AMC Networks will bring back its The Walking Dead spinoff series The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon for a third season, the network announced at San Diego Comic-Con.

The series, the sixth series from The Walking Dead Universe, launches its second season September 29 and stars Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride as their respective characters from the original The Walking Dead, Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier.

Season 1 of the series debuted in late  2023 as the most-viewed season of any show in the history of AMC Plus at the time. It has since been eclipsed by The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. 

According to AMC, Season 3 tracks Daryl and Carol as they continue their journey toward home and their loved ones. As they struggle to find their way back, the path takes them farther astray, leading them through distant lands with ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions as they witness the various effects of the Walker apocalypse.

The series will begin production on Season 3 next month in Spain. 

“We are so proud of these shows and incredibly grateful for the way this new chapter in The Walking Dead Universe has been embraced by the fans,” AMC Networks president of entertainment Dan McDermott said. “Sending Daryl, and then Carol, to France was such an inspired and visually striking move for this franchise, a chance to do something truly different. We can’t wait to continue the travels of this iconic duo with a third season produced and set in Spain, another beautiful country with a passionate TWD fanbase that is already buzzing with anticipation.”

AMC has set a September premiere date for its sophomore series The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol. 

Season two of the series will debut September 29 and stars Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride as their respective characters from the original The Walking Dead, Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier. 

According to AMC, the second season picks up where The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon left off, following Dixon and Peletier as they both confront old demons while Carol fights to find a friend and Daryl struggles with his decision to stay in France.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol also stars Clémence Poésy, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi, Laika Blanc Francard, Charrier, Romain Levi and Eriq Ebouaney.

The series is executive produced by Reedus, McBride, David Zabel, Scott M. Gimple, Greg Nicotero, Angela Kang, Brian Bockrath, Daniel Percival, Jason Richman and Steve Squillante.

AMC gave fans of The Walking Dead Universe a bevy of new show updates during its July 21 San Diego Comic-Con: International convention panel, including renewals for two TWD spinoff series. 

AMC renewed The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon for second seasons, according to Forbes. Dead City, which stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohen, ends its six-episode freshman run July 23.

Daryl Dixon, which stars Norman Reedus, debuts September 10. 

In addition, the network announced The Ones Who Live as the new title of its new series starring original TWD characters Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira). The series is set to premiere in 2024.

AMC will continue to expand its The Walking Dead universe with the September 10 premiere of The Waking Dead: Daryl Dixon. 

The series follows original TWD character Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus, as he washes ashore in France and journeys across the country while looking to find a way back home, AMC said. 

The series is the fifth spinoff in the zombie apocalypse-plagued TWD Universe following Fear The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Tales of the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Dead City.

In addition to Reedus, the series stars Clémence Poésy, Adam Nagaitis, Anne Charrier, Eriq Ebouaney, Laika Blanc Francard, Romain Levi and Louis Puech Scigliuzzi.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is executive produced by Reedus, Scott Gimple, David Zabel, Greg Nicotero, Angela Kang, Brian Bockrath and Daniel Percival. 

Starz’s time-traveling drama series Outlander and AMC’s latest The Walking Dead spinoff headline the list of new and returning shows debuting on cable and streamers this week. 

Outlander returns June 16 for its seventh season for more adventures between time traveler Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) and her love Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). Starz will air the first half of the 16-episode season this summer, with the second half debuting in 2024, according to the network.

AMC will continue its expansion of The Walking Dead Universe with a new drama series The Walking Dead: Dead City, debuting July 18. The six-episode series features two characters from the original series, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and they come together to survive a zombie-infested Manhattan in search of Maggie’s son, according to AMC. Also starring in the series is Gaius Charles, Mahina Napoleon and Zeljko Ivanek.

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of June 12 to June 18. For some videos, viewer discretion is advised:

June 14, The Full Monty (comedy), Hulu

June 15, Black Mirror (returning series), Netflix

June 15, Jagged Mind (horror movie), Hulu

June 15, Project Runway, (returning series), Bravo

June 15, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (returning series), Paramount Plus

June 16, Extraction 2 (action movie), Netflix

June 16, Stan Lee (documentary), Disney Plus

June 18, The Righteous Gemstones, (returning series), HBO

The Walking Dead is an appropriate title for a show, super-sized to 11 seasons and a spin-off way, waaay after it jumped the shark (right around the introduction of Negan season 6). TWD now ubiquitously draws zombie-level rerun viewing across AMC Plus, Netflix, Pluto TV and other streaming platforms across television's disrupted, post-apocalyptic plains. 

So enduring has this creative husk of a once-alive creative TV enterprise been that AMC Networks has now turned the franchise into almost the equivalent of a live sport, building a FAST channel that has nothing but cast members and pundits chatting about "The Walking Dead Universe" 24/7, sans any actual episodes. 

Sign the bargain-hunting Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and its Redbox Free Live TV FAST service up.

The Chicken Soup's Redbox-branded streaming platform has announced the addition of 12 free ad-supported channels from AMC Networks, including "The Walking Dead Universe" and "Portlandia" -- the latter at least featuring actual episodes from the Fred Armisen/Carrie Brownstein series about Portland living. 

The addition pushes Redbox's channel count past the 180 mark, an all-important benchmark amid a FAST gold rush that currently measures the calories and not so much the vitamins and minerals. (Fiber is important, too, of course.)

Here are the AMC Networks channels being added to Redbox Free Live TV. Log lines courtesy of AMC and Chicken Soup:

* The Walking Dead Universe – Join Daryl, Michonne, the Clarks and more from the world of the Walking Dead. Enjoy 24-hour programming on The Walking Dead Universe channel, including cast interviews, behind-the-scenes moments, and more.

* Portlandia –  Put a Bird on It! All your favorite episodes and characters from the Emmy- nominated and Peabody Award-winning hit series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, all the time. 

*Stories by AMC – Dive into the bold and inventive AMC shows you’ve come to love with Stories by AMC. Get access to fan favorites and discover new gems you may have missed.

* AMC Thrillers – Get your adrenaline pumping with AMC Thrillers – a collection of heart-pounding action/thrillers that will have you on the edge of your seat.

* Slightly Off IFC – Slightly Off IFC is the home of the unexpected—from cult favorite sketch series to the offbeat comedic masterworks of the biggest names in comedy. 

* IFC Films Picks – Star-studded dramas. Chilling thrillers. Groundbreaking documentaries. The best independent films from IFC Films & IFC Midnight.

* All Reality WE tv – Real moments. Real stories. Real drama. If you love reality, you need All Reality WE tv.

* All Weddings WE tv – Brides. Bling. Drama! If you love weddings, then say “I Do” to All Weddings WE tv.

* AMC en Español – AMC en Español is the home of your favorite stories and characters. Catch up on and discover critically acclaimed shows, 100% in Spanish.

* ALLBLK Gems – Entertainment that’s inclusively but unapologetically Black. Enjoy the best of ALLBLK, all the time.

* MSG SportsZone – Take a deeper dive into the players, personalities, teams, and sports you love. MSG SportsZone is the home for the sports super fan.

* Anime X HIDIVE – Love anime? Check out HIDIVE’s action-packed assortment on Anime X HIDIVE! From classic series to hot hits fresh from Japan, we’ve got anime fans like you covered

In the beginning of The Walking Dead, Sheriff Rick Grimes — played by Andrew Lincoln — wakes up in an abandoned hospital and finds the world engulfed by a zombie apocalypse.

The series had its debut on Halloween 2010 and AMC Networks awoke to a monster. The premiere drew 6.3 million total viewers and 4.3 million adults 18-49, making it, at the time, the biggest cable series launch ever.

“The show was a ratings success from the first episode, delivering numbers that could only be described as surprisingly good,” former AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan said. “But even with that initial response, none of us saw the biggest show in the history of cable television coming.” 

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During its third season in 2012-13, The Walking Dead became the first cable series in history to rank as the No. 1 series in all of television. It would stay No. 1 in all of TV for five consecutive seasons, with its season five premiere drawing 22 million total viewers and 14.6 million adults 18-49, records that still stand.

AMC had aired a pair of critical darlings in Mad Men and Breaking Bad and wanted to build the network around marquee shows for adults. The network was looking at the horror genre in order to capitalize on its “October FearFest” franchise, Sapan said. “The Walking Dead gave us the momentum to focus on and invest in more great stories,” he said.

There’s Money in the Zombie Apocalypse

The show brought a financial windfall. Revenue at AMC’s domestic networks climbed from $896 million in 2009 to $2.4 billion in 2017, including $959,551 million in advertising.

The Walking Dead was the first series AMC fully owned. “It was controversial and not even close to universally supported internally — a huge emotional and financial bet,” recalled Roku Media president Charlie Collier, then president and general manager of the AMC network. 

“It had been passed on by NBC and others, but we were passionate about the source material,” Collier said. “As we pushed to make the show, [we] discussed what it was about endlessly. It was not about zombies, per se, as much as it was about humanity and survival.” 

To Walking Dead comics fan Scott Gimple, who joined the show as a writer and producer in season two, became showrunner in 2013 and then chief content officer for The Walking Dead Universe in 2018, the huge ratings meant “I could plot out three years and not worry about the rug being pulled out from underneath the audience.” Episodes could also focus on a few characters at a time “to make every one of them real people with real lives,” Gimple said.

Because the show was shot in a remote area outside Atlanta, away from other Hollywood productions, it took a while for the show’s magnitude to sink in. “We were on our own, and I think that was a big part of the success of it,” Gimple said. “We held ourselves to very high standards. And we only had so many resources. It blows me away. This was just the right show at the right time with the right people.”

The Walking Dead finished its 11th and final season in 2022, but its characters and its walkers remain undead. Starting in 2015 with Fear The Walking Dead, AMC has expanded the franchise. The Walking Dead: World Beyond and Tales of the Walking Dead have already aired. Upcoming are The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and a series focused on Rick Grimes and Michonne (Danai Gurira). 

Dead City stars Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprising their characters Maggie and Negan. Cohan joined the original series in season two. ”I had the benefit of getting the job and then watching season one and saying, ‘Oh my god, this is really good. Don’t screw it up.’ ”

Cohan said it wasn’t until season three or four that she really got the sense of excitement around the show. 

Now she’s signed up again. “There was something about the depth of what we could do in The Walking Dead Universe that was always compelling that has kept me coming back for more,” she said. “When you have a character for that long you get to see how they would evolve and be shaped and changed by their environment and their relationships and their losses and their wins.”

In the new show, Maggie is paired with Negan, who killed her lover Glenn in one of The Walking Dead’s most memorable scenes.”This show gives Jeff and I an opportunity to peel off another layer of these characters,” Cohan said. “I don’t think we had that opportunity to do that with a much larger cast.” 

In the streaming universe, the show is a hit for Netflix, AMC Plus and a number of AMC FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) channels.

From Hit to Franchise

“I can’t overestimate the value of The Walking Dead Universe,” Dan McDermott, president of AMC Entertainment and AMC Studios, said. “It is definitive television history.”

Some of the new Walking Dead series are based on fan favorites characters like Cohan, And if the show sticks to its DNA of “telling human dramas under extreme circumstances,” McDermott said there will be more characters to build on.

