Despite speculation of a July return date, AMC’s spectacular Breaking Bad will not return until almost mid-August (August 11th at 9 p.m., to be exact).  The series will conclude its run with eight episodes, the back half of its fifth season, and serve as a lead-in to new drama series Low Winter Sun.  Also, AMC will be adding Talking Bad (like Talking Dead), a half-hour live after-show that will discuss and dissect the events of the Breaking Bad episode earlier that night.

AMC also announced the renewals of its unscripted programs Talking Dead, Comic Book Men and Freakshow, as well as the premiere dates for Small Town Security, Showville, The Pitch and Owner’s Manual.  Hit the jump for all of the details, plus a rundown of the cable network’s new original programming (heaps of it!) that’s currently in development, including the recently announced sci-fi series Ballistic City from director Joseph Kosinski and screenwriter Travis Beacham.

We’re just 20 days away from the biggest pop culture convention of the year with Comic-Con 2012 coming next month, and slowly but surely studios and TV networks are firming up their rosters of films and series that will take San Diego by storm. This week it’s AMC announcing their line-up of panels for the convention, and the trio of programs hitting the Con is no surprise.

The Walking Dead will make a triumphant return to the convention with an hour-long panel in Hall H moderated by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick and including special guests like cast members Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Denai Guerrero and David Morrisey along with Executive Producer and Showrunner Glen Mazzara, Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Executive Producer Robert Kirkman and Co-Executive Producer and Special Effects Make-up Supervisor Greg Nicotero.  But that’s not all. Hit the jump for more.

It appears comic books and zombies are still all the rage for fans of AMC programming. Obviously The Walking Dead is already a hit, but apparently the talk show hosted by Chris Hardwick that follows every episode of the hit drama with special guests and fans of the series is big enough to keep around as well. AMC just announced that it has renewed Talking Dead for a second season and the Pawn Stars inspired nerd-fest Comic Book Men has also been picked up for a second season. Hit the jump for comments from both Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick and Comic Book Men creator and executive producer Kevin Smith.