If you're a fan, you already know this.
If you aren't a fan, then you need to know why someone who is a fan is not answering his phone or email tonight.
Season 6 of AMC's megahit The Walking Dead premieres at 8 p.m. today. Note: It's a special 90-minute episode.
The season's 16 episodes will air in two parts. After the first half air, the final eight will arrive in February.
How big a hit is The Walking Dead? The Season 5 finale drew 15.9 million viewers. For a basic cable series, that's huge.
Who would have ever guessed?
I've recently run across a nonfan who said, "I've never watched that show. I heard it was kinda gross, what with zombies and all."
Oddly, she was a big CSI fan and not particularly bothered by the Sept. 27 CSI two-hour series finale that featured bomb-blasted body parts, a body fried to a crisp in a car bomb and fire, and bloody, graphic dominatrix-inflicted whipping.
Gross is in the eye of the beholder.
If your gag factor is relatively normal, you get beyond the grossness of The Walking Dead zombies fairly quickly. The undead are always lurching about and, being in various states of decay, they can be pretty shocking.
But the zombies in The Walking Dead serve a primary function of allowing the series to make fundamental observations on the human condition. Especially what it means to be human when the post-apocalyptic world has stripped humanity to its basics.
Plenty of zombie movies are excuses to simply show blood, guts and gore, but it's the very human characters of The Walking Dead that have earned it record ratings.
The series demonstrates that even at its most basic, life is seldom simply black or white. That's were we find ourselves as Season 6 begins. It's still Day 547 of the global outbreak, according to TWD Wikia.
That, for those keeping track, means the collapse of civilization over five seasons has taken place in a mere year and a half of the characters' lives.
When last we saw our heroes at the end of March, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) had just educated the naive residents of "safe haven" Arlington on the harsh reality beyond their high walls.
Pete Anderson (Corey Brill) had just slashed Reg's throat with Michonne's sword and, in a bit of swift frontier justice, Rick put a bullet into Pete's head.
Enter Morgan Jones.
Morgan (Lennie James) and his son were the first survivors Rick encountered after waking up from his coma in the first episode. And now Rick and Morgan are back together. A lot, however, has transpired since.
Neither man is the same. Morgan had become unhinged (Season 3) and is now quite Zen-like. Rick has become tougher, more pragmatic. Some say more cruel.
What now? The arrival of Morgan is certainly designed to set up a moral conflict within Alexandria. And the producers have promised that there will be zombies -- a lot of zombies -- in tonight's first episode.
And don't forget, "Wolves not far."
• Talk about it. Some viewers don't enjoy dissecting the show and seeing the actors out of character, but I never miss AMC's Talking Dead hosted by Chris Hardwick. The chat fest returns at 9:30 p.m. today after the 90-minute episode.
MORE GOOD STUFF
• Fargo. Oh, ya. It's a whole new crime story with a whole new batch of actors you like. The anthology series returns to FX at 9 p.m. Monday, traveling back to 1979 Sioux Falls, S.D., and Luverne, Minn.
Patrick Wilson (Angels in America, A Gifted Man) plays Vietnam vet and State Trooper Lou Solverson. He's investigating a crime gang involving a local beautician played by Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man trilogy) and her husband, portrayed by Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights).
Ted Danson (CSI) is the local sheriff and Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) is a mobster. Jean Smart plays the matriarch of a Fargo crime family, and Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) is her oldest son.
Fun moment: Trooper Solverson is assigned to protect presidential candidate Ronald Reagan (Bruce Campbell) on a campaign stop in Fargo.
There will be 10 episodes in Season 2.
• CW sitcoms. The CW introduces its lone new series at 7 p.m Monday. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend starring Rebecca Bloom is a fun musical comedy where she pursues her ex all the way across the country. Hilarity and song ensue.
The new offering will be paired with Season 2 of Jane the Virgin at 8 p.m.
• Program note: America's Funniest Home Videos returns to ABC at 6 p.m. today with new host Alfonso Ribeiro. You loved him on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and as the winner of last season's Dancing With the Stars. Now we'll see if he can do the tricky introductions to the familiar crotch kicks, face falls, cute kids and puppies that we've come to expect in the past 25 (!) seasons.
Taking bets: How long before we see Ribeiro break into "The Carleton." I say before the first commercial.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 10/11/2015