McDermott said there’s no limit to how long AMC can tell Walking Dead stories. “We have to take care to ensure that the stories themselves are unique, human and adhere to some of the core principles of what makes this whole universe so unique. We definitely very much believe that every show has to stand on its own and be compelling television. You don’t get a free pass just because the series is a part of an existing universe.”

Sapan compares The Walking Dead franchise to Star Wars and Star Trek. “It is clear by now that these walkers will keep right on walking for many, many years to come,” he said. 

AMC has greenlit a second season of its drama series Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.

The second season renewal comes as the series – the second for AMC from its growing Anne Rice Immortal Universe following its Interview With The Vampire series – debuted on January 13 as the top series premiere in the history of AMC Plus, according to the network. In its first 30 days of viewership, Mayfair Witches is delivering the most-viewed season of any series ever on AMC Plus, ahead of Interview and the final season of The Walking Dead.

The series, which follows a female neurosurgeon who discovers she’s the unlikely heir to a family of witches, stars Alexandra Daddario, Jen Richards and Harry Hamlin. The series will begin production on the second season later this year in New Orleans.

“We are thrilled with the reaction to this series, especially in the wake of the incredibly strong reception to Interview, and can’t wait to bring the fans second seasons of both series in this rich, vibrant and expanding universe based on the works of Anne Rice,” said AMC Studios and Entertainment President Dan McDermott in a statement. “In a business in which ‘nobody knows anything,’ we knew what we were hoping for in terms of building a television franchise around these remarkable characters and stories, and to see these shows arrive and captivate viewers in the way they have is so gratifying and energizing for everyone involved, and there is so much yet to come.”

Mayfair Witches is executive produced by Mark Johnson, Esta Spalding, Michelle Ashford, Michael Uppendahl, and Jeff Freilich.■

PASADENA, CALIF. — AMC Networks will continue to develop quality content even as it adjusts financially to a marketplace that is correcting itself after a period of peak TV production, AMC Networks president of entertainment and AMC Studios Dan McDermott said.

McDermott, speaking at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour Tuesday, said the programmer has had to “take stock and recalibrate” moving forward during an industry correction caused by rising inflation, a changing ad market, a glut of original programming and unpredictable streaming audience metrics.

As part of AMC’s cost-cutting measures, the network has pulled the plug on several shows in recent months, most recently the Michael B. Jordan-produced drama series 61st Street.

Also: ‘Large Scale Layoffs’ Planned at AMC Networks

“This has been a difficult but important process … at AMC we’ve taken critical steps so that going forward we are optimally positioned as a lean, progressive, forward-facing organization poised to take advantage of the myriad of opportunities in the marketplace,” McDermott said.

The network did announce several new shows during its Tuesday morning presentation, including the acquisition of rights to develop around John Maxim’s Bannerman spy book series. The five novels are being developed as potential series by Shane Black, Greg Nicotero and Brian Witten, AMC said.

The network also offered new details about its upcoming The Walking Dead spinoffs. The Walking Dead: Dead City, starring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, will premiere in June, followed by The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, debuting later this year. The network will also debut in 2024 a new Walking Dead series featuring original series stars Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) and Danai Gurira (Michonne).

AMC also released a first-look trailer for the eighth and final season of Fear the Walking Dead, which will debut the first of two six-episode parts on May 14. ■

Jim Nantz, Rachael Ray, Soledad O’Brien and The Walking Dead will share the spotlight with on-air stars and impactful executives at the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City on May 3. 

“We are thrilled to once again honor our industry’s most accomplished pioneers, creators and innovators and leaders,” Bill McGorry, chairman of the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, said. “These individuals all share a common bond — their collective vision, remarkable achievements and unbreakable will to succeed have changed our business forever and brought it to another level. We look forward to recognizing these worthy individuals on May 3 as we welcome them as the newest inductees into the B+C Hall of Fame — our industry’s highest honor.”

The full class is: George G. Beasley (1932-2021), founder, Beasley Media Group, and Caroline Beasley, CEO, Beasley Media Group; Matthew Bond, chairman, content distribution, NBCUniversal; Ray Cole, president and chief operating officer, Citadel Communications; Frank Comerford, chief revenue officer & president of sales, NBCUniversal Local; Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. networks distribution, Paramount Global; Wonya Lucas, president and CEO, Hallmark Media; Soledad O’Brien, CEO, Soledad O’Brien Productions; Rachael Ray, host, Rachael Ray; Deborah Roberts, ABC News senior national affairs correspondent and contributing anchor for 20/20; Al Roker, weather and feature anchor, Today, co-host of Today third hour; and James Thompson (1947-2022), past president, Broadcasters Foundation of America. 

Jim Nantz of CBS Sports gets the Lifetime Achievement Award and AMC’s The Walking Dead wins the Iconic Show Award. 

It is the 31st Hall of Fame event. More than 400 honorees have been inducted. 

A portion of the night’s proceeds is donated to The Broadcasters Foundation of America, which provides grants to industry colleagues and their families who are in acute need. The Paley Center for Media is also a beneficiary. 

Honorees will be profiled in the April issue of B+C Multichannel News. For sponsorship, tables and ticket information, contact Jessica Wolin at jessica.wolin@futurenet.com, 212-685-4233 or www.bchalloffame.com. ■

When the finale episode of the original version of AMC Networks’ The Walking Dead aired Sunday night, characters from earlier seasons of the show were brought back to live in commercials make for the occasion. 

The custom spots were created by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort marketing agency,  AMC’s Content Room, and Dan Sanborn of Jimmy Kimmel’s Kimmelot production company on behalf of marketers Autodesk, Deloitte, DoorDash, MNTN and Ring.

The spots bring back actors and characters that the show’s fans will remember, including Milton Mamet, played by Dallas Roberts; Andrea Harrison, portrayed by Laurie Holding; Rodney, played by Joe Ando-Hirsh and Gareth, acted by Andrew West.

“Ads should be fun. The Walking Dead has generated more cultural conversation over the last decade than any other property and we wanted to honor that by bringing a few characters back from the dead in some fun contextual ads,” said Reynolds.

“We were blown away by the total support of AMC Networks' Content Room and the willingness to be untraditional shown by Deloitte, DoorDash, Autodesk and Amazon Ring. I would also say MNTN but that one was easier since I control that budget! Ads can be a part of the cultural conversation as they once so frequently were. They just need a little more love, attention and mischief,” said Reynolds. COO of MNTN, the ad tech company that acquired Maximum Effort in 2021.

Working closely with the AMC Networks’ Content Room team, Maximum Effort successfully shot all five commercials in two days across two key locations, turning around finished spots in time to air with the finale.

"It was great partnering with Maximum Effort on this epic partner showcase. Content Room’s unique access to the zombie apocalypse and its millions of living fans is one of the many ways we can contextually bring a brand to life,” said Kim Granito, executive VP of Content Room and integrated marketing for AMC Networks. “We know TWD fans will love the creativity and seeing some of their favorite characters come (back) to life through these imaginative spots.”

In one spot Rodney’s head orders from Door Dash, promising the delivery guy he won’t bite. In the spot for Ring, Gareth uses the camera on his doorbell to avoid live people selling raffle tickets. “I would literally rather die…again,” he says. Andrea Harrison shows off the brains she’s collected at Deloitte.

After it launched, The Walking Dead quickly became the highest rated show on cable, and in some seasons was drew the biggest audience of any scripted shows on TV.  For AMC, spots on The Walking Dead drew record pricing, and demand for the spots helped the company sell its other ad inventory at higher costs per thousand viewers.

Even as the series aged, and cord cutting eroded audiences, prices for spots on The Walking Dead remained high and prices for spots in the finale cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The clients in the finale said they were all in.

“The Walking Dead has been a cultural phenomenon, and we’re proud of the role Autodesk’s software has played in bringing many of TWD’s visual effects to life over these past 11 seasons," said Dara Treseder, Chief Marketing Officer, Autodesk. “Autodesk is thrilled to partner with Maximum Effort – and alongside beloved brands – to celebrate the show’s finale and connect the audience to the technology behind the scenes. As Milton Mamet shared – with Autodesk software, anything you can imagine, you can design and make – from greener buildings and cleaner cars to award-winning TV shows!”

“If there is one thing this post-apocalyptic show has taught us, it’s that creativity, resilience and preparedness are essential to survival,” says Suzanne Kounkel, CMO, Deloitte US. “When we think about The Walking Dead we think about transformation, transcending limitations and circumstances, and overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles. At Deloitte, our people do just that every day, tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time, with creativity, innovation and a willingness to take risks. We’re privileged to participate in this cultural moment – the end of an era for The Walking Dead fandom – and for the opportunity to collaborate with Maximum Effort on an ad campaign that enables us to celebrate our brand and showcase our fun, creative side.”

“We're super stoked to partner with Maximum Effort to send off this wonderfully beloved series. The Walking Dead has captured the hearts and imagination of millions of fans and to be a part of such a fun and unexpected advertising intervention is truly special” said DoorDash’s head of brand marketing, David Tai Bornoff. “For more than 12 years, the show delivered to its fanbase, and we hope that DoorDash does the same, whether to your porch, your door, or your pike!"

“Tapping into cultural moments like this AMC campaign allows us to show up in unexpected ways and bring some fun to our brand,” said Lindsey Scheftic, head of marketing for Ring. “This collaboration is another way for us to delight customers and reach new audiences in helping make neighborhoods (and Zombies) safer.”

AMC is keeping its Walking Dead franchise undead with a number of spinoffs including Fear The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Tales of The Walking Dead and projects featuring Walking Dead characters Rick, Michonne and  Daryl.  ■

Cable networks and streaming services will ring in the Halloween season this October with a number of new original scripted series and movies that will look to thrill audiences throughout the month.

Networks like Epix and Showtime along with such streaming services as Prime Video and Netflix and will roll out horror-themed original programming shows that premiere alongside a multitude of Halloween-themed, network programming stunts that celebrate the spooky season, from Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween” to Peacock's “Halloween Horror” film collection.

Also slated to premiere this month are the final episodes of AMC’s zombie-themed The Walking Dead series (October 2), the second season premiere of Syfy’s Chucky (October 5) and 11th season premiere of FX’s Emmy-winning American Horror Story (October 19).

TV industry analyst Marc Berman says the television industry has embraced the Halloween season as more viewers tune into scary and horror programming as an escape from the struggles of everyday life. 

“If you go back in history, Halloween has always been celebrated on television, but that celebration keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Berman said. “Viewers just love Halloween, and considering the world that we live in and all the Hell we are going through with everything, it’s just a great escape, and television continues to celebrate it.”

Below is a partial list of original, Halloween-targeted scripted series and movies premiering during the month of October:

October 2 

Blumhouse’s Compendium of Horror (documentary series) – Epix 

Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire (series) – AMC

October 5

Reginald The Vampire (series) – Syfy

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (movie) – Netflix 

October 6 

Monster High: The Movie (movie) – Paramount Plus 

October 7

Hellraiser (movie) – Hulu 

The Midnight Club (series) – Netflix 

October 8 

Cursed Friends (movie) – Comedy Central

Bring It On: Cheer or Die (movie) –  Syfy  

October 9

Let The Right One In (series) – Showtime

October 10

Grimcutty (movie) – Hulu 

October 13

Dark Glasses (movie) – Shudder 

October 14

Halloween Ends (movie) – Peacock 

The Curse of Bridge Hollow (movie) – Netflix 

October 20

V/H/S/99 (movie) – Shudder 

October 21

Peripheral (series) – Prime Video 

October 25

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities(series) – Netflix■

The final episodes of AMC’s iconic zombie series The Walking Dead headline a busy week of TV show premieres leading into the first weekend of October. 

