It's a good day to be a zombie.
The Walking Dead's season-four premiere shattered the series' ratings record on Sunday night, attracting 16.1 million viewers, which is the highest-rated episode in the AMC hit's history. Of those 16.1 million, 10.4 million viewers were adults 18-49, aka the all-important demo, giving it an impressive 8.3 rating. The Walking Dead's monster (get it?) premiere numbers confirms that it's still TV's top show in the 18-40 demo.
The series' previous record? The season three finale brought in 12.4 million viewers. Impressed yet? Wait until you hear this? With time-shifted playback, AMC says the premiere will probably exceed 20 million viewers.
Also worth noting: The serie finale of Breaking Bad drew 10.3 million.
"Sincere thanks to the fans, who have welcomed The Walking Dead back for its fourth season with the highest-rated episode in the show's history," AMC president Charlie Collier said in a statement. "We could not be more proud of this show and everyone on both sides of the camera who work so hard to give life to this story of character, leadership and survival. It starts with series creator, writer and executive producer Robert Kirkman, show runner and executive producer Scott Gimple and the director of last night's episode (and the man behind the make-up) executive producer Greg Nicotero, their fellow executive producers and an extraordinary cast and crew who are giving their all every day. So clearly, thanks to them, the dead have never been more alive."
Also bringing in record ratings?The third season premiere of Talking Dead, which notched its most-viewed premiere in series history, bringing in 5.1 million viewers.