Big night for AMC! Few program notes for Walking Dead, Talking Dead, Better Call Saul

Tonight is a HUGE night on AMC. It’s the return of the second half of Season 5 of The Walking Dead and the premiere of the highly anticipated Breaking Bad prequel — Better Call Saul. It also involves a slight change in the network’s long standing Sunday lineup (but just for tonight), as Talking Dead moves to a later slot. Here’s a quick breakdown of how things shake out tonight (Sunday, Feb. 8).

When does Talking Dead air tonight?
We’ve gotten a lot of questions surrounding this already about people not liking the break between Walking Dead and Talking Dead so it’s worth clarifying. Talking Dead is going to air at 11pm ET tonight ONLY. The network wanted to sandwich Better Call Saul between their two juggernauts to garner the largest audience possible. Next week, the live show will return to its normal air time immediately following the new episode of The Walking Dead.

Here’s the lineup on AMC for tonight (Sunday, Feb. 8) and what to expect.

8pm ET: REPEAT The Walking Dead “Coda”
(Season 5, Episode 8)
This is a refresher to remind you where we left off before we head into the second half of the season. In the midseason finale, Rick and gang determine a plan to get Beth and Carol back. [SPOILER ALERT] New enemies disregarded rules and morals and their plan backfired with heartbreaking outcomes.

9pm ET: NEW The Walking Dead
“What Happened and What’s Going On”
(Season 5, Episode 9)
AMC’s cryptic log line for the midseason opener tells us little other than “after facing all of the recent trials (which is a mild way to reference Beth’s death and the group having no safe haven), a slight detour may offer the solution that the group has been seeking.” EW scribe Dalton Ross has me nervous after reading what executive producer Robert Kirkman told him about this episode: “This is going to be a fan-favorite episode in a lot of ways, and it’s going to be a fan-hated episode in a lot of ways. Because it is somewhat brutal. But there’s a lot of magic in that as well. It’s going to be very unique.” See his full article here.

10pm ET: NEW Better Call Saul “Uno” (Season 1, Episode 1)
The premiere opener introduces us to Jimmy (that would be Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk, before he became Saul) who works magic in the courtroom. After being inspired unexpectedly, Jimmy tries an unconventional method for pursuing potential clients. See our interview with Bob Odenkirk. Note: This is a two-night premiere so Better Call Saul airs tomorrow, too. Season 1, Episode 2 “Mijo” airs on Monday, Feb. 9 at 10pm ET. Mondays will be the normal time slot for Better Call Saul.

11pm/11:15pm ET NEW Talking Dead
Only tonight do we see a break in the schedule between The Walking Dead and Talking Dead. Next week resumes to the normal schedule, as Better Call Saul moves to Monday nights beginning tomorrow.