The third and last block of eight episodes comprising the 11th and final season of The Walking Dead will debut October 2 on AMC. The first eight episodes aired in August 2021 and the second block debuted in February 2022. 

Also debuting October 2 on AMC is the horror series Interview With The Vampire, based on the classic novel from Anne Rice. The series stars Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson. 

Showtime on October 2 will premiere its music documentary Nothing Compares, chronicling the life and career of Irish  singer Sinéad O’Connor. 

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for multiple shows debuting the week of September 26 to October 2 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

September 27 –  Reasonable Doubt (drama) – Hulu

September 28 – Blonde (drama) – Netflix 

September 28 – The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (returning series) – Disney Plus 

September 29 – Zatima (comedy) – BET Plus

September 30 –Entergalactic (animation) – Netflix 

September 30 – The Greatest Beer Run Ever (drama) – Apple TV Plus

September 30 – Hocus Pocus 2 (movie) – Disney Plus 

September 30 – Jungle (drama) – Prime Video 

September 30 – Ramy (returning series) – Hulu

Broadcasting + Cable's Michael Malone and R. Thomas Umstead chat about AMC's The Walking Dead, Fox's Call Me Kat, and the TV return of the Harlem Globetrotters.

AMC Networks’ branded content unit Content Room has created new Ad Council public service announcements that goes behind the scenes of The Walking Dead to encourage girls to get into science and technology. 

The spots features Walking Dead director Aisha Tyler, costume designer Vera Chow and art director Jasmine Garnet talking with 16-year-old inventor Gitanjali Rao about the science involved in bringing zombies to the small screen.

The PSAs, launching Wednesday, are part of the Ad Council’s national She Can STEM campaign. In addition to TV spots, the campaign includes videos created for TikTok and Instagram.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Ad Council to inspire young girls in STEM through the unexpected backdrop of The Walking Dead,” said Kim Granito, executive VP of AMC Networks Content Room.

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"Over the last 11 years, this universe has been created by an array of insanely talented women that utilize STEM every day in their roles. This campaign will broaden perceptions of  STEM beyond the stereotypes of lab coats and beakers, and hopefully inspire the next generation of talented women in STEM. Aisha Tyler, Vera Chow and Jasmine Garnet were a dream to work with and their shared enthusiasm for this mission is inspiring,” Granito said.

Since the launch of She Can STEM in September 2018, the campaign has been supported by a variety of corporate, non-profit and media partners. She Can STEM aims to dismantle the intimidating perceived barrier of STEM fields by showing girls, non-binary youth, and trans youth how fun, messy, diverse and accessible STEM can be, encouraging them to dive in, no matter where they are in their STEM journey.

“Careers in STEM are varied and can touch all aspects of our lives. We are proud to partner with AMC Networks Content Room on this latest work for the She Can STEM campaign. With it, we hope to inspire young girls, non-binary youth, and trans youth to recognize that their passion for STEM can impact countless industries – including the entertainment industry,” said Michelle Hillman, chief campaign development officer at the Ad Council. ■

AMC Networks said it greenlit another Walking Dead series, Isle of the Dead, which will be set in a post-apocalyptic Manhattan and star Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan from the original series.

The new series is set to premiere on AMC Plus and AMC in 2023. Season 1 will have six episodes.

Eli Jorne, a writer and co-executive producer on The Walking Dead will serve as show runner and executive producer, overseen by Scott M. Gimple, chief content officer for AMC’s The Walking Dead universe. Cohan and Morgan will also be executive producers for Isle of the Dead.

Jorne has an overall deal with AMC Studios.

“This is a very big day for the expanding universe we are building around The Walking Dead,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “It not only adds another compelling series to this collection, it extends our storytelling around two unforgettable characters fans have grown to love, hate or hate and then love in Maggie and Negan, brilliantly inhabited by Lauren and Jeffrey. It also lets us explore a corner of this universe located on the island of Manhattan, with an iconic skyline that takes on a very different meaning when viewed through the lens of a zombie apocalypse.”

The Walking Dead is in the middle of its 11th and final season. Other series in the zombie stable include Fear the Walking Dead and Tales of the Walking Dead. ■

Sunday was a big day for AMC Networks’ AMC Plus ad-free direct-to-consumer service.

AMC Networks ran an ad in the Super Bowl highlighting the programming on AMC Plus, including upcoming conclusion of popular series like The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul and Killing Eve, as well as new series like Interview with the Vampire. 

AMC Plus subscribers got early access to the first episode of part 2 of the final season of The Walking Dead starting Super Sunday. The episode will appear on AMC Networks this Sunday.

AMC said that in the first three days it was available, the new Walking Dead episode became the most-watched episode of any series on AMC Plus to date.

The company said “this week’s episode also becomes the #1 season launch for customer acquisition, with double-digit growth from the prior season.” Maybe that means AMC Plus had a record number of sign ups. Maybe not.

On Monday during its earnings call with analysts, AMC Networks said its group of streaming services ended the year with more than 9 million subscribers, up 50% year over year. Interim CEO Matt Blank, said that by the end of the year, AMC would be halfway toward reaching its 2025 target of 20 million to 25 million subscribers.

CFO Christina Space said the company expected to add 400,000 to 500,000 net subscribers in the first quarter of 2022.

The Super Bowl ad is part of AMC Networks’ ramped up marketing effort.

“One of the things you are going to see in addition to the aggressive pursuit of subscribers for our streaming services as we begin the year with our best content in history, you are going to see us doing a lot of marketing to support that content and support the brands that we offer as a backdrop to all of the directed specialized marketing we do in the streaming world,” Blank said on the earnings call. “So, the Super Bowl spot was one part of it. I think that with the type of content we have this year, that was an important opportunity to kind of take advantage of that content and get our message out more broadly to consumers.” 

“For the Super Bowl ad, we felt it was important for AMC Plus, as an extension of our linear business, to let consumers know, to let audiences know that the final episodes, the final seasons of franchises like The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, Killing Eve are now going to be premiered on AMC Plus,” added Miquel Penella, president of streaming services for AMC Networks.

“But that is not typically what we do to acquire customers,” Penella added. “What we do to acquire customers follows a very disciplined approach that includes creating audience profiles and really targeting our marketing campaigns based on our understanding of the consumer's lifetime value and with a very specific target for the cost per acquired customer. And that’s something that we do systematically in a disciplined manner, and we manage it on a daily basis.” ■

The return of AMC's The Walking Dead and Prime Video's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel top the list of original programming premiering during the week leading into and through the Presidents' Day holiday.  

The Walking Dead returns from its season 11 mid-season break February 20. The zombie-themed series will end its 11th and final season later this year.

The Emmy-winning comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel returns for its fourth season Feb. 18 on Prime Video. The series stars Rachel Brosnahan and Tony Shalhoub.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for multiple shows debuting the week of February 14 to February 20 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Feb. 14 – State of the Union (dramedy) – Sundance

Feb. 16 – Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy (music documentary) – Netflix

Feb. 17 – Big Nate (animation) – Paramount Plus

Feb. 17 – Fistful of Vengeance (movie) – Netflix

Feb. 17 – Inside the Black Box (talk show) – Crackle

Feb. 18 – Painting With John (returning series) – HBO

Feb. 18 – Severance (sci-fi) – Apple TV Plus

Feb. 18 – Space Force (comedy) –Netflix

Feb. 18 – Texas Chainsaw Massacre (movie) – Netflix

Feb. 18 – Uprooted (documentary) – Discovery Plus

Feb. 20 – Abraham Lincoln (documentary) – History

Feb. 20 – From (horror) – Epix

Feb. 20 – I Was There (documentary) – History

Feb. 21 – Below Deck Sailing Yacht (returning series) – Bravo

Actors Anthony Edwards and Terry Crews will star in AMC’s The Walking Dead spinoff series Tales of the Walking Dead, the network said Wednesday.

Along with Edwards (WeCrashed) and Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), the series -- which will launch this summer on AMC -- will also star Parker Posey (Lost In Space), Poppy Liu (Dead Ringers) and Jillian Bell (Rough Night), said the network. 

The six-episode episodic anthology series will feature original, standalone stories focused on both new and established characters within The Walking Dead universe, said AMC.  

“Anthony, Jillian, Terry, Parker, and Poppy are the first wave of singular talents who will further expand the Walking Dead Universe into harrowing, hilarious, heartfelt, and horrifying new realms and we couldn’t be happier to welcome them to the family, along with these terrific directors,” said Scott M. Gimple, chief content officer of The Walking Dead Universe in a statement. 

Gimble and Channing Powell will serve as executive producers for Tales of the Walking Dead, according to AMC. ■  

POSTED: AMC Renews 'Fear The Walking Dead'

AMC will bring back its zombie-themed drama Fear The Walking Dead for an eighth season. 

The series, a spinoff of AMC's original The Walking Dead series, will see the return of former regular cast member Kim Dickens, who played Madison Clark during the first four seasons of the show. Dickens will make her first appearance in the second half of season seven which launches April 17, according to the network. 

“If there were a Mt. Deadmore, Kim Dickens’ face would be on it,” The Walking Dead Universe chief content officer Scott Gimple said in a statement. “Madison Clark is a foundational character to TWDU — heroic, complex, an everyperson who becomes a warrior and then a force of benevolence.” ■ 

Also: AMC Networks 'On Track'  To Meet Streaming Subscriber Goals 

B&C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv to bring you a weekly chart we call Promo Mojo: exclusive data showing the top five TV promos ranked by ad impressions. Our data covers the 7-day period through Aug. 22.

An AMC promo for the return of The Walking Dead tops our Promo Mojo ranker for the week ended Aug. 22.

Four other cable networks join AMC in crowding traditional broadcasters out of the top five: MTV hypes the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards in second place, HGTV builds excitement for Cheap Old Houses in third, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries promotes Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Honeymoon, Honeymurder in fourth, and Food Network whets viewers’ appetites for the Kal Penn-hosted Money Hungry in fifth.

Notably, the MTV spot has this week’s highest iSpot Attention Index (108), meaning viewers were on average highly likely to watch it all the way through (vs. interrupting it by changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

1) The Walking Dead, AMC

Impressions: 218,894,864

Interruption Rate: 3.07%

Attention Index: 89 (1q% more interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 88%, Local 11%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $495,015

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $636,900

2)  2021 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV

Impressions: 200,197,954

Interruption Rate: 3.05%

Attention Index: 108 (8% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 98%, Local 2%, VOD/OTT 0%

In-network Value: $895,682

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $11,130

3) Cheap Old Houses, HGTV

Impressions: 175,180,680

Interruption Rate: 1.57%

Attention Index: 95 (5% more interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 99%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $621,732

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

4) Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Honeymoon, Honeymurder, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

Impressions: 168,353,186

Interruption Rate: 4.24%

Attention Index: 103 (3% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 99%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $826,940

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $2,809

5) Money Hungry, Food Network

Impressions: 156,100,867

Interruption Rate: 1.77%

Attention Index: 82 (18% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 98%, Local 1%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $485,936

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $101,899

*Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands*

Impressions - The total impressions within all US households including National Linear (Live & Time-shifted), VOD+OTT, and Local.

