Talking Dead

The Walking Dead is very popular drama series, but it is not the only part of the brand.  After the showing of each episode, a live after-show discussing the events of that episode takes place.  This show is also accompanied by even more content in webisodes that can be found on the web.

Beginning during the second season of the drama, the Talking Dead is hosted by Chris Hardwick.  The 30 minute show was so popular that it was increased to an hour long show in the middle of the shows second season. (the Walking Dead's third season)  A main reason to have the show was so fans of the Walking Dead could interact with it in a unique way.  Joe Stillerman, an AMC programmer states, “Fans of The Walking Dead are incredibly engaged with every aspect of the show. They tweet, blog, and post comments in very large numbers, and we wanted to give them an opportunity to interact with the show in a way that they don’t currently have — a kind of live water cooler.”

The Talking Dead's content consists of a discussion about the episode, online polls, episode trivia, behind-the-scenes footage, and questions from fans on the phone, social media sites, and audience members.  This is AMC's first live after-show and is doing quite well.  For the recent premiere of season 4 of the Walking Dead, the Talking Dead had a 2.7 HH with 5.1 million viewers.  This was a premiere high for the show.

It seems the Talking Dead is a very popular after-show and helps keep fans attracted to the series with all of the extras.  With this success, will other TV shows begin creating after shows?  Only time will tell.