• by Wayne Friedman , August 24, 2015

Looking for new summer TV success? Make another stop at AMC Network with another spinoff of an already top-rated series on Sunday night. “Fear The Walking Dead” -- a “prequel” of the highly rated Walking Dead series -- launched on Sunday with a massive Nielsen 10.1 million viewers and 6.3 million 18-49 viewers, and has become the highest-rated cable TV series premiere ever.

“The Walking Dead,” which first premiered in 2010, now holds the place as fifth-highest-rated cable series opener -- at 5.4 million viewers. “Better Call Saul,” a spinoff of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” sits as the second-highest-rated cable series premiere of all time -- at 6.9 million viewers.

Broadcast TV networks couldn’t match whatever “Fear The Walking Dead” had working for it.

CBS posted the best results for “60 Minutes” with a Nielsen preliminary 8.3 million viewers and a 1.1 rating/4 share among 18-49 viewers. CBS’ “Big Brother” was next best, at 7.0 million viewers and a 2.2/8 -- the highest-rated prime-time broadcast program of the night among 18-49 viewers. Both results were boosted by a NFL preseason late afternoon game lead-in.

Next-highest on broadcast among 18-49 viewers was a Fox pre-season NFL game pulling in 1.7/6, averaging around 5.5 million overall viewers.

ABC earned a 1.3/4 and 4.20 million overall viewers for “Bachelor in Paradise” -- its best result. NBC was in all repeats on the night with “Hollywood Game Night” and “American Ninja Warrior” earning an average 0.7/2.