Attention Score - Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index - Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs. the average in its respective industry. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Imp. Types - Impression types tracked include National (Live + Time-shifted), Local, VOD & OTT. See below for further details.

In-network Value - Estimated media value of in-network promos.

Out-of-network Spend - The estimated amount spent on TV airing time for this promo's spots during a given date range.

National: Live - A national promo which was viewed during live linear television broadcast or same day, via DVR or on-demand.

Local - A promo that was aired during a local ad break slot.

VOD - This includes promos that run in on-demand content past three days (i.e. do not contain the linear promo load)

OTT - On-demand streaming content (i.e. Hulu, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast).

Broadcasting + Cable's Kent Gibbons and Michael Malone chat about CBS's CSI: Vegas, Field of Dreams baseball on Fox, and the final season of The Walking Dead on AMC.

 The launch of The Walking Dead's final season highlights a busy show premiere week for cable and streaming services.

The 11th season of AMC's zombie-themed original drama series debuts Aug. 22. The 22-episode final season will launch with eight episodes in 2021, with the remaining episodes debuting in 2022, according to AMC.

Series premieres this week include Hulu's drama series Nine Perfect Strangers, starring Nicole Kidman, Regina Hall and Melissa McCarthy (debuting Aug. 18) and HBO Max's sci-fi movie Reminiscence, featuring Hugh Jackman and Thandie Newton (Aug. 20).  

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of  Aug. 16 to Aug. 22 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Aug. 18 -- Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens (returning series) -- Comedy Central

Aug. 18 -- Diary of a Future President (comedy) -- Disney Plus

Aug. 18 -- In The Same Breath (documentary) -- HBO

Aug. 19 -- Five Bedrooms (dramedy) -- Peacock

Aug. 19 -- Sweet Life: Los Angeles (reality) -- HBO Max

Aug. 19 -- Looney Tunes Cartoons Back to School Special (animation) -- HBO Max

Aug. 20 -- Annette (musical movie) -- Prime Video

Aug. 20 -- The Loud House Movie (animation) -- Netflix

Aug. 20 -- The Chair (comedy) -- Netflix

Aug. 20 -- Paw Patrol: The Movie (Paramount Plus)

Aug. 20 -- Truth Be Told (returning series) -- Apple TV Plus

Aug. 22 -- Chapelwaite (horror) -- Epix

Aug. 22 -- Work In Progress (comedy) -- Showtime

Aug. 22 -- The Walking Dead (returning series) -- AMC

The Walking Dead begins its 11th and final season on Aug. 22 on AMC. Angela Kang joined in season two, and was named showrunner before season nine. 

Season 11 will air in three eight-episode parts. Kang then shifts to an as-yet-untitled spinoff involving characters Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride). 

The Walking Dead fans are eager to see what she comes up with. “For anything that is related to the show, there are a lot of people who care deeply about it being good,” Kang said. “That’s a great creative environment to be a part of, where everybody really is invested.”

Kang spoke with B+C/Multichannel News senior content producer, programming Michael Malone about the final season, and what has changed in television since she came on board The Walking Dead a decade before. 

How did you know the time was right to end The Walking Dead? AMC felt it was time. I was really excited to get to tell this final story of the mothership show. There are many spinoffs in the works, so the franchise is really strong and continues to grow. 

How have things changed for women in television across your time on the show? There’s much more awareness about room dynamics and the importance of having different voices in the room. It used to be really common to be the only woman in the room. 

I’ve got an even split between men and women. That’s been the case the entire time I’ve been running the show. Even before that, there was a good ratio. 

It’s been very heartening to see more awareness of this issue. But I do think there’s still room to improve. 

What are some influences on the final season? Since we had great source material, that’s a major influence. Beyond that, weirdly, the No. 1 thing is probably history. We spend a lot of time talking about moments from world history. When people watch the season, they’ll understand why that is. We’ve been talking about the rise and fall of civilizations, movements for social justice. There were a lot of things in the pandemic that hit close to home — stories we were well down the road on that took on additional resonance for us. 

At various times we talked about Alien and Aliens in terms of feel for certain episodes.

What’s your favorite Walking Dead moment? I co-wrote the season four finale with Scott Gimple. There are so many scenes in that episode that were such a pleasure to watch unfold. I really loved watching Norman Reedus and Andy Lincoln do this scene after Rick [Grimes] rips out the throat of a guy to save his son. The two of them have this quiet moment afterward where they’re talking about their own sense of guilt and giving each other validation as brothers by choice. It’s a really beautiful scene in terms of how those two played it and brought so much more depth than we could’ve hoped for. 

What about the franchise keeps you invested? I love the zombies and the horror and the action — it’s just really fun. But what draws me in, what draws our audience in, at its core it’s a story about people who have banded together to survive. It’s about chosen families. There are so many themes we get to touch on that are endlessly interesting. 

AMC Networks agreed to pay $200 million to settle lawsuits filed by filmmaker Frank Darabont and his agent looking for payment related to The Walking Dead.

The $200 million includes $57 million in payments the network said covered payments it expected to make to Darabont for his participation in the hit show and $143 million for giving up rights to any other compensation for Walking Dead projects and promising not to sue in the future.

Darabont will also receive future payments related to streaming of the original Walking Dead series, which is in its final season, and Fear The Walking Dead. 

The settlement agreement includes customary provisions included in such agreements, including providing for mutual releases, covenants not to sue, waivers, confidentiality, non-disparagement and indemnification for third party claims.

AMC currently has six Walking Dead shows on the air or in the works as part of a universe the company sees as a franchise that will continue to expand.

‘Also Read: 'Walking Dead’ Spinoff ‘World Beyond’ on AMC Oct. 4

“The Walking Dead made television history, and is one of those rare creative works that has given life to an entire content universe that is still in the early stages of growing and entertaining both new and established fans,” said Ed Carroll, chief operating officer of AMC Networks on an earning call last year. “We can’t wait to bring viewers this expanded final season of The Walking Dead over the next two years, and launch the fourth series in the history of the franchise, focused on the beloved Daryl and Carol characters, with the incredibly talented Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Angela Kang and Scott M. Gimple. There really is so much ‘walking’ ahead, in a number of very exciting directions, for this extraordinary creative universe we call The Walking Dead.”

Darabont originally filed a suit against AMC in 2013. A second suit was filed in 2018.

Friday’s settlement was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AMC Networks had no comment beyond the filing.

AMC said that as a result of the settlement, instead of generating about $200 million in fresh cash flow in 2021, it now expects free cash flow to be approximately breakeven.

At least for another four years, selling ads on linear cable against spinoff iterations of The Walking Dead, a zombie apocalypse series launched 11 years ago, will remain the leading revenue source for AMC Networks. 

In 2025, the media company told its investors Friday during its first-quarter earnings call, OTT revenue from its various subscription video-on-demand platforms will finally surpass affiliate coin, with subscriber ranks swelling as high as 25 million at that time. 

Like a railroad spike to the ol’ cranium, this transition is either good news or bad news, depending on whether you root for the “walking dead” portion of AMC’s business model, creeping along with returns diminishing, right along with the pay TV ecosystem. AMC Networks posted a 6% decline in Q1 revenue to $691.7 million, surpassing analyst consensus forecast but missing its own guidance, due in large part to a 7% decline in advertising coin. 

On the other side of AMC’s narrative are a hearty lot of SVOD survivors—AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now and ALLBLK—who carry the potential for a redemptive future. AMC said these platforms are on track to collectively serve 9 million subscribers by the end of 2021. (That is, of course, if the media company hasn't gotten itself gobbled up alive by a larger, acquisitions-hungry conglomerate.)

Streaming revenue was up 14% in the quarter. 

“Streaming is now the most significant growth area across our company,” said CEO Josh Sapan,

In the backdrop is AMC’s original content, which it said is back into full production after pandemic-caused stall-out. 

Long gone are the days when AMC established itself with groundbreaking original shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men and the original The Walking Dead. 

For the first time ever, AMC COO Ed Carroll boasted, AMC will have three Walking Dead (acronym: TWD) shows in production: the original The Walking Dead, which is finally winding down, Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: The World Beyond.

The 11th and final season of AMC’s drama series The Walking Dead will debut in August, the network said Sunday night. 

The zombie-themed series will begin its final season Aug. 22 with eight episodes, the first of 24 episodes that will end the long-running show, according to AMC. The announcement was made via a trailer that ran during Sunday's finale of the network’s 10th season. 

 “The final chapter of The Walking Dead begins with eight action-packed episodes that will feature the massive scope and scale fans have come to expect from TWD Universe, and I'm thrilled to share that fans won't have to wait long for these incredible new episodes to debut this summer,” Scott Gimple, chief content officer of TWD Universe said.

Added The Walking Dead showrunner and executive producer Angela Kang: “Coming off of the six additional episodes for Season 10, which focused on smaller, character-driven stories, we're excited to kick off Season 11 bigger than ever. The stakes will be high – we'll see more zombies, tons of action, intriguing new stories, never-before-seen locations and our groups together in one community for the first time, trying to rebuild what the Whisperers took from them.”

Sometimes art imitates life a little too closely.

For the hit AMC show The Walking Dead, the lockdowns, social distancing and related protocols associated with the COVID-19 outbreak, which is nearing its one-year anniversary, presented a particular challenge. How do you keep arguably the largest cast and crew in scripted series production safe while at the same time ensuring that new episodes of the still-popular show continue to be produced? For AMC Studios, the production arm of parent AMC Networks and the producer of The Walking Dead, it was a truly collaborative effort. 

All across the television industry, distributors and programmers have walked the fine line between being able to get out their products, satisfy their audiences and customers and meet growing demand, all while keeping their employees safe. For cable operators and networks, that has meant adhering to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocols and finding new ways to deliver products to consumers. For programmers, it has also meant in some cases finding ways to limit cast sizes and production crew exposures in unique ways. 

The premise of The Walking Dead comes uncomfortably close to an all-too-familiar reality — a global pandemic of questionable origins causes widespread death leading to a zombie apocalypse and forcing the non-zombie survivors to find a safe haven. For the show, which finished its 10th season in 2020 and was headed into its 11th and final season later this year, the dilemma was how to keep the cameras rolling and the 250-person crew — including 22 actors — safe during a real-life pandemic. After some thought, executives, producers, showrunners and writers on the series came up with a unique solution, creating six episodes as an extension of its 10th season that would focus on specific characters and require smaller casts. 

“Creative people are creative,” The Walking Dead executive producer and showrunner Angela Kang said in a Twitter video on making the extended 10th season. “If there is any superpower that we have as people that are making television or movies, is that we are supposed to think of out-of-the-box ways to do things. So I think you’ve really seen people stepping up to figure out how to make these processes possible at a really difficult time for everyone.” 

AMC Networks chief operating officer Ed Carroll said the decision to produce the six extended episodes was made to keep people safe, but it also resulted in some of the best programming in the show’s decade-long run.

“Many of the best episodes of The Walking Dead are the ones that are based on character,” Carroll said in an interview, adding that the show wouldn’t have lasted as long if it relied only on the zombie scare. “You really need to care about the characters. … We were able to do that and get everyone back to work safely, and take a very big show and make the set quite a bit smaller, but I think creatively accomplish some of our best storytelling.”

