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‘Walking Dead’ rises! Sony bets on Netflix. Snowden is a tough sell.

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After the coffee. Before auditioning for “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

The Skinny. Am I the only one who thinks that if Yasiel Puig hadn’t stopped to admire his big hit he could have had an inside-the-park-home-run? Hopefully if he hits another one like that tonight he’ll run first and stare later! Today’s Fix includes a look at those amazing “Walking Dead” numbers, a new series from Netflix and a movie about Edward Snowden may prove to be a hard sell. Oh, not included here but news nonetheless is that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the Golden Globes for the next two years.

Daily Dose: It looks like Canada is going to force pay-TV distributors to offer channels on an individual basis to consumers. No doubt consumer advocates here who have pushed for so-called a la carte programming will be watching closely to see what happens. Efforts in the United States have proved a tough sell in large part because a case can be made that it won’t actually reduce the cost of pay TV.

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PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of ‘The Walking Dead’

“The Walking Dead” kills. Normally, an article about a TV show’s ratings wouldn’t make the cut for the Morning Fix, but AMC’s zombie thriller “The Walking Dead” is no normal show. In its return Sunday night, “The Walking Dead” attracted 16.1 million viewers. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, it had more than 10 million viewers, better than any other show including football. It doesn’t get the critical love of AMC’s “Mad Men” and the recently concluded “Breaking Bad,” but “The Walking Dead” is the show that drives that channel. More on the numbers from the Los Angeles Times and USA Today.

Taking the plunge. Sony is producing a drama for Netflix, making it the first big studio to take the plunge and make new content for the streaming service. The show is coming from the creators of “Damages,” which ran on FX and later DirecTV’s 101 channel. Of course, 20th Century Fox Television made fresh episodes of “Arrested Development” for Netflix, but that was seen as less of a gamble because the show came with a built-in cult audience. The Wall Street Journal on the Sony-Netflix combination.

Tough sell. A movie based on turncoat Edward Snowden is proving to be a tough sell with Hollywood. The New York Times says journalist Glenn Greenwald’s much-anticipated book about Snowden has some movie folks intrigued but there are a lot of questions not only about how Snowden’s story will end but also about legal rights to his life. Also, will Americans embrace a movie about the so-called whistle- blower? Sounds to me more HBO than big screen.

PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments

Sleeper hit? The biggest surprise of the fall TV season may be the success of Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow.” The quirky drama, a modern-day twist on Ichabod Crane, is scoring big ratings despite (or because) of its rather absurd premise. Vulture tries to figure out why “Sleepy Hollow” has clicked.

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Bad for America? It is a day for firsts here at the Morning Fix. Not only a TV ratings story, but we’ll single out a review as well. The Hollywood Reporter said the CW’s new drama “Reign” inspired by (I won’t say based on) Mary Queen of Scots is “relentlessly bad” and “passionately inept” and even bad for America. Variety, meanwhile noted the raciness of the show and said it may be a combination of “Porky’s” and “Caligula.” Bet you never thought you’d see those two classic in the same sentence.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: Steven Zeitchik on what may be next for the movie version of “Fifty Shades of Grey” after the departure of Charlie Hunnam.

Follow me on Twitter. I do it all for you. @JBFlint.


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