The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead. I have to admit that I didn't start watching it until this year, though I did try twice last year to watch it. I couldn't get into it at first, though, and it took my watching the first episode three times before I finally got into. Now that I'm into it, I'm pretty much obsessed, and I'm not the only one.

According to Wikipedia, the season one premiere of The Walking Dead garnered 5.35 million viewers, while the season one finale had 6 million viewers. From there, the number of viewers has increased for each season premiere, with the exception of season six. Wikipedia has a detailed chart of each episode's number of viewers. According to Variety, the season five premiere has the record number of viewers for The Walking Dead, at 17.29 million viewers. Forbes noted that the season seven premiere, which took place on October 25, 2016, had 17 million viewers.

The Walking Dead has also been nominated for and won multiple awards, including (but not limited to) the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Golden Globes, the People's Choice Awards, the Teen Choice Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. For a complete list of nominations and wins, Wikipedia has a handy chart.

People love The Walking Dead so much that Funko has a few different lines of merchandise dedicated to The Walking Dead, and there is plenty of fanfiction online, including a website that is solely for The Walking Dead fanfiction.

I've thought a lot about why The Walking Dead is so popular, and while one of my colleagues said he watches it for the zombies, action, and gore, another colleague and I agree that The Walking Dead is so popular because it's not about the zombies. It's about the people who have survived and are continuing to survive the zombie apocalypse. It's about humanity and how some people respond to the new world versus how other people respond (Rick versus Neegan, or The Governor, for example). As my colleague phrased it, The Walking Dead is also about how messed up humanity can be.

If you haven't watched The Walking Dead or read the novels or graphic novels, the library has you covered.

Graphic Novels
Novels
The Walking Dead Seasons 1 through 6

Are you a fan of The Walking Dead? Let us know what you love (or hate) about it in the comments--but please, no spoilers!