Character-Driven Episodes 

The first of those six episodes aired on Feb. 28, titled “Home Sweet Home” and focusing on Maggie Rhee, who left the series in season nine and is played by the returning Lauren Cohan. Other episodes are focused on Saviors’ leader Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam). 

COVID-19 protocols were the same on the TWD set as in all other AMC Studios productions — having an on-site epidemiologist; constantly testing and monitoring crew and actors for the virus; thoroughly cleaning before, during and after shooting; practicing social distancing; and essentially keeping people segmented. But in the six new episodes, the writers and producers crafted narratives that gave them the ability to use two different directors and shoot them in a sequence that kept one unit away from another. 

“What you have to do is rethink the entire operation, so your actors are only with the actors they need to be in a scene with and the crew is only coming into direct contact with other crew members that are essential to do their job,” Carroll said. “You’re minimizing the number of people on an active set, and I include network executives in that. We would normally be making set visits for all sorts of reasons. We’re just not doing that. We’re having our interaction with the cast and crew via Zoom or Teams. When you take a big show that is a multifaceted compilation and you reduce it as best you can, you break off small segments of the operation and keep them as discrete as possible.”   

The Walking Dead was unique in that it lent itself to character studies. Other series on the AMC slate won’t likely go the same route.

 “As we’ve all gotten better at the protocols, we think we can go back to a larger canvas of storytelling for season 11 and certainly for our other shows as well,” Carroll said. “Ideally, if you think about years from now, if people are catching up on a show, you wouldn’t want them to be able to say, ‘Oh, those must have been the COVID episodes,’ because they look and feel different.”

AMC Studios is getting back into its production stride, Carroll added. Better Call Saul was expected to start production on its final season in early March, and season 11 of The Walking Dead is in production in Georgia. Prequel Fear the Walking Dead started production earlier near Austin, Texas, although there were some delays because of the frigid weather in that state.

AMC also is more than halfway through shooting the premiere eight-episode season of Kevin Can F**k Himself, and is starting production on the second season of  Walking Dead: World Beyond. Later this month, production starts on 61st Street, a criminal-justice series based in Chicago. Production for many of WE tv’s reality programs has been ongoing, either via Zoom or other means.  

Other Production Restarts

Many other content companies have resumed production in one form or another, including Fox Entertainment, which said it is adjusting and adapting for the “new normal” when it returns, with all scripted series — 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Lone Star, Prodigal Son, The Resident and Last Man Standing — in production. 

In addition, all of the studio’s pilots that were ordered last year have been in production and are scheduled to deliver in mid-to-late March, including comedy This Country from Jenny Bicks and Paul Feig, based on the BAFTA-winning BBC format, for 2021-22. Fox Entertainment is also creating new pathways for projects, including opening writers’ rooms for two dramas with an eye toward series orders: Our Kind of People, a co-production with 20th Television, based on the acclaimed novel, from executive producers Lee Daniels and Karin Gist; and an untitled music drama. 

Fox Entertainment added that its animation efforts, including its in-house studio Bento Box, which produced The Great North, Bob’s Burgers, Duncanville and upcoming series Housebroken, has been largely unaffected by the pandemic. Bento Box has added new crew members since the pandemic began and also will produce an untitled Dan Harmon animated comedy scheduled to premiere in 2022. 

It was about a year ago, March 11, 2020, that the World Health Organization called the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, with the first statewide stay-at-home orders issued shortly thereafter. To date, the pandemic has claimed more than 2.5 million lives globally (including more than 500,000 in the U.S.), forced millions of people to work or go to school from their homes and impacted nearly every aspect of everyday life. While hopes have been heightened by the slow but increasingly steady rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and the deceleration of cases in the U.S. and elsewhere, for the TV industry it is anything but business as usual.

For starters, the pandemic is far from over, even as there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel. While the number of daily cases was down in the U.S. in January and early February, according to the Center for Disease Control, it began to tick up toward the end of the month. According to reports, there were 77,804 new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as of Feb. 25, up from 55,195 as of Feb. 21. That number started to trend down again — there were 50,925 cases on Feb. 28, down 26% in the past two weeks, with 1,129 new deaths, down 21%. New strains of the virus were found in Houston and other parts of the country, but as vaccinations increase and funding for more widespread deployment is baked into the $1.9 trillion federal COVID-19 relief bill currently before the Senate, optimism that cases will continue their steady decline is high. 

Stay-at-home orders, implemented to halt the spread of the virus, also helped drive cable broadband subscriber growth to record highs, as the top three publicly traded cable operators added more than 4 million high-speed internet customers in 2020. While that level of growth isn’t expected this year, many operators are looking how to address the market as more consumers return to the office. 

At Mediacom Communications, the focus has been on making higher speeds available to its customers. Broadband speeds of 1 gigabit per second are now accessible in all of its markets, and the payoff has been strong.

The need for speed has been evident at the company. Mediacom reported a threefold increase in 1 Gbps customers year-over-year, and said 14.6% of its broadband subscribers take the 1 Gbps tier. That compares to about an 8.5% take rate for 1 Gbps service on average nationwide, according to OpenVault Broadband Insights.  

While most operators aren’t expecting the same broadband growth this year, some are looking closely at how their customers’ work habits could change. Some anticipate a hybrid approach between office and home will become more of the norm. 

“As things start to open up, we see customers that will still work from home permanently or on a hybrid basis and will continue to want to have a better connection that can give them that comfort that they can get their work done,”  Mediacom senior VP customer service and financial operations Tapan Dandnaik said.

To that extent, Mediacom has raised speeds for some levels of service and boosted usage allowances. The current usage allowance levels are 1, 2 and 6 Terabytes for its 100 megabits per second, 300 Mbps and 1 Gbps tiers. 

“We want customers to get the best speeds and the best service and make sure what we have for the customers is the appropriate service at the appropriate price point, so there is value in what we’re offering,” Dandnaik said. 

Charter Communications added more than 2 million broadband customers in 2020. While the No. 2 U.S. cable operator did see some customers migrate to higher speeds, chief operating officer John Bickham said that for the most part, subscribers found they could do a lot with less. Charter raised minimum speeds in most of its markets to 200 Mbps last year, and offers 400 Mbps and 1 Gbps service as well. Bickham said there are a few markets where 100 Mbps is still the minimum.

“We saw some upgrading,” Bickham said. “But fundamentally, if you have a 100 Mbps level of service in your home and it’s solid, there is hardly anything you can do that requires more speed. ... If people want a high level of speed, we’ll sell it to them.”  

Cable operators across the board moved to incentivize workers that had to remain in the field, either through bonuses or other means. Charter pledged to raise the minimum wage it paid hourly workers to $20 per hour by 2022, and said it is well on the way toward that goal. 

Charter also has teamed up with healthcare company Matrix Medical to vaccinate employees who want it on-site. According to executive VP, human resources Paul Marchand, the plan is to establish 50 to 60 megasites at Charter facilities across the country, working with local and state health departments to secure dosages and vaccinate employees that request it. 

Marchand added the company realizes that employees do and will have alternatives to get the vaccine — some are already getting it if they qualify — and that is OK, too. But he added that vaccines are expected to become more widely available in the coming weeks and Charter wanted to be prepared. 

“I can envision in the next four to six weeks on-site, maybe starting in one or two locations and building over time, we will be able to provide shots to our employees,” Marchand said. 

The pandemic accelerated cable’s long-desired plans to move toward self-installation. Comcast claims that more than two-thirds of its total installations are done by the customer. At Charter, self-installs are at about 80%. That pace is likely to continue.

“Don’t undersell self-installation,” MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett said. “It’s here to stay, and the MSOs will only get better and better at it.”

Remote Control

While all the emphasis has been on the general public working from home, most cable employees had to perform their tasks remotely and have performed amazingly well under the circumstances. For some workers — especially customer-service representatives — remote work could be permanent. 

“Work-at-home CSRs are a game-changer, particularly if we go back to having a tight labor market like we had pre-pandemic,” Moffett said.  “Among the biggest costs in running call centers are recruiting and training new employees, and one of the biggest reasons for turnover in call centers is lack of childcare. The ability to have CSRs working from home is transformational.”   

At Mediacom Communications, about 95% of CSRs work remotely, Dandnaik said. But he added that anything could change. 

“The thing is, we’re in March and if you asked me the same question in June, I hope to be able to say we have some kind of rotation,” Dandnaik said. “I think things are evolving. At some point in the future, I don’t know when, we will come up with the ideal hybrid approach to make sure we are adjusting to the new normal.”

Mediacom will be flexible with its employees and take their personal situations into consideration, he added. 

“We operate in 22 markets,” Dandnaik said. Where our call centers are, we have 10 or 12 locations. Every market is different and every situation is local.”  

Bickham said he expects the return to normalcy will most likely happen at a gradual pace.

“I think it goes away very slowly in terms of the impact on how people behave and where they work and how they go to school,” Bickham said. “It happens over an extended period of time. It’s not going to be like it was a year ago, when everyone went home and all of a sudden you had this very dramatic change.”  

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, in a January conference call with analysts to discuss fourth-quarter results, said moving customer-care workers from offices to work from their homes has worked so well, the company is “leaning towards embracing this model permanently.” In 2020, agent-handled calls were reduced by more than 16 million, Roberts said. 

“We are working hard with our communications and marketing efforts to enhance awareness of all we have to offer, which enables us to take cost out of the business while delivering a better experience for our customers,” Roberts continued. 

More than half of Charter’s CSRs are working remotely, but the hope is that once the pandemic subsidies, more will be able to return to the office. 

Although Charter came under some criticism for its approach during the early days of the pandemic, Marchand said the priority has always been to adhere to CDC standards, as well as the varying standards by state. And while Charter is complying with all federal and state requirements, once the pandemic is over, it would like to get as back to normal as possible. 

Weighing an Office Return

Charter has in some cases started a scheduled approach, where some workers would work one week in the office, some two weeks remotely and so on. While there will always be exceptions, he said, overall the company would like to get back to a place where most workers are in the office.  

“In the end, we think work is best done when we are together in person,” Marchand said. “We think collaborating, innovating, leading training, on-boarding all is best done, is most efficient, effective and rewarding and frankly, the best employee experience, when we’re all together. That doesn’t mean some situations don’t necessitate some people working remotely, and that in the future we may continue to have that.” 

AMC’s Carroll said he too misses the days when most of the team was at the office. While there have been some benefits to working remotely — Zoom meetings, he said, can sometimes run more efficiently than in-person ones — he said personal interaction is important on both sides of the business.

“On the client side, we do miss the client contact,” Carroll said. “We are doing it remotely, and that seems to be OK, but
you don’t find out as much about what’s happening with your clients on a 30-minute Zoom call as you do over lunch.”   

While some programmers and operators may crave a return to in-person meetings, the pandemic may have dealt the final blow to large conventions. 

The shift from huge trade shows to smaller, regional and local confabs had already been happening years before anyone had even heard of COVID-19, primarily due to massive industry consolidation. In 2017, NCTA–The Internet and Cable Television Association, ended its annual cable show, INTX, after 65 years. In a blog post at the time about the decision, NCTA president and CEO Michael Powell wrote: “Large trade show floors, dotted with exhibit booths and stilted schedules, have become an anachronism.”

