The Walking Dead is a monster of a TV show. In the past six years, it’s become a worldwide phenomenon and spawned an entire product line. One person who’s part of the success is comedian Chris Hardwick. He hosts the talk show Talking Dead for both The Walking Dead and its spin-off Fear The Walking Dead.
With Talking Dead, Hardwick recaps what went on in the episode that airs before, usually with a few celebrity guests. It’s a fun discussion filled with fan interaction, predictions of what’s to come and dissections of what has happened. It’s really made Chris Hardwick a household name. Sure, he has a popular podcast and is a stand-up comedian by trade, but Talking Dead has made him a household name.
Now AMC is capitalizing on this success and planning to make Hardwick‘s Talking franchise a year-round thing, even when Walking Dead or its spin-off isn’t airing. How will that work? Will they be talking about The Walking Dead the entire time? According to the Hollywood Reporter, it’ll be a more traditional talk show with Hardwick‘s show on Comedy Central, @midnight. More of a general discussion about pop culture and nerd fandom.
Hardwick has become the poster boy for nerd culture intermixing with pop culture. Years ago, being a “nerd” was sort of a stigma, but having someone like Chris elevated that to something everyone can relate too. Joel Stillerman, AMCs president of originals said:
“Between Talking Dead, his podcast and panel moderation at events like Comic Con, there is just no one better at drawing out guests’ humanity, celebrating content and serving fans. We are looking forward to expanding our relationship with Chris through this new version of Talking that will allow him to do what he does best – give our viewers a front row seat to some of the biggest topics in pop culture today and a host who has an incomparable affinity for the content they love.”
Talking will premiere April 9th at 11 pm, a week after the season finale of The Walking Dead.
