‘Mad Men’ Season Finale Does OK, But Wallenda Crushes In Ratings

The Mad Men season six finale rating results and other viewer reactions are starting to set in. The AMC show’s Sunday night closing to the sixth season drew its biggest audience ever, 2.7 million viewers.

The New York Times noted that the number couldn’t come close to AMC’s biggest hit, The Walking Dead, which gobbled up 12.4 million viewers for its latest season finale. But it’s on a par with AMC’s ever-popular Breaking Bad, which got 2.8 million for its most recent finale last fall.

Despite Mad Men’s admitted success, it was far overshadowed by another Sunday night TV event — Skywire Live’s showing of Nik Wallenda’s tightrope stroll across the Grand Canyon. The Hollywood Reporter said that the response to Wallenda’s death-defying stunt was simply overwhelming, with almost 13 million viewers tuning into the Discovery Channel at the peak of the walk.

We may be seeing more of these stunts in the near future, as HR noted that they’ve become an enormous boost to the Discovery bottom line. I don’t doubt it, but I’ll have to leave the tightrope walking viewing in your capable hands, since there’s no way in heck I’m watching that.

If I’m going to watch some guy tumble down into the depths of hell, it has to be something that doesn’t play on the fear of heights. For those of you who agree, here are a couple more good links about the Mad Men season finale.

But I warn you. Be cautious before you click if you haven’t viewed the episode yet, because there are going to be some massive spoilers.

This link is Reuters’ walk with Don Draper through the nine circles of hell that he visited in this Dante-themed season.

And here’s The New York Times post-game analysis of the Mad Men season finale from Sloane Crosley and Logan Hill.

Getting random 3am tweets about being 'devastated' and needing to talk after Mad Men finale give you a good sense of my circle of friends.

— The Secret History (@michaelgracejr) June 25, 2013

Were you one of the 2.7 million who watched the Mad Men finale?

[Mad Men season 2 cast photo by s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]