But Moffett said the ultimate demise of the large cable convention shouldn’t be blamed on COVID. “There’s no need for a big centralized show if the alternative is making one visit to Philly, one to Stamford, one to Atlanta and one to Denver, and then calling it a day,” he said.

Other more regional shows managed to survive, even through the pandemic. ACA Connects and the National Cable Television Cooperative held their annual get-together, The Independent Show Reimagined, virtually Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2020, and said the event had a record 848 registered participants. Plans are to hold a hybrid event July 11-14 in Minneapolis. 

But larger shows like CES, which was held virtually Jan. 11-14, drawing about 81,000 attendees (down from 170,000 in 2020) — have come under more intense scrutiny. In 2022, the CES event is expected to be a hybrid live and online event.

The Consumer Technology Association, which produces CES, declined comment. 

It may be too early to predict the long-term effect on events, NCTA senior VP of strategic communications Brian Dietz said. He noted that smaller or more-focused conferences like the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers-International Society of Broadband Experts (SCTE-ISBE) Cable-Tec Expo, the Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) Leadership Conference and National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) conference were still very strong.

Virtual Events Draw Crowds

Attendance at the virtual SCTE-ISBE Cable-Tec Expo 2020 broke records, according to the group. WICT said registered attendance at its virtual 2020 Leadership conference was 860, besting the previous mark set in 2018 of 818 attendees. NAMIC said attendance for its virtual 34th Annual Conference was up 40% over the prior year. 

The SCTE plans to hold its next Cable-Tec Expo in Atlanta in October, the same month as the WICT Leadership Conference is scheduled for New York. The 35th annual NAMIC Conference is scheduled for Oct. 5-6 in New York.

The consumer-focused San Diego Comic-Con, used by TV programmers as a showcase for their newest offerings, also postponed the live event set for July 23-25 to 2022. Organizers said they will hold a virtual event this year, as well as a potential smaller live event in November.

But the jury is still out for larger conferences.

“I think it will be more interesting to see what happens with conferences like CES in which 150,000-plus gather in tight quarters for a week,” Dietz said. “That concept certainly seems to be more at risk because we are all now so much more educated about public health safety and how germs can spread rapidly.”

Whether big changes come and stick is about as uncertain as predicting when the pandemic will eventually peter out. But it is obvious that after a year (and counting) of relative isolation and disruption to the normal way of doing business, something has to give. Whatever it is, hopefully it will lead to a year ahead of living a bit less dangerously. 

Streaming services HBO Max and Hulu will serve up high-profile theatrical movies to highlight the final week of February.

HBO Max will offer Warner Bros.’s animated Tom & Jerry film on Feb. 26, the same day the film hits theaters, while Hulu will stream The United States vs. Billie Holiday film, which was initially slated to debut in theaters but was moved to the streaming service as theaters shut last year due to the pandemic. 

Read also: Five things to know about WarnerMedia’s new day-and-date movie release strategy

Returning to TV screens is AMC’s long-running hit series The Walking Dead, which will feature six bonus episodes to the show’s 10th season beginning Feb. 28.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of Feb. 22-Feb. 28 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Feb. 23 -- Assembly Required (competition series) -- History

Feb. 23 -- MTV Unplugged Presents: BTS (music special) -- MTV

Feb. 24 -- Ginny & Georgia (drama) -- Netflix

Feb. 24 -- Snowfall (returning series) -- FX

Feb. 25 -- Millennials (comedy) -- ALLBLK

Feb. 25 -- Close Enough (animation) -- HBO Max

Feb. 25 -- Punky Brewster (comedy) -- Peacock

Feb. 26 -- Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry (music documentary) -- Apple TV Plus

Feb. 26 -- Black Renaissance (special) -- YouTube

Feb. 27 -- Don’t Waste Your Pretty (movie) -- TV One

Read also: TV One Pushes the Power of Representation 

Feb. 27 -- The Walking Dead (returning series) -- AMC 

AMC is taking another stab at its venerable The Walking Dead franchise with a series set a decade after the apocalypse. The Walking Dead: World Beyond follows the first generation of children raised in a world threatened by flesh-eating zombies.The teens live in a Nebraska gated community that, for the most part, is free of the zombie threat. The story follows two sisters, conscientious Iris (Aliyah Royale) and rebellious Hope (Alexa Mansour), typical teenagers but tormented by the trauma of having experienced the world’s collapse as young kids. 

Wary of the threat that resides beyond the gates of Campus Colony — and reminded of the potential threats inside the complex by bars placed in front of the doors of terminally sick residents — the girls live their lives as most teenagers do. When Iris receives a distressing message from her scientist father, who was moved to another settlement, she teams with her sister and two friends, Silas (Hal Cumpston) and Elton (Nicolas Cantu), to venture outside  to seek answers about their lives, and to confront the anxieties all four characters have about their pasts and futures. 

Hovering over the storyline is the existence of the Civil Republic Military (which also appears in The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead). It swoops into town, led by charismatic and tough Elizabeth (Julia Ormond), who is initially welcomed by Iris, but is mistrusted by Hope. 

The Walking Dead: World Beyond looks to expand the franchise to millennials who may or may not be familiar with the original show. The first two episodes of World Beyond lack the intensity and urgency of the zombie threat from the first two series, instead placing most of the focus on the coming-of-age theme surrounding the teen protagonists. Nevertheless, those episodes lay the foundation for potential conflicts between Iris, Hope, Silas and Elton — not to mention the potential hazards of their perilous trek fraught with inevitable encounters with the undead.

End-of-the-World Fun on Amazon 

Utopia is on Amazon Prime. A group of young people come together when they discover that the conspiracy in a comic that foretells the demise of humanity is, in fact, real. 

That demise-of-humanity thing might feel a bit timely. “The show does feature a panic-inducing viral outbreak,” executive producer Jessica Rhoades said. “But it’s more about how different groups of people band together to save the world.”

The show is inspired by a U.K. series of the same name that ran 2013-2014. Exec producer Gillian Flynn added Dr. Christie, played by John Cusack, to the U.S. series. “I think viewers will see a John that they haven’t seen before,” said Rhoades. 

Rhoades and Flynn previously worked on HBO’s Sharp Objects. Rhoades received a bunch of Utopia scripts and read them until the wee hours. “It’s a different side of Gillian,” she said, with lots of “wicked humor.”

Tong Wars Brought to Life on Cinemax 

Martial arts drama Warrior begins season two on Cinemax Oct. 2. Based on the writings of Bruce Lee, it’s about the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 19th century. After proving his worth as a fighter, Ah Sahm becomes hatchet man for the Hop Wei gang. 

Warrior shoots in Cape Town. Creator Jonathan Tropper said producers needed to build a “self-contained world” — streets, alleys and buildings from 1800s California — and South Africa made
that possible. 

Immigration was a hot issue when Warrior takes place, and still is. “We tell a story from 1870 that’s still true today,” said Tropper. “A country built by immigrants, yet we struggle with our relationship with immigrants.”

New AMC Series Goes Beyond ‘The Walking Dead’ 

The Walking Dead: World Beyond debuts Oct. 4 on AMC, following the first generation raised in the post-apocalyptic world. Two teen sisters, Hope and Iris, set out on “a grand adventure,” as co-creator Matt Negrete puts it, and run into a bit of trouble, including zombies the series refers to as “empties.” 

Viewers won’t find Walking Dead characters in
the spinoff. “This is a whole other thing,” co-creator Scott M. Gimple said. “You won’t see Rick Grimes walking around the corner, saying, ‘Hey kids,
what’s up?’ ”

Negrete said World Beyond has similar horror and suspense, but “a bit more hopeful tone.”

The show is shot in Richmond, Virginia. It was slated for an April premiere, but COVID jammed things up. Gimple hopes World Beyond will provide a bit of entertainment in these trying times. “The show offers people an escape,” he said. “An escape from their homes, from the monotony, from the pressure people are feeling.” λ

Amazon’s IMDb TV has expanded its partnership with AMC Networks to launch five live-linear channels, including one themed around long-running zombie apocalypse drama “The Walking Dead.”

Like other ad-supported streaming platforms, IMDb TV is building out its live-linear program guide. It now has more than 20 channels that are formatted in a traditional program guide, with shows running at set scheduled times. 

IMDb TV, which over the summer became the temporary U.S. streaming home to AMC classic drama Mad Men, has already launched The Walking Dead Universe Experience channel, a collection of select episodes from not only the long-running The Walking Dead flagship series, but also spinoffs Fear the Walking Dead, Ride with Norman Reedus and Friday Night in with the Morgans. 

IMDb TV has also launched channels themed around AMC shows Turn: Washington’s Spies; Halt and Catch Fire; Rectify;  Making of the Mob; and Into the Badlands.

Meanwhile, said to be “coming soon” are channels themed around other AMC Networks properties: Rush by AMC, a collection of action thriller movies; IFC Film Picks, collection of acclaimed film titles; Slightly Off by IFC,  which will be curated comedy selections; and Absolute Reality by WE tv, which features shows like Bridezillas, Kendra on Top, Joan & Melissa and Platinum Weddings. 

AMC Network said that its blockbuster series The Walking Dead will end in 2022 after an expanded two-year 11th season.

The network also said that the series will be followed by a spinoff featuring two of the show’s original characters, Daryl Dixon and Carol Peltier that will be helmed by Angela Kang, The Walking Dead’s current showrunner and co-created by Kang and Scott M. Gimple, chief content officer for the Walking Dead universe.

Also in development is Tales of the Walking Dead, described as an episodic anthology focusing on new and existing characters. It is being developed with Gimple.

The Walking Dead has spawned an entire franchise for AMC, including the Talking Dead after show, Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond, which will premiere Oct. 4. AMC said additional projects are in the works.

“The Walking Dead made television history, and is one of those rare creative works that has given life to an entire content universe that is still in the early stages of growing and entertaining both new and established fans,” said Ed Carroll, chief operating officer of AMC Networks. “We can’t wait to bring viewers this expanded final season of The Walking Dead over the next two years, and launch the fourth series in the history of the franchise, focused on the beloved Daryl and Carol characters, with the incredibly talented Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Angela Kang and Scott M. Gimple. There really is so much ‘walking’ ahead, in a number of very exciting directions, for this extraordinary creative universe we call The Walking Dead.”

The Walking Dead will have 30 more episodes before concluding, with six extra episodes orders for season 10 and 24 for the final season 11.

Actors Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride will play their Daryl and Carol characters in the new spinoff, which is expected to debut in 2023.

“Of course, I’ve always enjoyed working so closely with Norman throughout these many seasons. In playing Carol, and as a viewer of the show, I’ve also long been intrigued with ‘Daryl and Carol,’ and by what so early on between them, even then, felt somehow bound,” said McBride. Their shared history is long, and each’s own personal fight to survive, even longer – the more obvious aspect of what has kept them close and loyal. But there is also a rather mysterious aspect to their fondness for one another that I enjoy, and their playfulness when the world permits. I’m very curious! Angela has a way of shaking things up in great and unexpected ways. She’s like a kid playing with the dimmer switch! I’m very excited!”

The Walking Dead had its premiere on Halloween in 2010. It was the top rated cable series launch of all time and later became the highest rated show on cable and eventually all of television.

Though ratings have eroded from their peak, it remains the top rated series on basic cable and a big draw in terms of ad revenue for AMC.

The Walking Dead is produced by AMC Studios and executive produced by Gimple, Kang, Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero, Denise Huth and Joseph Incaprera.

