Walking Dead Headed to AMC

Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead appears to be headed for Mad Men territory. Developed by Frank Darabont under a deal with NBC, AMC won the property following a bidding war. The Walking Dead is being developed into an ongoing series.

AMC used to show old movies - specifically, those from the 1940s-1960s - without commercials or commercial breaks. The station started breaking into movies with commercials suddenly - without warning to their growing audience, which caused a small backlash (at least online). AMC then expanded their movie library to include many recent movies whose "classic" status is questionable, at best. However, AMC has won critics over with their first original TV series, Mad Men.

Walking Dead concerns a ragtag group of survivors constantly on the move, following an Apocalypse which resulted in the dead coming to life. Infighting and wars with other groups of survivors is often more problematic than the zombies.

Frank Darabont is notable for his work with The Shawshank Redemption, a decidedly non-horror story by Stephen King which first appeared in the book, Different Seasons. The other three novellas collected in the book have also been made into movies, the most famous of which being The Body, which became a movie entitled Stand by Me.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009