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鈥淔ear the Walking Dead,鈥� the new spin-off set in the world of AMC鈥檚 hit zombie drama 鈥淭he Walking Dead,鈥� performed incredibly well in the ratings for its premiere episode.

The debut episode of 鈥淔ear鈥� reportedly scored the for a cable series premiere in TV history. 鈥淔ear鈥� beat the previous record held by another AMC series, the 鈥淏reaking Bad鈥� spin-off 鈥淏etter Call Saul.鈥澛�

鈥淔ear鈥� is set in the same fictional world as the smash hit series 鈥淭he Walking Dead鈥� and focuses on people living in Los Angeles as zombies begin to overtake the world.

鈥淲alking鈥� premiered in 2010 and is based on the comic book series of the same name.聽

The first episode of 鈥淔ear鈥� received a mixed reception from critics.

鈥淪aul鈥� and 鈥淔ear鈥� are some of the first spin-off series to come to the critically well-regarded networks of HBO, AMC, Showtime, and other cable networks. While anything鈥檚 possible in the future, the most well-reviewed shows by these networks 鈥� HBO鈥檚 鈥淕ame of Thrones,鈥� 鈥淭he Sopranos,鈥� and 鈥淭he Wire,鈥� Showtime鈥檚 鈥淗omeland,鈥� AMC's "Mad Men" 鈥� are either still going or finished without a spin-off.

For the most part, broadcast networks are reviving old favorites rather than creating new stories based in the same world. Fox is bringing back 鈥淭he X-Files" and 鈥淧rison Break,鈥� while 鈥淗eroes鈥� is coming back with many of the same characters as the original TV series, as well as some new ones.

Most of the best-regarded scripted TV spin-offs happened in decades past. NBC鈥檚 鈥淔rasier" and CBS鈥檚 鈥淢aude鈥� and 鈥淭he Jeffersons,鈥� to name a few, have all been off the air for years. On broadcast networks, most of the spin-offs now are coming from franchises like CBS鈥檚 鈥淣CIS鈥� and NBC鈥檚 鈥淟aw & Order.鈥澛�

If 鈥淪aul鈥� and 鈥淔ear鈥� do well, could more cable networks (or streaming services) try their luck with spin-offs? Hollywood has never been afraid of imitating a hit. Viewers could be seeing more stories set in their favorite fictional TV worlds.