Zombies Descend on AMC as Walking Dead Preps For Fall Debut

Betty Draper's deceased dad may still haunt AMC's Mad Men, but the network has opted to explore actually undead people in the form of Walking Dead, the comic book about post-apocalyptic zombies and a group of human survivors. AMC will re-imagine the books in October as a six-episode serial in fall with up-and-comer Jon Bernthal announced as a cast hire. But does Walking Dead offer anything to make it a companion series to AMC's other ventures? You'd be surprised.

AMC announced Monday that Walking Dead would start filming this summer in Atlanta, and that the series would focus on human survivors as they search for "a safe home." I'll be. Isn't the search for a "safe home" at the core of Mad Men and Breaking Bad? If I have to watch one throbbing-eyed zombie reconnect with his precocious daughter Sally or turn to a life of selling drugs in order to secure a safe home, I'll scream like a regular George Romero ghoul. But in the meantime, Walking Dead sounds like a smart new arena for AMC, the network that's likely most able to legitimize comic book adaptations on TV and prove that, through the gore and ghastliness, "story matters."

· Walking Dead comic book headed to TV [Yahoo]