Even after one of the bloodiest and darkest episodes in the AMC series’ history, The Walking Dead really does have something to celebrate about its Season 7 debut – and we’re not talking a fantasy sequence. With 17 million watching the October 23 premiere to discover who Negan would kill and 10.7 million among adults 18-49 for an 8.4 rating, the zombie apocalypse blockbuster had a very good night as the No. 1 show on broadcast and cable.
Well, TWD knocked the stuffing out of the often-dominating Sunday Night Football demo-wise this weekend, left the Season 3 debut of Big 4 heavy hitter Empire Season 3 in the dust, and solidly bested its own Season 6 premiere last year. Add to that, the show based on the Robert Kirkman comics basically matched its all-time series highs of the Season 5 opener of October 12, 2014 in both viewers and the demo. And, with maybe a slightly aging fanbase after all these years, pile on that the Season 7 opener set a series high among adults 25- 54 (10.5 million), making it clear that The Walking Dead is alive and kicking at this point deep into its run, when most other shows are DOA.
Glad I was part of that number. 
