AMC’s “The Walking Dead” surpassed another milestone with Sunday night’s episode — becoming the first series in cable history to ever outrate any broadcast show, in the fall, in adults 18-49.
Sunday’s episode, the “Walking Dead’s” midseason finale, pulled in 6.9 million viewers at 9 p.m. in the adults 18-49 demo — an increase of 54 percent over last year’s midseason finale. It also averaged 10.5 million total viewers, which was a 58 percent jump over last year’s midseason finale. The episode added another 3.6 million viewers in two subsequent repeats (10 p.m. and midnight).
The final eight episodes of the season will resume on Feb. 10 at 9 p.m. — the same night its aftershow, “The Talking Dead,” hosted by Chris Hardwick, expands to one hour.
Elsewhere in cable, Sunday night’s Season Two premiere of “Shahs of Sunset” snared 2.3 million viewers on Bravo at 10 p.m. — up 106 percent over last year’s series premiere. Sunday night’s episode was also up a whopping 102 percent over last year’s premiere in adults 18-49.
More Bravo . . . Mary McDonald and Monika Chiang will be at Chiang’s Wooster Street boutique today (Monika Chiang) to celebrate her “Million Dollar Decorator” episode, airing tonight on Bravo. “I’m nervous,” says Chiang. “I haven’t seen anything but a quick clip yet. So I’ll be seeing it for the first time with everyone else. Actually, maybe nervous is not the right word — maybe scared is better!”
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Last, but not least:
* Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Cable Media, NY1 and NY1 Noticias are partnering on “Holiday Hopes & Happenings,” a month-long food drive (through Dec. 22) to help families in need during the holiday season throughout the New York City area. Non-perishable goods can be dropped off at locations in Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan; ny1.com/holidays has more info . . . Last Saturday night’s Nets-Heat game was the most-watched, highest-rated regular-season Nets telecast ever on YES, averaging 158,000 households. That beat the previous mark, 139,000 households for a Nets-Lakers game back in 2004 . . . Spike has renewed “Ink Master” and “Tattoo Nightmares,” both of which will go back into production early next year . . . The third season of HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” (Danny McBride) is out today on DVD and Blu-ray.