'The Walking Dead' returned by matching its series high 18-49 rating.

'The Walking Dead' returned by matching its series high 18-49 rating.

The Walking Dead's midseason premiere reached 15.8 million viewers Sunday night, down slightly from the record 16.1 millionwho tuned in for last October's season opener, according to preliminary Nielsen figures.

But Dead ranked first for the night among viewers ages 18 to 49, counting 10.4 million of them, matching October's return and beating NBC's coverage of the Sochi Olympics. And it was the most-tweeted-about non-sports show of the week.

TV's top drama among young adults returned with a slower episode, featuring pubescent Carl's (Chandler Riggs) attempt to prove to Rick (Andrew Lincoln) he can take care of himself-- eating 112 ounces of chocolate pudding after an intense zombie altercation -- as well as a scattered glimpse at Michonne's (Danai Gurira) backstory.