17 MILLION VIEWERS: THE "DEAD" ARE GRATEFUL<

The season premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead drew 17.3 million viewers on Sunday — the most ever to watch a dramatic show on cable. The result shattered the previous record of 16.1 million, set by last year’s season debut of the AMC series. The result even crushed NBC’s Sunday Night Football, drawing 11 million viewers in the 18-49 age group versus 8.5 million for SNF. Even the talk show that follows the series, Talking Dead, one of only two talk shows AMC is retaining following its announced decision to replace its reality programs with scripted dramas, performed strongly, drawing 6.9 total viewers, 4.5 million of whom were in the 18-49 demo.