Schedule Five-Spot, WE 10/30/11 - The Walking Dead, Person of Interest, Homeland, Anger Management, In Living Color

Here's the Schedule Five-Spot for the week ending October 30, 2011:

The Walking Dead - AMC's picked up a third season of their zombie drama. To say this is "no surprise" is a major understatement. Season two premiered on October 16 with a 3.8 A18-49 rating, then week two dropped to a 3.6. If it can stay there, it'd be cable TV's strongest drama, with really only NCIS and Criminal Minds consistently higher among the broadcasters. It's warped expectations for AMC, which still struggles to break 1.0 with its other dramas.

Person of Interest, Unforgettable - CBS gave full seasons to new dramas Person of Interest and Unforgettable. I don't think they're particularly happy about either performance, but on a network with a fairly thin bench, they're doing well enough to stick for now. Person, the heir to CSI's longtime Thursday 9/8c slot, has consistently been down from the year-ago CSI, while Unforgettable has dropped big from NCIS: LA (like The Good Wife) on Tuesday.

Homeland - Showtime has ordered a second season of their critically beloved drama Homeland. The show had the biggest Showtime drama debut in eight years (since Dead Like Me) and has held up almost completely in the last few weeks despite its Dexter lead-in dropping (at times significantly) since premiere week. That and the acclaim make it a no-brainer by Showtime's relatively low standards.

Anger Management - I thought the battle to land Charlie Sheen's new sitcom was worth following because it could be a real game-changer for some cable networks in the mix. It lands at FX, where I'm not so sure it's a game-changer, but it's a good choice to maximize the show's ratings; FX already airs Two and a Half Men repeats. The show has a 10-episode pickup with an additional 90-episode option, the same arrangement as Tyler Perry's TBS shows.

In Living Color - Fox is reviving fondly-remembered sketch comedy show In Living Color, which originally aired from 1989-1994. Creator Keenen Ivory Wayans will return to host and produce. They'll hope from better results than from recent sketch show In the Flow with Affion Crockett. This is a similar situation to what Fox did with Mobbed last year; it's greenlit as a couple midseason specials and will get a larger order if the ratings are sufficient.

The Five-Spots are my recaps of what aired, what got renewed/cancelled and what rated well or poorly last week in TV. For more Five-Spots, see the Index.