9 Reasons The Walking Dead Season 3 Premiere Broke Cable TV Record. The season premiere of The Walking Dead: Season 3 on October 15, 2012, entitled Seed (written about here: The Walking Dead: Season 3, Episode 1: Seed Review), drew the largest audience to date for a single episode on a cable TV show.
The Walking Dead: Season 3, Episode 1: Seed garnered “10.9 million viewers, shattering the previous record of 7.3 million viewers for the season two premiere. That also makes the third season premiere the show’s most-watched episode to date, besting the season two finale’s 9 million viewers, and stands as the most watched drama series episode in basic cable history.”
This was accomplished because of nine reasons:
1. The show’s comic book audience.
The Walking Dead had a start-up, built-in audience before the show ever aired on AMC.
2. The Walking Dead: Season 2, Episode 13: Beside the Dying Fire.
The granduer of last season’s finale episode and showing the prison in its finale moments compiled people to show up in droves to watch Seed.
3. Michonne’s presence.
Self-explanatory.
4. The Walking Dead: Season 3 TV Show Trailer: San Diego Comic-Con 2012.
That TV show trailer galvanized audiences about what was in store for them this season on The Walking Dead. That was the best piece of advertising this season could have possibly had.
5. The show is about characters, not horror.
The drama comes first in The Walking Dead, the horror second, exemplified by many of the episodes from last season.
6. Horror / Zombie lovers.
This audience segment, catered to by few, showed up for the episode since it is the best written horror series currently on television.
7. The Time of Year: Halloween.
The Walking Dead premiered in mid-October, in the midst of horror propaganda and the annual resurgence of interest in the genre.
8. Violence.
The Walking Dead is one of the most violent TV shows on TV, far in excess of Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy. If you need a blood fix, look no where else than The Walking Dead.
9. The Coming of The Governor.
Self-explanatory.
The Walking Dead: Season 3 stars Lauren Cohan, Andrew Lincoln, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus, IronE Singleton, Danai Gurira, David Morrissey, Michael Rooker, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Scott Wilson, Emily Kinney, Chandler Riggs, Melissa Suzanne McBride, Adam Minarovich, and Marvin Duerkholz.
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Source: Collider