AMC is ditching nearly all of its unscripted television shows. “Scripted originals are at the core of the AMC brand. Iconic shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead have driven AMC’s evolution into a must-have television network,” an AMC spokesman said in a statement. So which “reality” shows will remain on AMC? AMC’s live talk show Talking Dead which has host Chris Hardwick talking about/promoting all the AMC shows, and Kevin Smith’s Comic Book Men, set in “Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash” comic book shop in Red Bank, New Jersey.
With Breaking Bad over and Mad Men about to end in 2015, some would say AMC is taking a huge risk. It’s putting all its eggs into two baskets: its #1 show The Walking Dead which launches its fifth season on October 12. And then there’s Better Call Saul, a spin-off of Breaking Bad. AMC is working on new scripts including Badlands, a martial arts show based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West (to air late 2015 or early 2016), and a Western called Hell on Wheels. Oh, and there’s a comedy coming called We Hate Paul Revere, starring Office Space’s Ron Livingston.
