Walking Dead/Season 1

Season One of The Walking Dead aired on Sunday evenings on AMC from October 31st, 2010 to December 5th, 2010. It consisted of only six episodes. The series was produced by Frank Darabont and based on The Walking Dead comic book series by Robert Kirkman, published by Image Comics. The Walking Dead follows the journey of Georgia police officer Rick Grimes as he awakens to a world that has been overrun by zombies. Traveling across the state of Georgia, Rick finds other survivors of the zombie plague and together they struggle to survive in a world that no longer makes any sense to them.

The first season was met with positive reviews from critics and gained 5.35 million viewers on its premiere. The finale garnered six million viewers and among adults ages 18–49 it became the most viewed basic cable drama series of all time.

Robert Kirkman, who created the comic book series in 2003, says he had considered the idea of a Walking Dead television series, but never actively pursued it. "I certainly wanted it to happen, just because I knew it would be good for the book... I'm certainly not against adaptations, like some creators." When Frank Darabont became interested in adapting the comic books for television, Kirkman said it was "extremely flattering" and went on to say that, "He definitely cares about the original source material, and you can tell that in the way he's adapting it. It's an extreme validation of the work... Never in a million years could I have thought that if Walking Dead were to ever be adapted that everything would be going this well. I think that that's all because of Frank".

Production

 * Frank Darabont - Executive producer; Developer
 * Robert Kirkman - Executive producer; Creator
 * Charles H. Eglee - Executive producer
 * Gale Anne Hurd - Executive producer
 * Jack LoGiudice - Co-executive producer
 * Denise Huth - Producer
 * Tom Luse - Producer
 * Skip Schoolnik - Associate producer


 * Greg Nicotero - Consulting producer
 * Adam Fierro - Consulting producer
 * Bear McCreary - Composer
 * David Boyd - Cinematographer
 * David Tattersall - Cinematographer
 * Hunter M. Via - Editor
 * Julius Ramsay - Editor
 * Sideny Wolinsky - Editor

Directors

 * Adam Fierro
 * Ernest R. Dickerson
 * Frank Darabont


 * Gwyneth Horder-Payton
 * Jonathan Renck
 * Michelle Maxwell McLaren

Writers

 * Charles H. Eglee
 * Frank Darabont
 * Glen Mazzara


 * Guy Ferland
 * Jack LoGiudice
 * Robert Kirkman

Notes & Trivia

 * First mainstream television series that focuses primarily on zombies.


 * Special effects for The Walking Dead was provided by Stargate Studios.


 * The first episode of the series, "Days Gone Bye" ran 1½ hours. The regular episodes from the series ran 1 hour each.


 * The Walking Dead was the cover feature article on the December 3rd, 2010 edition of Entertainment Weekly.


 * Shortly before the broadcast of the season one finale, "TS-19", rumors began to circulate that series developer Frank Darabont had fired the entire writing staff. Executive producer Gale Anne Hurd provided an interview to Entertainment Weekly, correcting the oversight and confirming that none of the staff writers had been fired. "It's completely inaccurate," she told EW exclusively. "[In] the writers' room, there are people that have set up other projects that will be their first priority if their own series is picked up as a pilot or if it’s a series. I think [Eglee] just decided that he wants to run his own show."


 * Classically trained British actor Andrew Lincoln, who plays the lead role of Rick Grimes in the series, was completely unprepared for the sort of visceral entertainment he would be providing. When describing the scene in episode two, "Guts" where Lincoln and young co-star Steven Yeun were required to smear zombie intestines across their body to mask their scent, Lincoln expressed great discomfort saying, "Please! This is not what I signed up for!"


 * Actor Jon Bernthal, who plays the role of Shane Walsh found that not all of the show's viewers appreciated his character's exploits, in particular, his mother. "She texted me," Bernthal stated, "How dare you be in the woods with another man's wife!"


 * The primary setting of the first season of the show was Atlanta, Georgia, birth place of series co-star Robert "IronE" Singleton.


 * Actress Melissa McBride also works as a casting director in Atlanta, Georgia which is where the majority of season one takes place.

Home video

 * Walking Dead: Season One/DVD
 * Walking Dead: Season One/Blu-ray
 * Walking Dead: The Complete First Season/DVD
 * Walking Dead: The Complete First Season/Blu-ray