My thinking is first time, scary. Second time, hilarious. Third time, why?

But the viral ratings for AMC’s Walking Dead zombie stunt in NYC say my thinking is wrong.

The Walking Dead television series first went to air in October 2010. Teenage ‘zombies’ (type casting?) were set free to roam the streets of NYC. The resulting video achieved 265,797 YouTube views.

The stunt was repeated in July 2012 just in advance of Season 3, when satellite provider, DISH, pulled all AMC channel content due to a legal dispute. The AMC video, this time with all the bells and whistles, achieved 25,966,747 views.

Now, they’re up to Season 4 in the States. So the zombies were unleashed again. The new video achieved 2,417,918 views in its first three days.

This time, experiential agency, Relevent, put 15 teen zombies in the New York version of zombie pits (subway grates) around Union Square Park. The film is also being distributed on AMC’s YouTube Channel, Twitter handle, Instagram page, Facebook page and Tumblr page, as well as AMCtv.com.

AMC also pranked Walking Dead star, Norman Reedus [Daryl], last month by zombie-fying Nick Santonastasso, who was born without legs or a right arm. he appeared from beneath a catering table in a Tokyo hotel room during Reedus’ promotional tour in Japan. But was instantly recognised by Reedus because he had previously created his own viral video in which he scared unsuspecting shoppers in a department store.

Perhaps my thinking holds instead for television series. The Boston Herald’s The Edge reviewer, Mark Perigard, gave the 4th Walking dead series a C+ rating. “The No. 1 basic cable drama returns from its winter hiatus with what might be charitably called a soft landing. Or more bluntly, one of the most boring, inane hours in the show’s history, and this coming from someone who still defends the season-two arc on Hershel’s farm.”