'Walking Dead' Season 4 Premiere: New Threats and Record Ratings
by EG
For quite some time, the producers of "The Walking Dead" have been warning us that the survivors who have found refuge in the prison would face a new threat this season, but it wasn't clear how quickly that new threat would emerge. Fortunately, a record number of viewers were on hand for the season 4 premiere, so no one missed out on the revelation.
The anticipated new threat—spoiler alert—comes from a mysterious new illness that kills survivors and turns them into zombies, and it's found its way inside the prison via Carl's friend Patrick, who died from the illness and turned in the season's first episode. Now the survivors aren't even safe inside the prison, and judging from some of the symptomatic walkers outside the prison fences, it looks like the disease is spreading.
Meanwhile, there's been a shake up in the survivors' leadership, as Rick has stepped down as the group's de facto leader in order to concentrate his energies on farming. His solo leadership has been replaced by a multi-member council, giving the group a more formal leadership structure. Surely that means that everything will run smoothly from now on, and there will be no more political or personal conflict among the group.
The episode drew a record 16.1 million total viewers, a more than 50% increase over last season's premiere episode, and it pulled in 3.7 million more viewers than the previous record-holding episode, last season's finale. "The Walking Dead" continues to be the highest-rated scripted program on TV, and it crushed its competition on Sunday night.