After two weeks of showing ratings steadiness, AMC’s “The Walking Dead” suddenly rose to a new high Sunday, scoring a series-best 5.6 million viewers for its fifth episode.
With a few hundred thousand more viewers than its record-breaking premiere, the latest episode garnered 3.7 million in the adults 18-49 demographic, also a best for the freshman show*.
Set to wrap its abbreviated first season next week, the show, which has already been renewed for season two, is proof that the “inevitable decline” from a buzzworthy show’s series premiere is not exactly inevitable. Despite bowing to immense fanfare on Halloween, the show has refused to relent in the ratings.
*Note: AMC initially reported the premiere’s adults 18-49 rating as a 3.2, which would eclipse the 2.8 for this week. That number was apparently derived from an unconventional calculation, given the fact that the first episode averaged only 3.6 million viewers in A18-49 (compared to 3.7 million this week).