AMC has greenlit a second season of its new drama series Soulmates prior to the show’s Oct. 5 premiere, AMC Networks’ Entertainment Group president of original programming Dan McDermott announced Friday during the network’s virtual TCA summer tour presentation.

The anthology series follows the personal ramifications of a test that unequivocally tells you who your soulmate is. The series is executive produced by Will Bridges (Black Mirror) and Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso).

“We were immediately drawn to the unique premise of Soulmates as it explores love and relationships from several touchpoints in a way that naturally feeds the zeitgeist, prompting conversations around human connection, relationships and happiness,” McDermott said in a statement. “These are stories and themes that resonate and feel almost timely given today’s climate in which so many of us feel disconnected or are coping with shifting relationship dynamics.”

In other AMC news, the network said it will debut its The Walking Dead spinoff The Walking Dead: World Beyond on Oct. 4. The network will also debut the sixth season of Fear the Walking Dead on Oct. 11.

AMC Networks’ streaming service AMC+ will premiere two series on Oct. 1 -- The Salisbury Poisonings and Gangs of London. Both drama series will eventually air on AMC in early 2021, according to the network. 

AMC Networks said Wednesday that it has expanded its streaming video offerings, launching AMC Plus and WE tv Plus, two commercial-free SVOD products initially available to Comcast Xfinity cable and Xfinity Flex broadband subscribers.

AMC Plus will cost $4.99 per month and includes original series from the AMC channel and sister networks like Sundance TV and IFC, ad-free with early premieres on demand, along with streaming services Shudder, Sundance Now, and IFC Films Unlimited. AMC Plus also includes a commercial-free premium linear network available on Xfinity’s electronic program guide. 

For Xfinity and Xfinity Flex customers, AMC Plus will replace AMC Premiere, the commercial-free, on-demand service AMC Networks launched to Comcast customers in 2017. 

AMC Networks is offering the new streaming bundles to other pay TV providers as well -- Comcast is just the first of hopefully many to sign on. The programmer said it will continue to support AMC Premiere customers who either subscribe to the service through other distributors, like YouTube TV, or who have signed up for it on their own and authenticate through their current TV provider.

In addition to offering ad-free current seasons of hits like Killing Eve, NOS4A2 and The Walking Dead, AMC Plus will include bonus footage, sneak peeks of future episodes and exclusive behind-the-scenes features.

WE tv Plus includes programming from AMC Networks’ reality channel We tv and UMC (formerly the Urban Movie Channel), and also is priced at $4.99 per month.

According to AMC Networks, both streaming bundles will be available to Comcast customers over the internet and on demand on its X1 and Xfinity Flex platforms, are searchable with the Xfinity voice remote and across a range of devices in and out of the home via Xfinity Stream. Separately, AMC Networks said Xfinity continues to carry Acorn TV, its premium service focused on British and international television.

“We have a long and fruitful history of partnering with Comcast to serve viewers and fans of our content, and these new bundles epitomize our history of innovation and ability to work collaboratively to embrace the new ways in which viewers are consuming content today,” said AMC Networks president of distribution and development Josh Reader in a press release. “Comcast has always been a valued partner, particularly in the launch of AMC Premiere, a pioneering ad-free service. With these AMC+ and WE tv+ bundles, we build on that partnership in service of our fans on both the innovative Xfinity X1 and Flex platforms. We’re confident that Xfinity customers will appreciate the value, convenience and quality of these new offerings.”

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of Feb. 3 to Feb. 9 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Feb. 18 -- We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest (documentary) -- HBO

Feb. 19 -- Year of the Rabbit (comedy) -- IFC

Feb. 20 -- Sacred Lies: The Singing Bones (drama) -- Facebook Watch

Feb. 21 -- Gentefied (drama) -- Netflix

Feb. 21 -- Hunters (drama) -- Prime Video

Feb. 21 -- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (returning series) -- Disney+

Feb. 23 -- Better Call Saul (drama) -- AMC

Feb. 23 -- Ballmastrz: 9009 (animation) -- Adult Swim

Feb. 23 -- The Walking Dead (drama) -- AMC

Feb. 23 -- When Calls The Heart (drama) -- Hallmark

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of Feb. 3 to Feb. 9 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Feb. 18 -- We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest (documentary) -- HBO

Feb. 19 -- Year of the Rabbit (comedy) -- IFC

Feb. 20 -- Sacred Lies: The Singing Bones (drama) -- Facebook Watch

Feb. 21 -- Gentefied (drama) -- Netflix

Feb. 21 -- Hunters (drama) -- Prime Video

Feb. 21 -- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (returning series) -- Disney+

Feb. 23 -- Better Call Saul (drama) -- AMC

Feb. 23 -- Ballmastrz: 9009 (animation) -- Adult Swim

Feb. 23 -- The Walking Dead (drama) -- AMC

Feb. 23 -- When Calls The Heart (drama) -- Hallmark

The 2010’s ushered in a new era of original scripted television series created and distributed by an unprecedented number of distribution outlets, all looking to attract viewers anxious to watch content at their leisure across numerous platforms. Heading into 2019 nearly 500 scripted series could be accessed on broadcast, cable and digital streaming platforms.

Here’s a look at five shows on cable and streaming services that helped define the decade though a mix of excellence via ratings, industry awards and cultural influence.

Game of Thrones -- HBO (2011-2019)

HBO’s titanic fantasy series arguably drew more combined viewership, media coverage and social media activity --both positive and negative -- than any other show during the decade. What is not in dispute is the record 59 Emmy Awards the show won over its eight-season run.

Related: HBO, Amazon Prime Rule Emmy Awards Telecast 

Atlanta -- FX (2016 to present) 

Comedian/rapper/musician/producer in Donald Glover created a show that presents a sometimes complex but most times comedic slice of African-American life that had never existed on TV before. The result is a groundbreaking show that has earned critical acclaim and several Emmy Awards, including Glover’s Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series statuette -- the first awarded to an African-American.

Stranger Things -- Netflix (2016 to Present) 

While streaming service Netflix’s ambitious run at producing original scripted series began in earnest with such critically-acclaimed hits as House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black, it was a 1980’s-based, sci-fi thriller full of monsters and young, teen protagonists that gave Netflix a pop culture hit perfectly suited for binge viewing. 

Power -- Starz (2014-2020) 

Starz’s provocative series from executive producers Courtney Kemp and 50 Cent about a drug dealer looking to escape the world of crime and go legit found a fervent and loyal audience early and helped to dismiss the myth that a show with a predominantly African-American cast couldn't draw solid ratings numbers on premium cable television.

American Horror Story -- FX (2011 to Present) 

The series became the poster child for the resurrection of the anthology series genre with its creative ability to scare up a new story each season. American Horror Story paved the way for the success of other anthology series including HBO’s True Detective, AMC’s The Terror, Nat Geo's Genius and FX’s own American Crime Story, Fargo and Feud.

Honorable Mention:

The Walking Dead -- AMC (2010 to Present) -- The most-watched show on cable during the first half of the decade, the zombie-themed series drew a basic cable record 17.3 million viewers for its season five premiere in 2014.

Veep -- HBO (2012-2019) -- Among the most celebrated TV comedies of the decade, the series won 11 Emmy awards, including a record six straight best comedy actress statuettes for series star Julia Louis-Dreyfus from 2012 to 2017.

The Handmaid’s Tale -- Hulu (2017 to Present) -- The dark drama series arguably put the nascent streaming services on equal footing with broadcast networks and cable services by winning the digital platform's first drama series Emmy in 2017. 

As the streaming wars heat up, AMC Networks is keeping one of its big guns--the upcoming third series in the Walking Dead franchise--for itself and its own direct-to-consumer platforms.

Speaking on the company’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday, CEO Josh Sapan noted that the company had done a lucrative deal with Amazon to distribute the series overseas, outside of territories where AMC owns networks.

“However, in the U.S. we are holding back rights that we’ve traditionally sold to third parties,” Sapan said. “So domestically we will not sell the SVOD rights to this third Walking Dead series, but rather the series will be used to fuel our own platforms, both streaming as well as linear, as we window it and take full advantage of the opportunities that it presents for us.”

Related: AMC Networks Reports Higher Third-Quarter Net

The new Walking Dead series, set to have its linear premiere in the second quarter, could be a good fit for AMC Premiere, the company’s ad-free services, or Shudder, it’s horror-based SVOD service, Sapan suggested.

But Sapan noted that AMC would be looking at the best way to monetize its shows on a case-by-case basis.

He noted that the series Nos4a2 premiered on the AMC channel in the U.S. and then went to two of AMC’s streaming platforms, Shudder and AMC Premiere.

Related: AMC Orders Season 10 of ‘The Walking Dead’

A Discovery of Witches, on the other hand, debuted earlier this year on Shudder and Sundance Now, driving record usage and subscriber acquisition. Then it appeared on AMC channel, where it delivered strong ratings, he said.

“These examples illustrate how our multiple platforms are creating increasingly varied past to monetization and significant and different opportunities for our intellectual property, content engine,” he said.

Sapan also noted that AMC’s streaming services don’t really compete with the heavyweights from Comcast, AT&T, Disney and Apple that will be duking it out.

Instead AMC’s streaming services are hyper targeted and focused and “are thriving and we believe will continue to thrive, alongside what some may call the Something for Everyone SVOD category that is becoming more crowded and competitive by the day,” he said.

“The economic fundamentals around these targeted services have great attributes and are, in some cases, particularly for a company like ours, superior to the general entertainment SVOD category as there’s not the same pressure on retail price and there is not the same share battle,” Sapan said, noting that Acorn TV, AMC’s streaming service specializing in British shows, increased its price by $1 a month yet continued to grow.

Acorn TV recently passed the 1 million subscriber threshold, he noted, and AMC has been telling analysts it expects to have more than 2 million subscribers among all its services. “We are in fact now pacing to be ahead of that stated target,” Sapan said.

The company expects its streaming businesses to cross 3.5 million to 4 million cumulative subs by 2022 and by 2024 its said it plans to be in the 5 million to 7 million subscriber range. At that point, those services will be generating $500 million, the company forecasts.

“AMC Networks is well on its way to strategically transforming itself from a cable channels company into a premier content company with a suite of focused and targeted video entertainment products that are delivered to viewers on an ever expanding array of platforms,” Sapan said.

“And as our TV series come off their exhibition windows on main stream streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, they will then come back to us, AMC Networks, for the first time, representing a new business opportunity as we make determinations around the optimal utilization of that content,” he said.

This weekend’s New York Comic Con event served as a launching pad for several trailers and videos of new and returning shows from cable networks and streaming services.

Below are some of the videos showcased during the Oct. 3 - Oct. 6 confab, which was expected to draw more than 250,000 attendees to the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in New York City.

Devs -- FX

The Expanse -- Amazon Prime Video 

Picard -- CBS All Access

Snowpiercer -- TNT 

The Walking Dead Universe (untitled) -- AMC 

Outlander -- Starz 

AMC will bring back its zombie-themed series The Walking Dead for an 11th season, the network announced Saturday at the New York Comic Con.

The new season will feature the return of Lauren Cohan, who played character Maggie Greene in previous seasons, said network officials.

