I keep getting email from viewers champing at the bit for the return of The Walking Dead.
Can’t blame them. It’s one of the best shows in years and officially the most-watched TV drama in cable history.
The Season 4 premiere in October set ratings records for the series and became the most-watched nonsports telecast in cable history, with 20.2 million viewers.
That’s NCIS and Big Bang Theory territory (broadcast TV’s top drama and comedy). Those are American Idol in its glory days ratings.
Aside: Even with the added pizazz of new judge Harry Connick Jr., Season 13 of Idol debuted Jan. 15 with only 15 million viewers. That’s down a depressing 23 percent from the previous year.
Still, 15 million is an impressive number these days (and a bit more than last season’s finale). It’s just not as impressive as 2005-2010, when Idol was a ratings juggernaut pulling in 30-plus million viewers. The other networks had to program around the thing.
Let’s simply agree that Walking Dead is a huge hit.
Nonetheless, the gross and oozing zombies are a deal-breaking element for some. I would remind the squeamish that the series is far more about the human condition and personal relationships than it is blood and gore. The zombie apocalypse is simply the background against which all this compelling drama takes place.
There is still plenty of sanguinary gore for those who crave action, but the special effects are not the sole reason for the series.
The midseason return of The Walking Dead is set for 8 p.m. Feb. 9 on AMC. It’ll be the first of eight episodes left this season. But viewers can catch the cast ahead of that when they drop in on Conan at 10 p.m. Feb. 6 on TBS.
Mark your calendars. This will be the cast’s first joint interview in late-night programming.
Sitting down with Conan O’Brien will be Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon), Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene), Steven Yeun (Glen Rhee), Danai Gurira (Michonne) and Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier).
That McBride is included in this group ought to be good news for fans who’ve missed her since Rick banished Carol from the prison after she coldly dispatched and burned Karen and David after they got sick.
Our Walking Dead cliffhanger aired way back on Dec. 1.
To recap: The Governor (David Morrissey) rabble roused his trailer camp militia for an assault on the happy prison home of our intrepid band.
He used the captured Hershel (Scott Wilson) and Michonne (Gurira) as hostages, and when the negotiations didn’t go as planned, he dispatched the beloved Hershel with Michonne’s sword. A vicious firefight ensued.
Rick and The Governor duked it out with Rick on the verge of being killed when Michonne skewered The Governor from behind, seriously (probably fatally) wounding him.
The fences down, walkers poured into the prison.
Rick found Carl ( Chandler Riggs) and they discovered baby Judith’s empty and bloody baby carrier. (Is she dead? I bet not.)
In a fitting climax, Lilly (Audrey Marie Anderson) found The Governor wounded on the ground and blew his head off.
We last saw the battered Rick and Carl stumbling away on their own. “Don’t look back,” Rick told his son.
Roll credits.
As if there was any doubt, AMC has already ordered a Season 5.
AMC is also working on a spinoff companion series for The Walking Dead based on a new story and characters from Dead creator Robert Kirkman. It will be a prequel of sorts from the early days of the zombie epidemic and the efforts to contain it. Look for the series next year.
Fleming. Ian Fleming. Here’s a new miniseries from BBC America. Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond debuts at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
The four-hour drama stars Dominic Cooper and explores the life of author Ian Fleming, who channeled many of the aspects of his own career into his most famous creation (and alter ego), James Bond.
The miniseries is rated TVMA.
Peter Pan. One of my earliest and fondest childhood memories was watching Mary Martin star as Peter Pan on our clunky new Motorola on March 7, 1955. I was only 6. Everything impressed me at that age.
It was magic. Martin, I swear, actually flew across the stage. Sixty-five million watched the NBC production and most of them (including me) clapped to keep Tinkerbell alive.
Following the ratings success (if not critical success) of Carrie Underwood’s The Sound of Music in December (18 million watched), NBC has announced it will air a live version of Peter Pan next December, produced by the same team.
No cast has been announced at this early stage. Will Peter be played by a woman? It’s a tradition that includes Sandy Duncan and Cathy Rigby.
Who’s pixie-ish enough to pull it off today? Maybe Pink. She already flies. Discuss among yourselves.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
Style, Pages 28 on 01/28/2014