viewers.
"Thank you to the fans for making 'The Walking Dead' such a tremendous success," said Charlie Collier, president of AMC. "We are honored and humbled that television's largest adult audience resides on AMC. So many people on both sides of the camera worked tirelessly on this project, and I thank and congratulate each of them for their amazing contribution."
As AMC noted, it hit the ratings high without the show airing on Dish Networks, which have dropped AMC networks. Dish claims AMC scores low ratings outside of Sunday dramas, but AMC contends that Dish is seeking leverage in an unrelated lawsuit.
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