“The Walking Dead burst out of the gate ten years ago as a genre show that had all the character depth of a top-tier prestige drama,” said Sarah Barnett, President of AMC Networks Entertainment Group & AMC Studios in a statement. “And now ten years later - led by the brilliant [series executive producer) Angela Kang and fueled by one of the most consistently talented casts in television - this phenomenon is flourishing creatively, with critics and audiences embracing its reset. We’re delighted to welcome back Lauren Cohan, she has meant so much to this show and its passionate, global fanbase, who are in for a fantastic ride over the coming months.”

The Walking Dead franchise has spawned two series, Fear the Walking Dead and a new series from The Walking Dead executive producer Scott Gimple, as well as an untitled The Walking Dead movie starring Andrew Lincoln, 

A number of veteran shows will debut with new seasons this week as the calendar turns to October.

On Oct. 6, AMC’s horror/drama series The Walking Dead will premiere its 10th season, while USA Network’s thriller Mr. Robot (pictured) will debut its fourth and final season.

Debuting Oct. 4 is the third season of Prime Video legal drama Goliath and the fifth season of Netflix drama Peaky Blinders.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting this week on cable networks and streaming services:

Oct. 1 -- Sorry For Your Loss (drama) -- Facebook Watch

Oct. 2 -- 24/7 College Football (sports/reality) -- HBO

Oct.. 2 -- All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite (sports) -- TNT

Oct. 2 -- Living Undocumented (reality) -- Netflix

Oct. 4 -- Big Mouth (returning series) -- Netflix

Oct. 4 -- In The Tall Grass (horror) -- Netflix

Oct. 4 -- Into The Dark: Uncanny Annie (horror) -- Hulu

Oct. 4 -- Raising Dion (drama) -- Netflix

Oct. 6 -- Star Wars Resistance (returning series) -- Disney Channel

AMC will bring back its long-running zombie drama The Walking Dead for a 10th season in October, the network said via social media Monday.

The series, which will return for the second half of its ninth season Sunday (Feb. 10) will continue the saga of survivors trying to survive the a zombie apocalypse beginning next October, according to an AMC Twitter posting earlier this afternoon.

The 10th season will be the first without series star Andrew Lincoln, who left the show during the first half of season nine and will star in several The Walking Dead movie spinoffs. The series has also yielded a successful series spinoff, Fear The Walking Dead.

[embed]https://twitter.com/WalkingDead_AMC/status/1092528299102949378[/embed]

The annual Comic-Con International show commenced July 19 with cable networks and streaming services offering first-look trailers of upcoming series and specials.

Along with executive and talent-based panels, an estimated 100,000 Comic-Con attendees will also be treated to trailers for some of TV’s most popular and successful shows.

A sampling of those videos appear below and will be updated throughout Comic Con International’s four-day run.

Amazon's 'The Man In The High Castle'

IFC's 'Stan Against Evil' 

CBS All-Access -- Star Trek Discovery

Nickelodeon's 'Invader ZIM'

Syfy’s 'Nightflyers'

Nickelodeon’s 'Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'

AMC's 'Better Call Saul'

BBC America’s 'Doctor Who'

AMC’s 'Fear The Walking Dead'

AMC’s 'The Walking Dead'

AMC has pulled Sunday’s premiere of the Talking With Chris Hardwick show a day after emotional abuse and sexual assault allegations were leveled against Hardwick by an ex-girlfriend.

In a statement released Saturday, AMC said that it is pulling the plug on the season two premiere of Talking With Chris Hardwick while it “assesses the situation" revolving around Hardwick, which began Friday when Hardwick’s ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra posted in an online article allegations of emotional and sexual assault by Hardwick (who was not named directly in the article) during their relationship. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/skydart/status/1007570043637501953[/embed]

The network has also pulled Hardwick -- who also hosts after-show series for AMC's hit shows The Walking Dead and Fear of The Walking Dead -- from hosting several panels at next month's Comic-Con International in San Diego.

“We have had a positive working relationship with Chris Hardwick for many years. We take the troubling allegations that surfaced yesterday very seriously,” said AMC in a statement Saturday. “While we assess the situation, Talking with Chris Hardwick will not air on AMC, and Chris has decided to step aside from moderating planned AMC and BBC America panels at Comic-Con International in San Diego next month.”

Hardwick denied the allegations in a published statement, saying that “at no time did I sexually assault her.” 

Fox News Channel steamrolled over basic cable networks to again finish first in the weekly cable ratings race on both a primetime and total day basis, according to Nielsen. 

Fox News averaged 2.3 million viewers in primetime for the week of Feb. 26 to March 4, besting MSNBC’s 1.8 million viewers for the 7th consecutive week. ESPN finished 3rd with 1.4 million viewers, followed by HGTV (1.3 million) and USA Network (1.2 million).

On a total day basis, Fox News won for the eighth straight week, beating out MSNBC, Nickelodeon, HGTV and Investigation Discovery, according to Nielsen.

AMC’s The Walking Dead was the most watched show of the week with 6.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Most Watched Shows for the week of Feb. 26-March 4

Date ShowNetworkTotal Viewers

3/4     The Walking Dead                                               AMC                              4.0 million

2/26   WWE Monday Night Raw (8-9pm)                         USA                              3.4 million

3/3     Live College Basketball                                        ESPN                            3.3 million

2/28   The Rachel Maddow Show                                    MSNBC                         3.2 million

2/26   WWE Monday Night Raw (9-10 pm)                      USA                              3.2 million

3/1     The Rachel Maddow Show                                   MSNBC                         3.1 million

2/26   Tucker Carlson Tonight                                        Fox News                      3.0 million

2/26   The Rachel Maddow Show                                   MSNBC                          3.0 million

2/27   Curse of Oak Island                                            History                          3.0 million

3/1     Hannity                                                              Fox News                      2.9 million

Source: Nielsen                                 

AMC Networks is expecting the return of its monster hit The Walking Dead to give a lift to its premium subscription service AMC Premiere.

AMC Premiere, which costs $4.99 a month and gives subscribers access to commercial-free versions of AMC’s series plus extras including bonus footage, sneak peeks of future episodes and exclusive behind-the-scenes features, launched with Comcast last June.

YouTube TV, though, has also agreed to distribute AMC Premiere. It will begin rolling out over the next few months. AMC continues to talk to other distributors about carrying the service.

While he wouldn’t provide specific subscriber numbers for Premiere, Mac McKean, executive VP of innovation at AMC Networks, said, “We’re happy with the response to date and we’re about where we expected to be in terms of the business.”

Momentum Building
The return of The Walking Dead for the second half of its eighth season on Feb. 25 is “going to be a great moment for Premiere, and then that’s going to be followed by McMafia,” the upcoming British organized-crime drama, McKean said.

This past weekend, Comcast offered a free preview of AMC Premiere, giving Xfinity TV subscribers access to AMC’s current programs, including the first half of The Walking Dead’s current season.

AMC also is loading Premiere with exclusive Walking Dead content such as previews and features that should appeal to the show’s huge fan base. The first half of the interstitial featurette Red Machete has also been stitched together to make it easy to watch on Premiere.

After the first episode of McMafia debuts on the AMC linear network on Feb. 26, AMC Premiere subscribers will be able to watch all eight episodes, the first time AMC has enabled that kind of early binge watching for one of its series.

“We’re learning from our experiences and we’re fine-tuning the service, and so one of the things we’re going to try based on user feedback is to make a whole season of a show available starting with the day of premiere,” McKean said. “We think because it is so thrilling and suspenseful, it will be a good fit to make the entire season available as a binge for viewers.”

McKean said Premiere is designed to complement and extend the linear AMC — generating revenue and elevating the network’s shows within a new environment.

The subscription service also facilitates a direct connection with viewers and fans. “We’re talking to our users, to our subscribers, and we’re analyzing the data and we’re looking at what features and elements are resonating and are delivering on that promise,” he said. “And we’ll continue with that process through these new upcoming seasons.”

Features and Fixes
Features popular with early AMC Premiere users include the ease with which it can be accessed on any device and that the content plays in a premium manner.

Among the things AMC needs to fix is that viewers aren’t aware of much of the exclusive content offered. “You’re just not used to getting that,” McKean said. “People don’t know to look for it.”

Because AMC shows are already appointment viewing for fans, AMC Premiere viewing tends to peak as new episodes debut, even though on-demand viewers can watch whenever they want.

The most popular shows on Premiere have largely been the same ones as on the linear channel, although the older-skewing Revolutionary War drama Turn has shown some extra strength.

McKean said AMC Premiere does not seem to be stealing many viewers from ad-supported AMC: “Having an extension of linear like Premiere is raising the profile of both. When we promote Premiere, we’re promoting the shows.

“Comcast has been an incredibly great partner,” he added. “They’re supporting AMC as a whole, and that shows up in greater engagement with the network as a whole.”

Pasadena, Calif--AMC will return its zombie-themed series Fear The Walking Dead on April 15, the network announced during its Television Critics Association winter press tour session.

Season four of the prequel to The Walking Dead will feature the first crossover character between the the shows in Morgan Jones, played by actor Lennie James. The series is executive produced by Scott Gimple, showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, as well as Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Gale Anne Hurd and Greg Nicotero.

The announcement comes on the heels of AMC’s renewal of The Walking Deadfor a ninth season.

Read More: MCN's Complete Coverage of #TCA18

AMC also announced the premiere date for new original series McMafia (Feb. 26). Immediately after its premiere, the entire first season of the series will be available on the network’s AMC Premiere premium service, according to AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios President Charlie Collier.

Also getting premiere dates are AMC’s new horror series The Terror (March 26); its original special James Cameron’s Story Of Science Fiction (April 30), as well as returning series Into The Badlands (April 22).

In other AMC Networks news, SundanceTV said it has picked up a second season of its thriller series Liar. Also announced yesterday during the TCA, IFC renewed its horror/comedy series Stan Against Evil for a third season and set an April 15 premiere date for the second season of sports comedy series Brockmire.

AMC will bring back its highly-rated, zombie-themed series The Walking Dead for a ninth season with a new showrunner and executive producer, the network said Saturday. 

Angela Kang will serve as the executive producer of the show’s ninth season, replacing Scott Gimple, who was elevated to chief content officer, overseeing The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead and all potential brand extensions, said the network. Kang had served as a writer on the show since 2011 and co-executive producer since 2013, according to AMC. 

“We are proud to acknowledge Angela’s significant contribution to the series and to set a clear path forward for a ninth season under her direction,” said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC in a statement. “Further, with gratitude and admiration, we also recognize Scott’s broad impact on, and leadership of, the content that fuels our TWD universe. Together, we will dream bigger and more broadly than ever before.”

The Walking Dead's season eight, mid-season finale drew nearly 8 million viewers in live plus same day ratings. The show will resume on AMC on Feb. 25. 

BET’s 2017 Soul Train Awards danced up more than one million social media interactions last night, according to Nielsen.

The special, hosted by Erykah Badu and featuring performances from Toni Braxton, 112, SWV and Jessie J, drew 1,173 Facebook and Twitter interactions to lead all Sunday television shows according to Nielsen’s Social Content Daily Ratings report. AMC’s The Walking Dead was second with 336,000 interactions, followed by Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta, E!’s Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Starz’s Outlander.

Sunday’s NFL contests tackled big social media numbers, led by NBC’s coverage of the Green Bay Packers-Pittsburgh Steelers which drew 2.8 million interactions, said Nielsen.